Some days start out jinxed. Then a lovely gesture or kind word turns around a sinking feeling.

On a recent morning, I scoured the apartment for a check I removed from my checkbook and was about to use and had misplaced. Didn’t find it. Still haven’t.

Next, I went to the bank to deposit a check in the ATM machine. The machine refused it. That never happened so I dashed inside to a cashier realizing as soon as I arrived that I’d left my bank card in the machine outside. It was still tucked in the machine when I arrived.

For goodness sakes, I thought that morning, I need a leash.

I was off to the post office to buy some stamps that are perfect for Valentines cards and fun to look at and use. They’d run out.

So that was three negatives. The rest of the day had to go well I thought. And it did.

I decided stew was the perfect plan for cold weather and as I stood in front of the stew meat sign and empty shelf at Trader Joe’s—there were all sorts of other options within close range–a young employee asked if I was looking for stew meat. Hearing my response, he said he’d check in the back. He returned and apologized as there wouldn’t be more for a few hours. I took an expensive cut instead and moved on to the milk section. Soon the young man was by my side with a glorious smile. He’d found a package of stew meat. I had fun that day chatting with the cashier who was also a delight.

My mood had turned from frustration to downright cheery.

At home, the mail woman was filling the 510 boxes in the apartment. I asked if she was Linda–Kirk, who was a spectacular mailman I’ve written about before had retired late last year–and introduced myself. Yes, she said, and “thank you for the card.” I was bowled over. I always give a Christmas card with modest cash gift to the mailman or woman. I was shocked that she remembered my name.

By now you’re thinking, “boy, is she needy.” Maybe so. I am definitely grateful for small gestures and kindness. Do such cheerful instances change your mood?

   

When the fruit/vegetable carts disappear from Manhattan streets and school is closed by 9:30 a.m. the previous day you brace yourself for a signiicant weather event.

New York City feels uncomfortably cold when it’s 30 °F and humid. Saturday morning, I ran an errand six blocks away from home in 9℉ and didn’t feel the cold. No humidity, little wind, plus multi layers of warm clothes did the trick

Low temperatures and significant snow are unusual for the city. As I walked, I remembered a few previous super cold or snowy moments.

In the day, when school children listened for the name of their school read on a local radio station’s school closure list, it meant a day of theater for me. I rarely if ever went in the subway—we were bus people—but mom and I would duck below the weather and head for Broadway where we could see even the most popular shows because so many ticket holders couldn’t make it.

As an Air Force wife stationed in Minot, North Dakota the -60°F windchill was daunting. We kept a lit lightbulb in the garage in the engine of our car so it would start. Piles of snow by our driveway grew shoulder high. Even in the worst weather a local friend, my parents’ age, drove around in his rickety pickup truck wearing only a shirt and scarf. He could have died had there been a mishap that arrested his travel. Air Force people kept a blanket, canned food and candles in their cars were dressed appropriately.

Fast forward decades. We were packing the car on a Monday morning before catching the train to the city from upstate N.Y. I returned to the house and warned my husband to stay off the slippery flagstone walk and stick to the snow on either side. He didn’t listen, walked on the slick stone, flew in the air and fell so hard he knocked himself out. Emergency services were wonderful and whisked him to the hospital. He ached for weeks but didn’t break anything. I hate ice.

During the storm yesterday I was a zombie. I binge watched movies, starting with “Au Revoir Les Enfants.” TCM was celebrating Diane Keaton’s oeuvre, so I saw “Baby Boom” which I’d seen a few times before and “Manhattan Murder Mystery,” new to me. I topped off the evening with an episode of my favorite “All Creatures Great and Small,” on PBS.

What is one of your prominent winter memories? During a storm, stuck at home, what do you do?

   

I’m annoyingly pragmatic. When the reason for a cockamamie change is not obvious, I want to know why it was made. I usually don’t find out.

Credit Check

I was a guest at a lovely dinner at a great restaurant in upstate New York last weekend. The waitress came to our table to tell my host that his credit card had been refused twice. We are good friends. These things happen. He had recently paid his bill and owed nothing. He was concerned, as I would be. I always think someone has sucked out all the money I’m allowed to charge.

As we were leaving, he checked his emails and texts. There was a message from the bank asking him if he approved the charge. We didn’t hear the telltale buzz on his phone. He called the bank to make certain he’d not been charged as he paid with a different card.

If this happens again, he’ll know to check his phone. Had he been with a client this unannounced twist to security could have been embarrassing.

Round Trip Cancelled

I was warned but if not I might have easily lost the price of a ride upstate because Metro-North has eliminated the round-trip ticket. So, if a passenger plans to return home a few days after buying the first ticket, he/she must buy another single ride ticket on the second travel day.

Every ticket is valid until 4 a.m. on the day of purchase. I doubt that there are many takers at that hour or that trains even run then.

According to the notice I was given, “The new Day Pass provides unlimited rides from the time of purchase until 4 a.m. the next day within your ticketed zones. Weekday passes cost 10 percent less than two peak one-way tickets and weekend passes are the price of two off-peak tickets. Also valid for CityTicket and Far Rockaway Tickets. The Day Pass replaces the Round-Trip ticket.”

Got that? I don’t.

The 10-trip ticket I bought for decades when I took the train upstate and back to the city every week is also eliminated.

I’ve asked a conductor and the information booth clerk at Grand Central, but I’ve not been told why this happened only that it has happened. It seems to create a lot of extra steps but surely some marketing guru has it all figured out to benefit Metro-North. The passengers? What about them? Oh, them.

Have you come across any puzzling if well-meaning changes lately?

   

When Google, YouTube, Samsung and Netflix chat can’t solve your TV problem and you’re helpless when your electronic devices deceive you, other than developing a headache, talking to yourself at the top of your lungs and tossing a shoe at your tube, what do you do?

Netflix disappeared from my TV. It was late on a weeknight. Unplugging everything from electricity that usually works didn’t.

This is an example of how all the fixit instructions were complicated and useless. Why?

My TV’s settings offered none of the options I was to click to revive Samsung TV software such as “Support” and “Software Update” and “Update Now” or “Auto Update.” They were supposed to be a pathway to retrieving Netflix.

The step-by-step went on to suggest the following which to me was undecipherable: “If internet updates fail, you can use a USB drive by downloading the firmware from Samsung’s support site for your model, extracting the file, and loading it onto the USB drive to update via the TV’s USB port.”

The FIOS website was no help for the same reason.

I didn’t copy what Netflix Chat told me to do. It was filled with jargon and so many convoluted steps I’d have had to take a night course at MIT to figure it out. I asked the chat person why, after more than six years, this suddenly happened. He said he didn’t have enough information.

I decided to let it go until the next morning as it was very late now. Nevertheless, with pulsing headache, I went back to Google. This time, I used the word app in my question and another lineup of steps, in simple English, found the Netflix icon and brought the streaming service back.

I was so relieved and wondered why this simple solution hadn’t been given me from the beginning by someone or AI thing.

Do you have a similar experience trying to fix your phone, tablet, TV, laptop, printer or other device? Frustrating, right?

   

BBC news hour ran a segment this week about the Louvre Museum’s increasing entrance fees from €22 to €32 for non-members of the European Union starting yesterday–January 14. By comparison –and noted with pride–general admission to major museum permanent collections in England, Scotland, and Wales are free.

And what are  museum charges in the U.S.? According to Google, they “vary greatly, from free entry (especially for Smithsonian museums in D.C.) to $5-$50+ for major metropolitan institutions, typically with tiered pricing for adults, seniors, students, and children, plus special fees for blockbuster exhibits; while many offer discounts or pay-what-you-wish for locals, general costs for popular museums often hover around $25-$35 for adults.” Google attributed this information to Wonderful Museums.

I last wrote about museum fees in NYC in 2011. At the time, the Met asked for $25. Now it charges $30 for adults; $22 for seniors (65 and over) and $17 for students. It’s free for members, patrons, and children 12 and under; $22 for visitors with a disability; free for a caregiver. New York State residents and students from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut pay what they wish.

Admission to The American Museum of Natural History varies based on residency and age. Today, general Admission is $28 for adults; $22 for seniors (60+) and $16 for children (3-12). Fifteen years ago the museum asked for $16. Residents of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut can pay what they wish for general admission, which can be as low as $1.

The Intrepid Museum cost $24 before and now ranges from $36 to $40. Museum of the Moving Image cost $10 and today ranges from $10-$20.

Should museums be free?