Phone x 2, Under the Gate, 12, Masked Riders, My Little Buddy, Cleaning Crew
I got an email from ATT letting me know I could upgrade my old Iphone 6S, yes 6S. When I replaced my phone almost two years ago I decided to stick with the 6S for one reason, the headphone jack. At the time I was still driving the Prius and the only way I could interface my phone to the car’s stereo system was via that headphone jack. Obviously now that restriction has been lifted since the Tesla became my daily driver. I also was a bit hesitant about things like losing a physical “Home” button but I decided to take the leap and order an Iphone 11.
The phone arrived Thursday and I went about setting it up late Thursday evening since I decided last minute to take Friday off. I opted to migrate the old fashioned way, by doing a full back up of the old phone and restoring it to the new hardware which seems to be the most reliable path from past experiences. It took awhile but before I went to bed I was up and running on the new phone. The bigger screen real estate was a nice upgrade and maneuvering without a home button wasn’t nearly as annoying as I thought it might be. Over the rest of the weekend I also enjoyed the higher speed 5Ge service as well as dramatically improved battery life. Yesterday I had 84% battery left without charging the phone at all during the day. The phone also includes wireless charging so the Qi charger in my Tacoma can see some actual use.
One of the reasons I was interested in taking off Friday is it would give me one more chance to go ride with Mickey before he heads over to stay at his parents house on the east coast. I picked him up mid-morning. The original plan was to ride the swamp but it was closed a few days prior due to the Covid 19 restrictions. We decided to still ride around the house where there is a variety of off road paths available to us. We also stopped at the house where Mickey got to meet Cindy briefly which was cool.
Even though I knew it was closed I suggested we ride up to the swamp entrance to take a look. When we did we saw one vehicle parked in the road due to the parking lot gate being closed. We decided to ride up to the boardwalk entrance to see if it was physically blocked which it was not. We rolled on into the swamp where it didn’t take long until we passed another set of rule breakers, a couple walking their dogs. Mickey thought the swamp was really cool, about as opposite as you can get to riding the streets of NYC. Our turn around point was defined for us by a large gator that was blocking the majority of the path, neither of us felt like pressing our luck to get by. The video tells the story pretty well. We both enjoyed the ride and I suspect it won’t be the last time we ride together before Mickey heads back to NYC.
After dropping off Mickey I donned my 3D printed mask for a visit to Costco to pick up a number of items. Unlike the last time I was there a couple weeks ago, there were a lot more people wearing masks or at least covering their face in some manner. The most humorous of all was an old man that had a full size bath towel tied around his head. Costco really had taken steps to enact social distancing as well as putting up “shields” between the cashier and customers to minimize interaction. It’s a strange new world we live in.
On Saturday morning I went to the track first thing to get a run in, something I had not done for a couple weeks. I trudged through the 12 laps but man it was not comfortable at all. The morning temperatures lately have been approaching summer-like levels which added to the misery of the experience.
My chore list on Saturday included my normal outdoor items. Late in the morning Katie and DJ came over. I had not seen either in person for somewhere around three weeks. It didn’t take long for DJ to want me to hold him, I don’t know if he just likes the higher vantage point but he seems to enjoy hanging with me.
After they left Cindy and I did a Home Depot run, something Cindy hasn’t done in quite awhile. Both of us were masked up. We had to wait in a line for about 5 minutes until we were allowed in the store. We grabbed a bunch of items, the two main things I needed to deal with were the dirt and sod which I laid down immediately.
Later in the afternoon Deb came over to hang out. We went for a ride where we remained masked up around the neighborhood. She wound up hanging out till around 9PM. We always have fun when we get together and I think everyone enjoyed the break from quarantine.
Easter was obviously a different experience this year. No family came over except for a visit from Katie and DJ. It was his first Easter so Cindy wanted to make it special. She made him a basket and set up a blanket outside to take pictures on. Once again DJ wanted to hang with “grandpa” a lot so it made pictures less than simple. We still got some cute shots. I really do like the upgraded camera on the Iphone 11. Portrait mode is especially cool.
On Sunday I also finished up some of the extensive cleaning duties from the weekend which included bathroom cleaning, vacuuming, steam cleaning the floors, and washing the bedding. Even though the act of cleaning is never particularly fun, I enjoy the end result.