Yesterday was the Inauguration of President Biden and Vice-president Harris. It was held on the Capitol steps where two weeks earlier a mob had invaded the "people's house" and threatened the legislators who were affirming the electoral college vote. When speakers referenced the fact that democracy prevailed, it didn't seem like a cliche. It was for real and something to be thankful for.
The Gift of Another Year
Thursday, January 21, 2021
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
Passwords and Pin Numbers
By.11:30 am today, I had been asked for my password or pin number three times.
Early this morning, while "doomscrolling," I was reading an article from the Wall Street Journal and it went behind the paywall. We subscribe to the electronic version but when I tried to put in my password, I was told it was wrong. I connected via Facebook (not sure if that is a bad idea!) and that password worked. I finished reading the article.
Later I accessed my patient portal at the Women's Health Center to request a prescription refill. Fortunately, the site remembered my password and I made my request.
Then we went to the local PNC bank with a few issues for which we needed help. Jim needed his PNC app downloaded after deleting it when we thought he might have been hacked. I wanted to have my email added to our banking information in case something happened to Jim. And I didn't know what my debit card pin number was and couldn't find a record of it. The assistant was very patient and helpful and I now have a new pin number. I better write it down somewhere before I forget this one too.
I feel as if my life is too full of passwords and pin numbers. I don't know how a password manager works but am not sure I trust that option. I have a password that I probably use too often--but it always comes up as a "strong" one. And I can remember it!
Our parents never had this problem but also did not have the convenience of technology--requesting a prescription online, depositing checks with a phone app, and reading the news from anything but a local paper delivered at the door. Sometimes I feel concerned about the need to keep our wits about us and not suffer from dementia. Or are we already a bit at a loss from where we should be in 2021?
I give credit to the assistant at PNC who was very patient with our requests and did not make us feel as if we were wasting her time at all. And now I shall read a book ordered from Amazon and downloaded on my Kindle app on my iphone.
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
An "Unprecedented" Week
I wrote the last post on January 6 before the "unprecedented" events of January 6 took place. President Trump held a rally in Washington DC to protest the meeting in Congress which was scheduled to ratify the electoral college's vote to say that Biden won. Whether Trump actually and literally incited his supporters to do so or not, the crowd marched to the Capitol Building and got in. The legislators were evacuated to safe locations where they spent hours until the building could be cleared. Five people died--one a woman shot by the police and one an officer clubbed by a fire extinguisher. Photos were taken of a man in the dais where Pence had been presiding; another one of a man with his feet up on Pelosi's desk in her office. There were Confederate flags, a noose, handcuffs, and lots of MAGA hats. The capitol police were overwhelmed.
Wednesday, January 6, 2021
2021--the Great Unknown
The "word" for the year 2020 is "unprecedented" and that does summarize the year. A year ago I wrote in my spiritual journal that I objected to a 12Blog writer posting with optimism about the blank page of 2020. I was apprehensive about the year ahead knowing that Jim would be facing treatment for prostate cancer and couldn't think of a blank page with eagerness. Little did I know that we would all be facing a pandemic that killed over 350,000 in the USA. That we would be wearing masks if we went into any stores or met with others--even our own family in their homes. And that we would still on January 5, 2021 be concerned about the presidential transition with President Trump continuing to refuse to concede and over this past weekend asking the Secretary of State in Georgia to "find" enough votes to overturn Georgia's handing Joe Biden a win. Maybe he will be indicted for that illegal phone call but probably not.