Was visiting my 98-year old friend yesterday for our usual Sunday-NYT-Crossword-on-Monday date. Over our usual grilled cheese sandwich and popcorn lunch, she said she wanted to show me something.
It seems she received a credit card in the mail that she thought was a scam. Turns out it's a "CA Middle Class Rebate" and apparently legit, but she wanted a paper check, not a booby-trapped debit card. A Google search led to an article which said it could be converted to a paper check I called the number on the paperwork multiple times, but no option lead to a human voice. She got the idea to call our State Assemblyperson. I did and a nice person actually picked up the phone. She verified my friend's info, then emailed us a form to be filled out and returned. We went upstairs (!) to my friend's desktop to complete the forms and noticed her lovely white Apple keyboard was grimy with smudges. I unplugged it, took it downstairs and cleaned it until it looked brand-new.
I don't know if our efforts will result in the desired check, but I'm counting the keyboard clean-up as a good deed.
Afterwards, we both climbed into her garage attic (yes, she's 98!) and brought down her Christmas tree and a box of decorations. We moved her dining room table together to make room for the tree. I noticed the legs were wobbly, so I crawled under the table. As she lifted each corner, I tightened the wing nuts. From that vantage point, I could see a burned out bulb in the DR light fixture. She knew exactly where in the garage she had another, so she got it and I replaced it.
Finally, we completed our puzzles.
I felt really useful today.