Category: Technology

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.

bgibson135
Eva Green as Miss Peregrine.

I’m re-watching the movie, “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children,” and there was just a moment in the cave where one of the characters explains to the other about the phone he is carrying in his pocket. She is from a time where there were no cell phones, and probably few “land lines” either. Still, their interchange made me reach over and take my cell phone. I want to write about the several changes from when I was a boy until now. Things like telephones, televisions, computers, etc. I will be leaving a much different world than the one I entered a little more than 71 years ago.

Personal Computer

THEN –

Smith-Corona Portable Typewriter

When I started college at UNC-Chapel Hill (“Carolina”) in 1972 there were no “personal” computers. I had a portable typewriter. I think it was a Smith-Corona, in a carrying case, with a handle. I would type up my papers on this typewriter. I think I used correction tape for mistakes.

I knew how to type because my mother who had been a “Clerk Typist” with the Civil Service, mostly aboard the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base (and some at the Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia), made sure that I took typing, both in high school (at Swansboro) and at least one summer at a local business school in Portsmouth, where she was working at the time. I got up close to 60 words per minute without mistakes. I don’t recall if I was the only boy taking typing in high school, but there were fewer of us (males) in the class. And years later, when I poked my head in my old classroom, it was amazing how small the room seemed, to have probably had about 30 typewriters and that many students, with a teacher. **Later knowing how to type would be a useful skill when personal computers started to become part of our society.

Texas Instruments Calculator

The other piece of technology that I had was a brand new Texas Instruments “hand held” calculator. I do recall that it cost $99 and it was the beige color, as shown here. It would do the four basic functions, but I don’t recall if it even had the (%) percent capability. I don’t think it did. You could spell things by typing numbers and then turning the calculator upside down. I think “77345” spelled “SHELL.” You’ve got to understand that the numbers were shown in a simplified format, of horizontals & verticals, not like those shown above in a stylized format.

Bowmar Calculator

I had this calculator stolen by some slick Chapel Hill operators. They wanted to “party” back at our dorm room, and offered to buy the case of beer for me & my roommate. I didn’t go back to the room with them, but the next day, the only thing I had left was the charging cord for the calculator. LGN was the mullato that took it. Rather than admit my stupidity to my mother, as she would have to “foot the bill” for another one, I combined the order of a cheaper Bowmar calculator, in with Christmas presents, and got the money from her. I told her about it later.

NOW –

I am typing this blog posting on my Samsung Chromebook, and it just automatically corrected my mis-typed word “tpying.” I’m using the Chromebook because about a week ago I accidentally spilled some liquid into my Windows Laptop. The laptop was beside my easy chair, and the liquid just splashed out, and over into the computer. A freak occurrence, but it killed it immediately. I had bought the Chromebook as a backup Web connection so that if something did ever happen to my Windows machine, I would be able to order a new one on Amazon. I haven’t done that yet, but I’m still able to do almost all the things on the Chromebook that were being done from my Windows laptop.

[ADDENDUM 03/01/25]: I actually did not think I would ever be doing this again. I am editing this posting on my HP Windows Laptop. The one that died about five weeks ago, when I accidentally spilled my drink into it. Recall that the laptop didn’t work immediately after the spill. And, I tried it the next morning, and I think I even waited a few days, and it still did not work. That is when I “wrote that machine off,” never expecting it to live again. I didn’t throw it away, and I didn’t buy a new Windows system, but kept working from my Chromebook. I had left the HP laptop unplugged all this time. So, today I took the dead laptop and plugged it back into it’s power supply, and momentarily I realized that the opening Windows background (I believe it is the covered bridge across the river in Firenza.) was showing flawlessly on the screen. Sure enough I was able to enter my login pin and the Windows laptop was working once again. I’ve since updated the McAfee virus software and even played a game or two on it.

I guess the spill was still liquid when I first tried turning on the HP laptop and was shorting out the system so that it wouldn’t start. By giving it some time to thoroughly dry out, it was able to restart successfully. [end]

THEN –

The personal computer has grown by leaps & bounds, since it first started being used by the public in the early 1980s. The early computer monitors were monochrome (one color), not color, and either green or yellow letters/numbers were shown on a dark background. I recall using a computer in 1984 that had a 10 MB Winchester hard drive. The hard drive was separate from the computer and was about the same size. Now you can get a “thumb drive” that is more than 1 TB.

Below are two screen captures from one of my YouTube videos that I took in 1984 when I was working & living at S.I.F.A.T. between Lineville & Wedowee, Alabama. The videos were originally recorded with a VHS camera and years later I converted the VHS tape to digital and then uploaded the digital files to YouTube. First of my YouTube S.I.F.A.T. videos.

Momochrome Green Monitor

In 1975/6 I took my first computer course, and learned how to program in “Basic” and in “Fortran 4.” Fortran has since gone through many iterations, but still exists. IF, THEN and FOR, NEXT statements were at the heart of Basic programming. IF this happens, THEN do this. Do this function FOR however long, and repeat the function when each NEXT appears. ECHO sent the results to the teletype or the computer monitor.

One time, I played a joke on a fellow student, who was from Columbia, South America. I think he was from a wealthy family, his dad being a diplomat or some such. The student missed an early class where we had learned the basic skill of ECHOing a statement out to the printer. So, I created a very simple program and all it did was ECHO the following statement: “Hello Patricio!” His name was Patricio. Well when he came to me to see what he had missed in class, I led him to the teletype and said put in the program name. When he pressed the Enter Key, the program ran and typed “Hello Patricio!” That was all it did, but you should have seen the look of wonder that came across his face when he thought that the computer actually knew his name. I couldn’t help from laughing, and then had to reveal my prank to him.

NOW –

Unless you have need of a more powerful, quicker system, such as for gaming or creating graphics or videos, a laptop is fine for most people. I am a PC person and although I’ve used Apple computers & Ipads in the past, it never “caught on” for me.

Cell Phone

THEN –

A rotary telephone.

I just realized that we didn’t have a telephone in our home when I lived in the “old home place” on the corner of Hwy. 24 and Queens Creek Road. There was a telephone booth across the street at the far corner of the country store. This would change when my mother and I moved up to Hubert to live with her sister, Carrie Kellum, whom we called “Sis” or “Aunt Sis.” The move would have occurred when I was in either 7th or 8th Grade.

Aunt Sis had a telephone, and it was a “party” or shared land line. I’m not sure how it worked specifically, but more than one household shared the same phone line. This meant that only one “party” could use their phone at a time, and it was possible to pick up your phone and hear another household having a conversation. *I do recall doing this at least once.

When mom and I lived together in Jacksonville, North Carolina (at 204 Johnson Blvd.) we had one phone, and it was on the wall in our kitchen. Mom died in December of 1980.

When I hurt my leg, playing tennis, I still only had the phone on the kitchen wall, so I had to hop from the bathroom, after showering, to call my friend.

NOW –

Samsung Galaxy S23+ in carrying case.

I didn’t get a cellphone when they first came out, and they were pretty well established before I got my first, which I don’t recall what it was. But now I have a nice Samsung Galaxy S23+ from which I constantly monitor my world and make informed plans because the Internet is available except in extremely isolated parts of the world. At least my world. I was able to pull up a streaming webcam view of me when I was down on the Washington, North Carolina waterfront a few days ago. There was about a 30 seconds delay in the video, but it was live. Before going down to Washington, I checked to see if the Library Book Sale was still a go, and I checked if Down on Main Street Restaurant would be open.

Step-Stool-Carrying Case

Several months ago I was walking out of Publix and saw a woman carrying a green step stool, made of heavy duty plastic, with a handle. I stopped and asked her about it. It was both a step stool, and a carrying case for her tools. “Step stool” meant you could both use it as a step, or stand on it to reach items above you, or you could sit on it to do work while sitting. But as a carrying case you could put cleaning supplies & cloths, or carpentry tools like screwdrivers and wrenches in it. She told me how much she had paid for it and that it had lasted about 10 years and she was completely happy with it. She provided me with an intimate product endorsement, on the spot. I thanked her and walked to my car.

Sitting in the driver’s seat, I pulled up a step-stool-carrying case like the one she had, on the Amazon web site, and ordered it. I think it was about $56. I ordered this item, almost immediately, while sitting in my car, from the Internet on my phone. I didn’t have to drive home first. I didn’t have to get a Sears catalog and order it and have it delivered to my home a week to 10 days later. I probably had the step stool within three days. And, it is a wonderful unit. I’ve put things, like tools, in it. I’ve sat on it while cleaning the floor boards, and I’ve stood on it while changing a light bulb.

I created a simple Google Spreadsheet to use when I go shopping for groceries. This exists “in the Cloud,” so anywhere I have Internet access, I’ve got access to this spreadsheet. I’ve created broad categories such as: BREAD, MEAT, SPICES, VEGETABLES, & KITCHEN and then can place items like “Asparagus,” “Broccoli,” “Cabbage,” “Onion,” etc. beneath the correct category. I check the items I need to buy either on my Windows Laptop, or Chromebook or even from from Android phone, and then un-check them as I buy them at the various groceries I visit each day. Grocery shopping when I was growing up was either every two weeks, or maybe once a week on Saturdays. Now, I might visit 2 or 3 groceries a day buying those special items from each chain: Wegman’s White American Cheese, Publix Sourdough English Muffins, and/or Greek Gods Yogurt from Harris Teeter.

Cable TV

THEN –

I’ve told the story about how I would get up early (6am) on Saturday mornings to watch “Sunrise Theater” on WRAL TV5. Sunrise Theater included two horror/sci-fi movies, back to back, each Saturday morning. You’ve got to recall that there was no “all on – 24/7” TV. All channels would go off at 12 midnight, and only show a “test pattern” with a high pitched tone until 6 am the next morning.

We had four TV stations, but could not get a good signal from WNCT TV9 (CBS) out of Greenville, NC. There was WWAY TV3 (ABC) and WECT TV6 (NBC) in Wilmington, WNBE (later changed to WCTI TV12 – ABC) in New Bern, and WITN TV7 (NBC) out of Washington, North Carolina.

The last TV show I might watch on Friday night was “Championship Wrestling from Florida” with Gordon Solie, the host. As his sign off he would say, “This is Gordon Solie saying ‘So long from the Sunshine State.'” I recall “Argentine Apollo” who was a wrestler, dressed in tight white shorts and who did various acrobatic flips, even from the top of the ring ropes down onto his opponents.

Because we couldn’t get the CBS station, I missed out on shows like “Gunsmoke” and “The Howdy Doody Show.,” after school. But, there were plenty of other ABC & NBC television shows, and cartoons on Saturday mornings “Jonny Quest,” and weekdays “Yogi Bear,” “The Jetsons,” “The Flintstones,” and “Huckleberry Hound.” Was “Captain Kangaroo” on weekday mornings? I didn’t grow up on “Sesame Street,” but was aware of it later. Sports shows on Saturdays like ABC’s “Wide World of Sports,” “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom,” and on Sunday nights, “The Wonderful World of Disney” movie. I saw all of these TV shows in Black & White. It may have been as late as 1970 before I got a color TV. I do recall the Zenith portable TV (b&w) that had a carrying handle on top, but was still a heavy unit. I liked the Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (which I may not have seen as a boy) but also liked “Get Smart” and “Combat.” As a teen I would have watched “American Bandstand” with Dick Clark, and also “Soul Train” with Don Cornelius. All were adding to the mix.

NOW –

“Hello Patricio!” I think that a few years ago I actually recalled his name, Patricio Morillo, and found that he had gone into banking. And just now, I see his face online and a “Happy Retirement” sign next to it. Patricio’s LinkedIn Page.

I now talk to my TV via my Fire Stick and say, “Alexa, what time is it” or “Alexa, turn on the TV” and she responds (it’s a female voice I hear) with the current time, or “Okay,” and turns the TV on, or pauses the program or various other commands. And sometimes, but not every time, she will actually thank me, for my courteous “Thank you,” with a “You’re welcome, Bill, have a nice day.” Yeah, I could see becoming attached to an interactive computer interface. AI responses are becoming much more organic, and to have a computer generated human-like face on my personal “AI” would be great. I could see spending hours in deep conversations with my AI exploring the World and my environment with his/her assistance.

Ahhh, so that’s where that was.

bgibson135

They are little things, but still they are so important as first steps toward a more organized life.

I like the idea of compartmentalizing things according to their use, but I rarely, or consistently do this type of organizing. But when I do, I feel a minor, but definite sense of accomplishment.

I’ve recently bought 48 clean, new, glass spice jars, with shiny aluminum screw lids and translucent white plastic filters that snap snuggly on the mouths of the jars. They are squared off, and I kept one of the packing trays (there was a tray for both the top and bottom of these jars to fit into snuggly so that the glass wouldn’t “tink” into an adjacent bottle and break. I’ve filled almost all of these jars with either existing spices that I already had, or recently purchased spices that I thought I might like to try.

I’ve moved a bunch of stuff around on the countertop next to the stove on the side where the spices and a small plastic cutting board lie. Most importantly, I moved the paper towel dispenser away from the stove top (and potential fire hazard) and put it next to the side of my refrigerator and next to that I moved the plastic sandwich bag dispenser. This dispenser is indispensable. I use these bags to store food items both after and before cooking.

Oh, and something I’ve just started using for a different purpose is small colored plastic salsa bowls. The kind with the little plastic legs to steady the bowl. I’ve used a few of these (a bright green and a bright yellow one) for many years for when I make homemade salsa, hummus, or guacamole, but now I am also using one for my Greek God’s Yogurt (plain flavored) to which I’m adding fresh fruit that I have blended in my chopper. The raw (not sure how fresh) raspberries that I pureed turned out extremely flavorful, and were a very pleasant addition to this yogurt. *I recently bought (at the exorbitant price of $4.99) a 3-pak of assorted berries: blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries. I plan to blend them and put them in the little plastic Rubbermaid containers, in the fridge, until use.

So first I bought, at separate times, a few more of these plastic salsa bowls and then came up with the idea to use them like monkey dishes. I have some dark blue (outside) and white (inside) ceramic muffin cups that I’ve used for years as monkey dishes putting in various liquid and dry ingredients. I have one of these cups in which I put my olive oil brush. This is to brush oil onto a pan surface or my waffle iron before baking a waffle, so that it won’t stick to the surface.

My salt dispenser sits beside the sandwich bag dispenser.

One of the items I have on the other side of my stove is a large ceramic container in which I put an assortment of kitchen tools. But tonight, very early morning, I decided to clear out some of the unneeded items in this horribly cramped container. Surprisingly, to me, I actually took several items out of this and actually threw them away. I did throw away a shiny melon baller, but I don’t think I will actually miss it. I found a cup sized tea ball, which I actually might use now that I know where it is. But I also plan to move this tea ball to a more visible location as a reminder. I do have a coffee, tea and flavored drink packet area on the corner of my kitchen counter.

The other thing I found was a dark metal pair of scissors. My mother had used them, and they are still a really good pair of scissors, and I’ve just used some olive oil on them for protecting their surface, which I see can rust, but hasn’t much. *Sometime in the last couple of years I recall asking myself, “What ever happened to those black scissors.” And the scissors are what started me writing this particular blog entry. I plan to put them in one of my plastic shoe boxes (for organizational purposes) and then put other “like minded” items in that same shoe box. *I do have a small sewing kit, but the scissors might also be used for cutting paper, which I did just a few minutes ago and they still do a fine job of cutting.

I mentioned the spice jars above, but I still haven’t quite got how I want them laid out. I have tried to come up with a 3 letter code to go on top of each jar, but I still have a few jars that I don’t quite recall what the 3 letters stand for, and a jar or two of spices/herbs that I don’t really recall which ingredient it is. But first I had all the jars alphabetically organized from A to Z. But now I’ve put the most used ingredients in the first two rows nearest my cutting board. It seems vaguely that I might want to categorize these spices/herbs even more. “Most Used,” “Warm Spices” for frying apples, and “Peppery Spices.” For a long time, I would sift each of the warm spices from their separate jars onto the fried apples (on top of the Splenda I had already sifted on them), but then I finally mixed all of these spices and put them in a separate glass jar with a sift lid. It just makes it so much easier to sift from just one jar.

Some time ago, I started organizing a few reusable items in some plastic sandwich bags. These items are rarely needed, but nice to have on hand if and when the need arises: assorted rubber bands (different colors, sizes and widths), various plastic bottle tops (My Agave Nectar dispenser has had a couple of broken bottle tops that it was nice to have an extra unbroken one to replace with.), twist ties (both from bread bags or label ties from Sprouts), and I also keep my yellow plastic “Dukes Mayonnaise” jar lids because they fit perfectly on regular sized canning jars.

One drawer beside my stove includes the most used utensils: apple corer, can opener, vegetable peeler, box cutter, etc. I think it was just a couple of years ago that I bought a 4 pack of the box cutters. They came in 4 separate colors and they have proven to be very handy. I keep one cutter beside my easy chair (for opening various plastic bags and Amazon packages). One cutter is in the drawer beside my stove (for slicing open the plastic bacon package, or slicing off the top of a resealable shredded cheese bag). I have one cutter in my car. And, I don’t recall where the fourth cutter is, but I have a suspicion that I gave it away as a present. These are really useful. *How about for slicing through those annoying thick plastic protective seals. The ones that snuggly protect a new tooth brush, or batteries, or…

Oh, every so often my can opener doesn’t work on a can. I think most times it is the design of the can rim, or the softness of the metal that causes the old standard can opener not to take and slice the metal apart as it travels around the can lid. *For those extraordinary times, I have my “John Wayne,” which I have probably had for more than 40 years. Perhaps even more than 50 years. I might have still been in high school when I found and kept the little steel can opener that was supplied to soldiers for opening their C or K Rations in the field. It has been on my key chain for many years, and when the big opener won’t start or finish the job, that little can opener works “every time.” Yes, it takes longer to open a can with this little tool, but it gets the job done.

This reminds me that I’ve recently bought a new pair of nail clippers. But the problem with these clippers is that they are a smidge too small to be comfortable in the hand when in use. And, I’ve checked at a different store and their clippers were also in this slightly smaller size. The smaller size works for adding them to your key chain, but they are an irritation that I plan to find a solution to… Another pair, slightly larger as they were for many years.

Which reminds me. Yesterday when I left home, my phone wasn’t sufficiently charged up for the day, and I didn’t have a charging cable in the car. I had used the short white charging cable that came with my hearing aids in the car to charge my phone. In the apartment, I used the black charging cable that I switch from hearing aids, phone and Chromebook in a round robin match that works. But, I sent the white cable back in the return of my hearing aids.

So, I’m in Goldsboro with my phone around 25% and falling fast. I don’t want to be without a phone, in case my car “acts up,” or I need to get navigation or an online map, or to check for a product, or location or time of an event, etc. I check for the nearest Dollar Tree and see one. I’m not sure if I’ve been to this exact location before, but I had a slight awareness of where it was located even before using the navigation to drive there. I think it is next to a Walmart, because I saw the Walmart Blue color on the side of an adjacent building, but never actually saw the Walmart name on the building. I was parked askew of that building, and had no need to get a better view. I go into this Dollar Tree and start looking for the USB cables. And they don’t have any. What? The USB cables are always with the assorted smartphone protectors, and the other little, cheap electronic thingys. I look and then I go to the register and ask and the clerk sends me back to where I had been looking. I go back, and they don’t have any, any, any USB cables. How can this be? I go back to the car and google for another Dollar Tree. It can’t be that ALL Dollar Trees in the area are devoid of USB cables. The other Dollar Tree is across town, past Wilbers BBQ. But, this is not an unfamiliar location as I go by it quite often when visiting Goldsboro. There is a dead end road that butts up against the chain link fence next to the Seymour Johnson Airforce Base runway. There are fields on either side of this road and most of the year, except when the crops are tall in the summer, this is a perfect location to come watch the take offs and landings of the fighter jets and the refueling tankers. I’m not the only one who knows of this location and I’ve been there when several others are watching also. Most of the time it is deserted. You might see a white security/maintenance truck in the distance traversing around the runway. I think it may be looking for debris that is on the runway, more than checking on possible intruders.

So I go to the other Dollar Tree and go to the electronics section and here they have at least three different styles of “Fast Charging” USB cables (Type A to Type C). The price on the package is $1.25. I buy one of the fancier looking cables, but would like to buy a couple more and have them about, just in case. My phone was down to 17% by this time, but having the phone hooked up only a brief time, I saw the percentage of charge begin to climb and by the time I was back home I think the charge was close to 60%. I think ALL USB cables should be “fast charging” and cost only $1.25. Why pay $10 or more for this basic cable? *I don’t understand what the difference is between a fast charging cable and a regular (slow charging) one, but it is probably just one extra wire or some such. **Just checked and the fast charging cable is thicker with more insulation which provides a higher delivery voltage, and therefore quicker charging.

On the way back home, I stopped at the drug store in Newton Grove and had a Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream, regular cone, for $2 total (including tax). It is $2 for one scoop, but they put what I call one scoop in the cone, and then add another scoop (sometimes it might be half a scoop), but I definitely would call it more than one scoop for the price. Unfortunately for me they discontinued the “Super” Raspberry flavor sometime ago, but they still have enough flavors (probably 20 or a few more) to satisfy. The raspberry ice cream had little chocolate candies filled with raspberry jam. I make this description of the ice cream after having gone online and researched the raspberry flavor. I might be able to get this elsewhere, either in an ice cream shop or in a small container to take home.

Bags of Nature’s Way Farms, Inc. potatoes @ Harris Teeter in Fayetteville

And something else. In the morning, I wanted to go to Nature’s Way Farm near Faison, NC. I checked my phone navigation and turned off Hwy. 13 to head toward the business. It’s out in the country. But this detour took me a different way to a familiar route. I’m not sure if it is a shorter route, but it almost seemed to be. Instead of going into Newton Grove (and circling the round-a-bout a full rotation), I can go this different way and end up on the “on ramp” to I40.

[NOTE 10/29/24]: And so, I guess it continues. I had the desire to have a Lamb Gyro Pita at Pharaoh’s Legacy Restaurant. I normally like to also order the house Greek Salad with this meal. Previously I’ve even made my own version of a Greek Salad, and even made the Italian Dressing at home, and taken it with me to eat in the car, outside of the restaurant. So this time I prepared a sandwich baggy with a few items meant to enhance the flavor of their Greek Salad: an extra Peperoncini, some chopped sweet onion, a Campari tomato, diced, and a few green pitted olives (because I just can’t find any Kalamata olives in my fridge).

From a previous visit, and all the inside fixtures were gone when I poked my head inside the front door a couple of days ago.

I drive clear across town, and park in front of the restaurant and start to go to the front door. I do note that there are no cars parked in front except for some utility trucks away from the front. I pulled the front door open, and there, to my surprise is no restaurant. It has been gutted, and as I start to step back outside, I do see a construction worker come around the corner in the far back. *I should have at least stopped to ask if the restaurant was just being remodeled, or if it was closed permanently. **And, I still don’t know if it is permanently closed because I see nothing regarding their closing on their web site. Maybe a fire, but the place was just gutted and I didn’t smell any smoke.

I decided to drive over to the old, other location. This was the first place I had visited some time before I had my heart surgery. I pull up in front of the other restaurant and another car pulls in ahead of me near the front door. I walk past this person, who is getting out of his car, and open the door. They are open.

I walk up to the counter and get a menu and go over and sit down at one of the dining tables. I already know what I want: Lamb Gyro Pita with a Greek Salad. But, I note that the Greek Salad is more expensive and apparently isn’t available with the Pita as it is at the other location. *I do ask the waitress if the Greek Salad is the full price with the sandwich, and then the waitress explains that this restaurant has different ownership than Pharaoh’s Legacy. I tell her this wasn’t always the case and that when I first visited this restaurant, it had the same owner.

**I do want to mention another thing that I am quite proud of, but not related to this story of Pharaoh’s Legacy. In a moment of insight, I thought about using the old Lazy Susan that I had previously used for my spices. But with the new spice bottles and the matrix that I’ve chosen to use to organize the bottles, I no longer needed the Lazy Susan. The insight was that if it would fit, I could use the Lazy Susan, and place the kitchen tool jar (with my assortment of various kitchen tools: spatulas, juice squeezer, spoons, etc.) in the middle and put some other items: Splenda jar, Sweet-n-Low packet jar, Coconut Sugar jar, corn starch jar, etc. around the outside. This worked excellently! And now all I have to do is spin the Lazy Susan to select what I need to use. [end NOTE]

Spring Internet World 1997

bgibson135

I had been working at Fayetteville State University in their computer department for a couple of years (August 7, 1995) when I asked to go to the Spring Internet World ’97 Conference in Los Angeles. Leo Taylor, was my boss, and my friend so he approved this trip, but those above him bawked at it, and there was foot dragging almost to the last minute and I was signing travelers’ checks at First Citizens on the morning before I flew out of Fayetteville. The majority of these checks were used for me to pay for the conference, once I arrived. The foot dragging had meant that they didn’t send the payment, in advance, like they easily could have. 

As I recall, the flight there was without connecting flights, but I think the return trip had one connection where on the last leg of my return I boarded a prop-commuter that seemed a little “iffy” to me.

The conference was held in the LA Convention Center, which was also used as one of the filming locations in the SciFi movie, “Starship Troopers.” The facility structure has a lot of metal beams, all painted white. 

I’ll hopefully come back to fill in more details later, but I wanted to mention that a short time before this conference trip, and that may have only been a week or two, I had gone down to Georgia to visit my half-sister, Donna, and attend her wedding. She had her wedding at a beautiful Baptist church, with tall ceilings, white walls and shiny brass lighting. A dream setting for her first wedding. The boy loved her, but ultimately she was damaged emotionally and had a needful personality and after several years she divorced.

But, I wanted to mention that I met some of my sister’s relatives during this wedding. I don’t recall their names, but there was a man who lived in California and who either had worked or was working for Boeing. It may not have been Boeing, but it was one of those largest companies that build commercial jets. The gentleman generously invited me to stay at his home a few days while I was out at the conference. *Hope I’m not making that part up. I remember the hotel I stayed at, which was something like the Hollywood Hilton, but it wasn’t a new, upscale destination. but something that might have existed since the 1950s. Small rooms, but obviously well worn. At some point we got together and he drove me around and we even visited Nixon’s Presidential Library, where they had moved his childhood home. The choice that day was either the Nixon Library or a trip to a Monastery (don’t recall which religious group, but I think it was Oriental, or maybe Buddhist). We also drove from above the Malibu Pier down to Venice Beach. So, in a very short time, I visited a few of the many iconic locations around or near LA and I dipped my toe in the Pacific Ocean. *I grew up on the Atlantic coast, but have also dipped my toe in the Gulf. I have been to Detroit, MI for about a week, a long time ago, and visited Chicago twice. I don’t recall if I ever dipped a toe in one of the Great Lakes, but I had to cross at least one to visit the Canadian city, Windsor, across from Detroit.

On my Chicago trips, I did go up the Sears Tower both times, but at night both visits. Perhaps the more interesting visit was to an old mansion that was being used for a Battered Women’s Shelter. This was a sprawling old home, multi-story, and even unused, unfurnished, dusty rooms. I recall seeing a very small old elevator, that I’m not sure was even in working order still. But the most interesting part of this old home was a half sized gymnasium. I say gym, but it had a small indoor basketball gym that had a glass superstructure that looked out on the Chicago skyline. 

Anyone Received the New Swivl Yet?

bgibson135

An April 17, 2014 video from Ohio State University.

This is one of the first examples of the new Swivl.  Although you do not see the device itself, you do see the new tracking unit.

My original posting and addendums below:

I’ve been waiting for mine. I ordered it in early January 2014, and at that time it was supposed to be a 6 weeks wait. On Feb. 18th, I received an email that they would ship in early March. It is now March 12th and I just sent the company an email asking if there was some problem.

I haven’t seen any postings (by non company persons) showing off their new Swivl yet.

—

ADDENDUM:  I received a reply from the Swivl rep that said they would be shipping the new Swivl out in another couple of weeks.  That would make shipment the end of March.  That would be 3 months from when my credit card was charged.  *As much as I wanted to “play” with the new device, I sent an email cancellation notice and asked if there was anything else I needed to do to cancel my order.

ADDENDUM-ADDENDUM:  I did receive my order amount refund (by check, my choice) within a week!  Still don’t see anyone’s video examples from using the new Swivl.

It was sort of odd.  I was interested in this little piece of hardware, that had been offered at an extremely reasonable price during the first iteration.  The refinements and redesign of the proposed second iteration looked great.  But, the second iteration had a sizeable jump in price, and the company appeared to have put their energies in what I consider a tangent, Cloud Video.  The trick for Swivl was as a device that caused your camera to follow you, and remotely record very good audio.  I wasn’t interested in having a special place to store and deliver the created videos.  I can put those on YouTube.

Test with my new folding keyboard.

bgibson135

I am at Hwy 55 in Apex.

Sent from my Galaxy S®III

The Hwy. 55 is no longer at this location in Apex. I’ve noted that at least one other Hwy. 55 has closed in Kenansville, North Carolina.

I think it was a couple of months ago, I was passing through Kenansville one night, on my way back to Fayetteville from Hubert, and stopped in to get an order of Onion Rings and a Diet Dr. Pepper. Everything was the same, except for two things I did notice. They had a new menu, on a single two-sided laminated sheet of paper, and their outdoor sign was either not lit, or missing.

Everything was the same! So, I really didn’t pay attention to the phrase on the menu that said, “Friends You Know.” It was only later that I realized that “Friends You Know” wasn’t an advertising slogan for Hwy. 55, but the new name of this restaurant, “FYK.” The woman manager, perhaps owner, brought this to my attention that they had bought out Hwy. 55 at this location but were still serving most of the former items, and they still had onion rings and Diet Dr. Pepper, and all the 50’s glitz was still on the walls, the black & white checkered floor tiles and a full sized Elvis up near the front door.

The onion rings and the Diet Dr. Pepper were both just like they had been before, deliciously pleasing, with a lot of ketchup. And at least once since then I’ve tried to stop by again to have some more onion rings. One time they were closed for a holiday, and another time they were also closed, maybe closed on Mondays? So, I still want to enjoy another order of onion rings.

[NOTE]: On a later visit, I talked with a young (19) man who was a cook. He told me that the woman wasn’t the owner, or maybe even a manager. [end NOTE]

Class Notes for Today

bgibson135

If I have a Bluetooth keyboard at my disposal, I can take out my smartphone, pair & connect to the keyboard… start an email and start typing notes in 30 seconds or less.

I am typing using my AWK right now. This is almost a full-sized keyboard and I can type pretty quickly with it. The phone also has a camera so I can take a picture of handwritten notes, or notes on a board (white/black) if necessary. When I send the email, a posting is created with my notes and any images that I attach to the message. Those notes are then available on any device that is connected to the Internet. This is not difficult to do, but it does require intent to practice the way that you want to perform the task.

Sent from my Galaxy S®III

My New Chromebook

bgibson135

I ordered my new Chromebook a couple of weeks ago at Amazon.com.  It was on back order and arrived yesterday, but I couldn’t get it from my rental office until this morning.  It’s nice!  It is silver, and lightweight, and Chrome starts quickly.  **It’s only a browser so with a good connection, it should load most things quickly.  ***Boy, when I think of how long it takes my office PC to boot in the morning, I will be through several emails via the Chromebook before I get to Outlook on the PC.

We have a good WIFI connection here (ITTS @FSU) and YouTube videos had no problem playing easily (today).  Some Flash has played without a problem, and others did not display at all…

Sorry, I had an idea and went to play and now I don’t remember where I was going in the previous paragraph.  Will write more later and will use the Chromebook to do it.

Sent from my HTC on the Now Network from Sprint!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Using the Gmail Offline App to Post

bgibson135

Okay, I turned off my WIFI connection on the laptop and then composed this short posting using the Gmail Offline Chrome OS app. I’ll click on Send and then see how soon it posts after I re-establish my WIFI connection.

—

Addendum:  It took seconds from when I re-established my WIFI connection on the laptop for this post to appear, so the “Gmail Offline” app works fine for someone who wants to create postings while being offline, and then have them uploaded soon after they are connected to the Internet again.