A bunch of useless crap
Published on September 23, 2012 By MasonM In Blogging

It sure does feel like Fall now. As my back was bothering me quite a bit from too much load tarping last week I decided to take the weekend off here in Wisconsin. It has been very chilly all weekend. Had to break out my sweatshirt and jacket just to be comfortable.

The porch of the motel was covered with leaves this morning after a breezy night. Sigh. Winter will be along very soon. Yuck.

I am really not looking forward to Winter this year. After such a hot, dry Summer I think it's going to be a very snowy Winter. That really sucks when you work outdoors. But it is what is.

I haven't weighed myself in a couple of weeks but the last time I did I was down over 30 lbs. I expect when I weigh tomorrow morning it will be another pound or two down from that. At least I hope so.

Tomorrow morning I'll be heading out for the Kansas City airport with an air crash rescue truck (specialized fire truck). It's wide and a bit tall, not to mention really heavy. After that I have to load an antique combine to haul back to Wisconsin. I have a feeling that will be a real pain.

Oh yeah, I have switched my daily vitamin supplement from Centrum Silver to GNC Mega Men Over 50 Vitapak. It's kind of a hassle to take 6 supplement pills every morning, but it's a far better supplement regimen than the Centrum was. Includes good stuff like fish oil, Omega 3, Saw Palmetto, and others. Kind of expensive but I guess it falls into the "you get what you pay for" category.

Oh, one more thing, I picked up a Samsung Galaxy S3 phone last week. The thing is a real powerhouse with a quad cord processor and plenty of memory. Am really digging it.


Comments
on Sep 23, 2012

In Arizona, winter coming is all good.

I'm thinking of getting the S3 for my wife, Mason.  2 questions, if you don't mind:

How's the screen brightness outdoors?

How's the battery life?

Thanks!

on Sep 26, 2012

A co-worker just got back from an Alaskan Cruise (end of August, start of September).  The leaves there were in full color!

 

I guess Autumn is coming even down here!  Have a safe trip.

on Oct 14, 2012

Daiwa
In Arizona, winter coming is all good.

I'm thinking of getting the S3 for my wife, Mason.  2 questions, if you don't mind:

How's the screen brightness outdoors?

How's the battery life?

Thanks!

 

Sorry I haven't responded before now. Been really busy at work.

 

The screen brightness is good, but like all LCD/LED screens it can be a little hard to see in direct sunlight.  The battery life is pretty good. I turn off GPS unless I am actually using it and that extends the battery charge a bit. I took mine off the charger yesterday morning and still have about 38% charge left on it this morning, and have been using the phone during that time period.

on Oct 14, 2012

Dr Guy
A co-worker just got back from an Alaskan Cruise (end of August, start of September).  The leaves there were in full color!

 

I guess Autumn is coming even down here!  Have a safe trip.

Winter will be here before we know it. Saw snow flakes in northern Wisconsin about a week ago.

on Oct 16, 2012

Thanks for the feedback, Mason.  I tried to push her in that direction but she opted for an iPhone4 for a buck (plus 2 years, of course).

on Oct 20, 2012

Daiwa
Thanks for the feedback, Mason.  I tried to push her in that direction but she opted for an iPhone4 for a buck (plus 2 years, of course).

iPhone? Ugh. To each his (or her) own I guess.

on Oct 21, 2012

Wacaneyesay?

on Oct 21, 2012

Daiwa
Wacaneyesay?

 

LOL  yup.

 

I recently picked up a Google Nexus 7 tablet and it yet again reaffirms my loyalty to Android. The thing is great. Perfect compromise between portability and screen size, and with the quad core processor and excellent screen it works great for surfing the web or watching movies. And of course the freedom of Android to make it whatever you want it to be.

Apple is just way to restrictive for me. No hardware choices and for the most part no real software choices either, except for what Apple deems to be acceptable (jailbreaking aside). No fan of the walled garden.

on Oct 21, 2012

It's an interesting trade-off.  I'm acquainted with a gentleman who is a computer security expert, who travels the US & Europe consulting and lecturing on the topic.  He 'loves' Apple's walled garden and wouldn't touch an Android device because they are so vulnerable to malware.  I'm a 'tweaker' (hence my fondness for SD software) so I take the risk of jailbreaking my iDevices, but I'm also aware of the risk and take precautions to minimize my exposure.

As an aside, he's one of the few 'security experts' who has no use for forcing password changes at any interval and he uses only two - a good strong one for financial/business needs and a good strong one for everything else.

on Oct 31, 2012

Winter may not be here, but we had a threat of snow, and temperatures dropped 30 degrees from Saturday (upper 70s) to Monday (high 47).

At least most of the pine needles came down.  Most of the leaves are still up.