Started Typing: 10:29 AM ET
Clicked Reply: 12:49 PM ET
I live alone, and in 2020 I started wondering how I would get help if I ever fell in my house and couldn’t reach/use my phone. After some research about which devices could make phone calls, I got a Google Nest; I had my father and WifeBFF install and configure the required app. My house is small enough that I could put it in the living room and it could hear me from anywhere else (even if I were in the shower with the bathroom door closed; the tub is likely my biggest fall risk). Every now and then I would ask it to play a song that was stuck in my head, but I never started using it for reminders or timers or anything. (I also don’t talk to my phone, or use voice stuff in general.) Then, sometime last summer I learned that the app needed for phone calls had changed. I kept putting off asking Dad/WifeBFF to make the update, and in September I learned that Alexa devices had started offering an Emergency Assist feature – which was what I’d wanted in the first place. Google still didn’t offer anything like it, so I unplugged the Nest and got an Echo Pop. In the past four months, I haven’t used it at all: I haven’t asked it to play any music, and I turned off all of the Amazon notifications/reminders. And, the Emergency Assist feature requires a $60/year subscription. But I’m much happier with this setup: if I ever ask Alexa for help I’ll be immediately connected to an operator who can contact the appropriate emergency service(s), and doing so will also trigger text messages to designated contacts (“Misnomer activated Alexa Emergency Assist”) who can then follow up with me. It’s exactly the safety net I want.
TL;DR - I have an Amazon Echo Pop, but only in case of emergency.
Happily, we wound up getting just a dusting of snow yesterday…wet snow, 'cause it was mixed with freezing rain (and a little hail for a moment), but I was able to move it off my steps/patio/sidewalks with a push broom. I went out shortly after 5:30pm, when all of the prognosticators agreed that the accumulation event was over. Of course, the slushy and wet surfaces froze overnight. I applied a thin layer of ice melter a few hours ago, but it pretty much re-froze immediately. Heh. And I discovered that the ice mats I got two weeks ago are useless: they don’t grip the ice or concrete, and aren’t heavy enough to lie flat on the steps/patio. Oh well; at least they were only $30. But the sun has been out for a couple hours now, and even though temps are low (currently 25°F and not getting much warmer; and, the wind is back) some drying has happened. Ice will be our biggest concern over the next few days, as the daytime highs stay below freezing and the overnight lows dip into single digits.
I finished the Lego X-Wing yesterday! It was a fun build, and went pretty smoothly…except that I got lazy while putting the 3rd wing together and accidentally assembled some parts backwards, which wasn’t obvious but made it impossible to secure the wing to the fighter. It took several frustrated tries for me to realize that some parts simply weren’t lining up correctly, and then another minute to see my mistake. Which I’d made fairly early on in the wing-building process. So, I needed to take almost the entire thing apart again to access/fix my error. 
After that, though, the build went back to being a piece of cake. A picture of the finished set is in my Lego photo album, along with one of it on display in the updated “Lego Corner” (plus a photo of The Globe’s new home). I’m not crazy about it being on the top shelf like that, because I’m only 5’3 and mostly all I can see is the bottom of the fighter, but it doesn’t really fit anywhere else. So, that’s where it will stay for the time being.
Next up is a very small set that will only take 1-2 hours to build: it’s a “gift with purchase” (GWP) from last year called Books Are My Passion. I didn’t really start paying attention to the GWPs* until late last year: I completely missed this one, but have been a little obsessed since I learned about it! 
Last week I ordered it from eBay; it’s supposed to arrive tomorrow. But I don’t know what the next “big” set will be: right now, there’s nothing I want that isn’t either backordered or discontinued. The Trevi Fountain is being released in March as part of the Architecture series: I’ve been there, and I thought about pre-ordering it, but ultimately I’m just not impressed enough with how it looks.
*a little more about GWPs if you're interested
They’re never sold as standalone sets; they’re only available as gifts. And, only for a limited time. GWPs change every few weeks, so if you don’t buy something during the time when a particular GWP is offered the only way to get it later is through Amazon, eBay, Lego trading sites, etc. Most of them aren’t interesting to me, and if I accidentally get one I give it to my “nephew,” but a few have been kind of great: the retro record player, a light-up Halloween pumpkin, a winter holiday train, this set, etc. This will be the second GWP I’ve purchased aftermarket: the other was a holiday tribute to Charles Dickens.
I am Lego-less today – not to be confused with Legolas; I may be short, but I’m no blonde elf – but I think I’ll be able to fill the rest of my day. I have a piano, I recently finished a book and have a new sample on my Kindle to check out, and I have subscriptions to waaay too many streaming services. 
I’d have to let Bailey out, anyway; I’d just grab drinks while already outside with her.
Well, I don’t have any refrigerated food: the only things in my fridge are liquids. All of my cold food is in the freezer, and it would have to be Northern Piper levels of cold here for me to trust frozen stuff outside. But my yard is fenced and my 'hood is pretty safe, so even if I had food out there I’d only have to worry about a few 4-legged bandits.
Glad to hear that you’re recovering apace (if carefully)!
I’ve been a fan of heated seats for many years, but I always thought of heated steering wheels as kind of ridiculous…until I needed to borrow a friend’s car for a few weeks one winter, and it had one. I was instantly converted. I wouldn’t have made a new car decision based on that option, but when I bought my current car I was super happy that it had one!
Awww!
He’s back, ladies and germs… 
Yay, indeed!
Yikes! I don’t suppose you’re willing to stop taking it – and, I guess, effectively waste what you spent on it – until you’re able to see the doc again? That seems like a pretty harsh side effect. Maybe it’ll be super temporary. 