Life in the Tech Lane

A Day in the Examined Life of an Author and Tech Guy

Over the past 24 hours I’ve had several notable events happen.

First, a business colleague complimented my Bridge Across the Ocean website, so I gave him a copy of the book. He’s a cyclist, too, so is eager to read my novel.

Then I went to Apple to pick up my new red iPhone SE. It’s replacing my iPhone 7, now so old it doesn’t even qualify for a trade-in, but no matter. The SE is what I’d trm lower-tech, which is just what I wanted, but it’s also lightning-fast and smaller. It’s part of an Apple system upgrade. Last November, I got a new MacBook Pro with Apple’s M1 processor. It, too, is wicked fat, but it also performs its tasks flawlessly. I had gotten to the point with my Macs, where they just weren’t all on the same techno-page, so to speak. An Air was over ten years old, and the other Pro was the last generation, so I was all over the place and decided it was time to update all my tools to the same M1 level. I ditched the old computers and am going use just the M1 and a brand-new iPad as my mess-around device, like when I’m relaxing and just want to take some notes or look up movies on IMDB.

Next, I took my three grandsons to Barnes&Noble, where each boy got to select two books, then it was off to the cafe for hot chocolate and cookies. Not only a nice way to end the bookstore visit, but to ward off the chilly, rainy Saturday here in Massachusetts.

My grandson Cam, 8 years old, is really into history – especially military history. So we’re about to start watching an old WWII movie about tank forces. He’s excited, and I’m happy I found a good flick to watch on HBO Max. You may have herd Amazon is considering charging viewers who camp on someone else’s streaming account. You know how it is for Amazon – they just can’t make enough moneymoneymoney (as in Pink Floyd). Amazon’s greed is beyond any point of reason, IMO. IT charges for so many of its movies, even if one has a Prime account, which neither Netlix or HBO do. Grrr.

So that’s it for today. I’m off to enjoy my family and a beef stew for dinner, to accompany the movie. I hope you’re having a better day than the people of Ukraine yourself.