A Cheerful Entry*
EDIT: Ok, several noters asked me if the "techs" in India might not understand British English better than American English considering the history of India. Well, apparently not. I have had a couple of bad experiences with these people. First, unless the problem is extremely simple, they have to consult their book. I can actually hear them flipping pages. I had one man tell me that I would have to call Microsoft because there was nothing that could be done to help my computer! Now, apart from the basic idiocy of this remark, do you know what the problem was? Well, if he had said, "Now, what new programs have you installed recently?" I would have replied, "Norton Anti-Virus!" To which he could have replied, "Well then, why don’t you dump that and see if that is the problem?" Which, of course, it was and I ,who am a self-taught senior citizen, figured that out all by myself! 
Then there was the man who kept saying, "Please say that again?" to the point where I was spelling words out for him. He is forever enshrined in my memory as the one who said, "I am going to put you on hold for a minute…" and then cut me off completely! And of course, one never gets the same person back even if one has the patience to jump through the hoops again to get the tech people back. I actually have only one good experience with these people and that was because the problem was very easily solved and if I had stopped panicking, I could have solved it myself. 
THIS is the first tomato picked from the Incredible Traveling Tomato.I picked it this morning. I should probably have left it a day or so but I was so excited to see it, I wanted it in my hand! There is another one just beginning to blush and one which is golden. I would put up more pictures because I KNOW you ALL have been waiting for them with bated breath, but Photobucket is behaving badly. When I upload a picture, it makes an URL and says "copied" but it isn’t copied at all. I have to highlight and Command C {which is the Mac equivalent on CTRL C for Windows} And sometimes I can only highlight part of the URL which is no good. I am too irritated to spend time on it so you will have to assuage your desire for pictures of tomatoes by drooling over this one! Anyone else had problems with Photobucket?
The other happy-making thing is that I have FINALLY got my email {Thunderbird} on this new IMac set up completely and I can now SEND email from my desk top. I have been able to receive email from the first day but I couldn’t send email unless i went to Verizon’s netmail site! Very annoying. And I really am reluctant to talk to the "techs" in India because there have been times when neither of us could understand the other one. {I should probably explain for any new readers that although I have lived in the States since 1963 , I still have a pronounced English accent.} However, when I was out for a brief walk this morning, I was thinking about what I was doing wrong. And I suddenly something in my head clicked, I came home, made some changes and YES! When I sent email to my gmail email address, it went! And when I checked my gmail, there it was! 
{I am easily amused!}
In slightly less cheerful news, a couple of days ago, a mosquito got into our bedroom and chewed on two fingers of my right hand. I woke up with swelling and itching which, after I left it alone, subsided eventually. When I went out this morning for my short walk, I got bitten again, this time on my arm. So, I have now to remember WHY there is repellent on the bedroom and bathroom. It does no good if I don’t use it! And to add insult to injury, mosquitoes totally ignore Fred!
OK, lunch time. Hmmm, a tomato sandwich?
QUOTATIONS:
"Step by step. I can’t think of any other way of accomplishing anything."
Michael Jordan
"Fear not for the future, weep not for the past."
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) English poet
Now we know why people with gardens get so excited about their harvest. The tomato is beautiful and a great bounty from hard work. Enjoy!
Warning Comment
Since India was a British colony, I thought that the Indians learned British-style English in the first place, and that they therefore would have an EASIER time understanding you. Shows where my mathematical logic gets me!
Warning Comment
Oh, what a gloriously ripe tomato that is! :o) !! ‘Tis quite enough to make me fantasize about BLT sandwiches! :o) !! hugs, Weesprite
Warning Comment
Trying not to sound bigoted, but wouldn’t Indians recognize the Queen’s English better than American English? There was a joke years ago about how it’s the little things in life that make it great … or miserable… like little mosquitoes!
Warning Comment
It was over 60 years ago when the Brits gave independence to India and then Pakistan. Since then Americans have been trying to get them to stop fighting one another and kids growing up got to understand and speak American. I may not have it exactly true. Sue me.
Warning Comment
Mmmmm!
Warning Comment
mosquitos don’t bother fred? that’s so wrong on so many levels!!!! what a beautiful tomato! i can just imagine how good it will taste in a sandwich! take care,
Warning Comment
Yum! tomato sandwiches. And yes, I do have that problem with photobucket on the OD thingamajigg. I have two solutions: 1) Once you copy and paste the URL for the first photo, you can use the same pasting for any additional photos, as long as they are stored in the same folder in Photobucket. Then all you have to do is change the name of the photo in the url. It helps if you remember the names, so I do things like “tomato1”, “tomato2”, etc. 2) I open up a separate window in the browser for Photobucket and copy and paste directly from the site. It seems to work really well that way.
Warning Comment
You have tasty blood. The tomato is lovely. I always have problems posting pictures. The reason I never put on pictures.
Warning Comment
Mosquitoes love me, too! My hubby never gets bitten and neither does my son. I think that we are too sweet for our own good! LOL I love your tomato. There is no tastier food than a home grown tomato!
Warning Comment
I had trouble with a bank service employee from another side of the world. I am used to heavily accented English as I’ve taught English as a second language for years. We had a major communication problem. The next time I called the bank and got an American and audibly cheered, I was told you can actully request homeside service – at least with that bank.
Warning Comment
Ahhh… outsourcing. I should note that some of them may have actually found your British accent intimidating. I read (I think in the online versions of one of the British papers) that the workers in these call centers actually rather fear dealing with British callers. According to them: The American callers will just yell. The British callers, on the other hand, tend to havean angry sarcasam that really cuts through you emotionally.
Warning Comment
We have one “cherry tomato” plant in a large pot. I spend so much time moving it around to keep it in the sun that I am ready to apply for a passport for the dumb thing. 🙂 – – – –
Warning Comment
Mmmm…Tomatoes. 🙂
Warning Comment
mmmm… freshly picked tomato! Nothing like it… (huggles)
Warning Comment
Yes, I’ve been having the same problem with Photbucket. Maybe they’re working on it. Love the tomato! Ohhh how I wish the guy would’ve come tilled my garden. I never got my maters planted.
Warning Comment
Yummy, that’s a delicious tomato!
Warning Comment
I have to admit that the last time I needed technical help with my computer the Indian chap on the end of the line was really helpful and had things sorted for me quickly. 🙂
Warning Comment
I too find it very difficult to deal with people on the phone with a strong accent. I am sorry I am just not used to it. Norton was a huge problem on our computer too, until we got rid of it. Then everything was fine.
Warning Comment
OMG! They can’t speak any English at all! Once I rang Microsoft tech support and was walked through basic troubleshooting with someone speaking broken English. “Is the computer turned on? Is it plugged in?” They do consult their book! They have a basic troubleshooting manual, that’s it. Their tech support people do not know anything about computers at all– I knew more than the tech person did. That is a lovely tomato! I hope you had fun eating it.
Warning Comment