The Apple Watch is one of my favorite gadgets as it serves a required function (telling time) as well as bringing my my activity to the forefront of my attention. While my original Apple Watch has served me well it is showing its age in speed, battery capacity and scratches. It also moves notifications from audible (noisy!) to a subtle tap on my wrist. Perhaps you don’t receive a lot of alerts on your device… I do, however. Cutting down the noise pollution is the number one selling point for me.
Original Apple Watch (work appointment details have been obscured)
Since I am old and enjoy sleeping I did not stay up until 1 AM local time to place my order. I was able to order from T-Mobile this morning with little stress, with the only downside being it appears my watch may not arrive until 10 October or so.
Another great, quirky film starring Aubrey Plaza and Elizabeth Olsen exploring the cult of online personality. Aubrey really conveys the zealous fervor of following an online persona and wanting to become friends in real life… until it all crashes down on her.
Lindsay, Brad, dogs Eclipse crescents Anjia practiced safe eclipse viewingI had originally ordered a small “eclipse kit” from Amazon about a month ago. Other, smaller items, were listed as arriving after the eclipse on 21 August so I ended up with the package with four pair of eclipse glasses and a cheesy book.
I originally had planned to drive up to western Nebraska to be in the path of totality; unfortunately, a co-worker had already requested the day off so I needed to stay close to home/work.
Since I was going to be local for the eclipse I offered spare pairs of glasses to some of my neighborhood friends, Brandi and Lindsay. We ended up with an impromptu party at the park with our dogs, a fruit tray, cupcakes and iced coffee.
I took the dogs hiking in Georgia Pass today. The pass is about ninety minutes west of Denver on US 285. We have hiked the area before but it is close enough to home to be an easy drive, especially with good weather.
Our target today was a ridge opposite Mt. Guyot that I have been unable to ascend in the past — a sprained ankle and impending thunderstorm prevented climbing it in the past.
At the top of the ridge we were at about 12,400 feet elevation. Sadly the wildfires in the Pacific northwest were sending a large amount of smoke our direction which prevented the glorious views we would normally see.
I didn’t intend to hike more than five miles but once back at the truck my GPS app registered 7.6 miles. Surprisingly both dogs handled the distance well, at least until Sunday morning when Lucy was sore and unable to walk more than a couple blocks. She recovered by Monday, though.
Unfortunately on the drive back down the hill from the pass I hit a sharp rock on the gravel road and ended up with a flat tire. The flat was complicated by the fact that Discount Tire decided to over-torque the lug nuts to the point where I literally twisted my lug wrench ninety degrees. I was worried I would snap the top of it off and not have a means of tightening the lugs on the spare.
Needless to say on Monday morning I had a conversation with the guys at the tire shop about not torquing the lug so tightly. I also picked up a heavy-duty lug wrench at AutoZone… hopefully I won’t have to test it out any time soon.
Break time
Colorado Trail marker shieldThe ridge that we climbedNear the top of the ridgeThe view to the eastThe last remaining snowMt. GuyotExactly what you want to see after hiking for hours
I loved Stephen King’s Dark Tower series of novels when I was younger. I was excited to see an attempt at adapting them to the big screen and hoped that big-name actors such as Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey would end up presenting a good, if not great, film.
Unfortunately the studio, director and writers decided to cram as much of several of the books into a single 98 minute film. Time was spent on details that would only please the hardcore book nerds at the expense of the overall story. For example, there is a reference to the Crimson King but nothing is made of it.
I think the biggest mistake was trying to make the film the story of Jake, probably for the YA audience demographic, instead of focusing on Roland. Other characters were missing (Oy, the billy-bummer) yet still alluded to.
If you had not read any of the Dark Tower series the film is not bad in itself. It’s just not the story I grew up reading and that’s a difficult thing to ignore.
