I ended up with two days off from posting because the new Internet/phone service installation took all morning, during which time I was offline, and then I had to run errands, and then I was catching up on what I should have done in the morning, and then I realized the day was over. The new service requires a few changes, in that my wiring doesn't support both phone and Internet with the kind of service they're offering now, so my phone jacks no longer work. My phone has to be plugged into the Internet router, which meant I had to get a cordless phone with multiple handsets, which was one of my errands. I'd have wanted new phones anyway because the new service comes with Caller ID, and my old phones didn't support that. I ended up getting a system that will pair with my cell phone, so I can use the home phone handset to make/receive cell calls. That should mean less running around the house when my cell rings. The other cool thing is that because I now have voice over IP phone service, I can use the NoMoRobo feature and block robocallers. That should block most of the scams, as well as many of the political calls. Just in time for the election!
The school visit on Wednesday went really well. The kids seemed to be at least moderately interested. The 8th graders may have been a little too cool for it, but the 6th graders were enthusiastic. I got good feedback from the teachers and principal, and I've seen some nice things posted by parents who are friends of my friend who helped set it up about what their kids said. It turned out that one of the teachers in this school was a high school classmate, so we had a mini reunion there. Meanwhile, my friend who helped set this up has roused the power of the PTA moms and is determined to get me speaking all over the area.
Now I guess I need to write more YA books if kids are starting to catch on.
In other news, the fall TV season has begun. I've started with three new shows so far. I wasn't planning to watch the TV version of Lethal Weapon, but I read surprisingly good reviews for it, so I gave it a shot, and it's better than I expected. It's still essentially a brainless 80s action movie that's more about the characters than the action, but it does that pretty well. Though I must say I was less impressed by the third episode, so I don't know how long they'll be able to sustain it. How much havoc can they really create in the city before something gets done?
I also liked the pilot for Timeless, the one about time travel. A terrorist (maybe?) has stolen a time machine and seems to be going back in time to change things, for a reason that remains unknown. They still have the prototype time machine that's paired with that one, so they send a team of a historian, a soldier, and a scientist from the project back to try to stop him. The thing that possibly elevates or differentiates this series from others with a similar premise is the suggestion that there's something more going on. Also, there are ramifications in the present from things that they do while time traveling. So, there's a lot of potential there, and they're using the time travel premise for more than just a way to get to a different time and place to have adventures in history.
There's also a new animated show on Disney XD from the same people who did Phineas & Ferb called Milo Murphy's Law, about a kid who pretty much embodies Murphy's Law. He's a big-time jinx. If something can go wrong for him, it will. But instead of him being a Charlie Brown kind of guy and moping about his bad luck, he's developed impressive coping and survival skills, and he goes around prepared for just about anything. As he says, he's found that screaming doesn't help and all it does is damage the larynx. If you're with him, disaster is likely to occur, but he'll also know exactly how to get out of it. The kids who avoid him because he's a jinx end up having much less interesting lives than the kids who are friends with him. It looks like it could be pretty cute.
I haven't yet had a chance to watch Westworld on HBO. That may be for tonight. Otherwise, there isn't much new this season that interests me, and I like not spending so much time watching TV. Not that I've been spending that time on writing this week, but now that all the life upheavals are over for the week, I'm going to get back to proofreading today.
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