Changing Neighborhoods
A busy start to the week, but hopefully things will begin to slow down during the day and I can transition some of the thoughts in my head to the screen. Speaking of this site, I’m about to undertake some fairly major, behind-the-scenes changes. I’ve been having issues for months with my hosting service. There were lots of little issues, some you may have noticed, others you may have not. Those were bugging me a little but I figured they weren’t really worth fixing. Then I ran some normal updates in early July and totally wrecked something in the process.…
Some Notes
A couple smaller things smashed into one post today. First, there’s just too much information out there. I know this is, like, a devastatingly deep and original opinion, but that’s why I have a blog, people. Wait, I’m not talking about the general flood of information we swim through each day. I’m talking about the maddening process of trying to buy pretty much anything. Example: our printer is dying. So I go on the webzzz to do some research on what garbage printer we should buy for the next 18–24 months.[1] I find a couple articles, on reputable sites, that…
On Venmo and Privacy
I’ve been using the Venmo payment service for a few years. Mostly I use it to pay my sister-in-law, who is a personal chef, for the meals she makes for us weekly. When I first signed up for the service, I thought it was strange that I could see a timeline of all the transactions of my friends who also used it. And there was a global timeline, where I could follow anyone who used the service. I turned that shit off quick, making sure my transactions were listed as private. Below is a fascinating article about what can be…
Cooking With Gas
Our house is now filled with the sweet, fragrant glory of wireless internet. Comcast finally showed up yesterday to get everything hooked up. Just in time for the second half of the rather glorious England-Croatia match we had cable TV and internet. Those two-plus weeks without them seemed a lot longer. Only 33 days from initial request until completion of installation. Less than 24 hours into our Xfinity lives, we’re pleased with it so far. Then again, we would be happy with just about any connection at this point. Our internet is way faster than at the old house. We…
Friday Notes
Time for an end-of-the-week update, as it has been an interesting few days. I’ll share the good first: we actually have some movement in getting our house connected to the internet and world of cable television! Thursday morning L came and found me and asked, “Who is that creepy guy in the backyard?” I looked out and, sure enough, there was a creepy guy pushing one of those bicycle-wheel measuring things across our backyard.(fn) I went outside, greeted him, and asked what he was measuring. He was difficult to understand, but I gathered he was there to run a cable…
IPad Test
Since Comcast can’t get their shit together and get us cable/internet, this is a test post to see if I can post from the iPad when using my iPhone’s hotspot. Cuz I gots to crank out the content, fools.
Back In The Day
It seems like every day there is another piece of evidence that the Internet is a terrible place, and that far too many humans are loathsome people. And then there are things like this, which reaffirm my faith that the Internet is ultimately a good thing. I discovered it just after last Christmas, so I’ve been sitting on it for a while year. I’m glad I’m finally able to share Greg Maletic’s look back at the 1977 Sears Wish Book! "You might not recognize what this is. This is Amazon, printed out. The Sears Wish Book, 1977 I just wish…
Jacked
Apple product launch announcements aren’t the must-watch events they once were for me. I’ve scaled back my purchasing of new electronic toys to a much slower pace.[1] No more new Mac to replace a perfectly good one every 12–18 months. I keep my phones well past the two years I’m obligated to keep them without having to pay to upgrade. Mostly this is because the pace of technology has changed, at least for now. Those big leaps in design, function, and software we saw in the ‘00s has slowed way down. There just isn’t as huge of a difference in…
Farewell to VHS
So after this month, no more VCRs will be produced. Wait, they were still making VCRs? I guess there are probably some folks out there with shelves full of movies – purchased or taped from TV, professional and personal – who were never interested in buying them all again in a digital format, or didn’t want to invest the time and effort to convert them to digital. I know I still have some tapes stored in a cabinet in our basement. Some of those tapes hold great sentimental value, even if I haven’t watched them in 20 years or more. There…
Of Birth Dates And Birth Orders
It’s a weird day in our house. Today is M’s 12th birthday, but she’s not here to celebrate. We dropped her off for her first-ever week at a summer camp yesterday. So our phones, or rather her phone, will not ring with calls from relatives looking to talk to her and wish her a happy birthday. There’s no special dinner planned for tonight, or cake for dessert. Kid birthdays are supposed to be big, all-encompassing days all about them but today our house is quiet. I guess this is a preview of life when the girls aren’t here anymore. Strange!…