Friday 5 for May 28: Aha!

The following questions are taken from its usual source... The Friday 5 blog.

 1. When did you most recently find money?

Last week I found a penny on the ground. Picked it up and kept it. How many of you see pennies on the ground but don't bother to pick it up? 

2. When have you lost something and got it back because someone submitted it to a lost-and-found?

I thought I lost my wallet last month, but it turned out to be in my car after calling the "lost and found" department. Oh well. Better there than being permanently lost!

3. What did you discover about yourself at your favorite place of employment?

There is always someone that will take your place. You can be dropped just like that, on a whim because your supervisor may no longer likes you.

4. What was the last thing you peeled? Orange, last week.

5. What was the most recent gift you unwrapped? High end shampoo block.

Since this topic title came up, this band and their famous song has been on my mind....

Friday 5 for May 21: Watch your phraseology

I haven't done one of these in several weeks. So here is the one for May 21. Questions from Scrivener's Friday 5 blog.

1. With whom did you most recently exchange words?

Yesterday with my friend Lisa regarding rewinding an audio book back 30 seconds twice. Errr.

2. Which of your weekend activities will feel like your sentence for a crime?

Laundry... been putting that off for a few weeks now. Running out of you know... need renewal, a new wash and dry. Quarters... ugh.

3. What have you loved or hated upon reading its first paragraph?

Hate: Tax form instructions or instructions for other kinds of bureaucratic government forms. Working at the State Legislature also forced me to read a number of bills and resolutions. Most of them are simply awful.

Like: I will probably pour through the instructions of my new Google Pixel 4a phone that I am supposed to get this week (through Amazon). 

Liked but not read: Project Hail Mary - I just completed this Andy Weir audio book. The story revolves around a lone astronaut stuck light years away from home who has to make some tough decisions. If you liked The Martian, then you may like this one too. The premise is similar but the setting and story is very different.

4. In the story of your life, what will be the title of the chapter beginning tomorrow?

"The Dystopian Unknown Continues".

5. What are the best and worst books you were assigned to read in school?

Best - For some reason I still remember enjoy reading the book Siddhartha by Hermann Hessee. Can't remember all of the plot points but it was a study of the deep contrast of class structure that prevailed in India. Interesting.

While this was not assigned reading, I also read The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx in 9th grade or so. I was just curious as to what communism was all about. After reading that mess, I decided that is not for me. Nope. I think I did a book report on it.

Worst? I hate to say, William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. I found it to be mostly too long, and for me it was hard to get by the use of the language of Shakespeare's time. I knew it was supposed to be good, but I never got into it.  Watching a movie helped.

Romeo & Juliet had its moments of difficulty but I think watching the movie first and then reading the book helped a lot. Gotta love the 1968 Franco Zeffirelli version of the famed, tragic story. It is the defining R&J movie for me.

Elementary school books were more fun to read... My Little Red Story Book, The Little White House, On Cherry Street and We Are Neighbors are school readers that I still remember with some fondness. I shudder to think what school kids of today are using as school readers....

Here's a very dated, behind the scenes clip on the production of the 1968 Romeo & Juliet movie.

Friday 5 for April 23: Re:

This week's Friday 5 questions from Mr. Scrivener.

1. What’s due for renewal? 

In the coming months...

• Car Registration & Safety Check (ugh)
• Amazon Prime
• Dreamhost

2. When did you most recently replace something good with something inferior?

It wasn't recent. I had to replace my old Sony receiver with something less than stellar. May the STR AV560 rest in peace (2012). 😞 

3. What statement did you recently have to recant?

Can't think of anything significant in recent weeks or months.

4. What’s refreshed you this week?

Food usually, but that is nothing new. I had a really great pumpkin custard pie thing from Foodland this weekend. Was very good.

5. What’s a fond memory you have of elementary school recess?

That was eons ago... hmm... I think in the third grade when the crush I had kissed me on the ear... not mentioning any names here. Everyone's grown old and moved on many, many, many moons ago.

Friday 5 for April 16: Aca-scuse me?

Hello, and welcome to this week’s Friday 5! Please copy these questions to your webspace. Answer the questions there; then leave a comment below, so we’ll all know where to check out your responses. Please don’t forget to link us from your website!

Apologies in advance.

1. In what way have you recently been rebellious?

It's a small way but I hate wearing these government mandated masks. So often I am walking around with it on my face but below my nose. I have a hard time breathing sometimes... the mask is muffling. Hate it.

2. What fond memories do you have of camping out?

I haven't camped since the weekend of July 11,  1991. Camped in my car on the Big Island the night before the solar eclipse in Waikoloa... and saw everything except totality because a damn cloud covered the sun right at the moment. Arrrrgh! 

So it was a somewhat "fond" memory because I was with my friends, but the ultimate experience that I had been planning for a few years in advance was a major bust and disappointment in my life.

3. When did you last have a snow cone, or something similar?

In Honokaa we call it ice shave. Other people call it shaved ice. And I guess they're snow cones on the mainland. It's been ages ago since I last had one... more than 15 years I think. Can't remember. My favorite flavor is just plain old strawberry or half strawberry and half orange... only the ice and nothing else.

4. Where do you have difficulty fitting in? Where do you easily fit in?

While it doesn't occur often, partisan politics at work.

Where do I fit in? At home... by myself. I am not a group oriented person.

5. How do you feel about bananas?

Apple bananas are great. Regular bananas at Target are cheap. 38¢ each. Like most fruits I like my bananas a little more on the green side and I won't eat over ripe ones especially those with a lot of those black spots on them. Ugh.

Friday 5 for April 2: Play ball!

 

T-Mobile made me an offer I could not refuse. Free MLB games for a season.... a $129 value.. I'm not a baseball fan by any sort, but some of the highlight clips from yesterday were kinda funny. Heh. Will have to check if this works on my Mac. It works from my crippled T-Mobile Android phone and I did not even download the official app. Duck Duck Go is a good browser. Heh.

A Now Let's Play Ball... or so... Whatever.

1. In what area of your life are you on a roll?

I am rapidly getting older every day! Another birthday recently passed. My age caught up with this song. I am in my twilight years.

2. What’s the most recent spherical food you consumed?

They sell sugar and cinnamon coated Andagi balls at Don Quijote on Wednesdays... used to be 4 for $1 but now it is 3 for $1. Ugh, to the price increase but they still are sugary good. They are not perfect spheres but the come close enough.

Oh I also ate a round musubi the a few days ago.

3. In what way has your life taken a strange bounce?

I fell off an electric motor scooter last year. It was the first and last time. Done with those.... My head bounced and hit the cement. Ouch and lots of blood. Ugh... totally healed now but with a scar.

4. When did you last hit a home run?

I suck at sports. Never had much interest in participatory team sports since I was no good and the kids always teased me when I was young. That said I did hit a home run during a P.E. game of baseball when I was in the 4th grade. I did not know what I was doing except everyone told me to just keep running.

Today I can't run. Oh well.

5. When did you last attend a special event for which you needed new clothes?

I think it was my high school graduation and that was four decades ago. For college all I did was just throw the cap and gown over whatever I was wearing at that time. I don't like dressing up nor buying one shot event clothes. It's a waste of money. I don't go to any events that require me to buy new clothes, and if I go I am usually the photographer, so don't really need to dress up special for that.

Friday 5 for March 26: Obstacle course

 

Questions come from Scrivener's Friday 5 blog.

1. What did you most recently leap over (or past)?

This week I have been driving around two big potholes along King Street in Honolulu between the new transit center and Straub hospital. They are on the right hand lane but not the one the bus uses all of the time. Be careful!

As for leaping, I haven't done that in ages. So I can't remember the last time that was done.

2. When were you most recently forced to crawl?

When I had to retrieve something between a nook at my place. Off the top of my head, trying to get to a power strip that is in an odd place to pull a plug.

3. What are you sprinting from?

I don't run. I don't sprint. I am old. I am slow. I try to slowly escape from danger as quickly as I can... but I don't run.

4. What has recently required you to step carefully?

Sometimes I have to step carefully when I am at work. Don't want to ruffle feathers with my opinions. Go along to get along.

5. Where is your next finish line?

Termination of my temporary employment status is coming up soon. I next have to either re-apply for unemployment, find another job or process my social security claim early but with an age penalty. Ugh.

A more immediate finish line is to wrap up the next Assistance League of Hawaii newsletter by this weekend.... the April edition.

Friday 5 for March 19: Consumer reports

Expensive stuff should last a long time.

1. What tool did you most recently purchase, and what tool will you purchase next?

I recently purchased a Canon 100mm macro lens for my Canon DSLR camera at a thrift shop.

My next purchase? Probably sometime this year a Google Pixel phone of some sort. Haven't quite decided.

2. What toy did you most recently purchase, and what toy will you purchase next?

Toy I recently purchased? None, though last year someone gave me an old iPad. The thing is stuck on iOS 9.x, so it is limited to what it can do since Apple has long stopped supporting this OS. So the iPad is relegated to "toy status" since I have a bunch of useless games on it for when I want to veg out. The basic apps that came with the iPad works OK, so it is still good for some stuff... like camera, though it is kind of clunky to carry around and use it as a camera.

Next toy purchase? Huh... can I dream on for this... computers, new cameras and anything else expensive that I cannot afford will probably make good "toys", though I tend to buy these types of things because I need a new "tool". For now I am just putting all or most of them off for a later time.

3. What staple did you most recently purchase, and what staple will you purchase next?

Food is pretty much a staple.. and I will probably keep on buying more food in the future until the day I die. 

4. What did you most recently purchase to give away, and what will you next purchase to give away?

Electronic massage "peanut" for Lisa.

I don't know what I will purchase next.

5. What are you most recently glad you did not purchase after consideration?

Not very recent but at one time I considered purchasing an Apple iPhone or an iPad... but the built in battery experience does not make the expensive purchase last very long. A shelf life of 5 years or less for anything made by Apple is abominable! 

I have always had this unwritten rule. If you buy something that cost over $100 it should last at LEAST 10 years before it breaks or you need a new something of the same thing

Things that I have paid a lot of money for that lasted a long time (and I still have them)....

1993 Toyota Corolla - yes, Toyota makes good cars, at least the older ones. I don't know about the newer models with all the computerization built in.

Power Mac G4 tower - Still works, bought it new back in 2001. Though I hardly use it, when I want to boot into something with Mac OS9 or an older version of OSX, it is still there. Unfortunately the monitor went bad about 5 years ago, so now I have to use a standard VGA monitor with it. Still good for what it is.

MacBook Pros (2009 and 2011 models) - Bought these brand new, and they still work, despite the built in battery.

Canon Digital Rebel 6 DSLR - Bought this in 2011 and 10 years later it is still working. The batteries are removable! Yay!

I have several other older digital as well as film cameras, and all of them still work. My Minolta XD11 and X700 are two of my favorite film cameras and both still work. Bought them years ago. And someone also gave me an old X700, more than 15 years ago, and that still works! Yay.

Other things that I own that still work and stood the test of time for longer than 10 years... Technics turntable, Optimus Cassette Tape Deck, and Tandy analog mixer among sound system stuff.... appliances? Kenmore refrigerator... had that since 1986 and it still works! 

That all said, why don't many devices today last a long time????

I was most disappointed with my Apple iPod Touch 4 that I bought back in 2010. It cost $500 had 64 gigs of storage and worked fine with most of the same apps that you could run on an iPhone. However after 7 years, the battery started going and about a year later the dam thing would not even boot up, even connected to the AC circuit. Ugh! I should have known that damn built in battery would not last.

The same fate has rendered most of the 7 standard iPods I have of different models useless or nearly useless. The built in batteries have either lost the ability to hold a charge at all or can only be used for 10 to 15 minutes before the battery has to be recharged. 

Those batteries like those of the iPod Touch and other Apple iDevices are all sealed in shut and cannot easily be remove and replaced by owners. This practice really sucks. The iPods were great players... but the shelf life is just too short. The same can be expected for all new iPhones, iPads, copycat Android devices that have also adopted this stupid Apple mantra of sealing the batteries in.

Consumers should have the option to buy the same type of devices with removable batteries. 

But I get it. It is manufacturer's desire to sell us products with built in obsolescence. The built in battery is just the ideal symbol of that built in obsolescence, which is followed by too frequent operating system upgrades that eventually render useful devices useless, especially if that device has to connect to the internet.

Ugh!

I hate built in batteries. 

Sadly if I want to get something new like another Android phone I will probably have to get one without a removable battery. That is a major reason why I do not want to buy a really expensive phone. Planned obsolescence is a bad thing.