life in the old lane

No new iris photographs. No new cell phone. No cicadas. Nothing to report.

A cloudy, damp day.

Now, why am I down on the iPhone. I am supposed to be an Apple FanBoy – or FanOldWoman!

T-Mobile slips over to available wifi when cell signal is lacking. (Not an uncommon event with T-Mobile). But, iPhones don’t allow that. Don’t like this “feature”.

iOS is starting to look a little tired. Not feeling any gotta have that.

An iPhone costs way too much. Just because I can afford it doesn’t mean I am stupid. On T-Mobile one buys the device up front. Or better brings the device and gets a SIM card.

So, I am still leaning towards a Nexus 4 – purchased from Google. And then I can take it down to the kid with the dreads at the T-Mobile store and he can pop in a SIM card and get me going. I’ll miss out on the LTE goodness but I’ll have an extra $300 in my pocket at the end of the day.

Of course – an iPhone would be just like my beloved iPod Touch. So, I am waiting until after WWDC and still might break out the extra Benjamins. Either way – not giving up my Touch.

Absolutely nothing going on. Nada, null, zero, zip… But, all things considered – this is not necessarily a bad thing.

As the weather is want to do in these parts – it sprang from winter to summer – missing spring.

And, we await the cicadas from Brood 2. There is still plenty of unpaved land around us. Land much like it was 17 years ago. We should have lots of those red eyed bugs. Last time we had lots of cicada it was Brood 10 in 2004. And we were downsizing, thinking about selling the house etc. Don’t know if the cicada will fly up to us. Will find out soon.

The 17 year cicadas are an east coast thing. See WikipediA We complain about them – but actually rather enjoy them. We also have “regular” cicada. They are smaller. And don’t have red eyes. There aren’t as many of them either. Brood 2 can number 1/2 million per acre. And they are not small. In a well treed area – they will sound off at about 90 decibels for a couple of weeks.

Well, Mr C was supposed to see the Vampire Doctor today. But, Mr C doesn’t have a cell. Vampire Doc doesn’t have an office staff. Vampire Doc was late. Vampire Doc called the house phone. Needless to say we were waiting outside Vampire Doc’s office when he called. We waited 25 minutes. That is a long time for Mr C to wait outside a dark office. But, it wasn’t long enough. Doctor must have arrived about 30 minutes late.

SO, we don’t know how Mr C is doing. Will try again next Thursday.

But, we did get him wrapped up in plastic wrap and tea towels so he could shower.

Well, I spent less than 30 seconds photographing this iris at my bus stop. My iris photography leaves much to be desired, still.

On a happier note – my cold is much better today. And, Mr C drove himself over to Maryland to do a little visiting this morning. It seems to have tired him out – I was going to prepare his arm (where the PICC line is inserted) for showering. But, my baby doesn’t want a shower today.

Google doesn’t seem to have done anything for the Nexus 4. They seem to have embraced the oh-so big and pricey Samsung S4. So, for my entry into the smart phone world – the smart move for me will still be the Nexus 4 – purchased unlocked from Google.

I am the person who continues to put up with this:

for my ISP. I guess I don’t have any real need for speed. So, I guess I’ll be able to get along without LTE speed on my phone just ducky.

Still have a cold exacerbated by seasonal allergies. Enough already. Think I’ll fix myself a little cup of Japanese Miso Soup.

Carlton wanted to have a small surgery on some basal cell cancer on his head on Thursday. The Vampire Infectious Disease Doc didn’t think that would be such a great idea. Fortunately, the guy who was going to do the Mohs surgery on his head agreed with Vampire Doc – so surgery is off. For now.

 

Enjoying poor health today. Nothing serious. Just a cold. A cold that I got from Mr C.

He is doing pretty good today. (I think – don’t know what he thinks.) Yesterday afternoon his rear bike tire had a blowout while it was parked in the entry hall. Nobody had touched it in hours. Then BANG. The search was on for “what exploded????” Anyhow, this morning, he walked the bike to “The Old Bike Shop” – where they put on a new tube and tire.

He still goes to Out-Patient Infusion every day for his boat load of antibiotics.

Today, when I am feeling a little wimpy and not like cooking – I could get into living in an old person’s asylum – where I could just sent Mr C down to the mess hall for chow. (Today I am thinking about the Palolo Chinese Home in Honolulu. The food would be good. And the place wouldn’t be infested with born again true believers … Not serious – but you need to think outside the box sometimes.)

We had Movie Nite yesterday. Bernie with Jack Black was our movie selection. Loved it.

Taken with the ZS15 yesterday. If we have a great clear day – sunset could glint off that top  part really nicely. But, as we slink into summer – great clear days are rare.

I got Carlton’s little cold. I am really glad he got it first, I would be feeling really guilty if I gave him a cold to go with all his other problems. But, it is a small cold. Sort of a 2 day thing.

If we ever needed proof that you don’t need antibiotics when you have a cold – Mr C is it. He seems to be getting a cold. Never-mind that he is getting enough antibiotics to float a battleship everyday. But, today for the first time, he drove his car. And, he is going for a small bike ride everyday.

As for me, I bravely went to see young Dr Nguyen. And, I filled the script for BP drugs. And, I made a reservation for a mammogram. Enough responsible behavior already!

OK, today I broke down and made an appointment to see a doctor. I hate doctors. They are never happy until the find something wrong. Of course there are things wrong with me. I am old. Run hard. Put away wet. Enjoyed every damn moment of it.

But, I really do need more blood pressure drugs. And, you can not score BP drugs on the corner!

Saw Mr C’s closing surgeon today. She said he is “good to go” as far as she is concerned. But, we still have the Providencia bacteria to keep killed off. So he still has to go to Out Patient Infusion every day for his “drip”.

Going to put my smartphone lust in timeout for 30 days. Decided that I want to see what happens with the next iPhone. And, what about the Nexus 4 and LTE. The Nexus has an LTE chip. But, it isn’t activated.

The bills for Mr C’s medical treatments are arriving by the boatload.

Photo – Panasonic ZS15. Lots of zoom, from the balcony. I love my views. When we moved in it was suggested that we were nuts to spend so much money for the view. We were advised that after a few months, we wouldn’t notice the view. Well, I notice it everyday. Several times a day. And, a night.

Don’t think I been going on a trip this summer. Have to get Mr C well from the current unpleasantness. Then he has to get a hernia fixed. He is so afraid that the hernia will “turn bad” that I don’t want to leave him. If it did go bad, we would get him to the emergency department. There would be emergency surgery. And, he would be sent home. In no condition to take care of himself.

Which brings me to “what on earth are we going to do when there is only one of us?” As long as we are two and as long as we have brain power and money – we will be OK. But, the last month has driven home how difficult it will be for one of us to deal with the realities of old age. Over the next 10 or 12 months we are going to come up with an exit plan for each of us. Plus, a third plan for us – assuming we decide we need to relocate to an old folks asylum, while we are still the two of us.

So, if I do have any trips this summer it will be to inspect old lady asylums. I think the Carlton Exit Plan will be located here in northern Virginia. But, the Peggy Exit Plan might be in Honolulu. Or Seattle. Or Portland. Or …

I went windowshopping smart phones today. The Samsung Galaxy S4 is totally gorgeous. It is big. And, it is plastic. I could rationalize big. After all, my eye sight isn’t what it once was… so, bigger might be better. Can not rationalize plastic however. And, the Android OS has that lovely feature of switching calls to wifi when there is no cell signal.

The iPhone 5 is totally Apple. But, new “improved” iPhone is just around the corner.

A cheaper solution would be the totally Google Nexus 4. Downside here is no LTE.

While at the T-Mobile store I noticed that one of the iPhone’s had SpeedTest loaded. It was about 3 times faster than my Verizon Snail Internet Service.

I am not moving from T-Mobile. They have been my cheap cell carrier of choice for years. I am sure not sending more business Verizon’s way.