jim's 52 posts / archive / about / shop amazon

iDPrt SP410 Thermal Label Printer

printer

Photo by Geri Sakti on Unsplash

He was not sure how he got there but he had over 1000 CD’s and records he wanted to sell on eBay. This was going to take a long time to do and he was not looking forward to it as he knew he would not get anywhere near where he paid for all these CD’s

It was the age of Spotify and not the age of the CD. It’s been 42 years since the CD was released and somehow over all those years he had collected over 1000 of them. It was a collection. It didn’t start with 1000. He remembered his first CD. It was some disc by New Order . He thinks it was this one, but he was not sure as it had been so long ago.

That disc brought back memories. Waiting for the bus in the cold on a winter’s night with his little headphones trying to keep the batteries warm so he could listen to one more song.

Then over time, more and more songs were played through that cd player than he could ever imagine. But times change and the days of the CD are over despite what the audiophiles say.

He blew the first layer of dust off the box they were stored in and began flipping through them just like it was 1987 all over again. Click, Click, Click. He hadn’t heard that sound in years.

Music had become too easy. You select a genre or song and the computer takes care of the rest and feeds you tunes like feeding a baby pablum. There’s no choice any more.

There’s no forcing yourself to give an entire album a listen as you can just decide in 3 seconds and move on to the next in the never ending musical buffet. He remembrered hating some albums but over time they grew on him.

He had bought the CD with his hard earned money and he was going to like it and listen to it, even if he hated it.

Sometimes the first impression was not the best impression when it came to music

image Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

Rival 3 Wireless Mouse

image

He never really liked the cheap mice he kept buying but he had thought that all mice are the same and they really didn’t matter.

Sure, he had read about gaming mice before but he didn’t think much about them as he was a writer and not a gamer at all. He never really got into gaming and he didn’t know why really but then he had other hbbies so it wasn’t like he wasn’t always busy.

But then he managed to pick one up when he bought a laptop and the store tossed in the Rival 3 Wireless mouse for free. It looked better than any cheap Amazon Basics mouse he was used to so he figured he had nothing to lose by giving it a go.

It turns out he loved it and it was all that he really needed when it came to getting a mouse that actually worked. He thought he had tried them all - the Apple mice and trackpads, but nothing stood out as spectacular for him.

Until he got the rival 3 wireless mouse and then for the first time in a long time he was happy with the mouse. It had enough buttons but not too many and they seemed to be in the right space at the right time. Nobody has time to read a mouse manual he thought to himself.

Finally, he had a mouse he could use on the regular that wasn’t a peice of junk.

Gaming Mouse Pad

gaming mouse

Photo by Matthias Haltenhof on Unsplash

He had the mouse but it was still a little sticky on his desk so like the gaming mous he didn’t know existed, he now needed a mousepad to match.

This is getting expensive he thought to himself as he surfed through all the choices. There were large gaming pads and small gaming pads but then he saw the one that he would always wan to use and that ended up being the one he bought.

It was perfect for his use. It wasn’t too much money and yet it covered his computer deskeasily and offered protection for his laptop and headphones when he set them down to use wihthout the worry of them being damaged.

He figured with the purchase of this mousepad his costs for his dream gaming setup was well into the thousands when he factored in the cost of the PC and the keyboard and widescreen monitor and mouse.

But it was worth it to him. His wife thought it was silly to spend so much money on playing video games but he told it could be worse: It could be cars, or girls.

She didn’t like that last comment very much and didn’t talk to him much for a few days. He got the silent treatment and to be honest he was okay with that as it allowed him to game into the wee hours of the morning and then sleep all day, just as he had done in his youth.

But he was older now, so he sighed as he searched for “florist” on his new computer. He needed her, even if she did think his gaming hobby was a silly thing to do.

It’s all just a game he thought to himself as he clicked to buy the dozen roses for his wife.

Status Audio Headphones

flatlay photography of wireless headphones

Photo by C D-X on Unsplash

These will do he thought to himself as he reached for the Status Audio headphones he had in a drawer. He had much better headphones from which to choose, but he just wanted to troubleshoot why he was getting no sound.

It had to be a driver problem. He was running ChromeOS Flex on an unsupported device so it’s not a real surprise that there would be problems. Maybe i should just go back to windows he thought but so far he was really liking chromeOS.

The problem with ChromeOS is not that it’s just a browser, but that the hardware usually sucks and save for the Pixelbook there hasn’t been a computer that is as well designed from any manufacturer.

He would buy a Pixelbook in a second. But he wasn’t computer shopping. His wife wouldn’t let him and he didn’t need another computer anyway. He could always just reformat and reinstall Windows 11 and be done with it.

But that wasn’t any fun. He loved to tinker and play with computers and the fact that they might not work exactly he wanted didn’t really bother him and it was more of a challenge than anything.

Now, if only he could get the audio to work on this laptop.

Shop Status Audio

Google Phone Cases

four assorted-color iPhone X cases

Photo by Grysell Alvarez on Unsplash

Shop Phone cases on Amazon

He wanted a new phone.

His wife said no, they are too much money. He had a phone. It wa a fine phone and he did not need to spend any more money on technology. He already had laptops and monitors and gosh knows how many cables in the basement.

He wanted a new phone

He knew he didn’t need a new phone. His current phone was fine. But, he wanted a new phone. His wife said no.

He knew better than to cross her and get the phone anyway because when she said no, she said no. He respected that and was one of the resasons he married her. Until today.

Today was differerent. The kids were grown and long gone. Even the youngest one had just graduated college and was living alone in the big city. He remembered living in the big city and how it was late at night with the lights and sirens and sounds of the streetcar past his window on the half hour.

When he was single, he bought what he wanted when he wanted, but now he shared a life with someone. Someone he loved, and if she said no there was probably a good reason why and he respected that.

He decided to trick her then. He would walk in the door with the old phone but a new phone case. He looked and bought the brightest and splashiest phone case he could find.

He wrapped his old phone in the new case and walked inside. He set the phone on the table and thought to himself: this is going to be good

Shop Phone cases on Amazon

Magnetic Playing Toys

a white cube with metal balls in it

Photo by Roberto Sorin on Unsplash

She had wanted to get rid of the house.

“It’s her house too, “ he countered.

But what she really wanted to do was to tidy up. just a bit. Just so she could feel like an adult for 10 minutes without having to trip over toys all the time. This toy was driving her crazy but he didn’t rally know why. It wasn’t really in the way at all.

Yes, it made the house look like a kid lived there but that’ because there was a kid that lived there and thus the house had toys. She needed to get over herself and just go with the flow. She would only be five for 4 more months and before you know it the toys would be gone and would be replaced by a sulky teen with her face in an iPhone.

“Enjoy while you can” he said. She will grow up fast. Let it go.

She sighed and flipped through a decorating magazine while dreaming of cleaner days ahead.

Shop Magnetic Toys on Amazon

Ozium Air Freshener

Ozium Air Freshener

This stuff works very well at actually killing odors instead of just masking them. Seems to last forever too.

image Photo by A. L. on Unsplash

He was warned.

“She’s gonna be farty” she warned him as he handed her the dog bine for Christmas

How bad could it be? he thought. The bag said they were highly digestive so how could it be?

It took the dog a few hours to get through the bone and then a few hours, the stink started.

She was right. Again

The smell was so bad. He had never smelled anything so bad in his life. Thankfully he had bought the Ozium to freshen the car and he gave the living room a good spray

But what would he do with the $35 00 worth of bones he had bought? Should he throw them out? Should he keep feeding them to the dog and hope her gastrointestinal issues would sort themselves out over time?

He did have the Ozium after all and the dog loved the bones so it seemed a shame to deny her the special treat.

He did have the Ozium after all.

Shop Amazon

Cais Laptop Case

Cais laptop case

This is a pretty good laptop case. Or perhaps it’s more of a laptop sleeve. Regardless, it’s soft on the inside and has a pocket but it’s a tight fit so I don’t recommend jamming a charger in there.

You will need a notebook with pretty good battery life or look for a different case.

image

Photo by Majo Villalón on Unsplash

He hated the fact that he couldn’t just stay at home all day as that’s what he really wanted to do. Stay home and write. By the time he retired 5 years from now he had hoped that his writing would at very least supplement his retirement income.

The reality was different and he sighed and put on warm pants and his vest.

He didn’t think he would be delivering smiles for th ‘zon but that’s how it all worked out.

Groceries were expensive and he couldn’t just write and hope that the money would come. He was another struggling artist

Could he call himself an artist if he was just writing fiction for his blog? He thought so. He was making something after all. Currently no it was reading what he was making, bit that is actually okay as he could experiment and learn and improve without having an audience

This was the side hustle, using the bit of time he had on breaks to write.

But the break was onerr and he hadn’t finished his post but at least it was a start.

He sighed, jammed the laptop back inits case a started the truck. That was all the writing he was going to get in today.

Shop Amazon for laptop cases

Voluntary Time of Use

car

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

I’m afraid I may have created a monster. I am now constantly pestered to turn off the lights every time I leave a room.

Why? I switched our electric service to voluntary time of use seening as we both have electric cars.

It seemed silly to pay the same rate for 24 hours regardless of time. I went from spending 9 cents per KWh to 1 cent per KWh.

It was already a pretty good deal when you compare gas vs electric vehicles, but now it’s even a better deal.

At first I wasn’t going to bother as they have to come out and change your meter and that’s a pain - or so I though - but it turned out I didn’t need to even be home when it happened so that worked out well.

The cheaper rates are essentially from 11pm to 7am and then weekends - just like the long distance times for POTS phones back in the day. It’s cheaper during the days when business is closed.

Anyway, it’s been a good thing to do so far and cheaper electricity is always a good thing.

Except. Except.

Now the boss has become the hdyro-police. Lights get turned off on me and we can no longer at any time that’s even remotely convenient.

You can call me at 3am as I will probably be awake doing laundry.

Merry Christmas

xmas

Season’s Greetings from all of us!

We did very little this year as far as gifts go. The wife and I gave each other a few trinkets but no real big gifts as we’re going on an internation trip next month, so: money.

The wee one did get a few things. A small digital camera that’s as good as the ones I used to want so bad in the early aughts. It’s funny how technology advances - the digital camera I gave her came with a memory card, reader and all the charging cables for $20. I don’t think an iPhone comes with cables these days.

It’s a very warm holiday this year, compared to the blizzard of ‘22 we experienced on Christmas day this year is downright balmy!

So, we’re happy and healthy and gave the just right amount of gifts!