Yo' momma so dumb . . .

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

. . . OK, so this is really about how MY momma so dumb, but feel free to add your own stories . . .

Today I had an appointment in my hometown, 60 miles away, to get a satellite radio installed in my newish car.* I had brought some work along on my laptop, intending to trek on foot across a major intersection and sit at Starbucks and work until the car was ready. But I had to stop at my mom’s first for some stuff, and while I was there we got to talking about how she wanted me to help her set up a Gmail account at the library, so why didn’t we do that and then do lunch while I was waiting for the car instead?

(Believe it or not, this isn’t about my mother being a computer idiot. That’s a whole 'nuther thread.)

So we both drive to the stereo place and park; she waits in her car. I get my laptop out of my trunk and tap on her trunk to get her to pop it so I can put the laptop in there out of sight. I go into the stereo place, check in, and then come back out and get into my mom’s car, and she has this huge note on the dash: “Computer in trunk.”

“What’s this?” I ask.

“Oh, that’s so I don’t forget that your computer’s in the trunk.”

“OK, so I make a point of putting it in the trunk, away out of sight of anyone who might be inclined to steal it, and you put a big honking note on the dash, readable from outside, that says there’s a computer in the trunk?”

It took her a while to get why that was a bad idea. I took the note and crumpled it up, and said, “Believe me, I’m very aware of where my laptop is, and I won’t forget to take it with me.”

Sheesh. Luckily I get my brains from my dad’s side of the family.

  • I live out in the sticks. The first two places where we tried to get this done, Best Buy and American, were closer, but they both bungled it up, long annoying stories, so this was the third try with a place that’s more expensive but has a rep of really knowing what they’re doing. Should have gone there first . . .
2

Mom and I recently had medical tests on the same day.

I called her that evening and asked her how it went. She said: It went well, I guess. I don’t know the outcome, they never tell you the outcome right then.

We talked awhile and then she asked: So, what did they find with your test?

3

I dunno. As many times as people in my family have driven off and forgotten something, a note isn’t a bad idea. Unless it was on a full sheet of paper and written in big bold letters, how likely is it that a passerby would see it? And that the passerby would be desperate enough for a laptop to jimmy with the trunk?

Cut mom some slack. She was trying to be helpful.

4

My mom was all a-flutter and worked up because my kid was sitting on a new sofa and she was worried his pants might be dirty. As the words were leaving her mouth, her dog was pissing on the corner of it. :rolleyes:

I asked her, “Ya really think whatever might be on his pants is worse than dog piss?”

5

Yeah, I know she meant well. But her car also has a ham radio and a TomTom (GPS) on the dash, enough to interest anybody who’s checking out cars in a parking lot for interesting swag. Why clue them in to the extra goods unseen in the trunk?

Also, I value my laptop. It’s not an expensive one, but it’s the only one I have. I really prefer to keep reasonably tight security on it. I wasn’t even keen on leaving it in the trunk, and I did take it with me into the library (in case I wanted to refer to anything on it while helping my mom, as much as to keep it with me), though not into the restaurant for lunch.

A few days ago a Doper reported having an empty laptop bag stolen out of his/her car, IIRC. You never know what will tempt someone.

6

That’s true. Shortly after we moved back to Iowa (1990), someone stole cassette tapes out of my truck. It took a few days but eventually I laughed about it. We’re in the middle of country music territory and the thieves made off with Dr. John, k d lang and Robert Cray. I’ve always wondered whether, if it hadn’t been night time, they would have put the tapes back.