Consistency folks, lets strive for consistency!

    I know, I know, this coming from a blogger who can't quiet get consistent with the day of the week that she posts....or sometimes the week that she posts. The same person who sometimes has toilet Tuesdays...on Friday. The person who goes for months creating advanced meal schedules and synced grocery lists.........then can't figure out what to make for dinner for a coupla weeks at a time. Same person who uses separating dots..inconsistently! How annoying, right?

   Yet I crave consistency! If I buy Instant Vanilla Cappuccino from a company one week, I expect it to have the same flavor quality the next time I buy it. If I pick up a pair of jeans and find them to fit like a glove, I expect to find that the next pair of jeans I buy (same size from the same manufacturer) to fit the same as the first pair. If I use one email service and find there is an app for that same service, I expect to enjoy all the same features and mechanics in the app that I find on-line.

   But there is where the disappointment sets in. Chirp was the first to alert me that something was amiss with my favorite instant coffee. It still tasted great, but was slightly different. She looked up at me as if to say "Does this smell a little different to you?" She was right, it smelled a little less vanillay. Like I said, the taste was good, but not the same. Not better, not worse, just not the same.

   Then there is the tale of two jeans. The first pair I bought were an absolute wonder! Not too long (as is often the case), not baggy and perfect in the waist. As if they were custom made for me. I should have know that it was too good to be true. When I tried to find a second pair made by the same manufacturer in the same size, I was not so fortunate. So I tried a different size. And then another. Then a different style. And yet another. But to no avail. That perfect fit was not to be found again.

   So I decided to turn to my email to be more productive and take care of some business...and guess what? You bet, the app is different from the on-line version of the email service I have been using for the last two years. Worse yet, it is missing many of the features I use regularly, like groups. I thought perhaps the app did not sync properly with the groups I use on-line (all my contacts synced just fine), so I thought I would just recreate the one or two I use regularly and worry about syncing rest later. However, despite my diligence, I could not find where I could make a group. So I did some research on-line. Seems I am not the only one unable to find it. The feature simply doesn't exist in the app. Seriously? I am not talking some off beat email service, I am talking one of the major players. Further more, they engineered this app that I was using, it was not second or third party software. Now I had switched to this email service because the previous major email service I had been using upgraded and you could no longer forward attachments. I know, I could use the version on line of my current email service, but it is not as touch screen friendly as the app.

Chirp looking for the app that works

   Perhaps what I really needed to do was just kick back and relax with a good book. I was low on reading material, so I went to my local library via the internet and selected a few choice reads. Surprise surprise, they are in the middle of changing their system and upgrading, so things were not sorting as smoothly as I would have liked. Still, I made my selections and checked them out to transfer to my device. However, when I opened the app service associated with my device, there was no mechanism to manage my devices. You had to go on the internet to do that. The internet site is not exactly touch screen friendly, unless you have fingers that taper to a pin point to make your selections. Works for Chirp, but not so much for me. Using the touch pad, I managed to send the book to the device of my choosing. Thinking my struggle was over, I leaned back in my favorite chair and turned on my device. No book. Took me twenty minutes to figure out how to get my book. The service I use for reading on my device upgraded their system, and what used to automatically download to the device now had to be manually retrieved. What kind of upgrade is that?

   Annoyed and frustrated, I put all things technical aside and drove to the grocery story to pick up a few items. Twenty minutes later, I had the few items I wanted. Why is the ENTIRE store reconfigured? It took me so long to find three items I wanted that I did not have time to peruse the shelves for any impulse purchases. If they were going to reconfigure anything, couldn't it have been the parking lot? 

   Lack of consistency tends to raise frustration levels. I don't need any help...

   

   Now where did that bird get to? Chirp usually hangs out in her cage or in the living room window. Or on my laptop using the touch screen. Not like her to explore other rooms. Could she be on the computer in the study upstairs? Don't tell me she is making a change NOW. I could use a little consistency.