I'm back... I guess. It's been one heck of the last 4 years. 

I've written a lot, but I have either filed it or posted on Facebook.

Resolutions 2022

 

It’s January 1, 2022, and I guess it’s that time everyone, well, maybe not me, per se, sit down and write their resolutions for the year. Or the things they are really not going to do. Most people do and most people don’t.

I, on the other hand, don’t write resolutions; I just try to do whatever is needed for the year or forever. However… I am going to write something out and try to stick with it for the year and as long as needed. Meaning, finish my novel and the three others that I planned (in my head), fleshed out over the last two year. The sad thing, I never put any of it on paper (computer).

So, here they be… I started writing my novel, MAROONED, in 2018, well; I finished it then, too. But, I haven’t edited it as of today. The first thing I will do.

2. In the past two years I came up with part II of the Marooned story, Revenge. I started writing it in November of 2019 and had written 17,000+ words. I then kind, of gave up. I did manage to write a list of characters and story line. I will finish it this year; I know where, what direction the story goes.

3. Also, during this downtime, I came up with another story, or part III to my Marooned story. I have the title written down somewhere, maybe a thumb drive upstairs in my office… heck let me check. IBB in a sec… Geez, I have the story on a thumb drive and not my old office computer. I am going to have to put it on this computer. But wait, I am only going to write on my blog on this “new” computer and my novel on the computer in my office. Anyway, I digress…

The story, part III is called “Redemption”. I did manage to give a slight outline of the story, and it is fleshed out in my mind. I just have to get it out, this year.

So those are the three main things I will be working on in the year 2022. Of course, I will be trying to write on my blog again. The last time I wrote for my blog, was 2019, and only one piece, in January of 2019. Now, also, during that time I did manage to write pieces for my blog but never published them so I have quite few things to publish, if I so desire.

Moreover, I did think of a few more stories, of course they are still in my storage area, my mind, but they are clear as day. I just have to outline them and work on them.

4. I have over 400 books in storage. I was selling them on an off-shoot of EBay, until it closed down. And for some odd reason I cannot find the inventory list of the books. So, I am going to have to go down there and write down the names of the book, and type them into this computer so I can sell them, again, this time on EBay.

5. I can’t think of any more resolutions that would require my attention, at the moment. Well, maybe, just continue having the fun I had in 2019, you know, like, camping, hiking, biking, kayaking, backpacking, stuff like that. In 2021 I only did, most of the above, 600+ miles, down from 2300 in 2018.

Anyway, Happy New Year. Be Happy in 2022!

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It starts all over again, January 1, 2022. I plan to make it a great day! 

All of that Newfangle Smart Stuff...

Alexa Dot second gen

I have concluded that some of these newfangled smart sh*t thingies, I own, kind of sucks! I have no problems with 98% of the electronic gear I own, but it’s that 2% percent that has me pulling my hair out. So far I have seven Alexa devices, one Spot, two Alexa Show’s, three, second gen Dot’s and one third gen Dot. What bugs me, they are, or so it would seem going deaf, or they just act like they are deaf.

It kind of bugs me that, when watching TV, and someone on a, particular, show will announce the “wake word”, and my Alexa, in the Kitchen will wake up. (I changed all but the Kitchen and upstairs bathroom to another wake word). That is over four meters away from the TV! I have to yell and tell it to shut the… 

On the other hand, I have a second gen Dot, several centimeters away, next to my couch, as I watch TV. I give it a command and, nothing! I have to repeat it twice, most times, and she will tell me, she has no idea or can’t help. I then have to ask Google for an answer. But, I digress…

I have no problems with the lights, the doors and the other 30 or so items I have installed throughout the house, but... I installed a light switch (relay, hub) in my kitchen 2 years ago. It's now DEAD! In fact, the bottom load died after 1 year, 1 month 10 days after I purchased it. 40 days past the warranty. I had to rewire the thing to get it to work, then. I called the company and they told me it was defective, but wouldn’t do anything about it.

On the other hand, I purchased a couple of light switches a few months back but couldn't figure out where to put them, considering, I purchased connected bulbs in 98% of my lights, just because they were on sale, 2 for $30, a steal as far as light switches go, it was an impulsive buy, kind of thing.

 

Funny thing, I have electronic gear that, some of them are over 30 years old and, still work! I am beginning not to trust this new stuff...electronic smart stuff. Most are WAY too expensive and seem like they don't last long and most only have ninety day warranties, a few with one year warranties. Meaning, IMO the manufacturer doesn't trust their stuff.

For instance, I want to open my blinds via Alexa, open in the mornings and close at night. I have 6 blinds that I would like for this to happen to. It just happens that, now, the blind motors now cost $150 a piece! Heck, to buy a motor to open my door wall, that one motor cost $250! That would seem like, it’s not going to happen in the near future, maybe, and I just might have to buy them one at a time. I shall see…

Anyway, my Kitchen light works, now...let me test..."Alexa, turn on the Kitchen Lights." Lights on.  So far so good.

Entertaining Disney+

I had the chance to check out The Disney+ channel last night. There were no problems considering, the initial rollout caused problems earlier on in the east coast, but I digress. It just occurred to me that I have the expensive, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Comcast/Xfinity and a few other sites that I rent movies from, if I want.

I was not totally impressed with the new channel only because, I have Plex, hoping to get Plex plus later when my Comcast/Xfinity contract runs out, next year.

Why am I not impressed, as I mentioned, above, I have over 400 movies on my Plex and almost, but not all, are from the Marvel Universe, and I have all of the Star Wars movies. Science Fiction is a main stay for me. In addition, I have about a hundred movies on Vudu.com.

I usually purchase a movie, once a month on that site. I also buy a “free” movie, every other month on Google Play, (taking surveys on their site gets you a small amount of “cash”, usually as small as ten cents and as large as seventy cents.).

I would like to cut out a lot of these services, just to save money, if and when, I cut the cord to Comcast. I have figured out how to add movies to my Plex collection and that works for me. If anything, I wish I could add my VHS collection to Plex, also. I have approximately 300 VSH movies, all the oldies, but goodies!

Is Disney+ worth it, for me to watch just one show, The Mandalorian? The same with Netflix, there are only three shows I watch, weekly. In addition, now that I think about it, I subscribe to HBO and, there are only three shows, I watch, weekly. Are they all worth the price, of course not? However, sitting around, day after day, doing nothing but sipping coffee, by day, and beer, by night, I have to have an outlet and stay entertained.

Will I get Disney+? That remands to be seen. The future, of course, can never be promised.

Kayaking weekend, The Epic Fail...

The weekend. I had an epic day, kayaking on the Huron River, yesterday. A total first, of sorts, for me this year. For one thing, it was a beautiful, even though; it was predicted to thunderstorm early and late, Saturday. It didn’t happen. Yes, it was warm but it was cooler on the water. Just about blue skies for the rest of the day I was on the water.

On the other hand, the epic part…I flipped my kayak. That is the first time that has ever happened since I’ve owned a kayak and before. There were a series of cascades, if I remember correctly, five, cascades along the river, very fast moving. You just needed to lean back and put your paddle over your head and ride out the fast moving current.

What was kind of troubling, the waters, along the way, were filled with Tubers, especially kids in tubes and they really were in the way, most of the times and you hated to run in to one of them. So, you kind of had to go around a couple of time until they went down. And of course, other kayakers and folks in those tandem kayaks who thought they had the right of way, even if you were in the way.

On the very last cascade, some woman, I had to reckon, was inexperienced, decided to just rush past me, as I was a few meters from the mouth of the cascade. Of course, I couldn’t stop or I would have gone in sideways and probably flipped anyway. As she went over, and the last one was the steepest, she managed to turn right, I had no choice but to go left.

As I leaned, (bad move) to my left I hit a bunch of rocks and flipped. I came out of the kayak and was pushed a couple meters further out. The water was about a meter and a half deep and I was totally under my kayak. I opened my eyes, looking up through the greenish water and noticed that my gear was still in the kayak, considering it was upside down.

I managed to stand up…I heard someone calling my name and then saying, “Come to me”. But, I was in a mild panic, more kayaker were zooming past me as I pushed my way towards a rocky incline. I finally sat down and surveyed my circumstance. I have carried a Kayak pump with me, ever since I purchased my kayak, six years prior, and started to pump the water out. Five minutes later, 99% of the water was out.

I had placed my camera on the deck of my kayak, because it was pressed between my body and my lifejacket, but it was still soaked. When I finished pumping, I couldn’t find my camera. About 20 centimeters under the water was my camera. I knew it was dead! I had taken some 45 pictures on it and the pictures were stored on a card. I knew they would be okay, but the camera was another thing.

Someone gave me that 3^rd generation camera, a couple of years ago, right after I had dropped my first generation camera in to a bucket of water. I still have that shell of a camera, but it has never worked again.  Anyway, I also noticed that the plastic, Zip-loc bag, was slightly opened. In the bag was my old cell phone, which I only use to take pictures and a brand new 10,000 mAh battery. They too were soaked.

What made that so bad, the old camera, cell phone, which was a rugged camera and waterproof, was missing the tabs that kept the water out. It too was dead. It too had the remaining, “action” pictures on it, plus, hundreds of other pictures, (of course backed-up). But, these pictures couldn’t be backed-up because, I would need a Wi-Fi source, to which none was available at the time. Lost pictures? 

When I got home, I put all three of my devices in a large plastic bag filled with rice. I hope that works. I read that takes about 24 to 36 hours to find out. Eight more hours to go.

Anyway, I wasn’t the worse for wear. I did manage to scrape my shin; I now have a two centimeter scar. My only fear, though, Flesh-eating bacteria! Everything in the world, (from what I hear on the news and from FB) scares me…a lot! So far, nothing is eating me from the outside, though, I have a strange red spot on my hand. And, I did get a mouthful of water and my sinuses are still feeling funny, not laughable funny, but strange funny.  I guess I gotta wait and see.

Other then all of that, I still had a great and wonderful day on the river. I'm going out next week with another group to a local river that I heard has finally been cleaned up!

I did manage to put a small, outdoors, waterproof camera in my wish list on Amazon. It really isn’t in my budget right now…I have to get some new biking gloves and a couple tires from my bike, first.

 As for me, I’ve figured out that if round is a shape, I am in shape! Tell that to my back, as it stiffened up as I got out of bed this morning! The Motrin has helped a little, though…and this coffee did wonders too!

I am writing, really...

Oh well, I did it again. As I was sitting here writing, earlier, I got up to get a glass of water. I noticed that the cat’s did a big stinky, so I decided to clean out the cat’s litter box. Since the box, where I throw the used litter was full, I took the bag out and after I was finished and put it into a trash can, out in the garage.

I opened the garage door to get a breath of fresh air and decided to go and get the mail. Back inside, I decided to vacuum the carpet and move a couple of runners around to a newer spot. By that time, I decided that it was time to take a nap.

Now that I think about it, I forgot my water, which is still on the kitchen counter. I am going to have to learn how to focus, again. Why you ask? Because I am writing this and I just realized, the baseball game is on. I might as well grab a beer and some peanuts and relax.

The Cat Logic of Tom and Jerry

Jerry

Cat Logic: Every morning I give my cats,Tom and Jerry, a half can of cat food. Jerry wolfs his down in minutes. Tom, on the other hand, nibbles and comes back later. Later, Jerry eats the rest of Tom's food.

Tom

Sometimes I give them both an entire can of cat food. Again Jerry gobbles most of it, quickly. 5:00 pm...there is still half a can of food in their bowls. I just throw it out and give them Kibbles and bits... Tom will then scream at me for several minutes. Cats, what are they...