Largess

Yay!  Yesterday, I was the grateful recipient of some largess--labor--from two benefactors who blew in with the frigid temps to:
1.  Replace the battery in my bedroom smoke alarm (it had been chirping for a year or so);
2.  Hook me up to wi-fi and give me a tutorial on my new Tablet;
3.  Take the cover off the thermostat and replace that battery;
4.  Examine my television and ascertain it's actually still working and just needed the channel put back on 3;
5.  Replace my long-flickering kitchen light with the spiffy new one I bought the other day.
The only "fail" (people are sheep and I'm no exception) was the microwave, which was examined and found to be arcing.  I called Bill and Dennis and they'll come in today to look at it.  It's only about five years old, but it seems they often don't last longer than that nowadays.
Otherwise, I worked on a little Happy New Year card I'm going to send family and friends, as I didn't send Christmas cards; went over my lines for Hedda; enjoyed (to an extent) a Facebook exchange with Bruce B., who's been crowned The Negativity King of the World; and finally, topped off the good day with my Sunday Skype call from the west coast daughter.
Incidentally, when I told the latter about the microwave, she suggested I buy the old-fashioned stove-top kind.  I actually had some from years ago, and popped it up.  It made too much, two quarts, and I had to throw half away, but every kernel popped and it wasn't bad.  It's subtly different from the microwave kind-- somewhat coarser, I think, and naturally, I had to add salt--which goes to show how our tastes have been adulterated.  If my microwave is still down tonight, I'll pop 'em up again.
Thanks for the suggestion, El!