Someone didn't consult the calendar...

 My mom got an email yesterday from the local outlets. It's an ad for a free small coffee (with purchase) on National Coffee Day. According to the email, the coupon is valid today, "Sunday, September 29" but the problem is, 'today' is Sunday, September 27, 2020. 

The 29th isn't until Tuesday. Which is really "National Coffee Day". 

Obviously, they are running last year's coupon (which was Sunday, September 29, 2019), as there's no year date on the picture.

Yes, I screencapped it and yes, I edited out my mom's email address plus the outlet's PR person's email. No, I did not edit anything else. I don't want my mom getting email bombed or anything. Please respect that. I'm honestly posting a picture where the only photo manipulation is my editing out two emails. Everything else is as it came. 

 

So... this person who sent the email... didn't pay too much attention to drive people to the coffee joint. If they are sending an email blast to registered patrons, shouldn't they have taken the time to change their own marketing campaign and make sure the dates were correct?

Sometimes a (glaring) error like this, makes for high times in wondering "Who wrote this shit and why can't I get a job doing this low level of marketing?" I'd be adjusting all the dates and making sure things were correct before I sent them out. While I understand each store may have a handful of promotions they want to run during a typical month (because let's face it, this outlet mall isn't doing so well), the least the management office can do, is create a proper poster for a freebie (or percentage off). 

Guess I will be making my own coffee today and not going to buy a cup to get a cup? 

Don't worry; be caffeinated...

Cheers;

Droplets of Storm Troopers

 I’m doing something different right now. I am away from my laptop for the weekend and am attempting to do this post via my fruit phone, keyboard and mouse. 

Due to the aforementioned “Away From Home | Laptop”, it’s Rosh Hashonah weekend, so “L’Shanah Tova” | “Happy New Year” to the tribe. I’m with family, so there’s no time to be able to get on my slowing laptop and put up any edits of photos or crazy sights.

First and foremost is the Storm Trooper I saw this morning, just hanging out in the back passenger side of an SUV. 

If the upload of the photo fails, I will fix it when I’m on my computer.

As we did some driving today, I tried taking photos of how hard the rain was coming down. Instead, my fruit phone took close ups of the rain on the window. Interestingly enough, the rain drops came out pretty cool.

Again, if the photos fail to upload, I’ll adjust everything on the laptop. 

All Photos were edited on the fruit phone as well. 

People are yelling for me... it’s 11:20am and they want lunch. Hungry family awaits..

Until next time....

Cheers;

Can you hear it? Do they last?

A couple months ago, my mother got a pair of wireless headphones for free, with purchase, from DSW Shoes. I got around to trying them last month and have not used them since. There is a reason why they were free and there is a reason why they suck.

DSW Shoes collaborated with Vivitar and came out with "true wireless Bluetooth earbuds", which come with a Y charging cable and the pair of very light weight, totally  cheap feeling, earbuds. They totally look like knockoffs to the (minimally basic) $20 headphones but can go up in price to be something a little more special. 

Upon looking at the total box, the earbuds can "answer calls", play "up to 1.5 hours" and have a "distance range up to 30 feet". I never attempted to answer calls with them, but sure as hell is hot, they lasted a total run time of an hour and a half. That was after I charged them over night and made sure both could sync to my phone. 

Which is another story in and of itself. 

As they are two separate buds, they connect to the phone as such. The experiences I've had with other (basic) models is as such: 

Charge earbuds.

Turn on earbuds

Go into Bluetooth settings on phone

Connect earbuds.

Play music or watch videos.

End of story. 

Not with these suckers. As there is no explanation to make one a master and the other a slave, you're going to have to figure out which piece is actually the one that'll work with your phone. Meaning, if you're expecting to "plug and play" with both, you are not going to get that. One bud works for everything while the other one sits in your ear just to look pretty. It's turned on, but no one is home. 

So I had to do some internet digging to find out that other people are having the same problem - why is only one bud working and the other is not? Because they aren't really meant to work together unless you connect them. 

Wait... so every other earbud system I had, that automatically connected to each other... wasn't supposed to happen? The earphones were supposed to be single use only and not connect together and play in stereo, only mono? Cut the crap. No suh... I don't believe it. 

Anyway, someone posted a hack on how to sync both left and right bud together, so even in the phone settings, it shows up as one unit instead of two. So I did that, powered them down and charged them again. The next day, I brought them to work and tried them.... to put them in my pocket 90 minutes after turning them on... and I had 7 hours left of my day (I work 8.5 hours Monday to Friday). 

Let me tell you.. knowing you have a pair of headphones in your pocket all day and you can't use them because they're dead, is a total bummer. I knew from the box, they wouldn't last all day, but how many times does the "up to" really means "we're serious"?? Apparently, this one time. 

I can't even link a similar product to Amazon because these are so cheap, they don't exist. And I wouldn't want to, as I would tell you not to buy them. It's not worth whatever price they would be. Free is free, but my mom still had to buy a pair of shoes (that she wanted anyway) for them. 

I know I didn't mention the sound - it was not so great, especially when I was outside, on a golf cart. Turning the phone volume all the way on high, they sounded like they were on level one. Inside a building, the same level (high) is loud, yes. 50% sound, to me, is about 40% loud. When lowered to 20 per cent, it's like background noise where you can hear everything around you but what's in your ears.

Listen, I'm hard of hearing as it is. I look to find form and function in everything I own, including the fact I want a good pair of cans for my ears. If a pair of earbuds can't turn my brain on with knowledge during the day, I don't need them. I know I tell people I don't want to pay over $100 for headphones, but I also don't want a pair of cruddy $10 ones either. I want something to be affordable and last, as well as have good sound - both for listening to audio and making calls. I don't want my friends to keep telling me that I sound like I've got marbles in my mouth as I'm trying to tell them a story underwater. 

And that's the other problem I'm finding with Bluetooth technology. Even my $69 JLab headphones don't act correctly when I'm on the line. If I'm driving down the boulevard in my cart, because I've got a mass of trees around me, the Bluetooth functionality fails while I'm talking. Yet my phone is in my pants pocket, a mere 2 feet from my ear. The range goes wonky in the woods, much like trying to get an AM/FM signal in the basement of a cement building. But sometimes, even in the most uncrowded of areas, people tell me it's hard to be understood. The worst is when I'm on a Skype call - doesn't matter if it's a video call or just an audio call. People say it can be jumbly.

So why should I continue to find the right kind, if that is hard to get? No, I'm not buying the pods meant for my phone. Have you seen those prices? For a running time of 4-5 hours with one shot of battery? I'll stick to the JLabs for now. Thanks. 

Anyway... 

I got storm pictures and I got bird friend pictures. As Emi said when I texted her the photo of the bird in the water, "bird friend bird friend bird friend bird friend bird friend bird friend".

Until next time... 

Be safe, be well..

Cheers;

I broke down

 ... and went to the Native Deodorant website. I bought a three pack of sensitive skin seasonal summer smells. 

What are the smells, you ask? "This pack includes 3 regular bars of: Sweet Peach & Nectar (Sensitive), Cactus Flower & Poppy (Sensitive), Cucumber & Mint (Sensitive) in our sensitive formula". 

For the three of them, I ended up paying $30, as Native is having a deal where you don't pay shipping (nor tax, apparently). This weekend only, if you enter a specific coupon code, you get a free Mini Charcoal Deodorant stick plus Charcoal Toothpaste, which is a $6 value. I guess I made out pretty good, price wise, as Amazon has a Native 3 pack (Coconut Vanilla) for $35.99 (normally $45.99). There is also a mini inclusive, but it's 3 Pack of Eucalyptus & Mint and Free Mini Bar of Blackberry & Green Tea for $33. 

Comparatively, a single stick on Amazon is $11.97 for the Cucumber Mint. While both the Native website has the stick for three cents more, plus retail stores ranging from $11.99 to $13.99 (no joke - a local CVS has the brand for close to $14), the better deal would be Amazon for singles for sure. It all depends on what you're looking for, and since the brand was having a "sale", I figured I'd snag it on their website. 

So now that I'm an "active" member (they refer to me as "User" even though I made a transaction and they have my name), the site is offering me free mini deodorant for every person I refer. So if you want to do some research and go for a kit, it might do you some good. There are plenty of flavors on the site to choose from. Plus, I get emails every week with new stuff they're rolling out - seasonal items like Pumpkin Spice just arrived, but I'm a little concerned about smelling like Thanksgiving desert when it's 104 degrees out on Labor Day weekend.

So: Why am I writing all this this, you may ask yourself, especially since seemingly had a positive but neutral review when trying the Coconut & Vanilla before? Well, that Crystal Deodorant I wrote about last month didn't work. 

After using it for close to three weeks, I had to throw it out. I think I'm "allergic" to anything that says it's made with essential oils. Much like the Arm & Hammer Essentials, the Crystal has "13 Essential Oils" listed in its ingredient sheet. It's no surprise that after using the Arm & Hammer stick, and breaking out (badly), I had a similar (if not the same) reaction with The Crystal. 

Total shame too, as I thought "going natural" in my pits wouldn't mean I'd literally have to go natural for a while... to get things to calm down. 

It's a good thing I still have a spray bottle of Degree, as my order of Native could take a little longer due to the current worldly situation. It's okay. I'm hoping it's worth it.

Until another time, when I've got to catch up on posting some pictures...

Keep smellin'!

Cheers;