Update on new cell phone

My Tracfone expires at the end of today and my new Jitterbug phone hasn't arrived, so I called GreatCall (The Jitterbug company) to find out what they could tell me.  A great customer service person checked with UPS and said the phone won't arrive until next Tuesday.  I explained my dilemma with the expiration of the Tracfone and said I would just have to order more minutes to extend the service.  He asked if it was expensive, and I told him I thought the cheapest top up card was $20.  He offered to pay half - giving me a $10 credit on my first bill.  I agreed and thought it was a generous offer.

I decided to see if I could buy the top up online, and believe it or not they have a $10 option available online only - 30 minutes + 30 lifetime double minutes, and 30 service days.  Perfect, except that now I have waaaay more minutes than I'll ever be able to use.  I'm not complaining though.

I think I'm going to like the Jitterbug - especially if I can hear well.  Everything I've read and heard points to the fact that the quality of sound is excellent.  That's the main reason I keep looking for a cell phone I can talk on and hear the person on the other end as well as understand what they are saying.  I've had problems with AT&T, Verizon, and Tracfone in this regard, so Jitterbug may be the answer.  I'm starting the day off in a positive manner, for sure.

About the possibility of a trip to Ireland later this year, I will have to see what develops.  I bought a phone card this morning and called a good friend in Ireland, a German ex pat who I knew would give me the straight on happenings there.  Things are not so good in Ireland and elsewhere due to the bailout of Greece, and the Irish are going through some bad times.  Not many tourists and not many jobs to be found.  That doesn't make for pleasantness among people no matter where it is.  (By the way, I called using a few of my Tracfone minutes, and would have talked longer but the line went dead.  According to my friend, they have been having a lot of power outages this year.) 

I may decide to go, but won't stay anything like 6 weeks or more.  Maybe three weeks would do it.  In the past the pubs opened in the morning (and yes, served tea and coffee among other beverages) and it was the place to meet friends, socialize, get the latest news and gossip, and in general to take part in the life there.  Now many pubs have closed or only open during the evenings, and I've already done most of the sightseeing I care to do.  So I will just wait and see what happens, both here in the U.S. as well as in Europe.

I should get back to my weed pulling and spraying.  I sure made a mess on the kitchen countertop trying to mix a cup of salt into a gallon of vinegar, and then pour it into my spray bottle.  Getting the salt to dissolve was the first problem, and then pouring it was the second.  I even used a funnel but still splashed it everywhere.  Then when I had used the contents of the spray bottle, came in to fill it again and - spilled it again!