This Reminds Me

Archive for April, 2009

You know I contribute to an AT&T blog about working moms and cell phones?   Which the girls think is hysterical, since they are so much more techy than am I.

But here’s something even I use (though Rachel’s the one who told me about it) -  Cha-Cha.  242-242, texted on your wireless phone to get answers to questions.  Last’s week’s CalmCoolConnected post about Cha-Cha generated numerous email questions to me, plus (at last count) 16 of the comments that I so desire.  I live for comments.  I love comments.  I want to marry comments.  So please – if you go watch this little video clip – click the “Comments” link, scroll to the bottom, and “Leave A Reply.”  They’re why I get up in the morning.

Here’s the clip:  Learn About Cha-Cha

And here are questions I’ve been asked:

What’s the catch?  They have to charge something.
They do.  But they charge their advertisers, not you (the textor.)

Is it really free?  Or, as Rachel say, “Free 99!?”
As long as you have a texting plan on your phone.

Will they start spamming me with all sorts of ads?
Not according to their privacy policy. We use cha-cha all the time and so far – no weirdness.

Who actually answers the questions?
I suspect folks in a call center far, far away.  I would not pursue “Cha-Cha Specialist” as a career choice.

Are their answers any good?
For us they have been.  I’ve not asked the meaning of life or anything like that.

Guess what?  I asked Cha-Cha what a penguin, boot, train, whale and piano have in common!
Me too.  And I got the same answer you did:  “Black and white.”  Which tells me the puzzle must be really old, because not all boots and trains are black now.  But at least – mystery solved.  Or as solved as it’s likely going to get.  Where’s Nancy Drew and Nero Wolfe when you need them?

Can you call Cha-Cha?
You can call 1-800-2-cha-cha but we don’t.  In fact, I’m not sure my kids would know how – you know, that whole “talking on the phone” thing they used to do.   I’m not sure Rachel, Lois or Hannah actually speak words now, other than, “I need….” and “She took….”

Is Cha-Cha 24 x 7?
They say they are but I can’t verify it because I’m not.

I don’t have AT&T Wireless.  Will Cha-Cha work with my service?
(sigh)  Yes.   But you should get AT&T Wireless.  And you should call or ping me so I can hook you up.  Do it now.  Operators are standing by.

I have another very handy texting trick that I’m saving for another day. You’re going to want to know it.  So…..

Hannah was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society tonight, as were 170 other 7th and 8th graders at Bush Middle School.   To my amazement (and gratitude), they finished in an hour.  I’m considering this a dry run for Rachel’s high school graduation in June, when I’ll make sure every family member has at least one book or a DS Lite with fresh batteries in-hand for the duration.  Her class has 650+ upcoming graduates.  So maybe we’ll also pack water bottles and snacks.  And blankets.  And jammies.

The scholar and her parents. With three teenage daughters around, Keith and me, we ain’t too smart right now.  Most evenings, we are totally void of any intelligence, say our progeny.  But we’re a figurin’ we’ll get a whole lot smarter in ’bout 10 – 15 years.…

Keith usually stays home w/Julia (strict bedtime) on Wednesday nights while the older girls and I go to church.  Tonight, Rachel and Lois had to take Julia with them.  Rachel was so afraid she’d forget to run by the children’s room and pick up her youngest sister that she wrote “Julia” in what she thought was erasable marker on her hand.  Well, it was a Sharpie.  Fail! Honorable intention, though….

Still no real answer – but some Honorable Mentions….

Speaking of “Fail” – well, I still don’t have an answer to this puzzler.  Friends contributed some Honorable Mentions, but none of the answers sang to me.  Connie, Aimee and Lois all thought it might be the objects’ ability to make sounds.  Well…they do….but dang, the boot is a stretch.  Aimee and I also pursued an oil thread.  Whales were hunted for oil, you have to oil a piano and a train, there is polishing oil for boots and it turns out even penguins have oil in them.  But why not a spouted can?  Or a dipstick?  Or Jed Clampett?  Mayme was thinking maybe they were the “largest” of something which they could be, but….  Vicki – who teaches – said based on her experience, a student’s real-life answer would be “ummmm…..”    Renee – always the pragmatist – questioned whether teh bottom left object was really a penguin at all.

I’ve got a copy of this puzzler in my inbox at work and at home.  I can’t file it or delete it until I’ve got an answer.  Just can’t.  It’s a matter of honor now.

I’ve purchased a package of 10 plastic hangers every Saturday for the last six weeks.  That’s 60 hangers.  Today I yelled from the utility room, “I need hangers.  Lots of hangers.”   Silence.  Then a few sputtering, “I don’t have any.”  “No extras in my closet.” 

I wonder where they go.  I added 60 hangers to the (undoubtedly) hundreds already in the house.

I cooked six lbs. of hamburger after lunch today (which was – surprisingly – burgers) to freeze in two-lb bags.  Most of our favorite recipes begin, “Brown two lbs. of lean ground beef” – and in the evening, there’s time only to assemble, so I cook the meat ahead.  And what do I find but an empty snack box.

I wonder who puts an empty snack box in the freezer?  I’m suspecting it’s the same person who puts empty Pringles cans back in the pantry.  And leaves 1/2 of one pretzel in the jar on the counter.

Rachel and Lois have gotten me hooked on Fail Blog, which I now peruse about once a week.  Every day for two weeks, I’ve stared at this page from a child’s workbook, wondering what a whale, piano, penguin, train and boot have in common.  At first I thought “five letter words” – whale, piano, train, oops, “penguin” and “boot” blow it.  Then I thought maybe it was some first vowel pattern, like train, penguin,  piano, boot….oops, “whale” blows it.    Then I thought color pattern – black and white piano keys, black and white penguin, black and white whale…oops, the train and boot blow it.  Then I thought “track,” like maybe it’s a player piano with music on a track, the boot and the penguin leave tracks, the train runs on a track..but what about the whale?  I even googled the words, and found others have posted their frustrations with deciphering the pattern.

So what’s the pattern for the bottom right box?  I am not getting it.  And it’s bugging the heck out of me.  And I wonder why it bugs me so much, too.

Wishing you a wonder-ful week….and please let me know if you figure out the pattern.  Then I can go back to fretting about hangers and snack boxes.

Just in case you were wondering what Ted Nugent sounds like when he’s playing the National Anthem at the home of Texas liberty – the Alamo.

Keith was one of the 16,000 at the San Antonio Tea Party last night.  I would have loved to have gone, but someone had to manage the home front.

Keith’s video reminded me of when I talked my way into a press pass at 1986 San Jacinto Day festivities because I really wanted to to hear – and be near – Jerry Jeff Walker.

Read my lips:  #41 (to be) was there, too.

But Jerry Jeff was da man of the hour.

That was then.  This is now.  And now it’s time.  Really – it’s time.

Add hot water.  And stir.