Upgrades AREN'T Necessarily Improvements!

I really HATE it when I check my phone in the morning - and I see that the operating system on my phone has been updated!

(Oh no! What else did they change?!)

This annoying feature on the blog page appeared a few months ago. ... (A hyper link that I never use...) But if I accidentally touch it while writing, the font letters become small  and I have to erase the tiny words and re-type everything!

More recently this check mark appeared everywhere... What does it mean? Am I safe to touch it?! Does it mean OK? Or I'm done?

For me, a real improvement would be a CHOICE: Do I want this change? If not, how can I get rid of it?  Maybe I'm happy with things the way they were.

HALFWAY Tech Savvy

I had a great idea for a personalized birthday card for Terry...

I could include a few family photos - like this one - in the card... then print it up...

But, in the middle of the process, I forgot how to access my cell phone's QR code reader! (I know I've done it before...)

So it was a NO-GO! 

(Unfortunately being HALF tech-savvy isn't good enough - especially if you're in a hurry!)

SPAM!!

I recently received the following text message:

I DID NOT CLICK ON THE LINK. Instead immediately checked the telephone number online to see if it matched the business it claimed to be from.

It didn't! 

Fortunately (or unfortunately) I've become very sceptical about most claims that say - CLICK THIS LINK... Instead, I look for a different way to contact the supposed sender.

Problem Solved!

A few days ago, I mentioned that I had encountered a problem uploading photos to my blog. My free photo storage was apparently full...

One solution was to purchase more storage space on Google.

But when I clicked on the second option - to delete files - it appeared that I had quite a bit of storage available, as I had been busy deleting photos that were no longer important to me. Yet somehow this fact hadn't registered with Google because I was still receiving warnings and I was still blocked from uploading photos to the blog.

I consulted (complained) to various family members who offered various suggestions:

• Pay the $3 monthly fee to get more storage
• Create a new email account and email all large files (eg videos) to this new account. Then delete them from Google.

I tried unsuccessfully to contact SOMEONE at Google who might help me - but to no avail. There was an invisible wall between their help desk and me... It was just so frustrating and such a waste of time...

(But - on the positive side - it did show me how important my daily blogging was to me. The idea of giving it up was really crushing!

After yet another unsuccessful attempt to post a few photos to the blog, I (yet again) lamented to my daughter that I didn't know what to do. 

Have you tried deleting cookies? she asked.

I didn't know an iPhone had "cookies," I  replied. So she led me step by step ...

• Go to Safari and find the book icon at the bottom of the page. Click it.
• Next, click the clock icon
• Then delete your history...

I did it - I deleted it all... and "lo and behold" the problem was gone! I have no idea what I was doing or why... But I could again upload photos to my blog!! Problem (FINALLY!) solved!

Media Transfer

When my children were young, my parents bought a video recorder... Before long they gave it to us, so that we could send them pictures of their growing grandkids...

They were happy when a VHS tape replaced my weekly letter to them.

All these years later, I have LOTS of VHS tapes I'd like to digitize, so that my kids could see themselves in action in their younger years. (And so that my grandkids can see their dad when he was a toddler.) But how? And when?!

I recently discovered that my son's public library has a digital transfer lab... 

So we headed over to check it out.

Their "tech" person was very helpful...

If I figure out how to use it, I may keep busy transferring many childhood years on VHS tape to more accessible digital format.

Recently I took the first step: I copied one VHS tape onto one DVD. It took over two hours as I watched it copy. (The next step is to transfer the video from DVD to USB... That may go faster. - I hope!) 

Multiply this by a dozen more VHS home videos, possibly two hours each... It will take a while. 

My new adventure in photography - learning to digitally transfer these videos - as I revisit family history!!

Report Card Time!

Now that school's over, let's see Ivy's report card, Terry said yesterday when we were visiting our grandchildren.

It's on my phone, our son replied. We don't have s physical copy.

In the end, he read it aloud to us - the print was small - hard for grandparents to read. 

I think my grade 2 report card must still be around somewhere, I thought. My mother used to keep things like that.

(I wonder how long the digital ones will be saved before they're deleted!)

Always More to Learn

I take a lot of pictures - some, to help me remember places and events; others to illustrate things I mention in my blog.

I used to use a digital camera, but these days, I take all my pictures using the camera on my phone. 

One reason is that the phone is always in my pocket - since I also use it as my pedometer.

All this information - the photos, my daily number of steps - and more - are all automatically saved on the phone... But a backup copy is also sent to a hard drive located SOMEWHERE (not sure where!!) called a "cloud."

Every once in a while I get an email from the "cloud" telling me that I've exceeded my free data storage and now I need to pay a monthly fee - something I'm reluctant to do.

At this point, I usually choose the option of deleting information and photos on my phone and on the "cloud." But there may also be another option...

One day recently, my daughter, scrolling through the photos on my phone, commented: No wonder you're always running out of cloud storage. All your pictures are "live" - they're few-second videos. That takes up more memory...

Well, that has to change! 

Can I remember to change the camera setting every time I use it...? (I've discovered that it switches back to live every time I open up the camera!)

So much to learn!

An Old Fashioned Phone

When I'm old enough to get a phone, I want an old-fashioned one, my 7-year-old granddaughter told me.

Old-fashioned? You mean one that plugs into the wall? Where you turn a dial to call someone? I asked.

She looked confused. No, one with a circle in the bottom.

I think she means an iPhone 8, my daughter explained. (See above!!)

When were they new? I wondered. Hmmm: 2017... The year my granddaughter turned one! Yes, they would probably be "old-fashioned" to her...

To compare, I looked up what phone came out the year I turned one. It was the black phone above. 

Phones looked like that much of my adult life - though eventually black phones were replaced by coloured ones and rotary dials were replaced by push-button dialing.

TO ME... an old-fashioned phone looks like this! A box on the wall with a bell, and separate components for talking and listening.

I remember using one at my uncle's house. They had a shared "party line" - shared with half a dozen neighbours in the country.

Each family's number had a unique ring. One long or two short - or any combination of long and short rings. If any of the neighbours were talking on their phones, we could lift up the receiver and hear the conversation. But we couldn't make or take a call unless the line was clear. 

So many changes!!

How Children Learn

Grandma, do you know what I want? I want a Barbie car. A purple car with four seats - for four Barbies.

I didn't know there was such a thing, I replied. Let's check if there's one on Amazon. 

I picked up my cell phone did a search. Sure enough, a purple Barbie car appeared. It had four seats.

I'll take a picture of this to remember, I told my granddaughter, clicking on two buttons to copy my screen.

How did you do that? she asked. 

If I press these buttons at the same time, I said, it takes a picture of the screen.

Can I try?

Sure, I replied and handed her my phone.

A few minutes later, I looked over..

Look what I did, she said. Don't erase them. I want to look at them again later.

I stared at the dozens of screen grabs she had done in just a few minutes!

That's how children learn: Willing to try something new, they go at it - FEARLESSLY, willing to make mistakes. Adults, especially older ones, born before smart phones were invented - would be FEARFUL, HESITANT - afraid something might break!

(Is there something in between...? Fearless ... but careful?!)

Cheerful Pictures!

I found a way to cheer myself up throughout the day...

Having different photos I love pop up on my cell phone throughout the day always brings a smile to my face.

I have set my "wallpaper" to "photo shuffle" every hour.

Photos in my wallpaper collection include favourite people, places and scenery.

Seeing a new one pop up is a bit of a surprise - and always brings a smile to my face... and lifts my spirits.

Printer Problems

My first mosaic crochet project was done. I was ready for another.

I had purchased the previous pattern online. Now I wanted to buy another from the same pattern designer. She has created so many colourful ones I love.

But when you purchase a pattern online, it is emailed to you. Then YOU have to print it up. Unfortunately the new printer I purchased in April wasn't printing properly. Now several colours weren't printing, so pages with color were illegible... What to do?!!

I returned to the store where I had purchased the machine to ask what my options were, but customer service wasn't at all helpful. They simply informed me that their obligation to exchange it ended 30 days after I purchased it. No mention of what I could do now.

I confess that at this point I was ready to put the printer in the trash and buy another one - NOT from the same company. There must be "lemons" in the printing world - and I had obviously bought a lemon.

Well, you have a one-year warranty, Terry reminded me. They have to fix it.

I decided to try to contact the manufacturer by phone rather than go back to the store - but of course, they no longer provide telephone contact numbers. So instead, I went to their online website and started typing in my problem using the online "chat" option. It was effective though cumbersome. Half an hour later, I was asked to open the printer and describe what I saw... I had no idea what I was looking for.

I offered to email a photograph of the inside of my printer.

They agreed and quickly identified the problem: Bubbles blocking some ink tubes. They then told me to press this and that on the "maintenance" button to fix it... And, to my amazement, the printer now worked!

Here are the pages I printed before and after the intervention. Yes!  They're the same page. That - on the right - is what the page was supposed to look like!

As I sat down to print up my new crochet patterns, it occurred to me that this is not an experience my parents would ever have had to  face. They never owned a printer - though my dad would have found it interesting. He loved machines.

I can't say I love machines - but because I wanted to print up some patterns, I forced myself to turn to technical support. As they say, "Necessity knows no defeat." 

I can almost see my dad smiling.

Printer Dilemma

We have several printers in our basement. My daughter gave us hers to store. She rarely needs it in her home office. Everything she creates is simply transferred online. 

But I'm not sure how useful it is to me, as it only prints in black and white - which is of limited help when I download crafting patterns, some of which are color-coded.

For years now I've been using a printer that works well enough, though it is no longer supported by my computer. If I connect the printer and computer with a cable, it still works. But now I’ve run out of ink!

Maybe I should replace it and get a new one. It’s not perfect: it used to work wirelessly -  until we switched  internet providers. 

Another problem: I can no longer buy ink cartridges for it in stores. (Though I can purchase large bundles of unofficial cartridges online. Should I order another bundle?)

Should I look for a printer that has ink tanks instead of cartridges - like this one that my neighbour Earl has? No more hunting for cartridges, in that case. Just add more ink.

I hard for me to know what to do!

One Man Show!

My impression of on-the-spot TV news coverage did an about-face after I saw this photograph that my daughter sent me from her second-floor home office. 

In my mind, a television camera crew (made up of at least one photographer and sound person) accompanied any roving TV reporter. At least, that’s always what I've seen on TV.

But here is a television reporter, near my daughter’s home, working all alone. A smartphone, on a tripod, is recording his video and the audio. He's a one-person crew!

Not sure what's in the box in the back of the vehicle. A hard drive to store the video footage? A modem to send the report to the studio - to be edited before it is broadcast...?

Terry and I tuned in to watch the new... It was a new invention being used by this hospital.

From our angle, things looked the same - but it's definitely different now!

Church... At Home

During most of the COVID pandemic, Terry and I have been "doing" church from home...

We enjoy it... No leaving the house. No fear of getting - or giving - germs. 

In fact, it may be too easy... I bring my morning coffee over, sit on the sofa - and we tune in,  via Terry's computer.

It does lack one really important aspect of in-person church involvement - being part of a community.

But for now, I'm glad it's an option for us.

14-Day Glucose Monitor

A few weeks ago, I wore a small button on my arm for 13 days - as it constantly measured the blood-sugar in my cells.

I was easily able to check my blood sugar levels before and after meals as well as after exercise and during times of rest.

It was an interesting experiment - watching my sugar levels rise (after eating) and fall. But I don’t feel that it’s a tool that I need to use to monitor my type 2 diabetes.

Normally I only check my blood sugar once a day - before eating or drinking anything. 

The two-week monitor did reveal what foods spike blood sugar. I was surprised to see, for example, that after a meal of Indian food (rice, butter chicken, vegetable biriani and naan bread), my glucose didn’t spike, as it usually does when I eat rice. But after a meal of Greek food (rice, potatoes, salad and souvlaki skewers) it did. I have no idea why. A different kind of rice, perhaps?

I think the monitor could be very helpful to those who are type 1 diabetics. The rising and falling of blood sugar that the monitor reveals could be very helpful in assessing when to administer insulin.

But im glad I was able to participate in this interesting experiment - and learning experience.

Canadian “Wordle”?!

My daughter and I play the daily online “Wordle” game and share our results. (It’s not really a competition…)

I look forward to the challenge of guessing each days’s five-letter word (in six guesses). 

Now I’ve discovered there’s also a Canadian version called “Canuckle” - created by a local Ottawa man.

The first time I googled it, and chose what I thought was the game, I was informed I had contracted a computer virus and needed protection.

I immediately exited that site without touching any links. I always assume messages like that originate with someone whose trying to GIVE me a computer virus.

I googled the game again and this time chose a CTV article about the game, on March 2, 2022, then clicked the link IN the story - and safely arrived at the game - without any threatening messages.

The game focuses on words that are “Canadian.”

(I didn’t know we had enough Canadian words  to keep a game like this going!)

So Much Like My Dad…

A while back, on Facebook, I came across an old photo of Gyro Park in Kelowna, BC taken in the 1970’s. I know the park well. When I lived there, it was a popular public beach in the city.

Looking at it brought back such good memories.

My eyes suddenly stopped at the bottom right corner of the picture. A thin middle aged man wearing a long sleeved shirt, long pants - and no sun hat - sitting on the sand between two sunbathing girls looked SOOO familiar.

Was that my father?! Had he driven visiting relatives to the beach - and decided to stay for a while?!

As unlikely as it is that I would find my father’s picture on an old postcard, I’ve been emailing this screenshot to various cousins, asking: Is that you on the beach in Kelowna with my dad?

So far, no luck! But to me, that man’s resemblance to my father is uncanny!

Optical Illusion!

Didn’t know dad was in that movie…! one of my kids emailed me, attaching this screen shot…

I was puzzled… 

Is that Ryan Gosling?! It looks just like Terry… 

Are they making Ryan Gosling look like an old man in the movie? How is it possible that they made him look so much like... Dad! I replied.

Haha, no! I was reading about the new Barbie and Ken movie on my phone when dad suddenly FaceTimed - and his face  appeared in exactly this position. So I took a screen shot. I didn’t change a thing!

(Really?! Things like that can happen? I’m so confused!)

Everything Old is New Again?!!

For Christmas this year, one of our sons gave Terry an LP record... vinyl!

Lucky we still have our old record player, I said to Terry.

(We haven't used it in years!)

Vinyl is making a comeback, our son explained.

(I had no idea! What formats are available these days?! This same son got rid of all his CD's a few years ago and now streams music from an online subscription...)

We still use CD's, especially when we're traveling - though Terry tells me that our next car will probably not have a CD player in it... They're not putting them in cars anymore.

Here are two CD's I bought recently... Josh Grobin and some singing nuns...  They are all new releases... Will  CD's soon be obsolete?!

Will we have to stream music through our cell phones? We've never done that.

I was disappointed when they stopped building cassette players in cars. I don't think tapes are available anymore. 

I still have some... like these cassettes of children's stories. My youngest son loved listening to them when he was small. 

I wonder if his four-year-old daughter will be interested in listening to them next time she visits... (She may be 5 by the time it's safe to do that!) 

I also came across this old walkman cassette player - and it works...

I'm looking forward to introducing her to this old technology to see what she thinks!

Out With the OLD... Telephones?!

Terry and I recently switched to a new (cheaper) internet provider. They installed a new FIBE line to replace our old telephone line. 

After the technician left, to our consternation, most of our old telephones no longer worked! No dial tone! No ring!

Will I have to throw all our old phones out?! I wondered as I gathered them up and put them into a box in the basement.

The only phones that still worked were two connected to a cordless phone base. 

What to do?!

We went out and bought a new base that came with five cordless phones... so that we could have a phone in the basement and upstairs as well as the main floor.

An unexpected advantage of this new base is a button on each phone for blocking numbers! Now whenever I get an offer to clean my ducts or someone telling me that my computer is broken, I simply press the button: BLOCK NUMBER and hang up...

I have noticed that we now get fewer telemarketing calls!