Power Failure

One of the benefits of having some smart devices in your home is finding out that our electricity was out l during our 16-day September road trip.  I received alerts from my Blink camera app that it lost connection. I then looked at the Google Home app (screenshot below) to see that the WiFi router and Nest thermostat were offline.  Fortunately for us, we had almost nothing perishable in our two refrigerators and even though the first (of three) outages lasted over thirteen hours, nothing had to be thrown away.  

Guacamole

Earlier this year I had the Garden Toast breakfast shown below at the Garden Table restaurant near the Broad Ripple neighborhood in Indianapolis.  It was basically upscale bacon and eggs on toast with smashed avocado, which got me thinking about the word "guacamole".  

I've always pronounced it with a long "E" at the end, but when I heard it in Spanish, which concludes the word with a long "A" sound instead, I realized guacamole must be the two words, "guaca" and "mole", smashed together.  As you can read more about at the link below, guacamole is derived from the Nahuatl (an Indigenous people of Mexico) word “ahuacamolli,” which is a combination of the words “ahuacatl,” meaning avocado, and “molli,” meaning sauce.  Over time it was shortened to “guacamole.”

For whatever that was worth, I found it fascinating.

https://www.chefsresource.com/why-is-guacamole-called-guacamole

New Coffee Mug

Gourmet Chef Elaine and I visited Gettysburg this fall and took a fantastic bus tour through the battlegrounds, monuments, and graveyards, even though there was a drizzling rain most of the time. When we got back to the tour station, I wanted something to remember the somber moments of the bloody three-day battle of Gettysburg, and in their gift shop, I found the coffee mug shown below.  "We the People" are the first three words of the Preamble to the United States Constitution, introducing the US Constitution's fundamental purposes and guiding principles.  

If you haven't visited Gettysburg, I highly recommend it.  Bring a couple of tissues with you as experiencing the memories of this battle can bring tears.

Clever Marketing Gimmick

A couple of people trying to sell us AT&T's internet service door-to-door had a very interesting trick up their sleeve.  They had me run a speed test on my current service while standing on our front porch.  That resulted in a download speed of 61.4 Mbps, as shown in the lefthand screenshot below.  That makes it look like I'm not getting anywhere near the 300 Mbps I should be getting, but that's the trick.  Standing outside not only put me further from my Wifi router, but that signal now had to penetrate a brick wall to reach my smartphone.  Which of course they knew.

Being the techie type (it was my job for 40 years), I reran the test by walking five steps to the living room and reran the test, resulting in the 342 Mbps as shown in the righthand screenshot below.  That seemingly small difference in location made a huge difference and I was clearly getting great Internet speed.  But to really measure Internet speed, I knew I had to take WiFi out of the equation, so I ran a speed test from my MacMini, which is Ethernet-cabled to the cable modem.  That resulted in a stunning 483 Mbps.  

Creeping Thyme

The picture of our creeping thyme shown below was taken in late autumn. The single plant has grown to approximately four feet by three feet. That's not bad for a plant that started out this spring about the size of your hand.  This will remain green all winter (unless it's really bad) and bloom in late spring to early summer creating a blanket of small flowers.  We'll find out next year if it continues its growth spurt and tries to take over the entire front landscape.

https://www.gardenia.net/plant/thymus-serpyllum-pink-chintz

iOS Keyboard Space Bar Slide

Back on January 8, 2024, of this year, I wrote about the Space Bar Slide and how it makes positioning to the exact place in a string of text so easy.  I also said that I had to install the GBoard (Google's keyboard) on my iPad to get it to work.  All that being true, the part I missed is that you can do this with Apple's default keyboard, but it works just a bit differently.  Instead of just sliding back and forth on the space bar, the Apple keyboard requires you to press down on the keyboard and hold it down while you slide your finger.  You will know you have pressed down firmly enough when the keyboard "blanks out" as shown in the image below.  Get that screen and you can now slide back and forth.  This, and other useful tips, can be found at the link below.

https://www.howtogeek.com/441872/how-to-use-text-editing-gestures-on-your-iphone-and-ipad

Pumpkin Ice Cream

For my money, Trader Joe's Pumpkin Ice Cream is the very best.  It's delicious by itself, but I like to put a couple tablespoons of Smucker's Hot Fudge in a ramekin (i.e. portion control), heat it in the microwave for 30 seconds, then scoop some ice cream on top.  Pure heaven!  It's only available around Thanksgiving time and in limited quantities, so if you see it, put it immediately in your cart.

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/pumpkin-ice-cream-095253

Half-n-Half Struggles

I swear some package designers get off by making an ordinary product impossible to open without the use of tools.  The most difficult one, as shown in the picture below, is a carton of Half-n-half.  The cap is too small to grip easily and requires a ridiculous amount of effort to twist off.  Fortunately, I keep a pair of pliers close by.

They have a term for that: Wrap Rage.  Spot on.  Read more about it at the link below.

https://www.smashbrand.com/articles/wrap-rage-know-the-signs-design-a-cure

Henckels Stainless Steel Cookware

Walking through Costco can result in an impulse buy like replacing our somewhat dated but still good pots and pans with a 12-piece Henckels set.  It included 3 frying pans, 3 saucepans, and a stock pot, with lids.  Besides the great quality, it includes useful features like the straining lids and the measuring markers shown below.  

https://www.costco.com/henckels-tri-ply-clad-stainless-steel-12-piece-cookware-set.product.4000269635.html

Blink Cameras

We decided to get some outdoor cameras, but first, we had to decide what to use them for.  Since we have never had a doorbell and had no inclination for one, that was out.   We also didn't want to get notified every time a motion was detected since that would be dozens if not hundreds of alerts per day.  The final needs list was (1) a simple deterrent for no-gooders as they know they're watched, (2) recordings that could provide useful information if something bad happened and (3) easy to install and operate.  

The Blink Home Outdoor 4 was the perfect match.  They run on a pair of lithium batteries that can last up to two years, so installation only involves a drill and screws and they can be placed anywhere in WiFi reach.  The included Sync Module 2 has a USB port which I inserted a spare 128GB flash drive to keep recordings, so I don't have to subscribe to a monthly cloud storage plan.  I configured the Blink app so I get no notifications, just as desired.  

As you can see in the screenshot below, we have two cameras in the front and one in the back, just perfect to capture me blowing grass off the driveway, walk, and patio.

https://blinkforhome.com