This Reminds Me

Archive for the ‘AT&T’ Category

As promised…..here’s my second un-techy texting tip for parents with AT&T wireless service.  Which you should have.  And if you don’t, you need to ping me immediately so I can hook you up.

Texting By Email – Presented on CalmCoolConnected

(another virtual hang out)

Texting by email saves me a ton of time.  Rachel, Lois or Hannah often send me long, multi-part texts while I’m at work or home.  Strains my eyesight just to read the darned things.   Think I’m going to sit there and poke out letters to reply on my teensy cell phone keypad?   Faghetaboutit.  I email them back a text.

You know I live for comments.  Love comments.  Want to marry comments.  So please visit CalmCoolConnected – enjoy the short video – and….

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.

Here’s some randomness on Serendipity Saturday.  Nothing relates or really makes  sense.  Sort of like real life.

You will recall my progeny dissing my 20+-year-old lipstick last year.  Today Rachel bought me a new lipstick, a gift which I accepted because my treasured lipstick case finally broke.  So I will be utterly gorgeous at church tomorrow.  Don’t sit near us – I’ll be such a vision of loveliness, your thoughts will not dwell on spiritual matters.

Goodbye, old friend.  (sniff)

Rachel went to get this new lipstick in her Focus.  Which wooks a widdle Lagomorpha-like.

Ummmm….what’s up, Doc?

Our church’s Women’s Ministry hosted its annual Spring Fling last night with a 50′s theme.   Hannah went with me to help take pictures.  But not this one.

Why Keith handles Driver’s Ed

Rachel worked childcare (Parent’s Night Out), accompanied by her favorite assistant.  I offered to take Julia home with Hannah and me when our dinner finished at 9 p.m.  Nope.  She wanted to stay with Rachel until closing at 11 p.m. I know where I rank.

Keith and I have been checking online today, trying to get a sense for how the strike talks are going.  Or not.  In 1983 in Houston, we had a three-week strike, followed by Hurricane Alicia, followed by a major late-September flood….all in the midst of pre-Divestiture tasks.  I worked every day from August 7 through mid-January, with two days off:  Thanksgiving and Christmas.  If they strike this time, Keith will be working 12 x 6, but, at least at the moment, I won’t have to do so.  And I am thankful.

In 1983, I worked six days a week in my Comptrollers unit, then Sundays in Directory Assistance (DA).  This might be an ear piece I…ummm….”borrowed” from DA.  It just might be in my scrapbook, with a notation of my average call handle time of 32.8 seconds.  Eleven-year-old Sarah and her best friend Eileen spent one Sunday afternoon calling 1411 and asking for “Aunt Becky”, to the tune of $100 worth of DA charges (400 calls.)


Donnette, Gaye, Kim and me (front)….when we were still energetic enough to work 12 x 7.

Settle….settle….settle……