The Case of The Missing Paddington

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I am starting to thing Amelia’s Paddington Bear is an alcoholic.  It explains the finding him passed out in oddest places.  This time Amelia didn’t have him all last night since he went missing.  I found him when cleaning the play room under the trampoline.

Sick Day

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T is home sick so I had to leave work to stay with her.  Staying in with her would be ok if it wasn’t for the work from home snow day that it looks like i will have tomorrow.  By Wed. I may be stir crazy.

The Case of The Missing Paddington

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I am starting to thing Amelia’s Paddington Bear is an alcoholic.  It explains the finding him passed out in oddest places.  This time Amelia didn’t have him all last night since he went missing.  I found him when cleaning the play room under the trampoline.

Sick Kid

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T is home sick today.  Her morning consisted of watching videos and complaining she wanted water.  By 12:45 I figured it was time for her to try to nap. She disagreed and tried to bargain and then argued.  After I tucked her into her bed she was out in less than 5 minutes.  I hope she is feeling better later and also that she does not get her sister sick.

My Sort of First Mac, Again

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Back in November while I was searching for the iBook G3 clamshell I got curious and was looking up other Mac’s that I might be interested in. I immediately was drawn to  the first Mac that I ever bought, the iBook G3 12 inch in white. I was pleasantly surprised to see this model plentiful on eBay and also relatively inexpensive at about $50-$75 depending on condition. For that price I kind of wanted to buy one. What I ended up searching for and buying was not the exact model that I owned. That was because the advice I was given was that model is prone to issues. So I stayed away from the G3 polycarbonate white and got the last version made in that body type that was a G4. It was harder than I thought to find one that did not look visibly beat up. After a while I did find one in order to.

After getting the laptop the screen feels a little washed out however I’m not sure if it’s this particular computer or if I just don’t remember the screen being like that on those older computers. It’s still very usable and I was happy to see that the keyboard and hand rest was in good shape. I purchased some headlight cleaner from a recommendation that is perfect for cleaning polycarbonate. I haven’t yet however I intend to clean the shell of the computer to get looking in better shape.

As with the G3 clamshell I have specific plans in mind for this computer. It is not just an impulse by to sit around. Now that I have them however I’m not sure if I’m going to swap what I intended them to do or not. I might end up just keeping the clamshell G3 for show since it looks awesome. I would then use the polycarbonate white G4 to do what I wanted to with the G3. Use it as an educational computer for the girls. I have my eyes on my favorite PowerBook of all time. The 12 inch PowerBook that I owned three or four different versions of over the years. If I do get that I would use it as my off-line writing computer that the polycarbonate white computer would have been used for.

As I am slowly preparing to install software on these computers I’m surprised at how much software I saved that is in my backup archive of Mac software that will run on the later variance of OS 10 at work on the PowerPC chips. There is a bunch of things that I’m missing from my latest backup that I have online. I need to go to some off-line hard drives with backups circa 2009 or so to get a few more applications. In any event I should be able to easily do what I want to do with this computer.

Now all I have to do is find time to work on this and other projects I would like to take on.

My Sort of New Vintage Keyboard

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In addition to the vintage computers I picked up I also bought an Apple Pro keyboard from the early 2000’s. Over the summer when I bought my wireless Bluetooth mechanical keyboard I did so because I thought fondly of my old black Apple Pro mechanical keyboard. As I was shopping for vintage Mac laptops I started to look for how much a pro keyboard would cost me. Most of the ones I found were pretty dirty shape. The going price was somewhere in the range of $30. I searched around and want to bid on one that looked pretty decent. With shipping I think I paid less than $40. For a good mechanical keyboard that’s not so bad.

When I got it I was eager to tried out. It typed as I remember it did. After using it a bit I did realize that my new Matais mechanical keyboard based on the same movement typed nicer. I found myself able to type faster and more comfortably on that one however the old Pro keyboard is still pretty slick.

I was using the Pro keyboard on my second computer set up for a while at home. A few weeks ago I decided to bring it into the office to use so I can bring home the Matais keyboard. The computer it’s plugged into I delight amounts of typing on however having the mechanical keyboard on it has been an improvement over the newer white and silver Bluetooth Apple keyboard that I had.

My experience with the Pro keyboard versus the Bluetooth Matais makes me want to get a new wired mechanical keyboard. The only issue I have with the Matais is it loses its Bluetooth connection with my laptop much more frequently than I would like. I had many more problems with it than I do with my Mac keyboards. That was one of the reasons why I took it home.

I Figured Out My Problem With The Apple Watch

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Back in early October I was curious enough to pick up and other Apple Watch. I bought a series 138 mm. I felt the 30 mm was better fit on my wrist even though my other watches are larger. From what I read series 1 was as fast as the series to and should solve all the problems that I felt I had with what is now called the series 0. As much as the series 1 wasn’t super cheap, it wasn’t that expensive. At present it’s actually the most expensive watch I own since my Seiko was slightly more.

Since I bought the Apple watch for the second time I’ve been using it exclusively. I like it. Functionality wise I’ve been pleased with it. I haven’t had major frustrations with the speed of anything that it does like I did with the series 0.  I find myself telling the watch to set the timer or an alarm often. I also like the ability to see how much times less than the timer instead of having to go to my phone. Other advantages of the Apple watch for me has been the fact that I do not need to wear my Fitbit. Seeing and sometimes replying to texts on the phone has been useful however I don’t do it often. Also the ability to answer the phone and talk on speakerphone briefly from the watch is something I don’t do often but I’ve done it and it’s been helpful at those times.

Right after I bought the series 1 I regretted not having the waterproof series 2. The series 1 was available immediately when I ordered it whereas the series 2 I would’ve had to wait almost a month for. When I bought it I didn’t think I really cared much about the waterproof. I had some buyers remorse and thought about returning it within the two week period I get from Apple to make a return. In the end I opted to keep the cheaper version of the watch did not think the waterproof would come in handy for me.

Until Friday of this week I’d worn the watch every day since I got. Recently however I missed the nicer looking watches I own. I contemplated switching back however i was concerned about the loss of functionality if I stopped using a “smart watch”. Friday for some reason I decided to put on my X-33 and where that instead. What I found was a few times during the day I went to look at the watch to see the date. I also went to set the timer and after two seconds I put my arm down and reached for my phone to do it instead. Other than that I didn’t really miss the smartwatch. I had to get used to the fact that the X-33  was noticeably heavier then the Apple Watch. It makes sense that it was heavier however I am use to my titanium X-33 being the lightest thing I wear.

When I first started wearing my jawbone Up several years ago I wanted to encourage myself to be more active. Nowadays I’m pretty knowledgeable in knowing what I do and how active that makes me. I learned a lot from four or more years of wearing an activity band. Friday when I put the Fitbit on since I wasn’t going to be having the Apple Watch I immediately took off the Fitbit. I did not want to wear the extra weight or hear the clanking of the Fitbit against my Omega. The loss of the standup notifications in my activity tracking was slightly noticeable however I was pretty okay with it.

We are traveling this weekend and at first I packed the charger for the Apple Watch so I can bring it with me. Before we left however I put it away and unpacked all the gear I needed for it and just put on my Speedmaster instead. Yesterday I again went to my wrist for a few things that the  Apple watch does for me before I realized I didn’t have it. Other than that I don’t really miss it day-to-day. I miss the idea of it and how cool I think doing electronic stuff on my wrist sounds like. In practice however I don’t miss it. I also like how my mechanical watches look significantly better than the smartwatch.I feel like that sums it all up for me and why I’m not so sure if I’ll wear the smartwatch again.

Unfortunately I know myself and I’ll sell something and not have it for a while and little get updated and I’ll feel like hey this major issue I had with it is solved I should get it again. That’s why I got the series 1 in the first place. I’m glad I did because it was an improvement however when you boil it down I just don’t feel like I need it. I do waffle about this stuff so it doesn’t mean that I don’t want it sometimes however functional speaking I don’t miss it.