On December 28, 2019, I purchased an iPhone 11 in black with 64GB storage. My old iPhone 6S battery would not last a day on a charge, and I’ve had the battery replaced twice.
Since the purchase, I’ve used Screen Mirroring to AirPlay to the Samsung Series 7 TV at work during lunch to watch Monk on Amazon Prime. Today Siri made the suggestion to continue watching Monk when I was getting ready for lunch. Just pressed the link on the screen and it started playing without having to unlock the phone.
Should I be concerned that Siri knows my routine after a week?
After my super awesome trip with the Boy Scouts on our High Adventure trip, I started to become lazy. It didn’t happen right away. I noticed my exercise calories started to drop in mid-November.
Not happy that I hurt myself in November.
It was during Thanksgiving weekend, November 23rd at my parents house, that I hurt
my Achilles tendon after working out on their elliptical. I didn’t stretch properly and their elliptical machine was not as sturdy as mine. So I had to stay off my foot for a few days. The pain was unbearable at times. I couldn’t sleep and wondered how long will the pain last. It took close to a week before I could head out to do anything, and a few weeks to get back to a comfortable walking pace. So I cut back on my exercise routine. Didn’t cut back on my food. I started to pick up my old habits again and didn’t care.
I started to get back into my exercise routine. Too bad I found that I am lacking in the drive to get in better shape. My blood pressure went up a little and so did my weight. I do a half-ass job on the elliptical and then grab a snack shortly afterwards. I stopped walking during lunch, stopped taking the stairs, and started to eat muffins and “fancy pastries” for breakfast.
The company I’m contracted to for IT support is going through some changes, and it is for the better. I’m being challenged on several levels and it’s great, except for the stress at times. Inoticed I’ve been stress eating at work or late at night. The company sent me on a business trip to inventory IT equipment and provide support to the employees, and when it was complete I drove to the Outer Banks to stop at a brewery to pickup some beer for a buddy and me. I purchased 4 cases of beer (2 of which were for me).
All the new clothes I purchased are a little snug, and I’m not happy about it. Take a few pictures standing next to a 360 degree camera, and you will see how good or bad you look.
It took a few extra days, but I reached the 365 days Move Goal.
I continue to walk on Tuesday nights while my daughter is at religious education, and I hike on some Saturdays at Carousel Park. That’s not enough, I need to get back on track!
My new goal is to see a change in my attitude towards exercise by the end of April. I need to learn (again) not to give in to my old eating habits. Go back to yogurt and granola for breakfast. Continue to eat salads for lunch, and stop having seconds at dinner. Skip beer during the week and only have one or two on Saturdays.
Two weeks ago (November 16, 2018) I scheduled an appointment to replace my iPhone 6S battery at the Apple Store. I wanted to get this done while the price was still $29.99. A quick diagnostic and it was determined that I needed a new battery.
I left my phone with the technician and was asked to come back in an hour. My phone was ready right on time. Thanks Apple!
If you need your battery replaced under the “slowing down iPhones due to battery health”, you better hurry. It ends in 2018.
Back in October 2018, I purchased a 15″ 2017 Macbook Pro and to use as my main computer for home and the office. To be compliant, I installed Norton Security on my Mac and enabled all the features including those pesky browser extensions. The browser extensions disabled my ability to search Google from my Safari home screen and disabled my password manager, 1Password (one of my favorite applications). So I removed the extensions and thought everything was good to go.
Every few days I would receive a pop-up asking me to install the Norton browser extensions. No matter what, you can’t get out of it. Your only options are to Remind Me Later or Add. I searched the Internet and found that nobody had a solution. So I reached out to Norton and had the issue fixed with 30 minutes. All you need to do is install the extensions for all your browsers and then turn them off. Here are the steps
Safari
Open Norton Security and click Advance.
Click on Safe Web and select Safari.
Install Norton Safe Search and Norton Password Manager extensions in Safari.
With Safari still open, click Safari from the menu bar and select Preferences.
Click on Extension and remove the check from the box.
Google Chrome
Open Norton Security and click Advance.
Click on Safe Web and select Chrome.
Follow all the prompts to install the extensions Norton Safe Web, Safe Search, and Password Manager.
Click the three dots on the menu and select More Tools and then Extensions.
Turn off the Norton extensions by clicking on the blue slider button.
Ten days and about five different Wi-Fi networks later, and I have not been bothered with extension pop-ups!
My October Challeng was to walk 156.4 miles and I beat the goal today with a total of 158.4 miles completed with seven days remaining. I walk about 2.25 miles per day during lunch and when I can, I walk more at night.
I enjoyed this challenge. Going for walks at night and listening to a custom playlist is relaxing… a good way to unwind after a long day of solving IT problems. Tonight I enjoyed a liesure walk at the local mall and picked up a small coffee (a big name brand that I normally don’t drink) to finish off the evening. No crowds and enjoyed some window shopping.
Today my new MacBook Pro (15-inch 2017) arrived by FedEx. Nope, I didn’t take a picture or shoot an unboxing video. No time for that.
I purchased the MacBook from B&H Photo. Yes, yo can get the better Coffee Lake processor with more RAM and most likely a faster SSD in the 2018 model, but that was too far out of my price range. After I got over the initial hiccup with the setup (which is what this post is about), I am enjoying my new 2017 MacBook Pro.
While I was setting up the Mac, I received an error after connecting to my home Wi-Fi. A critical software update was needed but there was an error. I clicked Try Again, and everything seem to work. I was able to set up with macOS High Sierra and everything was good to go. Then I plugged in the charger, and nothing. No power, no chime, no change in the battery icon. Weird. I rebooted the Mac and the same error came back, and nothing was letting me get past it. I found a discussion on an Apple Community and it resolved my problem.
The kids were off from school on Friday for a teacher in-service day, so I took the family to Washington, DC for a 2 day trip. I’ve visited DC several times over the lat 25 years with my wife, and the Boy Scouts. This trip, however, was my daughter’s first. Our first stop was the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
The Unites States Holocaust Memorial Museum is a very emotional place to visit. My daughter took in a lot of information during the visit. Like the good student she is, she then repeated everything she read back to me and included information from books she read over the last few years. As always, there were a lot of students walking around chatting, looking at their phones, and have no clue of the past. Yet these are the same people who need a safe space because someone treated them unfairly. OK, I don’t want to get started on something political, so I’ll move on.
Saturday we checked out a few more places including the American History Museum before heading home for a Boy Scout Service Project. All in all, it was a full weekend with the family. Everyone had a great time, and I’m
looking forward to going back in March with our Boy Scout Troop to hike the city and check out some of the lesser known monuments.
The feature image on this post is a Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.
Then I plugged in the charger, and nothing. No power, no chime, no change in the battery icon. Weird. I rebooted the Mac and the same error came back, and nothing was letting me get past it. I found a discussion on an Apple Community and it resolved my problem.
Drahusz 