Video post #3

Well... I think the phone screen recorder has some random coding embedded into the video, which makes it not able to be edited on any platform that is not an Apple product. More reason why Apple branded products don't always jive with Windows branded products. I can't edit the screen recorder video in Pinnacle. I tried it in Cyberlink as well. I even took the files and put them on another (Windows based) laptop, thinking that it could be my 9 year old Dell Inspiron as the problem. Nope; I just can't edit the video.

The weirdest thing is I can edit regular videos I shoot with my phone, with no problem. Nothing freezes, nothing goes wonky. But for some reason, this specific recording won't edit. And I don't have the ability to understand why.

So sorry there are no videos posted like I've been promising. It's crap that I can't add the split video of me typing and the screen, but I assure you, it all works. Really; it does. And with all the posts I've made already about what I'm using, it's not like I'm making it all up - I'm posting my specs - stuff that I wouldn't even begin to make up. Especially since I've made prior posts about my cameras, my software, and every time I upload a video or photo, I reference it. I'm just bummed I can't edit something as simple as a screen recording.

If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions, please let me know in a comment!


Cheers;

Video Test #2

I am not happy with how the recordings earlier came out. I’ve been trying all day to get them to be clear, and the unfortunate part is the recording from the TV was blurry as hell.

So now I am trying a new way to do this, to be able to show how the wireless mouse is working with the phone.

I am using my wireless keyboard still.
I am using the mouse still.
I’ve added the screen recorder on the phone itself.
I’m using my Canon T7i camera to record this.
My phone is hooked up to a tripod and tripod phone holder. As I’m using the screen recorder to type this, I’ll link to everything when I put the videos in the encoding software. ***

But this is to prove how, once again, everything works.


Cheers;



***edited to add the links. You won't see this line or the link in the video.

Video Post #1

As promised yesterday, I am going to include a video on my blog of how the keyboard and mouse works together.

My current set up is:

• Logitech M535 Bluetooth mouse
• Apple Bluetooth keyboard
• Canon Rebel T3 (shooting my keyboard and mouse video)
• Canon Rebel T71 (shooting the TV [of which I hope the video is recording this screen])
• Apple HDMI AV adapter hooked to my iPhone 11

I will be editing this in Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 18 as soon as I post this blog and cam get another page going. 

But this hopefully is showing how weirdly interesting it is to use both a wireless keyboard and a wireless mouse on an iPhone. In the video, you will see a little grey dot hovering around the screen Maybe. That is the mouse. I’m going to try to see if I can put both videos side by side so that you can see my typing together with the video. I’ve never tried this before, so if it doesn’t happen, sorry! But these videos are also going to prove my typing is horrible right now on this keyboard with a TV table. I’m sitting on my bed, so it’s not totally practical. Haha. 

Alrighty then... going to shut this off and edit the videos. They will be up soon, I hope! 

Cheers;

“Blue, blue, electric blue”

“That's the color of my room

Where I will live

Blue, blue

Pale blinds drawn all day

Nothing to do, nothing to say

Blue, blue

I will sit right down, waiting for the gift of sound and vision“

David Bowie, Sound & Vision. Low. 1977

The song has been in my head for a couple days. Bouncing around and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s due to being cooped up in a small office space with various team members or being in my room when I am not at work, but this isn’t a fun time. 

What’s pretty damn interesting, is, I got my mouse. I am using it now with my keyboard and AV Adapter. 

Set up was slightly straightforward, as I had researched it prior to getting the thing. Needing to turn on “Assistive Touch” in the Accessibility setting, it was a matter of turning on the mouse and syncing it to my phone. 

It’s totally going to take some time getting used to!

I tried swiping up to clear the screens of everything and couldn’t. All the open windows that I usually close after using... the control center for the Assistive Touch comes in to play and you have to scroll through that and get the App Switcher menu option. Problem was, I accidentally pressed “Emergency Call”. I had to quickly grab my phone and cancel it because I think it was calling 911. #Fuck. #Oops. Sorry!!!! BE CAREFUL. There’s no way to take that off the control panel for the screen, so all the more reason to watch what you’re doing. I need to test all the functions of this mouse as well, as a single or double tap can be made into something different. Also, the scrolling is backwards, it seems. Instead of scrolling down, to actually scroll down, the screen scrolls up. 

Using the keyboard to type this, I have to sort out the commands as well. I keep forgetting Windows control shortcuts ≠ Apple control shortcuts. #Fail. It does seem to be working, however, even though I feel I am fumbling through this post. The Caps Lock key keeps popping up my Bitmoji selections and I don’t want that - I want to be able to capitalize a letter or two without having to resort to pressing Shift. Something else to try to adapt or look in to. Ugh... #smh.

I’ll probably post some pictures tomorrow of what this set up looks like; I just wanted to try to make a post tonight with everything to see how it all feels. I don’t want to have to regret this... for how many times I’ve said I have wanted it.....?

Stay safe, stay six feet a part and be healthy.

Cheers;

There's a party goin' on right here...

...and it's a bird party line!


Went out to get the mail earlier and the birdies were causing a ruckus. The only one I could see was on the street lamp holding court. I ended up filming a minute of it, in portrait mode, rather than landscape, so I had to rotate it to be viewed correctly. Therefore the top and bottom isn't completely in the video.

But... if we are all supposed to stay in doors, is this the only way the animals will finally get to have conversations with each other and not get distracted over the humans??


Video taken on an iPhone 11, edited in Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 18.

See Also (aka the song in the post title)
Celebration by Kool and The Gang

I guess I should have extended...

... my reasoning behind getting those Amazon orders yesterday. 

• The Seagate Portable 5TB External Hard Drive was needed as I've been using a Seagate 4TB since December 2017 and have a little less than 1GB left of space. I'm going to run out of room soon, and I do like to back my files up when I can. At least 5TB gives me a little more leeway and a few more months of use. I haven't had a problem with the brand as of yet, and think that it works well on my PC. I did test it this morning and it runs, but I will probably need someone to help me format it in the long run before I start using it, so I can wipe the bloatware off of it (Seagate's file folders). It's been a while and I don't want to screw anything up, rending this purchase useless.
  
• The Verbatim DVD+R 4.7GB 16X White Inkjet Printable - 100Pk Spindle because my last 100 pack purchase is almost empty. I've been using these to save some files on as well, but also use them to make sure the video collections don't go to waste (I'm still watching VHS stuff, ffs. Don't judge). 
• I know you're asking yourself "why the need for printable DVDs?". Because I bought a Canon Office Products IP7220 Wireless Color Photo Printer last year for $280 less than advertised plus free shipping. I guess this little guy is obsolete right now and I'd hate for it to break on me... I wanted a CD/ DVD printer for a while and when I saw this "for cheap", I snagged it. It's an amazing product, I think, but maybe I'm biased towards Canon brand products. It does duplex (two sided) printing, greeting card envelope printing (I figured out how to customize the print in MS Word so it prints on the center of the envelope nicely), prints photos on nice photo paper, and does the disc printing. It comes with its own image software so you can print on the disc, but I had to research it a little more, to see how you can get home made imagery on it, and have more text than 3 lines. It's a hoop to jump through, going into Photoshop, but from research, it seems common. One of the nice things is I found ink that can be used in it too, so I'm not spending a lot of money on any packages. I know you shouldn't be using knockoff brands, but there's a bundle pack (15 total) for $16.77 and I've been lucky enough with the first box, I ordered a second. If you figure that the actual Canon brand ranges anywhere from $45 and up for a single 4-5 pack (depending on the extra black), this is a good deal and I'm happy with it.
  
• The Smiling Case for Apple Watch 38mm with Buit in TPU Screen Protector All-Around Protective Case was bought because I'm just having the worst for wear time with my watch. I had bought a 3 pack of what I thought was tempered glass for my watch face, and would be great, but I learned a valuable lesson: just because it's a 3 pack and it's $5.99, it's not going to be 100% effective. 
• I've already got a bumper on my watch, but I wanted the glass as extra precaution. I ordered the 3 pack and it came quickly. The problem with it is that the adhesive only stays in the middle of the glass. Meaning, there's this rectangular dark spot on it, if you look at it while it's off. There is no all around hold for the glass, so movement or push can up-end the protector and off it falls from the watch. Trust me - in the month that I've had this glass, I've lost one shield already at work, and the second one has fallen off a couple times since putting it on the watch. As I said, the sticky side isn't so sticky because the "glue" is in the center. You can't even try to squish it to all sides because it immediately goes back to the center. I actually brought the package to the Verizon store where I bought my watch and phone, to see if they can help me with putting it on, and that was when I bought the damn package. The person was really nice and helpful but even she was dumbfounded; she thought it would eventually go to every corner ("Self heal") but it didn't. Unfortunately, the brand she recommended to me to purchase if my glass failed, I should use the reputable brand. I went on Amazon and looked for it. There are a lot of 1 star reviews. As in, the percentage rate for 1 star is close to outweighing the 5 star reviews. For two different models of the brand. Uhm... no thanks? I'd rather take my chance? The one star reviews include the fact the corners were shattering at the slightest touch... the glass arrived broken... there are scratch marks running deep on it. All the things I'm wanting this for - protection for the face of my watch, reading that a "big name brand" is doling out cheap glass, I'd rather buy the off brand and take my chance. That's why I saw the Smiling Case protector and thought I'd try it. If all else fails, I'll go back to the Verizon store and tell the lady to please show me exactly which brand she suggests and explain to me why she feels it's better, when the reviews say otherwise. And yes, I looked at the brand's own website for comparison and they too have the negative reviews.
  
• The Logitech M535 Bluetooth Mouse: I've said since the beginning of really getting in to a smartphone, "I wish there was a mouse I could use" because it gets weird when I start using the bluetooth keyboard (not rechargeable).  I still use the keyboard, but miss the functionality of a mouse. After thinking it over and doing some research, I saw there is a way to attach a mouse to the phone, as long as the phone is running iOS 13 and above. And the AssistiveTouch is enabled. It's mainly for those who need better assistance with the phone; it's not meant to replace the use of any computer, but it is for those who have trouble swiping on the phone. I can use it (hopefully) to compose emails, make blog posts or do basic stuff when I'm back to traveling (I brought the keyboard with me to CT a couple years ago and it was great). I just hope I get the mouse in a timely fashion as today it's listed as buying used from a 3rd party seller and not the Logitech site I thought it was coming from.
  
• The  Apple Lightning to Digital AV Adapter: I bit the bullet and decided to buy the official Apple HDMI dongle. If I'm buying the mouse and have the keyboard, I might as well get the dongle (I have plenty of extra HDMI cables) and be able to connect to a TV and "have a bigger monitor". Plain and simple, it would be a nice thing to add to the Apple cache but will no way make me an Apple fan kid. If I'm going to have a Watch and Phone, I might as well make the best of it. 

If you're my family reading this, thanks for the birthday and holiday gift cards. You helped pay for it all. What's left is my survey site cards.

Take surveys, get paid (my referral links are in these):

• Toluna
• Swagbucks
• Opinion Outpost

Stay safe; be well!

Cheers

"You know she said so..."

"... She's in love with me

and I feel fine"

The Beatles. I Feel Fine. 1964

I'm in love with no one but it's okay. I feel fine even though everyone is panicking over the current pandemic going on in this world (Up to date CDC coverage here). 

As per the usual "SHTF" moments, everyone is emptying the shelves for toilet paper. Even Amazon is having a hard time keeping up. I'm seeing a lot of third party sellers right now (the price + $ shipping) on the website, when I searched "toilet paper". Or, the name brands are "currently unavailable (see here). Stores are selling out so quickly that they can't keep up. I was shopping in various grocery chains and the clerks say they got several pallets in that morning, and within 30 minutes the pallets were empty. Same goes with paper goods (towels, plates, etc). 

I do have to point out that it's 7:28pm on Friday March 20, 2020. This could change tomorrow... the stock situation.

Speaking of stock, the financial district took a dive too. I don't know squat about the market, so I am going to leave it at that. 

People are also hitting up cleaning items - bleach, disinfectant, etc. This disease that's hit us - the Coronavirus (aka novel coronavirus | COVID 19), is definitely putting people through a loop. No one knows what to do because it's world wide and is affecting people differently with symptoms, even though there is no space on Earth that this hasn't touched. It started in Wuhan, China and spread out to hit Italy pretty heavy, then it went to other countries, including the US (and they say the States are 10 days behind Italy. Places are in total quarantine because it's such a new virus, that doctors don't know how to contain it. It's spreadable (not like peanut butter) through humans, so now the warning is to "practice social distancing and stay 6 feet a part". As all symptoms are different, the main one is cough and fever. And it can be any time to hit you. 

I don't know a lot. It's all so confusing because reports are saying different things. With the lockdowns and quarantines, public places are closed or closing. Bars and restaurants are offering carry out or delivery only. Grocery stores are limiting quantities per person on items that are also food. 

Situations are happening where all those zombie| apocalypse movies have prepared us for. Ghost towns with people shuttering in doors. I'm so deep in my little bubble, I honestly don't know what to explain or how to explain. I'm really like "huh??". I know it's bad; the death toll everywhere is so high, that the numbers seem made up. Same goes with the people testing positive. How can 10k+ be healthy one day and the next (ok, within 14 days) feel like the flu is a walk in the park? This is beyond crazy.

Yet, I've gone shopping in the stores, as well as making enough purchases on Amazon over the last few days that I've actually started getting closer to $0.00 in my gift card balance. I've been saving up my cards for something major and big, like I did for my camera (remember that Canon T7i I got??). This time, I decided to not purchase "essentials" but stupid stuff that I've either been saying I wanted or just restocking my low pile. 

The other day I ordered:

Package / order #1

• Seagate Portable 5TB External Hard Drive HDD – USB 3.0 for PC Laptop and Mac
• It arrived today.

Package / order #2

• Verbatim DVD+R 4.7GB 16X White Inkjet Printable - 100Pk Spindle
• It's projected to arrive Sunday.
• Smiling Case for Apple Watch 38mm with Buit in TPU Screen Protector All-Around Protective Case
• It's projected to arrive Sunday.

Package / order #3

• Logitech M535 Bluetooth Mouse
• It's projected to arrive April 2. But now that I see the page again and am linking to it, it's in stock again in May and will ship out May 7. Well.. shit. Amazon guarantee said April 2 when I purchased it. As well as saying it on my invoice. If I don't get it by then, they would refund me the price of the mouse. I hope I get it on the guarantee date!
• Apple Lightning to Digital AV Adapter
• It's projected to arrive Wednesday.

Guess my "priorities" are a little different than anyone else's? 

Although, I did have to go to Walgreens yesterday to pick up two bags of Emergen-C Protein Powder Fuel & Superfoods (16 Servings, 1lb bag). I've been using this every day for a few months (yes, I replenish my stock) and it's expensive as hell in the stores - $29.99 for the thing. Amazon had it for $26 last month, and now that they currently have it out of stock, it's listing as $23.13. Which is a good price, considering the smaller package (7 servings, 7.6oz bag) isn't available on this site, but I have found it in Walmart for $14.96. But... now that I searched Wally World, it's a "Walmart Exclusive" - the smaller bag. Duh. That's why it's not anywhere else. *facepalm,*

I'm ridiculous; I know. It has been one of those crazy-train, weird rides the last two weeks because of what's happening in the world, and I'm just trying to figure out my job situation because of it, and keep doing what I need to do, to maintain normalcy. 

I guess I should check in on here more???

Stay safe and healthy!!!!

Cheers;