Day 47: Cougars and owls

I dug out my original to-do list that I made up at the beginning of this staycation, and I'm happy to announce that I have completed over 50% of the tasks I originally penned. I also have finished quite a few others that weren't on that original list. I'd say I'm right on track for success.

What I'm watching today

Cougartown (2009-2015, Amazon Prime Video streaming) - Ok, I'm going to say something controversial. This is Courtney Cox's best work. And, yes, I have seen Friends, I have seen Scream, and I have seen Bruce Springsteen music videos. Let's face it, Ross and Monica were the worst characters on Friends. Gale Weathers does come back to help the protagonist in Scream but only after she is unable to flee the scene, potentially endangering the lives of children. And was Courtney "Dancing in the Dark" all that great? No. Cougartown doesn't have any of that nonsense. A bunch of cul-de-sac neighbors drink wine and get into trouble. That's the premise. It's like Seinfeld if Jerry Seinfeld was a middle-aged divorcee in Florida. The comedy style is perfect for a show to have on in the background while you're hard at work. Instead of rolling guffaws, each scene tends to end with a punchline. Christa Miller is is perfect as the nosy and domineering best friend, and Busy Philipps was born to play the role of the ditzy, millennial other best friend. There are a bunch of additional characters, but this triumvirate (plus a recurring middle-aged Cougar named Barb) are what make the show special.

What I'm doing today

Claiming - I realize that companies that sell you insurance don't ever really want to have to pony up the funds to repair or replace the thing that you're insuring. But it should be illegal to make the process of obtaining those funds so tedious and confusing The other day I broke my phone. My bad. But that's why I pay $7 each month to insure it through Google. I spent about an hour yesterday trying to figure out how to actually put in a claim on various Google web sites. Eventually I got on chat with a nice person named Nitish, who started my claim and informed me about the process. Nitish was helpful to a point, but they steered me toward a $99 replacement option that could take up to 10 days to complete. I know what I pay for, so I reminded Nitish about the $49 repair option through the UBreakIFix store that could be complete in as quickly as a day. Nitish confirmed that was also an option and started that process for me. Within minutes UBreakIFix called me (on my broken phone, mind you) to set up an appointment. Cool. While wrapping up with Nitish I asked them to provide me with a claim number for reference. The response was that all the information I need will be received in an email shortly. Well, 24 hours went by, and that email never came. Fortunately I kept the chat conversation ID, and back I went to Google to request the information I needed. Google finally provided the claim number, and I then called UBreakIFix to confirm my appointment. Of course, they couldn't find any information about my claim or the associated work order, but after five minutes of my prodding and refusing to hang up the nice gentleman on the other end found my file that had been mislabeled somehow. He told me to get there ASAP or they wouldn't be able to work on the phone today, so I jumped in the car and had my phone in their hands within 20 minutes. Later this evening I got an email that the work on my phone was completed, but the store was already closed. I guess I have to wait until tomorrow.

Bird watching - We had two hoot owls in the back yard camped out in my neighbor's cottonwood tree this evening for about 30 minutes. I stood out on the deck watching them, because you don't often get to see owls up close. They had a long conversation, until I interjected and started WHO-ing at them. One of them was happy to chat. The other got very pissed off and started hissing at me, which is an owl sound I have never heard before. My best guess was that they were waiting for me to put my dog out so they could eat him, but WHO knows? It would be nice if they ate some of these rabbits.