Rachelh, I know that it *does* depend on where you live. I'm in an urban area just outside Boston, and the cable almost never goes out. I can't remember the last time I had an issue with cable service. Many of my neighbors and friends use VoiP phones, and I never hear anyone complain that they lost service. I'm sure it happens somewhere around here, I've just been lucky. It's definitely a case of how risk-tolerant you are. I agree that the most risk-free course is to stick with a wired land line, but I'm not willing to pay $30 a month (for the cheapest phone service I could find, plus taxes and other charges) as insurance for the chance that both cable and cell phones will be out at the same time that I have an emergency. That insurance might be worth $5-$10 to me, at most. Even at that, I probably wouldn't buy it.:)

Yeah, I'm using it even now. It helps me to know where the calls and texts came from. I also used to block unknown phone numbers that called me and bothered me with annoying stuff like advertising. So I decided to look for an application or a site on the internet to know who the owner of the unknown phone number is. I found a great site livesupportrhino.com that provides me a general access to a full report of the person behind the anonymous number. It usually includes the name, location and street. You can also find the list of area codes there.

Autumn, I don't think you need cooking classes. I never knew how to cook anything until I moved out of the house. My mom was seriously OCD and wouldn't let us in the kitchen. I literally taught myself how to cook basics with a cookbook called "The I Never Cooked Before Cookbook". It explained everything. For example, when it told you to boil something, it had photos of what boiling water looks like. It had photos to explain the difference between chopping, slicing, dicing and mincing. It was incredibly helpful since I didn't even know how to anything. I think I could pour cereal and make taste. I had never even made cookies before. I'm certainly no gourmet cook but after familiarizing yourself with the basics, you can start throwing things together with some success without taking a class, imho. Like, after cooking a few Mexican dishes using recipes, you learn the basic ingredients, flavor profiles for sauces and seasonings, and then just start throwing things together using those basics in different ways. Using beans, rice, various hot sauces and seasonings often used in Mexican dishes, some chiles, and then a variety of vegetables, you can make sautes, soups, salads, casseroles, whatever using meat/fish/poultry as your protein or even the cheese (if you're vegetarian or want to do a vegetarian meal once in awhile) or the beans (ditto for vegan eating). When I do this, things might not be the least bit authentic to that cuisine, and I substitute a lot so I don't have to run to the store for something, but if you have a pantry of basics, it's not that hard to throw together something tasty. I hate grocery shopping so I do wish someone would do that for me. I sometimes send DH but he always gets some odd stuff and spends too much, lol. And I really don't like thinking up what to cook so I'll often have DH grab the protein out of the freezer. Whatever he grabs, I cook. Or I'll just reach in and close my eyes and grab something. Batch cooking does help. I often will cook up a big pot of rice (usually a wild/brown rice combo) and keep a container in the fridge to heat up as a side or throw in a soup or casserole. I do the same with dry beans, peas and bulgurs. I always have couscous and quinoa on hand because they cook up quick if I'm out of rice. So sides are easy. A variety of fresh veggies and a few bags in the freezer of Asian and California blends make it easy to throw a veggie side dish together. I buy cleaned/bagged salad mixes, mixed greens, and baby spinach making it quick and easy to put together for a salad or toss in the last few minutes of a stir-fry or saute. And multi-meal planning works well. If I make a roast, I save some for French Dip sandwiches the next night. Or I might boil up a chicken or two and use the breasts for stir-fry and the meat off the rest of it for chicken enchiladas or some other casserole or a soup. At least once a week dinner is my own Muscoe soup or casserole using the stuff that is starting to go but isn't bad enough to throw out. Thanks for that, bpathome, as I just call it Clean Out the Fridge Food. Muscoe sounds more purposeful. We don't eat out much. I can't see paying $20 for a meal that I can make for $5 at home. And I figure the time to go there, order, wait, eat, and go home takes longer than it does for me to cook and clean up. I don't have a cooking gene or special skills. I just decided to be fearless in the kitchen. Most things you make, if they don't turn out right, are salvageable somehow. The rare times it's not, the dog enjoys a treat. :) I think of it as a way to play.

I love my iPhone 10. I think it has amazing optics and settings for what it is. For travel photos it's perfect. The HDR quality is amazing, and it is pretty consistent about its abilities. But it has its limitations. I also love my old Nikon D700 DSLR, probably more for sentimental reasons than for anything else. The newer DSLR's have more capability. I took all of these photos this morning. The iPhone 10 can do this, which I think is AMAZING for the tiny little lens. The D700 can do this: OR this: The iPhone does this, which is a bit of over-enhancement of the colors and contrast and you can see quite a bit of lens distortion (see how the gravel in the foreground seems to stretch?) and the very deep depth of field (DOF). I don't know if the newer iPhones allow for manual DOF. The DSLR has a bit more realistic color, and an adjustable DOF. Here I focused on the rear flowers, and adjusted the DOF so the foreground flowers are blurry and the background is a little blurry. I could have set the camera to have more vibrant color and sharper contrast to have a photograph that pops more, like the iPhone, or I could adjust it in Photoshop or even Photos. Also, you can see that the framing is different, because of the wide angle of the iPhone lens. One more example, what you prefer is just a matter of taste. Again, I could have put on a lense and adjusted the DOF and exposure to create a photo similar to the iPhone's, but it would have taken time and effort, vs. point and shoot. With the iPhone, you can't get the narrow DOF, unless in portrait mode, which has programming specifically for face sizes and doesn't work with small flowers. I could have adjusted the iPhone shot manually to expose the buds better, but I wanted to show the point and shoot capability. iPhone 10: DSLR: Helen could probably expound upon this more. She's such a wonderful photographer.