Tag: iPhone

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BREAKING UP WITH MY FITBIT

Were you ever in a good relationship that finally ran its course? That’s what happened between my Fitbit and me. Getting my first Fitbit was quite a thrill.   It made me feel young and hip.  I was proud to wear it out in public, and unashamed that it wasn’t exactly ornamental.   I noticed a lot of other people wearing them, too–not just when exercising, but at theaters and restaurants.  Who would want to be without a Fitbit?

 
It was supposed to help me lose weight.  The idea being that if I would just take more steps,  the extra pounds would simply melt away.  Didn’t happen, because I wasn’t exercising any more than I did when I set my goal for, say, 15 minutes of this or that exercise,  or maybe half hour of walking.  Another problem was that if Fitbit told me I’d walked an extra mile or so, I thought I could have an extra doughnut.  But I learned that 75% of weight loss comes from reduced calories, with exercise only accounting for 25%.  A little extra exercise didn’t justify eating more.
Breaking up with my fitbit was the best decision I've made for a long time.
Breaking up with my Fitbit. At first, I thought it would help me lose weight. But mostly, it made me lose sleep.

 

One good thing:  Fitbit told me how many miles I had walked from point A to point B,  but once I had that information, I didn’t really need the wristband to tell me what I already knew.  And then, a friend pointed out that if all I wanted to know was mileage, I could slip my smart phone in my back pocket and it would tell me the same thing.
 

After about a year, things started going south when I realized Fitbit was ruining my sleep.  It would tell me how many times I was up during the night, and how many times I tossed and turned . The first time I saw those numbers, I was rattled.  Up 5 times? Restless 16 times?    I could only remember getting up once. My goodness, what’s wrong.  No wonder I feel so tired.  I would go to bed at night, fearing the worst.  The more I worried about getting up at night,  the more the numbers increased.  If my Fitbit reported I only got five hours of sleep, I felt more exhausted just seeing that number.

 And then, one day, my Fitbit wore out.  And I decided not to buy a new one. Breaking up with my Fitbit was such a relief.– not having to worry about those numbers anymore.  There are still times, when I wake up and can’t go back to sleep.  Sometimes that takes its toll, and other times I feel just fine.  Mostly, the way I can tell if I got a good night’s rest is the way I feel in the morning.   I don’t want Fitbit telling me I should be tired.
 
So  goodbye, Fitbit. We had a good run, but I don’t need you anymore.

 

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RECOVERING FROM FRIDAY 13TH

Are you superstitious?  I used to be, until I finally stopped attending psychic fairs.  But last Friday,  I began to reconsider my feelings about the power of the supernatural.  After a really bad day, I’m still recovering from Friday the 13th.

It began at 5:30 a.m.  I ‘m awakened by severe leg cramps.  Tossing and turning, I try to make them stop. But when I jump out of bed, I feel dizzy.  Not sick, no fever, just that my head is spinning.

After calming  down, I  decide to go for a swim to clear my head. At 8:30 a.m. I pack up my gear and head for the local college pool.  It”s  cold, and I have to park a long way from the sports center.  Trudging  up the hill, I see that the lights are turned off, and the pool is closed.  Bummer.  Shrug, it’s just one of those things.

Return home and check my iphone.  Battery life down to 3%.  Plug the cable in; nothing happens.  This means I’ll have to drive to AT&T, which will probably mean a long wait. Then, I’ll have the hassle and expense of a new phone.

I go to check my rental property where I’m paying a painter by the hour.  But, he’s not there, the work isn’t finished, and I’ve already paid him 4 times as much as anyone else who’s done the work before.

Back home, I flip on the TV, and see that the President of the United States has been impeached.  No matter which political party you support, this is very bad for our country.  It’s going to be a gloomy Christmas holiday in Washington DC.
On Fri. 13, my computur was hit by a virus
A virus hit my computer on Friday the 13th.

Turn on my computer and find I’ve been hit by a virus.  Can’t access any of my apps like Google, or Word.   Do a system restore which takes over an hour.  Download and re install Chrome, but can’t activate Word.  Block my antivirus program, do another system restore.  Still no Word.  Can’t open any of my documents.  Call the web host for my blog, and talk to a service rep with an incomprehensible accent.  Looks like I’ll have to wait until next week, to call Geek Squad

Jump in the car and head to AT&T.  Service rep finds I have a broken cable. Whew, easy to fix.  He plugs it in, and while I wait for a recharge, he says I really need a new phone because my battery is old.  I take his word for it and reach for my credit card, but it turns out my husband has to be there because the contract is in his name. (More about this in next post)  I leave for Kroger Store, and can’t find my credit card.  Return to AT&T, root thru my purse, finally find the card.  In my confusion, I’ve stuck it in a hidden slot.

Now I’m driving home, and falling back on meditation techniques.  Breathe in, breathe out. Don’t sweat the small stuff.  Stay calm. Nothing catastrophic has happened. Breathe in, breathe out. My house didn’t burn down. I haven’t wrecked my car. I don’t have a serious illness (that I know of).  Back home,  I’m outwardly calm.  I fix dinner as usual, and listen to the news.

When stressed out, meditation helps
When feeling stressed, it helps to stop and breathe slowly, in and out.

Good news:  Sat  morning,  I open my computer after  doing another system restore, and I have all my apps back. I can use Word to write this blog.  I can go through Google.  My head is clear.  My iphone works fine with a new cable.  A new Nafta trade agreement was signed by Congress.  Hooray!

And yet,  I’m still in recovery mode. And now I can’t open AOL.  How was your Friday the 13th?

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WHO WANTS TO BE NORMAL?

According to Kate Snow on NBC news,  the average person spends 9 hours per day on their iPhone.  That’s more than half of your waking hours, and it is the new normal.  How could anyone find so many interesting things on their phone?  My phone tells me I spend about half an hour a day checking e mail, Facebook,  a few news reports, and messaging.  Apparently, I’m a total oddball in today’s culture, but that’s fine with me.  Who wants to be normal?

THE AVERAGE PERSON SPENDS MORE THAN HALF THEIR WAKING HOURS ON THEIR PHONE

Facebook is usually full of spam from people who’ve somehow gotten into my account.  I enjoy updates from family and friends about what they’ve been doing, but it doesn’t take more than a few minutes to scroll through these new posts.

The fact is, I don’t always know exactly where my phone is.  I carry it in my car,  and when I’ walking in the park or shopping.  But I’m liable to leave it in my car, or somewhere in the house, so far away that I don’t even hear when it rings.  Often, I have to call from my landline to find out where my cell is buried under a pile of papers.

How do I spend those extra 8 ½ hours “off” my phone.  For starters, I read two morning newspapers:  The local paper for gossip, obits, road closings, and city politics. The Indy paper for better coverage of all national news, and what’s going on in the big city where my daughter lives with her family. Both papers have thinned down in the past few years, but it’s still fun to read the funnies, the bridge column, the editorials, recipes and local sales ads.  There is nothing more enjoyable than morning coffee while spending an hour poring over the newspapers.

More importantly, I get to read some wonderful books.  Have you read the biography of the first woman Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O’Connor? I can assure you it’s vastly more interesting than scrolling through Twitter, Snap Chat, Facebook and Instagram.  Another fascinating biography is about Alexander Hamilton’s wife,  Eliza.

Reading a good book is more interesting than scrolling your iPhone
READING SANDRA DAY O’CONNER’S BIOGRAPHY IS VASTLY MORE INTERESTING THAT SCROLLING YOUR PHONE

Then, there’s the old fashioned habit of “visiting” with family and friends.  Yesterday, our daughter and her husband stopped by to help us plant geraniums and have lunch.  After their daughter arrived, we sat around the table talking and laughing, only using our phones to share a few pictures.  No one seemed more interested in their iPhone than sharing stories and talking politics.

I know, reading books, and visiting around the dining room table are outdated pastimes from another era.  But they’re  much more fun than scrolling through twitter.   Who wants to be normal?

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TEARING MY HAIR WITH TECH SUPPORT

It started out like any other day.  As I was leaving Tai Chi, I tried calling my husband to tell him that I was stopping by Kroger’s. Because  he’s handicapped, I like to let him know if I’m going to be a little late.  I hit our home number and waited for the ring tone.  Nothing. Dead silence.  Tried again. No sound at all, even though my phone said it was calling that number.  When I got home, my husband said he hadn’t received my call.  That’s when I started tearing my hair with tech support.

It's frustrating to spend several hours on the phone with tech support
IT MAY TAKE SEVERAL HOURS WITH TECH SUPPORT TO FIND A SIMPLE SOLUTION TO YOUR PROBLEM

Called our wireless  provider, Spectrum, got connected to the usual automated voice message where you  have to tell them who you are, where you live, what’s on your mind, etc.

Once the robot found no outage in our area,  I was connected to a real live tech support person  with a strange accent who talked so fast that I had to ask her to repeat herself.   First, she checked to see if my home  landline had my cell number blocked.  No, it didn’t.  Techie said it was probably something wrong at AT&T.

To reach a real live person at AT&T, had to go through numerous steps :  enter forgotten pass code, get a new one, identify myself in  various ways. After about 30 minutes, got a support person  who got impatient when I asked  her to  speak clearly, and slow down.  First question:  was cell phone number blocked?  No, Spectrum had assured me I had no numbers blocked.  AT&T used their cell phone to call my home. It went right through, so they said it wasn’t their fault, but they would run some tests and get back to me.

Next morning nothing had changed.  Cell couldn’t call home.   I wondered if something was wrong with my Apple iPhone.  Maybe the settings were wrong. Again, Apple had me enter user name and pass code, long forgotten.  Took about half an hour to receive numerous e mails,  find  user name, put in a new password, etc.  First question:  Did my home phone have blocked numbers?  No.

Apple said to refresh my software.  This meant I had to sign up for I Tunes in order to save all my data.  It was a lengthy ordeal, but after about an hour, my phone had been completely updated.  Great!

Now, tried to call my landline again.  Still didn’t go through.  Apple said it was probably AT&T’s fault.

Called AT&T back, went through all the rigmarole to identify myself.  This time, got a person who spoke plain English.  I told her everything that had happened, and she said to go to phone settings.  There was an item at the bottom of the list, SHOW MY CALLER ID.  She asked me if that button  was on or off.  It was on.  She said to turn it off.  Voila!  My call to my landline went through.  One tiny little setting had been  causing the whole problem.

Called Spectrum back and asked why they had assured  me there were no blocked numbers on my phone.  They sputtered around and said, well, your landline didn’t  have a list of blocked numbers,  but yes, there was a block on all calls with no caller ID.   Whoa, Spectrum, why didn’t you tell me that yesterday? They could not explain, but did apologize.

Total time invested: 5 hours

Next day, had a problem with blue ray settings On TV.   Another few hours before that got fixed by Sony.

 Anyone over eighty should take a tranquilizer before they call tech support.