Well, it wasn't the batteries, anyway

Water softener guy was just here... and what was wrong with it was basically what I thought must have been wrong, but I didn't know what "wrong" looked like.  Basically, when the plumbers were here, they set the softener to "bypass" and turned off the water supply to it, and never turned it back on again when they left.  On the plus side, the tech didn't charge me the entire $90+ for an appointment, took $35 in cash (which is what he said he gets for a call), and had me call his office and say I couldn't make the appointment.  But I just paid $35 because the plumbers didn't turn the water back on after they had turned it off.  On the other hand... considering how much Steve undercharged me, I can't really complain too much... just a bit. [ETA: Of course, Steve has offered to reimburse me for the service call.  Because that's the kind of guy he is.  Have refused.]

Strangely enough, I have a telephone job interview tomorrow.  I say "strangely enough" because I'm pretty sure I never applied for this job, a receptionist position at a medical association in Des Plaines, which Google Maps tells me is a 50-minute commute from here (I don't know if Google Maps takes I-90 rush hour traffic into account).  I know nothing about the job except that it's "receptionist," and I don't know where the guy who's calling got my name - my resume is up on Monster and CareerBuilder, so I assume it's from one of those places.  Unless it was a vague Craigslist listing I sent the resume to as part of keeping the Illinois Department of Employment Security happy, in case they want to see that I've been applying for jobs.  I guess there's a sort of default nervousness that happens when the prospect of any kind of interview looms, but in fact, unless there's an unusually good benefits package attached to this, it's not a job I want - not sure what I want to do with my life, but "receptionist" isn't it.  So theoretically I should be pretty relaxed for this "interview."  Which is tomorrow morning, either between 8 and 8:30 or between 9 and 9:30.  Which one, I don't know for sure, because the guy sent me an "invitation" through Google Calendar, which I'd never used before, and I noticed something to click on to change the invitation to Central Time... which changed it from 8 to 9.  But considering the guy was in the Central Time Zone, presumably, when he sent it... eh, who knows?  If I actually had to show up somewhere (and cared more), I'd get back in touch and ask.  But all I have to do is be here and answer the phone.

Another counselor appointment yesterday, another instance where before it I was thinking I'd stop the appointments, and after it I didn't.

On the way home from the appointment, I bought a new steam iron - my old iron hasn't made steam for as long as I've been in Illinois, but I didn't iron enough clothes for it to matter.  Now that daily life no longer includes hours working in a cabinet shop, it's time to get back to ironing again.  What other excitement can I report?  I sent a box of more of our CDs to CDBaby: people still buy them occasionally, or download the tracks from them.  (They're here if you're curious.)  I still have to figure out how to get new copies of the Lookout Mountain Convention 1968 CD produced - I presume the templates for the CD insert are on Jerry's PC, which wouldn't go on last time I tried.  I haven't done anything about getting it fixed so far; in the meantime, I've contacted a few CD duplicators to see if they can make copies from a hard copy - still waiting to hear back (might not work for the type of small run I'd be looking for).

And so it goes.  Still, no sign of Jerry coming back.  The Year of Suck, as one of you put it, continues.