Exit. Hmm.
Gratitude #83 - Sweet Biddies!
13 years ago
Saturday, January 8, 2011
radio speakers
I was listening to my phone.
For wonderment, I set it up to play one of the hundreds of songs on the drive, put it on my desk and turned it on.
This little gizmo, not a lot bigger than half a deck of cards, sounded quite good, surely good enough for my fuzzy ears.
So I went looking for the speaker.
The sound comes out of an 1/8" hole on the bottom of the gizmo.
My idea of speakers still goes back to the 60's, where anyone who had a good sound system had speakers that dominated the whole room (or car sometimes).
Then I remember Bose. I never owned one, and I don't think I have even heard one, but they claimed a new technology where they could make a small radio sound like a big one, and I concluded that that Bose add and my iPhone might well share the same technology.
Since I am not a scientist I may be all wrong on that last one, but I have pretty good hearing for an old guy and that little phone sounded really good.
I am still impressed.
For wonderment, I set it up to play one of the hundreds of songs on the drive, put it on my desk and turned it on.
This little gizmo, not a lot bigger than half a deck of cards, sounded quite good, surely good enough for my fuzzy ears.
So I went looking for the speaker.
The sound comes out of an 1/8" hole on the bottom of the gizmo.
My idea of speakers still goes back to the 60's, where anyone who had a good sound system had speakers that dominated the whole room (or car sometimes).
Then I remember Bose. I never owned one, and I don't think I have even heard one, but they claimed a new technology where they could make a small radio sound like a big one, and I concluded that that Bose add and my iPhone might well share the same technology.
Since I am not a scientist I may be all wrong on that last one, but I have pretty good hearing for an old guy and that little phone sounded really good.
I am still impressed.
Friday, January 7, 2011
my smart phone
I was aware of the iPhone before it was introduced.
There did not seem to be any reason to get too excited, the chance of me owning one was quite remote, but I read about them, much as I read about Porches and Buick Regals. Off budget, but intriguing!
Then suddenly I am the owner of a "state of last year's" technology.
I am not complaining. To go from a guy who never expected to own one, to a guy who has last year's version is not a bad deal. Mainly it means that when scouting the App store, I have to be a bit aware of models. Mine is the Model 3.
Talked to daughter last night, the one with the engineer/gadgeteer husband. She said when he buys a gadget she judges it's effectiveness by how long he is enamored with it! She said some gadgets keep him occupied for a whole month, and she is delighted!
She said the iPhone has kept him occupied for much longer and I can see why.
If your weakness is playing games on a computer, there are lots of them, and you can carry the game with you to church, or to the Senate. I have family living in 6 different towns. The iphone tracks the weather in each of these towns. It really doesn't matter too much to me what the weather is in Brisbane or Portland or New London, but it keeps me entertained!
My iPhone consultant (futre son in law) said to look carefully through the App store. Look for applications (small programs) that would do what you need. Download all of them. Try them all, and the ones that really won't work for you get rid of them. That is good advice for the thousands of free Apps, but there are lots of pay apps too.
A bit of care there.
But a couple weeks after I began working with this little wonder, I am finding it all sorts of useful, besides being entertaining.
And, life goes on (somewhat changed!)
There did not seem to be any reason to get too excited, the chance of me owning one was quite remote, but I read about them, much as I read about Porches and Buick Regals. Off budget, but intriguing!
Then suddenly I am the owner of a "state of last year's" technology.
I am not complaining. To go from a guy who never expected to own one, to a guy who has last year's version is not a bad deal. Mainly it means that when scouting the App store, I have to be a bit aware of models. Mine is the Model 3.
Talked to daughter last night, the one with the engineer/gadgeteer husband. She said when he buys a gadget she judges it's effectiveness by how long he is enamored with it! She said some gadgets keep him occupied for a whole month, and she is delighted!
She said the iPhone has kept him occupied for much longer and I can see why.
If your weakness is playing games on a computer, there are lots of them, and you can carry the game with you to church, or to the Senate. I have family living in 6 different towns. The iphone tracks the weather in each of these towns. It really doesn't matter too much to me what the weather is in Brisbane or Portland or New London, but it keeps me entertained!
My iPhone consultant (futre son in law) said to look carefully through the App store. Look for applications (small programs) that would do what you need. Download all of them. Try them all, and the ones that really won't work for you get rid of them. That is good advice for the thousands of free Apps, but there are lots of pay apps too.
A bit of care there.
But a couple weeks after I began working with this little wonder, I am finding it all sorts of useful, besides being entertaining.
And, life goes on (somewhat changed!)
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
techie grandpa
The other day one of my granddaughters called me a "techie grandpa."
Guess it is true, mostly. I bought my first computer 25 years ago. Got a masters degree with the help of that old relic!
Now I text to my grandkids, I use a digital camera, I keep a blog and now I have a smart phone.
My new phone (an apple product of course) is not the latest model. Daughter 4 needed the newest upgrade and her company helped pay for it, so I inherited the old one.
Other than screen size and lack of a two handed keyboard, this smart phone allows me to carry infinitely larger computing power in my pocket than was on that old 75 pound system.
RAM in those days came in Kilobytes. I have not heard that term in a long time. Now I hear about Terabyte. Don't have one yet, but I have a couple 1/4 terabyte devices.
My old college computer had a hard drive (all computers did not in those days), with a capacity of 20 Megabytes. My iPhone has 16 Gigabytes of memory.
If I was getting smarter as fast as my computing power is increasing all would be very well.
I am afraid it is not, however.
Guess it is true, mostly. I bought my first computer 25 years ago. Got a masters degree with the help of that old relic!
Now I text to my grandkids, I use a digital camera, I keep a blog and now I have a smart phone.
My new phone (an apple product of course) is not the latest model. Daughter 4 needed the newest upgrade and her company helped pay for it, so I inherited the old one.
Other than screen size and lack of a two handed keyboard, this smart phone allows me to carry infinitely larger computing power in my pocket than was on that old 75 pound system.
RAM in those days came in Kilobytes. I have not heard that term in a long time. Now I hear about Terabyte. Don't have one yet, but I have a couple 1/4 terabyte devices.
My old college computer had a hard drive (all computers did not in those days), with a capacity of 20 Megabytes. My iPhone has 16 Gigabytes of memory.
If I was getting smarter as fast as my computing power is increasing all would be very well.
I am afraid it is not, however.
Monday, January 3, 2011
missionaries
I have friendships that are about to crash because of veganism.
For all of my life I have been a vegetarian (even though I had a piece of turkey for christmas dinner). I don’t know that it will lengthen my life and I doubt that the guy upstairs is all that impressed, but it is what I know and am comfortable with.
Remember me telling about an in law in law who is big into herb therapy who was convinced that he could cure my grandson of diabetes and my wife of Alzheimer’s by his genius and herbs.
Daughter will not let him do his thing with my diabetic grandson, nor would I even listen to his healing prowess. I think both are nonsense.
The guy is in his 90’s, as onery as an old rooster, and convinced that all of these herbs he injests is the secret, yet his grandmother was smoking a pipe at 105, so there is a bit of genetics there.
I suppose it comes back to “it will help if you think it will help.”
Which brings me back to veganism. I am not exactly sure (not being a shrink) what it is that makes people so missionary about the difference between being a garden variety vegetarian and an ultra vegan.
They are as convinced as my inlawinlaw that it will make them live longer and healthier. It might help if you have had a heart attack or a stroke, I don’t know, and it may just make them think they are living longer, I don’t know, but I asked that the word “vegan” not be used again in my presence.
Which means that I am on an outside roll. If they can’t talk about it, and they are like new christians in their zeal, I am muzzling them. If they do talk about it, I’ll be very uncomfortable, especially when the talk is in the “would you change if it would cure you of . . .?”
So I am an outsider, maybe going even more outside as time goes on. And, truth be told, should l accept the “gospel” of it all, I’d not tell anyone!
It would be my secret!
For all of my life I have been a vegetarian (even though I had a piece of turkey for christmas dinner). I don’t know that it will lengthen my life and I doubt that the guy upstairs is all that impressed, but it is what I know and am comfortable with.
Remember me telling about an in law in law who is big into herb therapy who was convinced that he could cure my grandson of diabetes and my wife of Alzheimer’s by his genius and herbs.
Daughter will not let him do his thing with my diabetic grandson, nor would I even listen to his healing prowess. I think both are nonsense.
The guy is in his 90’s, as onery as an old rooster, and convinced that all of these herbs he injests is the secret, yet his grandmother was smoking a pipe at 105, so there is a bit of genetics there.
I suppose it comes back to “it will help if you think it will help.”
Which brings me back to veganism. I am not exactly sure (not being a shrink) what it is that makes people so missionary about the difference between being a garden variety vegetarian and an ultra vegan.
They are as convinced as my inlawinlaw that it will make them live longer and healthier. It might help if you have had a heart attack or a stroke, I don’t know, and it may just make them think they are living longer, I don’t know, but I asked that the word “vegan” not be used again in my presence.
Which means that I am on an outside roll. If they can’t talk about it, and they are like new christians in their zeal, I am muzzling them. If they do talk about it, I’ll be very uncomfortable, especially when the talk is in the “would you change if it would cure you of . . .?”
So I am an outsider, maybe going even more outside as time goes on. And, truth be told, should l accept the “gospel” of it all, I’d not tell anyone!
It would be my secret!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
golden?
There is a lot of talk this being the “golden age.”
The context is that it is gold to be old. The term was coined by Madison Avenue to sell us something, I fear.
This age remind me more of my old friend Damocles. (Remember taht I never met some of my best friends.
Damocles was a king and he had a general who was a bit envious (I may get the details wrong here, but I’ll get the punch line). So the King invited the General to a dinner.
The dinner had everything, entertainment (dancing girls I am sure), great food and too much to drink most likely. The General was really liking this thing.
Then the wise king asked him how he was doing and the answer was all smiles. The king pointed over their heads and there was a heavy battle sword hanging from a single thread. It could fall at any moment.
“That,” said the king, “is what it is like to be King.”
It is also what it is like to be old. A neighbor is a bit older than me, and he had a stroke a while back. Left him badly damaged. We were talking about a mutual acquaintance and how healthy he was. Neighbor said: “In 30 minutes, he could be like me.”
That is old age.
BTW, happy new year everyone.
The context is that it is gold to be old. The term was coined by Madison Avenue to sell us something, I fear.
This age remind me more of my old friend Damocles. (Remember taht I never met some of my best friends.
Damocles was a king and he had a general who was a bit envious (I may get the details wrong here, but I’ll get the punch line). So the King invited the General to a dinner.
The dinner had everything, entertainment (dancing girls I am sure), great food and too much to drink most likely. The General was really liking this thing.
Then the wise king asked him how he was doing and the answer was all smiles. The king pointed over their heads and there was a heavy battle sword hanging from a single thread. It could fall at any moment.
“That,” said the king, “is what it is like to be King.”
It is also what it is like to be old. A neighbor is a bit older than me, and he had a stroke a while back. Left him badly damaged. We were talking about a mutual acquaintance and how healthy he was. Neighbor said: “In 30 minutes, he could be like me.”
That is old age.
BTW, happy new year everyone.
Friday, December 31, 2010
luxury
This morning after I woke up, but was still in my warm bed, I began to think about luxuries.
Someone said that middle class was when you can afford to do more than just survive.
But to me it was different.
I am old, I know, but I remember when an add for a good car might include this line: “Radio and heater.” The radio was AM only, and played through a real tin can speaker, and the heater on a cold day might never warm the inside of the vehicle, but there was one there.
Then I think of the real “old days” when travel was in an unheated and often open horse drawn device of some sort.
For the last ten nights we have slept in a 12’ cargo trailer. We had a mattress on the floor, a pile of blankets, but we were warm. Since we were plugged into “shore” power, we had an electric heater, lights and even a portable toilet.
It is 16 degrees outside now, and all do not have a warm fire or a warm bed to snuggle into, and I feel so luxurious in my small, almost tiny, house.
And, being a good card carrying christian, while I am feeling blessed, I also feel a bit guilty for all of this.
Someone said that middle class was when you can afford to do more than just survive.
But to me it was different.
I am old, I know, but I remember when an add for a good car might include this line: “Radio and heater.” The radio was AM only, and played through a real tin can speaker, and the heater on a cold day might never warm the inside of the vehicle, but there was one there.
Then I think of the real “old days” when travel was in an unheated and often open horse drawn device of some sort.
For the last ten nights we have slept in a 12’ cargo trailer. We had a mattress on the floor, a pile of blankets, but we were warm. Since we were plugged into “shore” power, we had an electric heater, lights and even a portable toilet.
It is 16 degrees outside now, and all do not have a warm fire or a warm bed to snuggle into, and I feel so luxurious in my small, almost tiny, house.
And, being a good card carrying christian, while I am feeling blessed, I also feel a bit guilty for all of this.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
wonderful
My cup runneth over.
We had a great week with kids and grandkids and extended family.
Right now the grandkids are playing a noisy game, but they are having a great time. I am always so pleased that they find enjoyment in each other’s company and get along so well.
I did not have any close cousins, nor did my kids, so it is with a particularly grateful heart that I watch and listen.
We are always fed well. The 4 daughters get into the kitchen and all you can do is get out of the way and watch. They work together so very well.
So, as I said, my cup runneth over.
There were some wonderful, thoughtful gifts. We did not expect any, and we were superbly blessed.
Before we went to church daughter four helped her mother with hair and make up. Miriam looked beautiful. Tonight the same daughter and I went to buy new makeup to replace Miriam’s aging collection.
I have been fixing Miriam’s hair of late. It is quite long and I pull it back and clasp it with a barrette. It looks good and I like helping her.
Nurse daughter (2) had to go home this evening (she works tonight delivering babies), another leaves tomorrow, and another on Wednesday.
We will go home with a head-full of super wonderful memories. It was the best christmas ever, one daughter reported.
Indeed, it was.
We had a great week with kids and grandkids and extended family.
Right now the grandkids are playing a noisy game, but they are having a great time. I am always so pleased that they find enjoyment in each other’s company and get along so well.
I did not have any close cousins, nor did my kids, so it is with a particularly grateful heart that I watch and listen.
We are always fed well. The 4 daughters get into the kitchen and all you can do is get out of the way and watch. They work together so very well.
So, as I said, my cup runneth over.
There were some wonderful, thoughtful gifts. We did not expect any, and we were superbly blessed.
Before we went to church daughter four helped her mother with hair and make up. Miriam looked beautiful. Tonight the same daughter and I went to buy new makeup to replace Miriam’s aging collection.
I have been fixing Miriam’s hair of late. It is quite long and I pull it back and clasp it with a barrette. It looks good and I like helping her.
Nurse daughter (2) had to go home this evening (she works tonight delivering babies), another leaves tomorrow, and another on Wednesday.
We will go home with a head-full of super wonderful memories. It was the best christmas ever, one daughter reported.
Indeed, it was.
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