Christmas, 2022

low key but nice Christmas holiday

Days of Winter...

We've been experiencing our four days of winter where the temps went down to about 29 deg here in Titusville. That promped us to cover the outside plants that were susciptible to freezing and to move inside the annuals in pots. The inside of the house and porch look like a bleeding greenhouse.

Thanksgiving 2022

Click to open Google Photos:

Nichole

To be done:n

Apple Watch meanderings....

It seems to me like things, generally speaking, don't last as long as they used to. I'm kind of in the "use it up, wear it out" camp on many things as I get older...not the first to jump in on something just because it's new. That being said, way back when on April 10, 2015 I put in an order for an Apple Sport Watch, 42.mm. Every year there's a new Edition, but until now I didn't have a good reason to upgrade. They're up to Edition #8, plus there's been a few SE models, but the first edition watch I've been wearing did everything I needed it to do: Apple Pay, Weather and date and time, phone and msg, alarms...etc. I've finally given in and ordered the new SE that has the same chipset as the new version 8, and this will run things my original one will not...that I think I'll like. One of them is a Sleep module that connects with the iphone to track the various sleep cycles, and the other is a "back-track" navigation app to get you back to where you started if you have a brain fart and need navigational help. I'm wondering what I'll do with the original watch...could be a valulable antique some day like the old Apple 1 computer? I'm impressed that it still works as good, and looks as good, as the day I rec'd it via UPS from Apple. Back in the day when the watch was put in a drawer, or thrown out, it was because it had quit. Apple watchs don't have much quit in them it seems :).

UPDATE October 20th, 2022: I returned the Apple SE for a refund, and they processed it cheerfully and completely. To my way of thinking this new SE did very few things I needed that my original Series 1 did not do. Happily I've found and purchased a new smart watch that does what I need. It's a Health Smartwatch 3 made by Spade & Co. It has much better health modules, and the battery lasts a good week. Seems to be an excellent design...and it cost $80.00 compared to the Apple $350.00. There was a bit of a learning curve for me in leaving the Apple universe...but this watch pairs with either IOS or Android so :).

Just in from Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park..

https://photos.app.goo.gl/fCw9oc5wpVVtFYza9 Nice campout!

Reflections Of My Life

https://youtu.be/trbCjj3R-cQ

Sadness and smiles....

I just learned a few days ago a good friend of ours from my Allstate Insurance days had died...Charley Sullivan https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/hartfordcourant/name/charles-sullivan-obituary?id=36272853. When Allstate transferred me from their West Hartford Office, where I was an Associate Agent trainee, to the Manchester CT Sears booth, Charlie was one of the Agents there and we hit it off right away. Alice and myself, and Charlie and Claudia did a lot together...Long Bridge weekends at their camp in Maine, eventually we both got into sailing and did some cruising together on LI and Block Isl Sound, visiting Block Isl, Newport RI, Cuttyhunk in the Elizabeth Islands...lots of good memories from the social activity as well as work companions. I'm going to miss him a lot. So, here I'm sitting and feeling a bit sad about it all and I get a note from an old girlfriend who had found me on Facebook. It was a very nice note, catching me up on some mutual friends we had, and I sent her back a reply thanking her for making me smile. Of course I told Alice, and showed her the note, telling her I'd been tracked down by an old flame and she cracked up. It was an inside joke of ours that when I got a call from an "unknown" I'd say it has to be one of my old girlfriends, consumed with repressed lust, looking me up. Ya, right! :) Looking back is good though...as you can remember different parts of your life that were important and fulfilling in their own way. Like most folks in their late 70's I have some health issues that are concerning and its good to keep things in perspective. A smile on the past can help do just that.

Dust of Life - Bui Doi

https://youtu.be/fdi8c70rE_4

A note to my brother-in-law Joey on my recent computer experiences...ChomeOS Flex

It all started when I spilled a perfectly good glass of Merlot onto my Chromebook as I was swiping away at a bug (this IS Florida)...and anyway, I cooked the pc. At about the same time my older Chromebook went into it's "out of update" period...where it can not longer receive updates. So, to make a long story shorter, I ordered a pc from Amazon...it was an HP Chromebook, and I didn't really like it. Very poor quality on the case, poor keyboard feel etc. I decided to just suck it up (it wasn't big bucks) but then a miracle happened...after a week it just plain quit...would NOT wake up. So, I returned it to Amazon and was more careful ordering the next one...got an ASUS that is well built, has a nice backlit keyboard, touch-screen etc. I'm happy as a clam with it but that's not why I am writing this note... On one of my tech blogs I read online (or it could have been the tech section of the NYT) there was an article about how Google had bought a start-up that had set up a system to convert old PC's and Mac's to Chromebooks. Once they had purchased the company, they perfected the process they had originated, and since they're the "keeper of the Code" on Chrome they could totally integrate it with the current Chrome software that's now powering a zillion Chromebooks. This is especially good news for the Enterprise and environment as there's going to be a LOT less PC's going to landfills, especially coming from educational facilities that have hundreds of outdated PC's. So...that was an interesting article and it occured to me that I had an old HP Windows pc in the guest room closet. It had a Windows 10 operating system, and I had stopped using it when I finally got out of building web-sites that used a Windows specific engine, and also stopped using Quicken when I fully went into on-line banking. So, I picked up a USB stick and went to work. Due to my aging brain it did not go totally smooth and there was a bit of touch and go...but the bottom line is the old, slow, pain in the ass relic in the closet is now a fast, responsive Chromebook that does everything my new out of the box ASUS does, but better...because the hardware is higher end. It has more connectivity (USB and card readers) built in, a great tactile touch keyboard, and outstanding graphics and screen. Most Chromebooks you purchase (they probably average $200-300) do not have great hardware as they're designed to only go about five years before they hit that "end of update" kill switch. The total cost of the conversion was about $13 for a few USB sticks. The software is free. So, sometimes there IS a Santa Clause. I'm glad I hadn't recycled that old pc!! :).

Just joined a 3rd Inf Div alumni group...

Robert R. Payette · Thanks for inviting me into the group. I think I had one of the best jobs at the PSD on the hill....working an administrative discharge desk. While at Leighton Barracks I attended night school with the Univ.of Maryland on base, the NCO Academy in Kitzingin and managed to see parts of Austria, Holland & France by motor-bike before buying a new Simca which I picked up in Paris. After the NCO Academy in 1963 I was feeling a bit bullet-proof and volunteered for Vietnam. Nothing happened so I went in debt and bought the Simca in Paris and yup...my orders for RVN came through. Had to ship the car home via Bremerhaven. I made it to CanTho in the Delta (13th Avn Bn (Delta) before my car made it to NYC. The person I entrusted to ship it home for me used up a lot of his leave and had a grand time with it. Also, while in Wurzburg, loved the beer and wine festivals...seems there was one weekly:).

Just in from Louisa State Park...

We just got back from Louisa State Park and had a nice get-a-way. Snaps here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/xgwrhKDAeN4qAjdj8 Jerry and Jo Lambert are down snowbirding, and they came by to visit and dinner...great seeing them!

Screwed over...

So, in anticipation of our trip tomorrow to Cedar Key I trudged off to the ATM early this morning to get some folding money...On the way back I detected an odd tire sound, got home and looked and my right rear tire was in the process of going flat. Called Ford road-service and they promptly came out and installed the donut spare. No muss, no fuss. Then off we go to WalMart to have the reasonably new Goodyear tire fixed. It turns out there was a large screw in it. Titusville WalMart announced they do not have ANY tire personnel on hand for the entire weekend (we have full road hazard with the tires). So, here's where we went next: My Ford dealers quick stop, a local PepBoys, A Firestone, A Tire Kingdom, an independent garage or two....all of whom were open for business BUT were full of customers for the day and could not even look at the screwed tire except for one guy who said the tire was not repairable due to the size of the hole in it...and they didn't carry Goodyear. At Alice's suggestion I drove a few towns over to Cocoa to their WalMart, which had an open, busy but helpful Automotive department and they swapped out the screwed tire for a new one. Time lapse from beginning to end is about 4 hours +. So much for productive Saturday's.