Truman has been hanging out with the family more. I think it’s because I was gone for a week and he didn’t know where the one with the shiny head was and was concerned about the treats dispensing practices. He’s been at my side since I returned and has been making himself comfortable like cats do.
However, in this photo he appears completely unimpressed with the first episode of the final season of “Star Trek: Picard”.
We celebrated my husband’s birthday a few days late because of my trip back east. I had been planning this evening as a continuation of his birthday celebration from earlier in the week but since I didn’t get back until late Tuesday night, this turned out to be his actual celebration.
We had a nice dinner at a restaurant we’d hadn’t been to before and then went and saw “Dear Evan Hansen” at Centennial Hall on the University of Arizona campus. It’s part of the national tour of the show and part of the season here at “Broadway In Tucson”.
The dinner was very good and we enjoyed the show. The production was impressive and the performers were very good. The story is a little uneven at times, but that’s just the show.
Overall is was a great night.
Dear Apple,
When the latest round of updates were announced earlier this month I was really hopeful that some of the bugs I’ve been seeing on my Apple devices would be squashed and all would be right in It Just Works land.
Apparently I was very, very wrong on holding out hope.
HomeKit continues to be awful and unfortunately progress on that front is headed in the wrong direction. I finally realized that you made some subtle changes to Siri. Before the latest update I could say, “Hey Siri, get ready for bed” and she would run the automation I created two years ago called “Get Ready For Bed”. Since the latest update she can no longer do that and now I must say, “Hey Sir, turn on Get Ready For Bed”. Because Siri apparently has a considerably different grasp of “natural language” interfaces when it comes to English. When I do this new song and dance she’ll try to turn on “Get Ready For Bed” but will tell me that she can’t talk to some of my devices while turning the same lights at a brightness of 5%. (The automation sets the brightness at 30%).
Then we move to iOS and iPadOS, where I’m apparently being punished on a daily basis for having the audacity to use my personal email server instead of relying on iCloud email. I realize the IMAP protocol used by email servers has only been around since 1990, so it’s hard to plan on what’s going to endure, but the built in Mail client is REALLY struggling with IMAP now. All my non-Apple devices (GASP, but I must to maintain sanity) have absolutely zero, nada, zip issues with accessing the exact same account but Mail.app tells me there’s email when there isn’t, there isn’t email when there is, hangs on prompts with “Connecting…” for an inordinate amount of time and now has the trick of leaving the body of my email in the window after I’ve deleted it, so anyone that might steal my iDevice can see the contents of the email I deleted because I had the audacity to think that delete would delete.
That’s a run on sentence up there that makes the writer seem out of breath because that’s exactly how I feel when it comes to iDevices. Exasperated.
I have a very functional M1 Mac mini for personal use. The latest version of MacOS is so riddled with bugs and questionable UI design choices, I’m finding myself using my non-iDevices more than ever. And what’s up with Stage Manager? What is it really suppose to do? And why did you enshittify the settings panel in MacOS?
I’ve always been a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to life. It’s just the way my brain is wired. Much of the reason I pay the Apple Tax for your devices is because you were headed in that direction back in the day, but on top of the “same old, same old” approach you’re taking on everything you release (hardware, software, services) and telling us that it’s brand new, these bugs are really detracting from the Apple experience. I’m going to be looking for a new laptop in the not-so-distant future. If things continue as they are right now, there are plenty of non-iDevice options out there that will fit the bill just fine for me.
And as for your HomeKit travesty, I’m going to end up just building my own private ecosystem with plenty of free and open-source alternatives out there. I simply can’t trust you to do the home automation thing with any sort of reliability or consistency anymore.
Ever since I was a teenager I’ve had dreams about living a “champagne life”. Flying a private jet to a private island. No worries about finances. Traveling the world. Sipping champagne at a black tie event. Hobnobbing, conversing, and having a good laugh with others enjoying their champagne life.
Of course, this is not who I really am. I have enjoyed some really awesome experiences in my life, and there’s been plenty of bottles of champagne along the way, but when it all comes down to it, I was raised adjacent to my grandparents’ farm in Central New York by a country-raised dad and a city-raised mom, one who leaned on his traditional upbringing and the other who was a bit more liberal in her thinking.
It was kinda like Ward Cleaver married That Girl.
It’s hard work, not a trust fund, that gives me the opportunity to glimpse at “champagne life” once in a while. Last night, the flight attendant offered me a glass of sparkling wine before we left the gate for our flight home. I’m fortunate to be able to sit fairly close to the front of the airplane.
I sipped some of the sparkling wine. I did not complain that it wasn’t actual champagne.
I strive to always have a Plan B. This has been my mantra for many years and while it may seem to some that I’m paranoid, I like to have a plan B. My way of thinking always needs to be formulating resolution. If I have a problem, I need to resolve it immediately.
Just as we were leaving the gate at Syracuse for Denver, I received a text message from United strongly suggesting I consider jumping to another flight by using the convenient United app with free wi-fi access during the four hours I was in the air.
I immediately searched for other flights and found none until morning to Tucson, but there was a flight to Phoenix that would give me a comfortable layover experience.
I’m now sitting at gate B12 waiting for my flight to Phoenix. Earl will be making the drive to Sky Harbor to pick me up and we’ll make the two hour drive home across the desert after I (hopefully) pick up my luggage at KPHX.
There’s no reason to panic when engaging in travel. Just focus on Plan B. Always have an “out”. You’ll be fine.
I’ve been in Syracuse, New York for a week working with my family on Mom’s care at the hospital. She is more stable than when I arrived Wednesday night, but she still can’t keep food down easily, is quite dehydrated, and has some skewed levels when it comes to blood test results. She was napping when I left the hospital for the airport but she woke up to give me a hug and a kiss and told me how happy she was I made the trip from Tucson.
I’m hoping she’ll continue to improve and build some strength. We are working on an assisted living situation for her when she leaves the hospital. All that goes through my mind is “Shady Pines, Ma”, but we took a tour of the facility and I was comfortable with the services they provide. Plus the facility is centrally located so family will still be able to see her often, she won’t need to change doctors, and she’ll be in a familiar neighborhood. Not everyone has that opportunity in these circumstances.
It’s never easy to make these decisions but sometimes we have to make tough decisions. Her living with my sister is not easy as her house is small, multiple levels, and there’s a lot going on. It’s just not as safe as it could be. Taking her to Tucson is not an option, as Mom wouldn’t know anyone, would have to start from scratch with her medical care, and she said she doesn’t want to live in the desert.
We make hard choices. But we always hope it’s for the best.
For a while, there were major quality control issues with the manufacture of license plates in the Empire State. New York has been slowly replacing their license plates over the past few years with a new black-on-white design, but it’s still quite common to see license plates shredding and/or decomposing on vehicles.
What’s interesting is license plates made 20 years ago (beginning with “A” or “B” on passenger cars) are still quite intact and looking good. It’s these plates beginning with a “G” that are having issues.
It’s not always a great idea to go with the lowest bidder.
I’m staying with my cousin while Mom is in the hospital. We’ve been watching television in the evenings, and apparently in this part of the country these television ads have been running. A lot.
How long before we start hearing that 1970s mod version of “The Lord’s Prayer” on the radio?
With me back east to help with Mom’s health concerns, Earl and Truman posed for a photo that made me smile and tear up a little.
I’m in Syracuse. Mom is not doing well and my family felt it might be a good idea if I make the trip to Tucson. Mom has had two trips to the emergency room by ambulance in the past 10 days. Her latest was due to shortness of breath.
Mom has lost 40 pounds since the beginning of November. She can’t keep food down. She is weak. She is having difficulties breathing. The doctors can’t find much wrong with her, though they are looking at spots on her liver. We’ll find out soon what’s going on there, but they don’t seem overly concerned, this is more of “ruling everything out”.
I’m hopeful she’ll pull through this, but we toured an assisted living facility this afternoon. It’s not what I want, but it’s the safest option.
Just a guy with a husband. We’ve been together 28 years and he still makes me see fireworks on a daily basis. Hiker. Storm Chaser. Private Pilot. Tech Guy. Hackerish.
Weird? Eccentric!