Thursday, Jan. 17

Slept late, until around 8:15, then did a treadmill session after breakfast. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house around 9:30, and she worked on her jigsaw puzzle, while I got ready for the day.

At my computer later, I found I was having problems with my e-mail service. I was receiving e-mails, but whatever I sent out kept being returned by the mail administrator.

Hubbie finally went to our cable service office to see if something was going on. They didn't know, and they gave him a phone number suggesting I call the cable tech, which I did. The tech walked me through a process to see if there was a cable problem. There wasn't.

So he suggested I call a number to see what might be going on with Outlook Express. At that number I was run through an automated menu that required me to voice my selection rather than punch number keys. I must have more of a southern accent than I thought, because I had to keep repeating myself when the automated "person" couldn't understand me.

Making a choice still didn't get me a live person. Instead, another automated voice announced that due to an overwhelming number of calls to the number, it could take quite a while before a tech could help me. But if I didn't want to wait (and obviously, I was being encouraged not to), I could visit a website that could help me.

I visited the website, where I did some updating to Windows, but where I still didn't get the answers I wanted.

I decided to visit my Yahoo e-mail, and try to send the e-mails I couldn't seem to do through Outlook Express. Here, I found that it was necessary to re-set my password, which I did, but then I couldn't seem to complete the task, because the site wouldn't let me.

Gad! Well, ok, I thought, let's try Gmail. Had to do some updating there, too, before I could try to send an email. But when I did, the dang thing wouldn't send.

Thorougly frustrated now, I decided to call my favorite computer tech. One of the staff members there suggested I try to send her an e-mail, to see if she could receive. Lo and behold, it did arrive.

Ok, then maybe things were back in order. So I sent an e-mail to one of the folks I'd tried yesterday. Nope, it came right back. Shoot!

I called the person. She said someone else had been unable to reach her at that e-mail address, too. So I should try her personal address. I did, and it went.

I then called another person I'd tried without success to reach yesterday . Found out that his address had changed slightly (one additional letter), so when I tried it again, it went.

What was wrong otherwise, I don't know, but the situation seemed to rectify itself, so I didn't have to take the computer to the tech. I'm glad, because I was beginning to think I'd picked up a virus.

Spent a good bit of the afternoon fooling with this, when I'd planned to use my time writing a draft of the readers' theater article. Guess I'll have to do that tomorrow.

Later, Hubbie prepared a cookie sheet full of sweet potatoes for the oven. When the potatoes had cooked for a half hour, I sliced leftover pork roast, over which I poured barbecue sauce and put it in the oven, along with a dish of whole kernel corn.

After supper, Hubbie accompanied Mother to her house, and then he and I watched one of the movies we borrowed from the library..."Rough Riders," about Theodore Roosevelt. This 1997 mini-series movie, was first shown on TNT channel. It stars Tom Berenger, Sam Elliott, and Gary Busey. Good movie.