Archive

I love that it’s 32°F/0°C and we get new flowers daily.

Most days I am like… but some days I am….

Trader Joe’s really brings it for flowers, but my wife takes it next level in arrangement.

Weihnachtstod, “Christmas death,” is traditionally celebrated in Germany on the first Sunday after New Year’s Day by “casting out” the spirit of Christmas anxiety with hot cocoa and inviting calm and order into the home. But since we have a second story deck, I like to …

Sublime sweet potato chai at Ashville Chocolate, subtle sweetness, lightly spicy, a treat too good for this world, yet here it is.

Is this a glitch? Is Charlie Brown Thanksgiving the new U2 album? Or is Apple testing content insertion into the watchlist on the Apple TV app? Don’t eff with my queue, Eddy Cue. #AppleTV

At Dobra Tea in Asheville, green tea for my wife, I partook of Masala spiced(!) chai, cut with milk and dark, dark chocolate sugar. Three cups later my chest is vibrating like a tuning fork–love it!

I’m pretty sure psych grad students are doing A/B experiments between the smell in the orthopedist’s office, which smells like someone set off a lysol bomb, and the lobby of the medical office building blaring 80s pop music through ceiling speakers.

One last fine day. If only human senescence was as beautiful (and quick) as a Japanese maple.

Along the French Broad River in Ashville, a chain leak fence repurposed as community art and therapy. Tie a ribbon and let it go.

Reconstruction of the Black Creek Greenway is leaving it less green, deconstruction of the trees that overhung the trail being well underway. It used to be a shaded valley stroll during summer days, and maybe it be will again in 50 years, glad I got to experience it, sad I will not again.

Fish are nice, but these turtles got a real Gamera vibe at Pine Knoll Shores aquarium.

From the mountains to the sea, the Pine Knoll Shores aquarium covers a lot of exhibit ground in North Carolina, this being a sleepy screech owl all screech out.

Ten seconds of video from the Pine Knoll Shores aquarium because river otters. #Animals

A Gulf Fritillary doing brunch outside the Pine Knoll Shores Aquarium on Emerald Isle, NC. #Butterfly

Another Sandpiper at Emerald Isle with acquaintance in background–there are no friends among beach feeders.

Getting a close-up with a Sanderling at Emerald Isle takes patience, or its evil twin obession, and some ancient personal tech, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-QX10 lens camera attached to an iPhone 16e.

Looking a little more weathery early in the morning at Emerald Isle doesn’t close the beach for breakfast.

A surprising number of deer strolling about Emerald Isle. I guess they prefer the off season for beach vacations too.

Emerald Isle, not exactly sunrise, four minutes later, but still.

They blend right in.

Tis the season to enjoy fried dough with sugar, lots of sugar, and pumpkin spice while hiding from my wife.

Looks like it’s Boogen season. #RickandMorty

A sign of the times at the downtown arts festival.

Too far for a decent photo (AI “enhanced”), but plenty of time to do off-ramp math: 5 minutes per red light, one scruffy cuteness, 3 handouts. I figure $60 to $120 an hour easy. The unseen dude holding the leash has cracked the code on supplication.

The Gleaners Branta explores themes of resourcefulness and survival through artistic representation.

A couple of Bambis and their moms came through the back today, had to shoo them away from the dogwood I planted last year. Like cute locusts on four legs, deer have denuded a newly planted bush in the front yard and devoured most of the flowers. Still adorable, though. #deer

Monkey grass, lilyturf, whatever, it’s endemic in yards in the South. Those at the top I dug out of the front yard and tossed on the hill where a previous owner dumped poison to kill some evergreen groundcover. They are unkillable. These ugly plants have one job: stop erosion.

Not an insta filter, but the view from inside out front every morning in the humid subtropical edging towards tropical rainforest climate around Raliegh, North Carolina. While the area is not really prepared for a future of flooding, on the plus side no fear of a Zero Day water crisis.

Butterfly bush has been busy lately, one of six swallowtails probing with its proboscis for that sweet, sweet nectar. #Butterfly

Arriving for my 30,000 mile service, I forced myself not to drive another two miles and then back. But it was hard.

My embarrassed wife had to literally drag me away from the Montreal antique store selling The Rocking-Horse Winner yelling, “It’s Malabar! It’s Malabar, mother!”

Having traveled with only a (large) carry-on each, I thought my wife would be restrained by space shopping in Montreal. Wrong. An umbrella and travel pillow were left behind for two pairs of John Fluevog shoes, though thankfully not the Star Trek: Strange New World boots at $499 USD.

The most memorable meals in Montreal, poutine—fries, curds, and gravy—and a pancake, the former was a little heavy, the latter a light and fluffy desert—served by a robot!

Some of my favorite pieces at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art were done in the building by visitors.

Part of an earthenware exhibit at the MMFA, a 12th century Persian lustware bowl in a turquoise glaze, floral and arabesque design around a central figure likely of some import. This piece is notable for being one the earliest examples of side-eye memes in the world.

Dog Monkey something bronze from inside the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and beyond the Erskine and American Church, Romanesque Revival architecture more interesting than the MMFA post-modern deconstructionist structure that looks like it was built by a giant child with geometric building blocks.

A century ago a priest of the Notre-Dame Basilica would slowly climb the twisty, windy stairs to the stand under an ornate canopy, high above the nave, his voice ringing out to pews filled with parishioners, but now it’s tourists taking pictures and dust on those steps.

On the way to visit the Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal, we passed another religious institution, Leonard Cohen memorialized on a giant mural.

Ten days was nine days too many for Liquid Glass on macOS, though credit where credit is due. If Apple wanted to distract from AI woes, that “invisible” Menu Bar in macOS did it for me, could not stop looking at the wrongness. Rightness has now been restored. #Apple #macOS

Double tap the top of the screen in the iPadOS 26 beta and app windows switch between full screen and the last size set, very helpful in adapting to the new windowing model. #iPadOS

Since the iPadOS beta seems solid, the macOS beta must be too. Unsarcastically, it is so far, though, weirdly, Liquid Glass seems more jarring on the Mac right from the Desktop. An invisible Menu Bar upends 40 years of UI expectations big time. #macOS

As iconic and polarizing as McDonalds, the Apple Store in Montreal is on brand with severe minimalism and questionable material choices. Porous limestone facade looks like ass wet. The employees were really nice.

To an American tourist like me, Montreal is best described in the negative: not violent, not loud, not filthy… not American. In Montreal they shut down streets to vehicle traffic for months, that’s about as not American as a large city can be.

I installed the iPadOS 26 public beta, no issues so far, except trying to decide between glass and tinted home screen, better wallpaper visibility or widget text legibility, real Sophie’s Choice. #iPadOS

Starting a course of SNRIs to reset my vagus nerve 9/11, so I asked ChatGPT to help me create a new iPad wallpaper that captures the mood. #ChatGPT

Fantasizing about a Vision Pro for my birthday–don’t judge–I noticed the order of products on the Store page (and App) being different from the Apple webpage menu. I get the consolidation of products on Apple.com, but why are iPad and iPhone reversed? This is very disturbing. …

Running outside under an umbrella in a thunderstorm, rainbow seekers that we are, my wife and I, we scored a technical double. Not getting struck by lightning was a bonus, I guess, though that’s getting to be a tougher case to make every day since November, but still—rainbow! #rainbow

A quick pick of a northern flicker was pretty blurry, ran it through some filters, tried not to lose the unhurried alertness, the still intent. #woodpecker

Our tomtoc Slims have arrived! Bold Ocean Blue, understated Matcha Green, cases snug and rigid for our traveling Switch Ups (Switch 2). My wife chose the blue, so good I liked the green. #Nintendo

This was the line outside the DMV office at 05:30. Five hours later, I’m one of the lucky ones waiting inside. Others are outside where the heat index is 93°F/33.8°C.

Marriage saved! #Nintendo

I will die on this moniker, #Nintendo.

Divorced Wherein I get divorce.

Right on the tire track line, just sitting there, no movement, Turtle should be grateful I pay attention pulling into the garage. I put the oblivious reptile in the flower bed it was pointing towards. Make better choices, Turtle.

No joy thus far using Switch Sniper to remove a friction point between my wife and myself. I’m not saying sharing the Switch Up (I refuse to let go of the better moniker) could end 30 years of marriage, but I’m not not saying it, either. #Nintendo #Switch2

Pay Wherein Tim and I each confront our own painful trooth.

The new model of flower eating machines has arrived. #rabbit

This raccoon gets up before sunset when I take in the bird feeder to try to beat me to it, also climbs a deck support beam rather than take the stairs and trip the outdoor camera light. Real ninja vibe. #raccoon

Surprised by COVID, never again will supply chain collapse catch me without toilet paper, not even a plague of stupidity. I started stockpiling household goods when on sale in 2021 with a goal of a six-month supply, personal supplies and OTC medications too. Not happy, but prepared. #tariffs

Absent an abscessed tooth and grafted with a bit of bone, third time’s the scan, this appointment being only briefly and intensely painful as the post was removed and reinserted to do imaging for the crown. Of course, it was painful afterwards too, about $1,600.

When my wife drags me to an “antiques warehouse” I fully expect to find monkey paws, evil djinn bottles, Zuni warrior dolls, and such, but not my mother’s tea pot. Her mother gave it to her and I gave it to a friend of hers upon her death, and yet there it was and now I can’t …

We Now Know How AI ‘Thinks’—and It’s Barely Thinking at All This thoughtful article by Christopher Mims made me think about the reality of LLMs, so I made ChatGPT think of this t-shirt to illustrate the idea. #ChatGPT

I think I just had my first “Liberation Day” experience, a 25 percent increase in the price of some vitamins and supplements. Now I’m looking forward to not paying income taxes this year and all those manufacturing jobs coming back to America that no one actually wants to do. #trumptariffs

Undecided as to whether I’m still actually “in line” at Best Buy or I died in my sleep and went to purgatory. Either way, the only way to escape is to choose to leave….still waiting…. #Nintendo

I think about the little house during the auto-refactor portion of my vision exam. It’s at the end of a straight road, so even if the road turns left or right headlights shine into the windows. They probably have blackout curtains, but they should plant some privacy bushes. Seriously. #thoughts

Apple has started allowing users to merge accounts for purchases, but an annoying notification appears during viewing that needs to be fixed.

A tale of two tulips, dark and bright, though not much to say at Duke Gardens in April, fewer flowers, more construction, but that Rembrandt tulip, quite the overachiever. #flowers

Turtle fam sunning at a pond in Duke Gardens. That’s tree pollen on the water, hope they don’t have allergies. #animals

Turtle doing yoga at a pond in Duke Gardens, more limber than me, probably. #animals

The dream of every husband whose wife works from home has been achieved. I walked into her meeting without pants on. Audio meeting, true, but still, and I needed help with my knee brace, so not pervy either.

ChatGTB Wherein the mask slips.

Not much to be done about crazy high tree pollen counts, so might as well enjoy the dogwood blooms popping up like daisies all around Raleigh. #spring

The back deck turns yellow as spring is in the air and our lungs, the tree pollen count approaching infinity. A real The Last of Us (video game) vibe outside, except it’s not spores but microscopic grains containing sperm cells (not feeling better about that as I should). #spring

Another day, another Apple Intelligence failure. This time Siri hallucinates how to hide the Menu Bar in macOS. In reality, the Menu Bar visibility options are in Settings under Control Center. #AppleIntelligence

While weeding in the yard around the steps to the front door, I noticed life finding a way.

Lent Minus Thirty-Nine Wherein a bitter truth is chewed upon.

The southern flying squirrel, or bird seed ninja, strikes at night whenever the feeder is left out. This one was only caught looking guilty because a raccoon wandered onto the deck and tripped the camera motion sensor.

I got a survey from Apple about my iPhone 16e, but there were a lot of questions about Apple Intelligence. Apple, If you are asking whether your house is on fire standing on the lawn backlit in orange through a haze of smoke, it may not just be the house that is the problem. #Apple #iPhone

It’s spring around the mailbox.

I used the 2X telephoto of iPhone 16e for the first time walking to the car from Walmart without breaking stride. #Apple #iPhone

A tan leather skin from dbrand makes for a nice finish to the cleaner design of the iPhone 16e. #Apple #iPhone

It was 26°F (-3.33°C) this morning, but apparently trees in the neighborhood aren’t checking the weather.

E is for AI Wherein I get a ChatGTP phone.

When feeling threatened, like by someone within ten feet of the door, this particular opossum does not play dead but panics, often running the wrong way and trapping itself in the corner of the second-story deck away from the stairs. Maybe some kind of technique acting class is order? #Animals

Was there a slide puzzle difficulty contest between Apple UX engineers? Control Center FTW! That last spot is death by discombobulation. My workaround is to reduce the media player to a single row, fill in the “second” to bottom row, then expand media player. #Apple #iPhoneOS #iPadOS

The will to live. #Coffee

Evergreen year round and flowering twice, Camellia blooms through the snow, not knowing or caring it’s below freezing, living its best #Flowers life.

Juncos waiting patiently for me to throw birdseed onto the snow covered deck because they are too dumb to use the feeder…or are they. I just went out in the cold and cleared the snow and spread some feed. #Birds

Overnight my iPad hides the nightingale, the weather widget moving from its place on the left side of the Home Screen to the right side. It’s a small bug, but a big deal in that Apple’s famed attention to detail continues to wander, a path that dead ends with Windows. #Apple #iPadOS

Way back when iTools was a thing, I signed up with Apple, then shortly after iTunes came along. I made the fateful mistake of using different emails. 25 years later Apple has finally allowed the merging of account purchases–but not accounts. Here’s how it’s going. #Apple #iCloud

After updating to iPadOS 18.3.1 three lights in Control Center become Home placeholders. My top three choices are: Barcelona, Turin, and Dublin. Fingers crossed. #Apple #iPadOS

After updating to iPadOS 18.3.1 my Midnight (black) AirPods Max are now starlight (white). #Apple #iPadOS

Envy with Green Wherein I count the cost.

Our municipality really leans into my chlorination and my wife won’t drink the tap water. She can tell the difference, passed a blind taste test when we bought the house, so every year I spend a morning changing filters and mopping water.

A One Minas Kind of Guy Wherein my battery dies.

A pleasant surprise this morning, the first measurable snowfall, 1.5 in. (3.8 c.), in about three years fell overnight.

Heat Death Comes Early Wherein I wrongly blame myself for a known issue.

Never Tweet Your Heroes Wherein I fail to read the chat room.

1,076 days later is not an awkwardly named horror film, but rather a climate disaster reality show. It’s also the number of days since snow fell in Raleigh, NC, and even then by only the most generous of definitions of frozen water vapor. I wonder if I’ll see snow in the backyard again …

An Attic Dismembering Wherein I sorted through some things.

I prefer serene to merry, but still.

How it started and how it’s going for the Japanese Maple after a few fairly cold days and deep freezing nights.

Tired of French bread slices not fitting the toaster, I went big, too big. I thought a larger toaster would be 50 percent longer, not 100 percent. My wife asked why I didn’t look at the specifications before ordering. That is a question best left to the philosophers, I think.

Appalled to find my wife listening to audio for a video through her MacBook Pro speakers, I was then disappointed but not surprised the work Mac disallowed AirPlay, so I mounted a shelf and soundbar atop the monitor and used the audio jack. Old analog tech trumps new IT policy every time.

Tired of trying to grow grass on a rain runoff slope, I’m thinking of planting a large shrub in this space. The Emerald Green arborvitae is boring, but they grow big and fast and stay are green all year.

Satechi announced their Mac Mini M4 Stand & Hub to increase connectivity and storage for the base M4 Mac mini. It will cost me a Thunderbolt port, but I’ll take Satechi reliability over whatever rando OEMs and Kickstarter projects pop up in coming months. #Macmini

Since Apple egregiously upsold me to the glorious nano-texture M4 iPad Pro, I’ve paired it with an M4 Mac mini. A KU XIU magnetic wireless charging stand and Luna Display adapter/app transform the iPad into a 13-inch XDR Display mini. It’s the best “Mac” I’ve ever …

If you want to use an M4 Mac mini with a Touch ID keyboard, bad touching on the bottom is required! Someone at Apple needs to watch some industrial design or maybe HR videos on do’s and don’ts in the workplace. #Apple #Macmini

Surprised FedEx has fallen behind UPS and Amazon(!) in tracking packages and estimating delivery, I wouldn’t care if my signature wasn’t required and my delivery “window” was until midnight. FedEx: like the Post Office but more expensive.

Sometimes—not all the time—you have to zoom in to a universe of one and ask yourself, “how does this thing effect me right now?” If it doesn’t, stop thinking about it, at least until you are able to not think about it all the time.

Preordered! Moving from an M1 iMac to an M4 Mac mini-me and a 13-inch Apple XDR mini Display (M4 iPad Pro). I briefly considered upgrading to the M4 iMac with a nano-texture display, but since I already have one I’ll try trading screen quantity for quality. #Apple #MacMini

Not buying it.

Trader Joe’s comes through big this week with the snall bouquet of flowers.

More than half of North Carolina has voted, including us. The wait was about 30 minutes, longish for a recent cancer patient. If she had to, my wife would have died standing in the unseasonal heat on hard concrete, but a kind poll worker took her to a chair in the shade near the door. #Vote

In our neighborhood, this was a kind of stop-motion installation over a few weeks. It started out as a construction site, then a hand appeared “emerging” from the black box, followed by head, torso, full figure, all the while the crew moved around. You have to admire the dedication.

Nothing quite like Wendy’s fries and Goodberry’s Nutella custard for dinner. So heavy in salt, fat, sugar, and flavor, I’ll be surprised if a gastronomical anomaly does not form in my stomach. Worth it.

A Northern Flicker woodpecker is apparently large enough to activate the security camera. This is a first, and I’ve now seen five of the seven woodpecker species in North Carolina: Red-Bellied, Hairy, Pileated, and Downy, and Northern.

In this likely tiny interval of calm between personal disasters, we are going to retile the kitchen floor. My wife and I agree on rust for color, likely dark gray for grout, but we disagree on size. I want 8” tiles and she wants 12” tiles, so 12” tiles then.

Happy #iPadmini Day! My wife will happily be choosing among the colors of the new mini and folio cover at the Apple Store, while enthusiasts will be complaining about the A17 Pro and tech specs on social media. Everybody wins!

Walking along a paved path next to a busy road bisecting a wooded housing development, I was disappointed to see it disappear in the distance, not uncommon in North Carolina where sidewalks seem a luxury. Closer, a sharp dip revealed a pedestrian tunnel instead, how surprising and delightful!

Bird boned and tiny wristed or not, #AppleWatch 10 big screen allure was irresistible, also Best Buy Total Upsell Membership stacks rewards and adds AppleCare! If, like me, you are consumering the planet’s future today, you can’t go wrong. As long as you die before the Ecopocalypse, of …

Little Ernie and Big Ernie (my wife thinks raccoon faces are shaped like Ernie and possum faces like Burt) snuffling around the deck for spilled seed last night. I have to take the bird feeder in every night to keep them from knocking it off the pole.

Carolina mantis enjoying a longer, warmer, wetter summer into fall, not so much the biped who took the picture, one of many responsible for accelerated climate change.

Tinting to the tone of Frank Lloyd Wright wallpaper with iOS 18 looks nice but feels unfinished as a feature. It doesn’t adjust for day and night, no accommodation for badges fading into the background, and Calendar doesn’t change the date—dealbreaker!

Evolutionary tradition has the first Camellia bloom signaling the beginning of Autumn. Unfortunately, evolution didn’t get the memo regarding climate change, at least in my front yard, where it will be 85°F/29.4°C today. Still, pretty though.

As of WatchOS 11, the Siri face is no more. No doubt its many fans–all five or so of us–will be disappointed. It has been replaced by Smart Stack, but this is a feature, not a face, requiring action beyond a glance. Perhaps Apple Intelligence will bring a smarter Siri back next year.

From Hell to Purgatory Jean-Paul Sartre troubleshoots my printing problem.

I returned the Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro. Hefty and awkward in the lap, cantilever design engineered with a millimeter of its tipping point, it’s too little magic for too much money. I mourn for the Smart Keyboard Folio.

Placing a late bet on the beta of #iPadOS 18 had an immediate payoff, a more whimsical home screen of textless icons arranged to allow the wallpaper to peek out. The beta is solid on my M4 #iPadPro, so much so I’m thinking of trying 18.1 for a (very) little #Apple Intelligence.

Bambi stopped by the backyard, posing for about three seconds before realizing its mother was more than fifty feet away and ran off.

The new iPad Pro in All Its Splendor​ has made my top five #Apple devices. Nano Edition iPad Pro Unibody MacBook OG iPhone​ Sunflower iMac ​Apple IIGS ​

Five years ago I bet on a root canal over tooth extraction, odds 6 to 1 in my favor of it lasting ten years. Today, I lost, so I’m looking forward to a long and intermittently painful and costly process: extraction, buildup, screw insertion, implant, crown.

59½ You can’t fight The System.

Butter chicken tacos with pico de gallo and fries at Urban Turban combine Indian, Mexican, and French cuisine into a sublime lunch!

A last vestigial limb of the Steve Ballmer era at Microsoft has withered a bit more. Surface division reported another YOY sales drop, despite the last best hope of new ARM chips–next quarter for sure! If not, the Restless Eye of Nadella may finally focus on Surface. Like a laser. #Microsoft

Fox and Raccoon was not quite the Disney short I expected.

Downy woodpecker is not well pleased with me watching her eat.

The bird feeder seemed a bit “light” in the mornings recently, but overnight footage from the security camera showed nothing, so, logically, I thought it ghosts. It was not. Upon flipping the outdoor light on before stepping out to bring the feeder in, I spied the culprit.

Hot and dry for weeks, three of ten or so birds were bathing and drinking from the lawn sprinkler this morning. I usually give up in July and reseed in September, but this year I may water for the birds. Unless drought is declared. Sorry, birds.

A squirrel at rest, possibily pondering the record temperature in the Raleigh metro area of 103 °F (39.44 °C), but luckily low humidity meant the (lethal) heat index was only 105 °F (40.56 °C). Squirrel gets this. Why don’t we?

Two weeks since I scrounged my last six pack of Pepsi Made with Real Sugar, I find Pepsi-Cola Soda Shop. It’s probably just a rebrand, but it tastes a bit less sweet to me, though still 90 calories. Either way, hurray for sugar soda! And now I know how the Chicago Tribune felt in 1948.

Challenge rejected, as Pepsi-Cola Made with Real Sugar follows Coca-Cola Life into the recycling bin of cola history. A little sugar in a little can, 7.5 oz. (222 mL), tastes sweeter and less chemically to me than whatever zero calorie soda everyone else drinks. Pour one out for Pepsi RS.

My wife likes counting rabbits on walks in the neighborhood. I like walking as little as possible. What makes a good walk for us both? The Bunny Satisfaction Index divides the number of rabbits sighted by distance, thus 1 mile and 7 rabbits (7) is superior to 2 miles and 12 rabbits (6).

A dear deer friend stopped by for dinner.

Fearless Hummingbird Moth on a Butterfly Bush would make a decent kaiju if it were 10,000 times or so bigger.

I love the minimalism of the iPhone mini, except for the camera, this duck and duckling photo demonstrating the lacking. If rumors of the iPhone 16 Pro Max having a telephoto periscope camera are true, that and Apple Intelligence may be enough to move me to upsize my iPhone.

Oh, Apple Maps! It’s been two years since those trees were removed to make room for more unbridled consumerism in Cary, NC. Did Tim Apple forget to update the satellite imagery subscription? #AppleMaps

Lots of tech enthusiasts hyping new Surface devices as plunky rebels fighting the Apple Empire, but the real enemy is OEMs. Steve Jobs understood you couldn’t compete with the clones, Microsoft and the Jedis never did. Order 66 incoming from Darth Nadella sooner or later. #Microsoft #Surface

I’m pouring one out (Caffè Misto) for the Smart Keyboard Folio. After eight years and three keyboards, the latest skinned with leather and topped with white keycaps, it will be replaced with a Magic Keyboard because the magnets won’t align with an M4 iPad Pro. #Apple #iPadPro

How I solved the “No AirPrint Printers Found” problem with my Nest Wifi mesh network. #WiFi #Google #Linksys

Mr. Turtle does not seem well pleased by my attention.

I thought it was plastic.

A few very rare yard lilies not (yet) eaten by our dear deer friends.

From a forest near Asheville, I think this is a Flame Azalea, but if not it should use that as a nom de guerre or porn name because as flowers go, totally hot.

After my mother-in-law fell off a sidewalk curb into the street in front of me—but was thankfully uninjured—I needed some alone time with a spicy mocha latte (cardamon and cinnamon).

Frustration.

I replaced a fifteen year-old HP DeskJet with a new Brother laser printer that felt like it was twenty-five, at least during setup. Configuring Wi-Fi meant entering a string of alphanumerics with up/down arrows like a 20th century caveman. Print quality is unsurprisingly excellent, though.

Four happy years of fast internet later, I was beginning to fear Google Fiber would be Killed by Google. Maintenance seemed less and less frequent and more and more lines were surfacing, or submerging as in the photo below, but then one day tar patches everywhere! Good job, Google. #GoogleFiber

Once again feelings upon waking match the data: tired. Stress is likely the cause of a night spent thrashing enough to loose the fitted sheet, but Delta-9 THC is not a longterm solution. Magic has a price, or at least high tolerance issues, so an actigraph like an earthquake swarm it is.

Every spring I argue with my wife over eliminating the small section of lawn bordering our neighbor’s yard. Tree shade makes the grass thin and it’s a pain to water, so I’d like to curve the stones in an arc and fill the area with mulch. She does not. We’ve lived her 13 …

History repeats: “We are not aware of–and I don’t believe there is any issue with–the longevity of the material and anything becoming or emerging as a weakness or crack over time,” he said. “There is no information that we have that that’s the case.” …

I wanted something that kept me from losing my Apple Pencil and that looked nice when I was using my Apple Pencil. The Wave Pen Tray does both. The Walnut color seemed darker than the Etsy picture, but I prefer that, and the texture is not as smooth as it looks, but it looks great. #iPad

A faulty “thermistor” may be causing my water heater to malfunction, not Maxwell’s demon trying to escape the “heat pump” housing as I suspected. So why was the technician wearing a purple wizard hat and drawing a pentacle in “red paint” on top of the tank?

The “gotcha” season has begun for flora and fauna in the Piedmont, or low hills, of North Carolina. Blossoms, Green Anole lizards, even a Black Swallowtail butterfly, all spotted this week, all doomed the next cold snap. Mother Nature has no fucks to give.

How I know I am old: an incoming call notifies me simultaneously on my Apple Watch, iPad, Mac, and iPhone—always reminding me of the ending of Lawnmower Man—but no matter what device I am using I run to find the iPhone.

The ubiquitous sign in every skilled nursing facility stating day, date, year, president, and so on, had a local twist in northern Ohio. [the] season is winter. [the] weather is cloudy and cold. I could not help but finish this slant-haiku: daylight is fading.

Instead of a whimsical snowman brought to life with a magic hat, Cleveland snow looks like something possessed by a nether spirit, growing and shrinking with falls and melts, but with an ever darkening core. Do not eat this snow.

Peak #iPad Home Screen

Nearly a decade since I’ve flown, incremental changes towards the intolerable are more glaring to me, specifically the glare from the screen on the seat in front that could not be turned off. It makes the connecting flight on the no-frills tiny plane in bad weather somehow less disturbing.

You still have time to get in on Project Tapestry, a “universal, chronological timeline for iOS for any data that’s publicly available on the Internet,” developed by The Iconfactory and funded through KickStarter. It won’t work with spyware or garbageware, so no Meta or X …

Microsoft Devices continues its slow ballistic arc towards oblivion. At approximately $1.23 billion for Q224, you have to go back to Q215 to beat $1.1 billion, really Q214 at an inflation adjusted $1.17 billion. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite will not save Surface. #Microsoft

Rick and Morty has been a dying star in my queue since season four, but then comes a supernova of one, “That’s Amorte,” s7e4. Like a work of art PSA for Buddhism confronting the cruelty that our “happiness” comes from the suffering of others, it then just walks away. …

Just a reminder: this is Apple Vision Pro Apotheosis Day. Hype and FOMO will ascend today, then be cast down as actual reviews drop tomorrow, followed quickly by a slew of unflattering memes. Some semblance of reasonable expectations may then arise. #AppleVisionPro #VisionPro

I feel a little guilty about wiping out a possible microscopic civilization in my small intestines, but a month of boundless bacterial overgrowth has exhausted me. Hopefully, they transcended the material plane before I got the Xifaxan scrip. If not… sorry.

An hour or so later the pile of papers is gone, data entered, documents scanned, bills paid, calls made, letters written, appointments scheduled. All that remains is an empty tea cup and the iPad Pro, the computer for the stressed of us. #iPadPro

No Vision Pro for me. My hyperopia/astigmatism well beyond the over/under of +/- 2.10 on the sphere/cylinder axis. I blame my mother. She probably squeezed my head too hard in the birth canal. On the positive, I look forward to paying half as much for an OLED M3 iPad Pro this spring. #VisionPro

My tires hate me. I favor “performance” driving–PSI matters! Temperatures ranging from 22.4°F (-6.67°C) this Sunday morning to 70°F (21.1°C) on Thursday afternoon ensure my tires are under/over inflated. #Mazda

A few of our dear deer friends stopped by this morning for breakfast, but foliage along that dry creek bed is sparse now. They’ll be moving to the front yard soon, pansies (yum!) in windows boxes.

Wanting to change drive icons, instead of tedious search I tried Bing Image Creator using “steampunk” and “file cabinet” and a few other words. I was shocked by the efficacy. I get why artists are mad and scared now. We probably all will be before AI is done with us, I think.

Serendipity of the Day: an entire package of fabulous Speculoos from Trader Joe’s fits inside an OXO mini rectangle container.

Apple may be trying a new Magic Keyboard, but the old one was a trying experience. Ungainly and awkward on my lap, I returned it and returned to the Smart Keyboard Folio, spent the extra on brown leather back and white keycaps.

Is there an app setting or lawyer that I can select to stop ads in my “ad-free” MAX Plan? Tech support said, “regarding those pop-ups, you may see them from time to time as we love to keep our fans in the loop about any new and exciting shows, movies, and features that are coming …

Q423 Surface revenue was $1.1 billion, down 20 percent YOY, about the same as in 2018. Worse, Microsoft expects Q124 to decline by a third. Blaming a glut of PCs won’t alter the trajectory of the division–no trend line required here–and doesn’t really matter. Surface exists …

It does make a sound. Also, a small dent in the gutter where the top hit, as well as a $650 bill for cutting bringing it and another dead tree down.

Five seconds of snow captured on video, likely the last snow of this year—not just this winter—because that’s how climate change rolls in the Piedmont of North Carolina.

My wife got three bouquets of flowers. Her father arranged them into four vases. They all look this good. I think he missed his calling.

Once again, #AppleWeather radar fails to provide basic functionality and #AppleSupport provides no explanation. Apple loves to tell us when their services save lives, but relying solely on Apple Weather for timely information feels like a safety risk to me.

Before Bing chat was lobotomized, I asked it to “write me a story about a unicorn.” What I got was half a story, half a synopis of a story, and arguably traumatizing to young children. Nice. Tags: #Bing #AI #ChatGPT

A Red-shouldered hawk sat on this branch looking for lunch just long enough for me to grab my iPhone 13 mini and the delightful kludge that is the Sony DSC-QX10, create a peer-to-peer network, zoom times 10, and take the picture.

I tried to tell the gas company rep that a 40 percent increase in my monthly budget billing amount did not take into account a leaky gas water heater in December and a new heat pump unit in January. All hail the power of Maxwell’s demon!

Always #Microsoft #Surface has existed upon the sufferance of Nadella and the interest of Panay, but is there a limit to either? Revenue is on track to backtrack five or six years for FY23, profitability likely worse, too many products, too little volume.

Saturation so high, this Camellia japonica bloom looks like it was manufactured by Samsung’s mobile phone camera division, rather than grown in my front yard.

Eight hours and an evocation later, the plumbers/sorcerers installed the hybrid water heater. It has a “heat pump” on top which definitely does not contain a Maxwell Demon exchanging molecules of cool air for warm.

A brief history of desktop computing: 1980 Atari 400 1986 Apple IIGS 1999 DIY PC 2004 iMac G5 2010 Mac mini 2022 iMac M1

This year Redvember falls on the 28th, the brightest day of the year for the Japanese Maple. A cold snap powered the normally dark purple leaves to their reddest before they promptly fall off over the next week.

A box turtle with evil eyes made a run for it across the driveway during the first real rain in weeks. Unlike everyone enjoying the sunny weather, evil eye knows what happens when the water runs out. It’s a long walk to the stream that feeds the lake. Good luck.

I made pretty good quesadillas for lunch, but the crema purée was both tasty and oddly hypnotic in the blending.

The DSC-QX10 once again fills in for the missing 10X zoom lens on an iPhone, this time catching a bluebird at the feeder. How much longer before Apple has a flagship device that matches the competition? I mean, the DSC-QX10 is a decade old, not sure how many years it has left.

Like most teenagers, this red-bellied woodpecker is too young to know better or doesn’t care, hopping onto the feeder after I filled it but while I was standing right there.

I don’t tell the woods in back how much I appreciate them often enough.

Other World Computing should call it the Envy Pro FX because it will create that in others. It’s fast, not sure how fast, though. I moved 10GB off my iPad Pro before my water heated in the microwave, 100GB Time Machine backup before I’d finished my tea.

Like any addict, be they opioid user, Love Island viewer, or Trump voter, I make up reaons to justify my habit, rules to control my habit. It’s the Rule of Three for Trader Joe’s Coffee Lover’s Expresso Beans, not that it matters because the cycle always ends in shame and …

Starlight at rest.

Windows Phone Redux: Microsoft just reported earnings for the 2022 fiscal year, generating more revenue than approximately three-quarters of the countries in the world, the vast majority from: cloud, software, services, gaming. And then there is Surface, the last vestige of corporate Apple envy. Surface division started …

My wife says there are now two Swallowtails visiting our yard daily. No kaleidoscope of butterflies this year.

Seeing this infrequently, looks like iPadPro has vertigo or possibly its orientation is fluid. I’m hoping it’s iPadOS and not the gyroscope. Perhaps the iPadOS 16 beta might help, or at least break different things.

This Rabbit hanging in the yard evenings spooks if I step onto the stoop, but is content to be watched through the glass storm door. It’s about 12 feet, or 10 feet two far for an iPhone 13 mini, but not the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-QX10. Ten years later, still getting the shot.

Towards a Cordless Future: The packaging is minimalist: white box, product photo, typography seemingly chosen for a city Apple demographic types are fleeing over quality of life issues. Looking just at the box you might think Apple designed the Max Stand, that is until you pick it up and hear rattling. Not an Appley …