Life with Smartphones: Shopping via camera

It had been the night of the district wrestling meet, but it was cancelled. Western wanted to run a tournament that was called off and somehow had the pull to make the ADs agree to move the district meet....to the same week as the regional meet.

Which is a bit crazy.

The team would wrestle Wednesday night for districts and then anyone who survived would wrestle in the regional Saturday morning.

Our regional tournament was scheduled a week ahead of the other regions in the state for some reason, too. 

But that's not the story for tonight.

Tonight, I went to Costco after work. I went with Carrie....sort of.

I knew all of the usual things to get, but I asked Carrie for a supplemental list. Then I took pictures and had her make final selections based on what she'd cook!

The marinara sauce was too expensive for her liking.

I went a little overboard in one area: Salsa.

I had a craving. There was a tasting station for the Sunbelt organic and it was amazing. I didn't care that it cost as much as the Kirkland pair. I bought both.

UPDATE: And I went through it. Both the Sunbelt which was refreshing and the Kirkland which had a slight kick. I bought a second bag of chips when I ran out. Delicious!

Phone Upgrade

Carrie upgraded her phone, so I got a hand-me-down. I went from an S5 to an S8. 

I would have happily stuck with the S5 if Carrie hadn't insisted and done everything for me. She upgraded to an S10e.

The most fun part was when Carrie came by my school to deliver the phone and tinker on it. A few of the kids were shocked to see I really had a wife. "I'm his favorite," one kid said. "Nah! It's me!" said another.

One of the girls said, "Your wife's pretty."

"I think she's hot!" was my reply.

A coworker also complimented Carrie and I said, "I married up!"

I tried to say something to a few boys along the lines of I thought it was a man's job to give his family the best first, but let's just say their interest in the matter had lapsed by then.

Enforced Rest Day

I got sick just in time for the holidays. I started to feel ill at work. It progressed and we stayed home Wednesday instead of going to Grandma and Grandpa's. It's not debilitating or the flu, but Grandma and Grandpa plan to travel in a couple of weeks. Carrie declared us on quarantine.

We did go to Costco to get groceries and switch my phone with Carrie's old one. It wore me out walking Shane all over while Carrie waited for an available phone tech.

Random Costco Note: I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but Costco seems to relax Shane's bowels. He poops half the time we go there. At least this time he didn't wait until we had a cart full of groceries.

However, he also sings from the toilet. I am dead serious. He will sing and beatbox and generally sound like he's having a party in a stall. I normally don't say anything unless he gets obnoxiously loud or hangs out forever. Honestly, I think he gets louder and louder hoping someone will say something. The men's room was near empty, so I think he was trying to get a reaction from the ladies today.

Down at the Dump

Friday started off in a paperwork funk. I worked, Carrie worked, Shane gorged electronically. The work didn't last as long, and midday brought a funny feeling of energy without focus. 

Then, Carrie had the idea to go to the dump.

Goodbye, Porch Couch. It was time.

I pulled the broken glass off the back of my phone with some pliers. Now, all my pictures are blurry.

Unless, I flip the phone around and take selfies.

Let me take you along on our journey to the dump!

I didn't take any pictures of throwing anything away, but there was a "Last Chance!" shop.

It was like an outdoor thrift store without clothes and toys. Carrie found a couple of things we threw in the back of the truck (We did leave with less than we entered with).

Now we know where the dump is and how it works. It's not rocket science, but that helps avoid any unpleasantness (such as the dump was cash or check only - no cards).

Pretty mountains in the background.

We left before it stormed. I went on the porch to listen to the rain, but Shane tagged along. It's hard to hear anything other than him when he sits and beat boxes in your ear.

So I let him run out in the rain. Was always good fun in Texas.

Going to the dump was the turning point of the day. How many other people would that say?

Dropped My Phone

Dropped my phone outside. Cracked the glass protecting the camera lens.

A search says it's a quick fix and $5 for parts. I have to find the time to do something about it, though. Shane would not be a big help.

The pictures are hazier. If I point it at a direct light source it gets worse, but it works for now.

Max claimed Shane's white stripe belt as her fresh kill and paraded it through the house. She loves that thing.

Shane Photography

He got the camera again.

No More Dumb-Phone for Me

Thanks to Costco, I am now the owner of a new smart phone: a Galaxy S3. It was on sale for $30. There would have been a $30 upgrade fee if I kept my old phone number, but Costco covers new activiation fees.

I said "goodbye" to my old number without a second beat. Continuity is nice, but $30 is $30.

The first thing I did with my new smart phone is take a bunch of pictures. I took 611 mb worth of pics and videos while chasing Shane around the airport (we were there to greet Megan! She's visiting from India).

The second thing I did was hand the phone to Dan. "Make it play good games, please!" Dan had an emulator he uses to "beat games he never beat from childhood."

I wanted it.

Carrie bought me a toy for my birthday that plays my old SNES games. The problems is they're old. My Shadowrun cartridge broke when I put it in. My Final Fantasy III cartridge (VI in Japan) lost one of my save files randomly. Dan's never had any of those issues since his games are through his phone.

Carrie and I have been trying to run down our batteries since. It's been fun. Learning new things is nice, and our cheap new droid phones are very shiny.

I plan to use my new phone to take many more pictures of my son and post them here.