Thursday, November 19, 2015

MORE RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) Yeah, I don't know why I'm writing so much these days.  Let's just accept it for now and it will probably sort itself out.  Don't judge, I'm alone a lot!  I have to talk to someone! God help you all if I ever try Podcasting.

2) I finally had to get rid of my red hair.  I loved it while it was still red, but the pinker it became, the weirder it looked.  If I was going for pink hair, that would have been fine, but it had started to look like I'd sprayed on Halloween color spray when I was underneath certain kinds of light.  I should probably say that I tried to get rid of my red hair, but even though I chose a color as close to my natural color as I could find, it didn't completely cover the red, which is weird because the red dye wasn't supposed to be permanent, but the brown dye was.  Oh well, it's darker, at least, and it's hair...so...it'll do what it wants to do in time.  My only real issue with it is that now all of my pretty white hairs are gone.

Next time I have a bad day, I'll just go get a tattoo.  I don't think it will last as long as the dye!

3) in 2013 I attended a self defense class.  I wrote about it, but if you haven't read it and would like to, you can do so here.

Not long after that class was over, I saw an ad where I could order a new, not yet released, product which was marketed as "Smart Jewelry."   It was supposed to be a fitness tracker, like a Fitbit, but with a personal safety element to it.  So, let's say I was alone, running (stop laughing) down a trail or something and someone jumped out at me and tried to grab me.  If I were wearing this thing I could press its button for three seconds and it would send an alarm to a person I designated as my safety contact.  That person would have downloaded and app on their phone that would send an alert that said I was in trouble.  It would show my location (with a GPS locator) and ask if they needed to call 911. The tracker could also be placed in different pieces of jewelry sold by the company, so, for example,  if you were on a date and things got hinky in a way that put you in danger, you could press the button and alert someone without being really obvious about what you were doing.  I joked to a friend that I go on so many out of town dates these days that I needed one of these just for that reason alone! Haha! (I'm sure Steve would not run to my rescue for that.)

Anyway, fresh off of that self defense course, I was all in for ordering the thing.  I work in a place where I don't always feel safe, and unfortunately, sometimes just going places alone isn't safe for me because I'm a woman.  Granted, I'm a woman who will do everything in her power to rip out your spine if you try to hurt me, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't appreciate back up if needed.  I also wanted the fitness tracker, since my other one had to be returned.  I actually wanted the fitness tracker more than the alarm, but the combo appealed to me. So I ordered it, with the promise that I'd receive the kit by the next spring when it was released.  Unfortunately, the company that was making it couldn't get their act together.  Either the programming wasn't getting completed, or the jewelry things weren't getting produced.  It was frustrating.  At any rate, I could have canceled my order, but I chose to stick it out and wait. 

Well, I finally got it last week, much, much later than promised.  However, I was informed that the programming was never completed for the fitness tracker, but it could still function as a security alert.  FINE, I GUESS.  UGH!  One other function that the thing (I'm not using it's name, because I don't want other people to buy it and I don't want anyone to come to my page in a Google search) does is alert you if you get a call or text from people you designate on a list.  So if I'm in a situation where answering my phone would be inappropriate or rude, if any of those people called it would vibrate and I'd know to excuse myself and call them back.  So I download the app and set about setting up my preferences on my phone.  I only had two people I wanted to designate as safety contacts (my mom and Steve, who are probably the two who'd care the most if I was being murdered...and maybe not even Steve, but he'd already agreed to do it) because not every friend you have wants to be responsible for your life and/or well being.  However, I did want to populate my list of approved callers so I'd be alerted if THEY called.  Only when I started adding names to that list, the dumb app sent out text messages asking people to download the app - and for all I knew was telling them that I was in danger. I also managed to accidentally set off the safety alarm, which scared my mom.  So I had to contact people and let them know they didn't have to download anything and that I wasn't currently being assaulted or murdered.  Now I'm too afraid to actually wear the device in case I accidentally set it off and have a SWAT team called to my destination.  At this point, I think it would be less stressful to carry a gun. 

4) There was something else I was going to talk about, but it took me about two hours to type that last part out in between doing work and getting sidetracked. I'm tired of thinking about myself. Whoever you are reading this, you just go on and have yourself a nice day. Thanks for stopping by! :)

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