Block party for one house?

Okay, it's not 1912, but picture this:

It's close to 1 in the afternoon on a Saturday. It's nearing 102°. It's sticky out. 

The weather is so warm, you don't want to leave the comfort of the inside of your house, where there air is cool.

But you have to. 

You need to run some errands and know the places are open for business for a couple more hours. 

As soon as you get out of the house and get to your car, you're blasted with humidity. 

And sound.

What is that?? Where is it?

Turn the left, where it seems to be resonating, you see your neighbor's red Cadillac in the driveway, 3 units down. His windows are rolled down and the garage is open. 

Looks like someone is having a block party for two (him and his wife). 

You stand there for a moment to see if anyone wanders out of the garage. 

Nope, it's so desolate, tumbleweeds might be growing. 

Shenanigans are brewing in places you're not privy to, apparently. 

Unless you go right up to the driveway.

Instead, you stand there a minute more, this time with your phone out.

Turn on the video camera, start recording Tracy Chapman singing about needing a reason to leave or not leave. 

That's a tough question.

No, this isn't The Clash, instead, it's a song ripped straight from 1995. Definitely brings me back to when I listened to the album during my junior high and high school years. 

I stood next to my car long enough to get about 30 seconds of video and then needed to get out to do errands. 

With this video, I didn't do any editing except put the dancing lyrics on the bottom. The sound is exactly how my phone picked it up. 

There's a reason Tay says "the fruit phone has amazing audio quality"... when I am not on Bluetooth... 

I guess this is as good as any reason to keep the phone? Not that I'm using it every day to make Hollywood videos, but at least the sound is quality enough that maybe the vision can keep up with it (slight tweaking I needed to do in Pinnacle, as I had to change settings the other day to make something else compressed enough to send in an email). 

I have to point out, I'm about 30 or so feet away from the vehicle. Maybe 40 feet. I'm bad at figuring this stuff out. 

I am sure one day I'll get on the phone bus with creating video content. But I still like using my DSLR and enjoy kicking things around in the software on my laptop. It's so much more manageable. 

Beggars can't be choosers, I know, but sometimes you just got to let it roll and see what happens. Phone apps are weird for me to edit on. I like the look and feel of a real monitor with keyboard and mouse. Call me old school. There's a reason my friend Rach called me a "neo-Luddite" once upon a time. 

As it is, I'm swapping between Pinnacle Studio 18 (used in 2014) and Cyberlink Power Director (used in 2012). I have no need to bells and whistles stuff. Until my laptop craps out on me, I'm perfectly fine with what I have.

Hopefully that won't happen... the laptop going sideways, but if it does, I think I have everything I need backed up on an external to install on a new computer. Problem with that will be hoping it's all compatible.

Fingers crossed it all works!

I guess that's it for now as I mainly wanted to share how well the phone records audio for still not being 100% sold on using it for every day sound and vision needs. 

Until I get more kinks kicked out of what I typically edit, and decide how I where I want my next photo adventure to take place, please take care of yourselves and stay hydrated!

Cheers;

See also (aka specs of video): 

• Shot on an iPhone 11
• Song heard: Tracy Chapman, Give Me One Reason, off the New Beginning album
• Edited in Pinnacle Studio

"It’s a fine fine day, I tell you cause I think it’s so"

I've aged myself with the post title, as it's a quote from the 1995 Strangefolk album, Lore. It's track 6, Spectacular. 

Why are things "spectacular" and why is a fine day?

According to the new Apple update, the Apple Lightning to USB3 Camera Adapter glitch got fixed. 

I have the update downloaded, but haven't tried the adapter yet. I figured if it's listed as part of the update, surely it has to be a good sign. I can't wait to see if it works again, but that won't be for a while. I don't have an immediate need to transfer anything. 

Also, as good a sign as any, even my (Series 3) watch (finally) got an update!

It's not a big update, but it's a step closer to iOS 9 (even though newer models are closer to 9.1 I think). It's also been a year since anything was rolled out. 

Speaking of my watch and an update, I needed to update my bumper situation, as the protector I had on, had cracked. I had hit the glass at some point over a year ago, and made a ding on the screen. It was manageable as the dent didn't spider out and I could still use the case (it looked similar to this. So wearing it for a little over 2 years, I don't remember the exact model as I got it in a liquidation place). 

Thus I tried another bumper I bought at the liquidation place. The sales person said the box was 38/40 because the bumpers can fit on both a 38 and a 40mm watch. 

A wise musician once said they bought tried some and bought some, so I figured why not. I was assured the bumper would fit by the sales person. Well, I went to put one of the bumpers on and it was so tight on the watch, I couldn't move the dial on the side. I barely got the entire case on, so I think the box got mislabeled or I got misinformed. 

Since I think the place doesn't do returns, I'm stuck with the multipack of cases. I can always try to sell them at a yard sale, so hopefully it'll fit someone else's watch. 

Luckily, I had another multipack. Given the fact when I originally bought the cases, I had a job that made me think ahead in my purchases since I held an active position and I risked breaking my smart devices. Taking the blue case out of the pack, it was slightly tight, but everything is still moveable and touch screen works well. I have been wearing it now for almost 3 weeks. 

Knock on wood. 

Since I was changing things, I thought I might as well change the band. 

Amazon is calling it cheetah print (but leopard is also thrown around), and I've got two colors, grey and orange. I'm currently wearing the grey. It's a light grey, so not as dark as what is pictured. The orange is bright - like safety orange, orange. I was wearing that previously. Again, I bought the bands second hand, so I can't attest for what is linked, even though the products I've mentioned were originally bought on Amazon by someone else. 

I guess you get what you pay for when you order online. People think things will work and they don't. Sometimes you don't know it won't work until the return window closes or the place does allow returns and it goes to an after market seller. 

Which is why the bumpers and bands I've referenced here were purchased at a liquidation place. I think they buy the pallets from Amazon and then resell everything. But I could be wrong, so don't quote me. I honestly don't know how they do their magic. I just know the place is always slammed and I've bought some really amazing stuff there and have made little cousins happy with toys and gifts (among finding some tech and stuff for myself). 

I think I am going to wait until Prime Day (July 11 + 12) to order a new screen protector for my phone, as this is yet another thing that has some damage. Over the years, the screen has taken some hits, but the tempered glass I've got over the phone has held up. 

Until recently. 

Again, I don't remember exactly when or what happened, but there's piece of protector missing and it spidered out slightly. I've been dealing with it because the hole hasn't gotten bigger and the webbing hasn't moved. Last week I noticed a corner is starting to bubble up and warp. Trying to push it down to connect with the phone screen, it doesn't stick. If it can last a few more week, hopefully a new film will be on sale on Amazon. 

I guess that's it for now. I'll update the status of the adapter when I use it. 

Until then, stay cool (it was 100°) when I was going home from work today (at 5pm).

Cheers;

Happy birthday tomorrow, "Eddie". 

"Wow...." "Send it to collections???"

More reason no one paid any mind when we got our newly minted junk Internet Service Provider. 

Actually, someone might have read the fine print but the master board who chose to use Hotwire, refused to do anything about what I'm going to write. 

We have a 10 year contract with the service, our community picks up the tab for the basic of the basic fees (how gracious 😉), but each resident / household is responsible for the taxes on the service to their house or unit, plus anything they add on from the a la carte menu. 

So.. 

My mother told me someone posted to the private community Facebook page that they are moving. They went to cancel what's in their name with Hotwire, and Hotwire immediately sent them a bill for over $1700. 

Yes, you read that right. The guy received a bill for one thousand, seven hundred dollars.

I'm going to leave out names, but cut and paste part of the original post with some comments. 

Original Post:

"I am moving at the end of the month and contacted hotwire and told them discontinue on 8/1.  Well, they evidently got it wrong (imagine that) and made it 7/1.  So I got the bill below.  Tried calling them (holiday so not open) tired chat (did not work) and sent them an email."

The guy posted a screen cap of the bill, but for the sake of anonymity, I'm not going to share that. 

The bill is for $1714.04 with $90.55 "past due". He has auto pay on. 

Comments:

- Edited to add my comments are italicized and I did not do any grammar / spell corrects. WYSIWYG.

• (User) - "Dumbest thing the board ever did. Getting Hotwire."
• (User) - "agreed, agreed, agreed. We need an investigation"
• (User) - "dumb board"
• (Original Poster replying to first comment) - "I beg to differ 😂 I could fill you in on a lot more things. But I'm working to make things rite"
• (Original Poster replying to Investigation comment) - "investigation underway"
  
  
• (User) -  "Funny ( not really) you should say that , if anyone cares to look back in the original notes, I did tell everyone that I read from another customer elsewhere that when they moved they got one hell of a bill for the remainder of the entire contract! They said that they were told they were liable to pay the bill for the rest of the contract length! I’m just communicating what was stated, that along with an entire horrible novel of info from many other communities ! This is what we were saddled with! I’m sorry ( not sorry) but somewhere something is gonna have to be changed and HW legally needs to be terminated for breach of contract! You cannot tell me they’re isn’t at least 1 lawyer in all of SW Fla that can’t rectify this ! When all several hundred residents give ALL their complaints it will be equivalent to a Stephan King novel! We’re not talking one tiny upset customer that had no service on Easter or Christmas Day, we’re talking an entire community multiple times for multiple issues! I’m no lawyer but I’m also not stupid! I’d be more than willing to do the work on putting together the Stephen King Novel for legal representation ! [ORIGINAL POSTER NAME REDACTED] sorry to see that your moving away but best of luck in your new journey especially w/o HW! And I hope that you get this debacle fixed without issues! I have a feeling that your only 1 of many that will have this issue" 
• - edited to add: I do have to point out, this user is a person who has been writing her own novels of problems on Facebook about things. She seems to be one who likes to instigate in places... known among a lot of people to be a shit stirrer. 
• (User) - "Yes, I remember your warning that if someone signed up for additional services, like faster internet speed or more TV channels, they were agreeing to a 2-year contract and if they canceled before the 2 years was up, they would be billed for the balance. I remember that."
  
  
• (User) - "That seems like a crazy termination fee. Why should you get saddled with that? A new owner will simply take over the contract. Ridiculous!
  
  
• (User) - "You might want to turn off auto-pay so that charge doesn't go through. Then when they send you future bills to try to collect that balance, just keep disputing it."
• (Original Poster) - "good advice and I did exactly that"
  
  
• (User) - "Give them the name of “Our Lawyer “ to call! We do have one, right? Lol That can’t be real!"
  
  
• (Original Poster) - "I just heard back from HotWire they confirmed that the charges were because we "contracted" for 1G high speed internet for two years and the charges are for the balance of time remaining on that commitment. Then they asked me to send documentation (purchase or lease) that Hotwire is not available where we are moving. I checked and hotwire is not available in [CITY & STATE REDACTED] where we are moving and sent the documentation. So they have agreed to drop the charges. In sum, I have to say that this was handled fairly although it nearly gave me a heart attack. And, my only complaint was that this was not presented very clearly when they were setting things up. I would hope that our HOA would have highlighted this along with hotwire with a warning that it could cost a lot of money in penalty."
  
  
• (User) - "When I mentioned it I was basically told I was crazy and it wasn’t true! ( of course I may be crazy , lol but it was true!! ) ! I tried to tell everyone as I read hundreds of reviews literally and that’s why I decided nope , not gonna do it!"
  
• - Edited to Add this was the trouble maker from the longer message

The guy was paying for the top gun speed they were offering, apparently. I think the monthly charge for the 1 gigabyte speed was going to come out to $40 a month for the first year and $45 a month for years 2 through 10, but I could be wrong. It was all a blur when the sales guy was here because Hotwire was in such a rush to get everyone signed up so they could get in the homes and Comcast out. 

We had originally signed up for it, but because we were having so many issues with everything and were still within 30 days of signing, we were able to get out of the contract and went down to the tier the community pays for. I think otherwise, we too, would be stuck with this, even though we're not looking to personally cancel. 

When my mom originally told me about this guy, I said I'd have let it go to collections. What are they going to do? It's either make the board pay the money or make it go to collections and let it do the same rotting medical bills do when those go to collections. But then again, my mom had to provide a lot of detailed background information when she bought this place, so if the board was handed the bill or if it goes to collections, the board can still do something highly dirty to the people leaving. 

Which wouldn't be surprising, given what they're doing now to people. 

This definitely shakes some branches within the community, because a lot of people are on that Facebook page. Sure, the original poster does like to be a loud mouth for a lot of subjects, but if more people get wind of this, I'm sure there will be more of an uproar. Especially since there are plenty of houses for sale inside these gates right now, and I don't think anyone really knows enough to contact Hotwire to cancel service under their name. The seller will be in for a big surprise if they get a bill... surely something like this would follow you, due to banking information or SSN or other data. Like I said, the community needed personal information to buy the house. So they can use that information maliciously if you renege on anything. Yet, try to do that to them, and you've got enemies and lawsuits and everything else.

Until this can clear itself up, do your research and make sure you know what you're signing

Cheers;

I feel completely stupid

I was just going to post this elaborate gripe about losing the ability to use my Bluetooth Mouse on my iPhone, when I went into the Accessibility setting and fixed the problem. 

For context (and the basis of what would have been the complaint):

The other day I went to do a factory reset on my iPhone for a randomly crazy reason. 

Keep up with the logic here: We all know Apple got rid of the 3.5 headphone jack and started packing an adapter for those who still want to use wired headphones. Or, you buy the dongle somewhere else. So the Apple Certified 3.5mm lightning adapter I have been using finally crapped out and the three pack I bought "just in case" at second hand liquidation place, come to find out, aren't really Apple Certified. Thus my phone sees the connection as a "Dock Station" and I can't use it with wired mic headphones like I have been. 

Although, I must admit, I don't have to keep the volume on super high with this dock adapter. Which is very nice. But I lose the ability to answer the phone or make calls because the adapter is solely for active audio listening. 

When I finally completed resetting everything, I wanted to use the Apple Magic Keyboard and Logitech M535 Bluetooth Mouse (which is currently not available in black, but blue is) to enter in all my passwords for all the apps. 

Well, guess what. 

The mouse failed to connect. 

A pop up told me something, I forget what now, but the end result was that I had to "forget device" because it wouldn't work otherwise. Since then, I've tried and I've tried to connect the phone with the mouse and everything is failing. I even spent hours Googling it what to do and nothing is coming up. 

My first instinct, and the reason I wanted to make the post, is that it seems that no one is using the mouse since the iOS 16 update, or surely there'd be comments somewhere. 

There are no comments, sadly, and mainly because I'm a 30 watt bulb among a 100 watt 10 pack, apparently. 

I had Assistive Touch on, but I needed to reset some of the settings within that control, in order to make the mouse work. 

I don't know what made me check the internet about Assistive Touch, because I know in the past I've had to have the thing on in order to use the mouse. Even after doing a basic network reset, I still couldn't figure it out. 

So off I went to see Assistive Touch.

Steps taken for anyone else who may want to use a mouse or have this problem:

* Go to Settings

* Accessibility

* Touch

* Turn on AssitiveTouch

* While in that screen, click on Devices

* Next screen is "Bluetooth Devices..."

* Make sure the mouse is circling to find your phone

* Click on mouse so both things pair. 

From there you can tinker with other settings to make it all more personal, including the AssistiveTouch circle to fade to 15% in the background (which is nice).

Getting the mouse back makes me hopeful the USB dongle will come back to life at some point. I'm now just mad about the wired headphones thing. I'm glad I didn't get the three pack on Amazon (so buyer beware - the pack I linked to above is only good to listen to music. You can not make phone calls needs to have its title fixed. Always do your due diligence and research things or suffer the wrath of it not working. 

Until something else goes sideways, I'm off to finish watching Don't Breathe 2 because it's been on pause for over an hour and I've got thirty minutes left. 

Stay safe.

Cheers;

"OMG what's happening????"

I'm in the kitchen this morning, talking with my mother, the news is on. She's making her breakfast, I'm making my smoothie. I look over to the window and see a Cuban Tree Frog scaling the top glass. 

I quickly stopped what I was doing and said to my mom "look!" and we're both like "what the ..." . So I ran and got my phone because I know there was no way to hook my Canon up so quickly, especially since I've got to get ready for work. And take the rest of the trash out. 

Keep in mind, this is happening before 7am. 

So I grab my phone and get the step stool close to the window because at this point, the frog had managed to get to the top right of the window. He desperately tried to get himself as little as he could in that corner, but failed miserably. He attached himself to the side of the window and stayed there for a few minutes - long enough for me to take 3 photos - because then he jumped launched himself into the bushes. 

I then texted my friends the pictures with the following comment:

"Omg, what's happening... something's coming. We only get the frogs on the windows when we get hurricanes and the shutters are closed. 

I just saw this guy walk across the kitchen window and make his way to the corner. He couldn't get in the corner enough to be hidden. He tried his might to get small.

Once he noticed me taking photos he jumped into the bushes."

One friend thought maybe something is brewing out in the ocean. I responded to that saying news hasn't commented on it yet. Another friend just thought it was cool. 

Either way, my mom even joked that the next step is locusts. Ma, we did this already, 9 months ago. The joke has passed over us already. 

All joking aside, it's true. We don't see these guys unless the storm shutters are closed and locked and we're expecting a storm. The bufo toads are the ones we'd normally see out and about, but the tree frogs? Nope, they only come out and show themselves prior to a pending storm. 

Something must be coming if you believe in any type of signs...

Stay vigilant...

Cheers;

* * * Side note: it's already feeling like 94° before 7:30. It's going to be another humid one day.  * * *

"Sweet 16" isn't so "sweet"

I found out something interesting the other day: It seems that once Apple iOS hit 16.5, it disables power to external adapters such as the Lightning to USB3 Camera Adapter. 

How do I know?

Friday I wanted to use the adapter to transfer a PDF from my (i)Phone (11) to my work computer, and when I plugged the power source in to the adapter, my phone failed to acknowledge the charge (since you have to use extra power for USB sticks). 

If there was no power source connected to the adapter and the flash drive was inserted, the "Cannot Use Accessory This accessory uses too much power" message pops up. 

I thought it was my charging cable and brick, as both are not true "purchased thru Apple" products. I decided that when I got home home, I would try all the other charging cables I had. 

Challenge is, every single cable I own, including the one I keep in my backpack, worked perfectly well when I plugged it straight into the phone. Using the adapter, no ding, no green, no charge. So the adapter had to be broken. 

I was all set to go buy another $39 adapter on Amazon when I scrolled to a couple reviews. I wanted to see if anyone was commenting on the longevity of the product, since I had purchased it in 2021, surely more people would be using it for longer than two years? 

Well, as thought, people were making comments, but not about how long it lasts, but how they updated their phone software to iOS 16.5 and the adapter buggered out. 

People who routinely use this accessory for various purposes every day, had been fine until they updated their phone. The second the software went from 16.4 to 16.5, the adapter copped out, rendering all projects halted and the device useless. 

Doing some more research (Mac talk websites, etc), a lot more people were discussing this issue. It's been hanging around for close to three weeks at the point of this writing, and there are loads of unhapy people. 

It goes to show you the last time I used the adapter if it's been almost a month.

But users are hoping Apple gets on the fix game and enables the use of the adapter in the next software update. Otherwise, people who rely on this work work or other reasons are dead in the water when they need to utilize it. 

Me, I bought it for the occasional transfer to/from my phone to a computer when emailing isn't sufficient (I don't want to text a PDF to my boss from my personal phone, nor do I want to use my personal email to my work email). 

Technology gets you coming and going, and Apple used to do better with their stuff. I'm not fanboy as the phone and watch are the only fruit things I own. Had we not started with an iPhone 4 in 2013, I wouldn't have gotten the 5, 6 or 11. The watch was because I updated from a third party watch (not Fitbit) and wanted something new. However, the watch is a Series 3 and it stopped updating with WatchOS 8.7.

At least my friend Tay says all the time the things he can do on his various Android phones. He pressures me to return to the droid side quite frequently. I just can't get my act together to transfer everything (apps, etc). I am not a real big fan of the Apple, but I guess I'm stuck in my way right now, especially since I've got enough bumper cases for the watch and loads of charging cables, to be able to sell back to various stores. 

It's not to say I didn't previously own Android devices in the past. The flip phone I had before getting the iPhone 4 was a Motorola w755 that I was able to root and do a lot more things with it that I wanted to (easily transfer pictures to my computer, add music, etc). The Apple doesn't let you do what you want, since you have to go through customs (aka the app store) for everything. Tay tells me that he'd set a droid phone up for me if I wanted him to. He'd install all the things I need and it'd be end of story. Then I can not worry about transferring voice memos to my laptop, putting them in Audacity, shrinking them down to a manageable email size and then emailing. The thing he could do is put a specific memo app on the droid that will compress the audio without losing anything, and then I can send it in an email. Cut out the middle editing man. Among other things. 

Again, I've got too many things invested now in Apple, especially since we use Apple TV+ and it's attached to my Apple ID. Excuses, excuses, I know. 

Until I hear the USB adapter gets fixed, this will be something that goes in the closet unused. At least I got some of my money's worth with it, the last couple years...

Cheers;