It's that TMI post of the day...

Hide yer kids and yer eyes if you don't want to talk about bathroom stuff. Don't read this specific text if you believe the movies are right and we shouldn't show our toilets.


I'll wait til you leave.









Okay.



So... I am at a cousin's house and have realized two things.


One: It's so damn nice to be in a bathroom with a window.



I haven't been able to sit and pee with natural light streaming in, in 8 years.

It's such a different feeling, being able to do your business with a window above your head... versus four walls, the "porcelain throne", a sink and a shower. Bathrooms are bathrooms but the enclosed feeling that forces you to do your business as quick as possible is partially the reason we all probably have issues down here. Being able to see something out that window or have natural light stream in, feels more relaxed.

No wonder why some people I know have stomach issues. They've got to "hurry, hurry" and get out. Maybe they feel claustrophobic? I know the bathroom isn't the place to hang out with friends, but it also shouldn't make you not want to go in and clear out.


The second thing I've noticed: The way the toilet paper is on the holder behind the toilet.

Every bathroom is different, I know, but I found myself having to give a reach around to get some paper.

For real.

I had to reach behind myself to get the toilet paper, to then use it to wipe myself.

Usually holders are on a side of the sink or the wall closest to the toilet or you've got to reach so far in front of you, that you've got to get off the toilet and grab the paper.... because it's on the opposite wall.. the one in front of you.

Not here. Someone didn't think of this correctly.

The holder is in the place the plunger or cleaning wand should be... in the back, by the tank.

Fecking weird.


Tell me your thoughts!


Cheers;




* All photos taken on an iPhone 11 *

It's national bird day

Happy Thanksgiving to those poultry loving humans. I'm currently sitting in a kitchen in Sarasota, Florida, waiting for the cooking to begin and people to arrive.

As per usual, we are at a relative's house for the bird feast. It's a matter of things actually being reheated, so I'm told, and it won't start happening for another 3 hours. What the hell am I going to do for three hours? One person is in the other room on his computer, two people are outside in the sun, and I'm in the dark kitchen on my laptop because that's the only place that has a plug for my computer.

I guess I could see if some of my shows from this past week are uploaded online to their respective channels, as I ended up watching a zombie show on the drive here.

I saw some funny cartoons to remind us all what day it is, and I wanted to share them. Also wanted to know if anyone has checked out Black Friday deals yet and what looks pretty good. Amazon has been toting stuff all week but I've not been on the site looking for anything. There's really nothing I need at the moment, even though some of the electronic bundles look interesting (Echo Dot 3rd Generation + Smart Plug for $26.99 today only. It goes back to $74.98 soon). I'm wondering if some of the external media sale is good as well...?

I don't shop that often so I really don't know if these prices are amazingly awesome and I'm stupid for not wanting to go troll through circulars or sites. I see it like this: If I want it, I'll buy it. Or I'll do research enough to then buy it.

I guess it's a good way to know what you're getting yourself into and why it's the price it is. We all know how retail raises prices, very slowly, a few weeks before Thanksgiving, only to slash prices and making you think you got a deal. Ever the more reason to watch items



Speaking of watching items, I keep forgetting to post about some webbed chairs we have in our garage. Last weekend when I was going through stuff, I took down some lawn chairs, which happen to be rainbow. What's with this multicolor fascination lately? My mom had mentioned I should try to sell a certain bunny logo'd items on a certain auction site because they are taking up space and we don't use them.

But I went to Amazon to find something completely different.

Because I got distracted.

I found our chairs are selling for $39.54 to $59.99. We have various colors like Amazon is selling and when I told my mom, she couldn't believe the green chairs we have would be worth $60.

Who knew??

The rainbow ones we own, the photos take with an iPhone 11.

 







Until later when I decide to post some real pictures from today...


Cheers;

* cartoons found online *

 

 

Don't mind me, I'm having a moment.

Oh...my..gawd.

I logged into Amazon and the front page was toting the Echo Dot Kids Edition in rainbow, no less.

Kids echo

But what's the first thing that popped into my mind?



The fecking Gas Tank... the one you see on the drive into Boston facing the Southeast Expressway on I- 93. The same one WBZ name drops when doing traffic reports. The same one that geeks me out whenever I see it because I'm reminded of home.

The tank!
Photo taken in 2018
on an iPhone 6S

So with being faithful to reminders, I didn't know it had an official name.  It's called "Rainbow Swash" and it was painted by a woman named Corita Kent, who was a political activist (and nun!). She not only is a local celebrity for Boston because of the gas tanks, she is a US celebrity because she created a "Love" postage stamp in 1985 (kids, ask your parents about stamps and if they remember this particular one).



I think I'm a little reminiscent of my youth, as I was texting a friend about wanting to sell my bicycle.

Bought in 1996, this Giant Boulder 550 has taken me to some great places in the 26 years I've owned it. From testing it out in the neighborhood surrounding the Schwinn store we got it from (in Providence, RI, no less) ... to riding it down busy highway in the summer after working summer school... to circling a local college down the street from my house... and stopping to read some books at said college (I read the Regeneration Trilogy a few times during my stops on a park bench).

It's sadly time to retire this thing as I've not used it since the winter of 2011... when we moved to
Florida. I think I rode around my new neighborhood and the blocks outside my community about 4 times in the months after moving to The Sunshine State. After December 2011, the bike started hanging by its wheels on a wall in the garage. And it stayed until I took it down today to end up selling it (hopefully) tomorrow.

Photo taken with my (still new!) iPhone 11 with "night mode" automatic filter. No other edits done. This s straight from my phone.

I guess that's it. I've got to check emails still and get to bed early. We're having a community wide yard sale tomorrow, I need to make sure all the duckies are in order and ready to quack.


Til then....


Cheers;







See also (aka books I mentioned:

• The Regeneration Trilogy by Pat Barker
• Regeneration
• The Eye in the Door
• The Ghost Road

Ain't nuthin' but a gangsta parrrrtttaaayyyyyy

I quoteth the 1990s OGs, 2PAC and Snoop Dogg. Via Google Hangouts, I message that to my friend (who loves Foamy the Squirrel), he clapped back with the YouTube video for The Humpty Dance and "Everybody knows what day it is".

I picked up a copy of Anthology of American Folk Music by Harry Smith at the library today. I'm interested in hearing it because I read some articles stating that this is the 1920 - 1930s influence music for the likes of  Bob Dylan and Joan Baez... not to mention the ultimate folker, Woody Guthrie. Just listening to some snippets, it's definitely a sign of the times - both for recording and for playing. It sounds comical by today's standards, but the 1960s protesters stuck to this method and struck gold with songs like Mr. Tambourine Man, Sweet Sir Galahad and Puff the Magic Dragon.

Side note... there's a video out somewhere... of Puff the Magic Dragon. I remember a cartoon from when I was a youngster... it was rather sad of a video, I thought... but I strangely remember it now, more than 30 years later... I think I need to scour the world wide web to find it... relive my youth!

I've got a little over a week to play the Anthology in my car, so it'll be cool to listen to something different on my way to and from work.

I officially took some "ok, decent" photos on my new iPhone. A few from work, which came out okay, a few from last night's sunset, and a few of a candy filled skull. None were edited for tone, color or contrast, and the only major difference between them are wide angle for the work shots and sunset shots, and portrait mode on the skull shots. All filters were done on the phone itself.

Again, iPhone 11 (basic) model:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


I guess that's it for now... until I listen to the folk music and decide to try the phone some more.


Cheers;






See also (aka the headline of the day):

• 2 Of Amerikaz Most Wanted [Explicit]

See also (aka songs mentioned):

• Mr. Tambourine Man
• Sweet Sir Galahad
• Puff the Magic Dragon

*Shakes fist in air... in anger*

Damn, you, Ryan and Brad! You got 80s music stuck in my head!

For two weeks now, I've got Kajagoogoo's "Too Shy" in my head... all because I was watching American Horror Story: 1984 and they were a 'featured' band in one of the episodes. If you haven't seen the series or the season, I'm not going to spoil it for anyone, but if you want to remember someone's youth and cheeky slasher movies, watch this show... as laughable as it is in some places.

So... I broke down last weekend and went to the Verizon store. Got myself the iPhone 11 ((product)red color / version) as well as Apple Watch Series 3 (Space Gray). The model I got was the basic one that has 2 cameras instead of 3, because who really needs all that in a phone? I honestly don't want to start using my phone as a camera.. the features are nice, don't get me wrong, but like I've always said: I've got too much invested in Canon products to give those up. I like my DSLR now that I have one (since you can't find 35mm film anymore).

Since I upgraded from the 6S to the 11 (I guess there's really not a name for it besides "11" because it's not the Max or the Pro), is simply just that - an upgrade plus an added camera. The extra lens does wide angle shots and better night / limited light shots, as well as having different filters (portrait, stage, etc). I haven't fully tested it out this week, but the phone itself acts like my old one. Same stuff but minus a home button. Which is so fecking weird. For close to 7 years I've gotten used to double tapping a home button to do things on the phone and now I've got to press a side button. And try to shut that sucker off... I dare you. They make it hard. You've got to press the volume control plus what should be the power button, all together, to get the option to shut it off.. without creating a screencap. The single power button is now Siri plus a screen wake up. Crazy.

I also had to change some of the display settings because now you tap the screen and it wakes up as well. One little move and the phone lights up. I can't have that - it's in my pocket all day and I don't need the battery draining while I'm at work.

The Series 3 watch is interesting. I have been thinking of upgrading the tracker I was using, so I opted to get a time piece that can sync to my new phone without having to install third party apps and have the watch stop working. Long story short, with the iOS 13 update, non Apple watches / fitness trackers have lost some parts of the Bluetooth connectivity (stuff within the apps on the phone and watch). It happened to a friend with a FitBit and it happened to me with a knockoff. So I got the Apple version in hopes things will work out better.

Well... it has to be charged every other day. Seriously. Every 2 days it needs to hang out on the wireless charging pad (seriously - it's a magnetic charging pad and not a lightning cable) because it loses juice quickly. Even my sales guy admitted his loses power in 2 days. Another sales person said the same, as well as some reviews online. Therefore buyer beware: Apple Watches may be expensive but you're also relying on recharging them quickly.... unlike the phone, which came with the lightning charging cable. You have to buy the wireless charger separately. As well as the phone can last about 3-4 days depending on usage.

Outside of that, I had to change some notification settings. First and foremost: if you have custom ringtones (or love the stock ringtones), be prepared to not have them working while you're connected to the watch.

Huh?

Through the power of research, I found out that when you get a text message while your phone is in your pocket, the message comes through your watch and will make a bing and vibrate. Your phone stays silent. So if you're not paying attention, you're going to miss a text. If you're on the phone (playing a game or looking at something), your phone will ring using whatever ringtone you have, and the watch stays silent. You can't have both at the same time... even if you "mirror iPhone" on the watch, notifications only come through on one of them, depending on use. Phone calls, so far, do have the ringer on with the phone plus the watch, but you also get the option to answer the call on the watch if you have the cellular on.

The watch also doesn't do sleep tracking. That's one thing where you do have to install a third party app if you want to check your nightly snoozing. There's an activity app already installed on the watch to be able to manage your steps and fitness, but there is nothing for sleeping. Although the Health app on the phone has the option to import and utilize sleep data, it'll be an empty field unless you install something ("freemium" [free apps] or "premium" [paid apps]). Which kind of defeats the purpose if you're looking for an all in one watch that can do everything under the sun. That's part of the reason I was looking to get something new - I didn't want to start installing other things to help me succeed with the new technology and with my life. At least the old tracker I had, as "cheap" as it was, sensed when you were sleeping and sent the information to the apps, saying what you were up to.

The bloatware apps on the watch are interesting and you can move them around however you want. I've got some haphazard diamond thing going on and everything is "in order" of what they are. The fitness stuff (heartbeat, workout, installed apps [myfitnesspal, runkeeper], breathe and activity) are on one line. All the alarm apps are on another. Music related apps are together as well (podcasts, radio, music, voice memo). OCD kicked in and I felt the need to get related items to hang out with each other. The face itself is Astronomy and actually tells you where the planets align every day (past and future). No, it doesn't include Pluto, sadly enough. Apple thinks 8 planets exist and not 9.

With a plastic cover over the face and a bumper, I'm trying not to kill my watch. With my line of work, that's all I need - break the screen within the first month. The same goes with the phone - I got the gorilla glass plus an Otter Defender case. And FYI: The new defender cases don't come with a protective cover for the screen. So if something falls on it, you're done, but if the phone falls on  the ground, you should be safe. At least I hope I will...

For now, I guess that's it. I'll update more when I get more used to everything.

Until then...


Cheers;







See also:

• Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS) on Amazon
• Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS + Cellular) on Amazon
•  ZAGG InvisibleShield HD Screen Protection on Amazon
• OtterBox DEFENDER SERIES SCREENLESS EDITION Case for iPhone 11 on Amazon
• "Apple iPhone 11" search on Amazon

"Beetle... Breakfast... Orange... Liquid... Beetle Juice?"

I'm not saying his name 2 more times. Because I don't want him here.

But... I do want to know what the new winged insect I found is. Someone I work with, thinks it is a cicada. I have no idea what in the hail a cicada is, but if what I have is it, these buggers are fecking ugly.

I was at work Friday and went to park my golf cart. On the post next to me (where the electric is to charge the cart), I almost bumped into some beige winged animal. I don't know if it was asleep and didn't realize people park next to the post, or it was dead and someone needed to dispose of it. Either way, the thing never moved when I took pictures of it. If anyone knows what it is, pass on the information!

All photos taken with an iPhone 6s.

 

I had another splurge purchase from Amazon last weekend. I went searching for those "Home" decals where the "o" is the US state you're from. I saw one on a car that I didn't recognize and while searching for it, I ended up purchasing two Massachusetts decals for my car.

The first one is "Where My Story Began", inside the outline of the State of Massachusetts. For $5.50 and free shipping, it came within a couple days of the order. It is the same type of vinyl decal as my other stickers, but the back it's on is a bit different. The challenge was making sure the letters stayed on the translucent (front) peeling sticker because that's what you need to lay the wording / picture down. Each letter is separate so the issue was they didn't all stick at once. I had to press firmly on each letter before I could get the whole clear piece off and put in on my car. End result was it's in place, but it definitely wasn't what I was used to, to get these decals loaded.

Photo taken on an iPhone 6S.

The second decal is a roots system of sorts. "508" with roots on the bottom of the numbers. I guess it's a good thing I got it when I did, because it's currently out of stock. With it being a 2 pack for $7.95, free shipping and arriving a few days after ordering, I guess I should keep the second one in a safe place just in case it's no longer available for order. This decal too, was of similar design to the Story decal, as the backing was the same. The difference is, it's one piece, so I didn't have to worry about letters not sticking to the clear front piece.

Again, photo taken on an iPhone 6S.

When I was looking at all the decals, I was tempted to get the "508 Brockton, MA" sticker, but I have seen that oval with other writing too many times. The 508 | Roots is much cooler, in my opinion, only because it's so different but it's also my home area code. The oval one pinpoints me back to where I came from, but it doesn't stick out like the roots one does.

The other decal temptation was a "Masshole" decal inside the Massachusetts state outline. Once a Masshole, always a Masshole, but sometimes you gotta tone it down for the kids. With everything I'm putting on my car now, I think that decal would make me look like a real asshole and cheapen my car. I have quite the collection going right now, and I'm sure people are going to comment about everything... the last thing I need is someone to damage my car because they read too much into my stickers.


Although... I should "Let That Shit Go", according to a meditating sloth... Namaste bitches?


That's about it for this check in. Happy Sunday and hope you remembered to fix your clocks.




Cheers;






See Also (aka post title):
Beetlejuice