A Revived Technobrick, Lots of Work and Naps

 Note: this is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.] 

5/29/21

Aloha Everybody –

From the weather reports in our paper I see that it certainly warmed up there after we left – maybe a teense too much.  Ohio in the upper 80's in late May?  Our temps have been in the low 80's much of the week, but that is normal and with our constant cool breezes it is actually very nice.  We’re warming up a little as we head into “summer” but nothing dramatic or weird so far. The pool is up to 82d thanks to warmer overnight lows and covering it at night.  I really missed our daily workouts in it while we were traveling.

I left off last time bemoaning the sudden coma of my 2-year old cell phone.  The problem was that it

The Technobrick

would no longer charge, and instead displayed a message saying that moisture had been detected in the charging port and to unplug it immediately.  I switched cords, tried a new charger, blew out the port and made sure it was in fact dry, and each time it would seem ok at first and then fritz out again. I did get it charged up enough to quickly do a back up (I hadn’t been doing them up to this point) and to get it to a semi-usable state.  I went online and looked at new phones, but then decided I really couldn’t justify upgrading since I like everything about the current one – its size, display, camera, speed, etc. – and that I needed to make more of an effort to revive it before giving up.

A deep dive into the geekosphere revealed that (a) this was not a totally unique problem, (b) it could be fixed for about $100 if I was willing to part with it for a week or so (no one on our island does this so I’d have to send it off), ( c) online videos made it clear this was not something I wanted to try myself, and (d) there were a number of easy and cheap work-arounds to try first, including buying a 30-buck wireless charger.  I zipped out to Walmart and bought one figuring it was worth a shot.  Bingo – so far the wireless method works without a hitch (the online geeks confirmed my suspicion that the circuitry was different from the charging port).  Techno-brick no more and I’ll keep the phone until something else goes wrong, then get a new techno-toy. In the meantime it has begun charging through the port again, but it case it doesn’t I have a reliable backup.

Aside from that, the week was spent catching coquis (4 in 8 days), whacking back the jungle, and getting back to my naps, which I really missed on our trip.  We also worked out at PF on Thursday and this time upped the settings and reps to get back to our previous levels.  Ouch. Amazing how quickly things go to pot and how slow it is to get them back.

Today I see my retina doc.  It’s been nearly 3 months since I’ve had a shot and I may need one, though I haven’t noticed any dramatic downturn.  My threshold is low for getting it, just as a precaution and preventative if nothing else.  It is such a relief for this to finally be stabilized and not such a big part of life......

That’s it for now.  Off to market and beach breakfast picnic before my 1 pm appointment.  Take care, all – enjoy your early summer!