Do you say what you are thankful for before your meal today? Like many, that is a family tradition for us. It will be a quiet day for us today... just the two of us and Rufus. There will be turkey, mashed potatoes, and I will have a piece of pumpkin pie; with sugar free whipped topping on it. I'm paying attention to what I eat and the blood sugar numbers have settled into a significantly lower number. I'm thankful for that. Not gonna tell you I won't miss the apple crisp that is often a part of our holiday meals.
It's a foggy start to the day here, but means the wind isn't howling. I'm thankful for that, too. 62º, so it's getting closer to normal seasonal temps again.
The new Select Comfort bed we ordered arrived yesterday. The guys who did the delivery and set up on it were fast, friendly, and efficient. This is our third one, so we knew what to expect. This mattress is more high-tech than our previous ones - supposed to "keep track" of our sleep. When I figure out the app, I'll be able to see when I tossed, when I had deep sleep, and even if/when I got out of bed. So, this mattress is a bit like Santa: "he sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake"... only mildly creepy.
I checked my "sleep" this morning: I scored a 78 (higher than average) - I thought it was pretty good for the first night on a new mattress...
I pulled an "all nighter" - didn't have to get up to pee. Whoohoo! I woke up feeling refreshed, and that's why we updated from the previous Select Comfort.
We have both been doing research on cell phone plans. I am not thankful for how expensive our Verizon plan has grown over the years. We first considered this when we updated our Spectrum cable box and modem/router... the pitch the Spectrum guy gave us was good: about $70 per month, no hidden taxes or fees. Our Verizon bill comes to around $200 a month. Right now, Visible (also owned by Verizon) is our top consideration. This isn't a decision I take lightly - we have had Verizon for about 25 years, back when a PCMCIA card was how you could get on the internet. Due to a screw-up on their part with a time zone glitch (we were well into the Mountain Time Zone, but they billed our usage based on Central Time) that resulted in a higher than normal bill, they gave me a guaranteed grandfathered in-unlimited data. It wasn't a big deal back then, but as data speeds increased, then number of gigabytes we used went up. Exponentially. We were some of the first to be able to post our adventures in real time, including photos. Yes, the days long before TicTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
When we moved from the PCMCIA card to a Mifi card, and then to using my phone as a hotspot, Verizon charged me $30 per month for the privilege of that hotspot (but I was able to delete the monthly charge for a Mifi, mobile wifi). With our current situation, my phone as a hotspot is our only source of internet when we're away from home (we don't use public wifi). It has worked well for us. But, I could easily rack up 300gb of usage in a month with both of us surfing, watching videos, and occasionally streaming movies. In areas with good coverage and data speed, we often see well over 30mbps of download speed. Truth be told, I don't usually see much of a difference between 5mbps and 30 when we're traveling. But, we have gotten spoiled by the 300+mbps download speeds we see at home with our Spectrum internet.
Visible offers "unlimited" data usage, but "you may find that the download speeds are capped at 5 to 12mbps (megabytes per second). With Visible Plus on my line and Visible on Joan's the cost would go down from $200+/- per month to $75. And, if I am out on my bike (with my phone), she would be able to have internet access with the plan from her phone.
I think we will be fine with Visible, but it is concerning to give up a known commodity that we've lived with all these years. Visible has no stores, it is on-line only. It is very rare we've felt the need to go into a Verizon Store for any kind of customer service. Visible uses all the same cell towers as Verizon, so the coverage should be what we're used to. And, did I mention: an additional $125+ we get to keep each month. I would be thankful for that.
Wishing all the best of the holiday season to you and yours. Rufus wants to know when it's time to eat...
No comments:
Post a Comment