What A Terrific Time

For Appreciating What We Have

Dog Running

We have access to more information about more stuff than ever imagined. Never in the most intricate and far reaching science fiction stories did anyone dream of the level of involvement that is readily available to those of us with a computer, or smartphone.

Fencepost and flowering fern

It used to take weeks to get a letter from a family member about whether the new job they set out to get in the big city worked out. Now, they can instantly send a selfie of their first day at work, and they will get your reply “Congratulations dear” as fast as you can type and click send.

Birds at play

In this day and age I am able to video two birds playing their favorite game of dive bomber and dogfight. I can watch the video, see a good part, pause on a frame, take a picture of the computer screen, then crop and insert that picture for you to see in this post.

Shady Lady

I love to see an interesting news item and do my own investigating to see if it is being truthfully reported. It is really easy to see through the baloney when you have computer access to more than one source for a story.

After a few years you can recognize who is just making stuff up to support their ideology, (Fox News, talk radio, Wall Street Journal, etc ), and those sources that use verifiable information, (Fair TV, Democracy Now, Al Jazeera America, Think Progress, etc )

Face to the sun

Just the other day, Marian asked if I had seen the 60 minutes show about people over 90. I said I would find it on my computer and watch it sometime soon. That sometime was earlier this evening after I Googled “people over 90 on 60 minutes”. I clicked on the link to the show, watched part 1 and will watch part 2 sometime soon.

It is about a follow up on the comprehensive study of thousands seniors living at Leisure World in 1981. 600 of them are still alive so they compared their data with the data of those who are not. The results contain a few surprises, and at the same time support much of what we already know is good for us. Thanks for the tip Marian.

Lela’s hydrangea

I made a list the other day of stuff that I should attend to. On that list were items like more RAM for the MacBook Pro, patio umbrella recovering, and batteries for various electronics.

The batteries were a tricky business in addition to being an extra expense. The iPod Touch, after 4 years, could do with a new battery. That would cost about $90. But even with a new battery I would still have an 8GB 4th gen iPod. So I planned on trading it in on a 32GB new iPod Touch $285 at Best Buy. In addition, my cell phone battery needed replacing, too. I thought I might upgrade that while I was at it.

Then a solution appeared just hours after I made the list.

A yellow rose amid the greenery

I got an email Friday evening from Verizon that offered me a 32GB iPhone 5c for free, if I would sign a 2 year contract. I have been using Verizon for 8 years and I figure I will likely use them for at least another 2, so I called the company to find out how this would affect my bill, and I liked what they said. I went to the Verizon store and came out with the solution in hand.

iPhone 5c photo of purple flower in Dottie’s garden

Now instead of carrying around both cell phone and iPod Touch with old batteries, I have just one new iPhone that does it all, and then some. I can still use the iPod Touch in tandem with the iPhone in various ways when needed.

What a timely solution to what was looking like pricey battery replacements.

I am very impressed with the iPhone 5c. A review is coming in a future post.

Today’s Video;

Life At The Speed Of You