Yesterday, I had a picnic lunch at Fox Run Park with some friends. It was a bit on the nippy side, but still enjoyable.
Fading to Sepia
Most years, we don’t get a lot of color here in the foothills of the Front Range. The deciduous plants fade to sepia and shed their leaves without much drama.
Autumnal Sunrise
Obligatory First Snow Photo
We’ve had a few flurries, but this is the first snow that is sticking to any degree.
Sharing the Pillow
This hardly ever happens: I can count on the fingers of one hand the times I have found both Lightning and Rion on the same bed.
Nice and Trim
Rion looks nice and trim after a visit to the Bad Place this morning.
Adam’s Mountain Cafe
In mid-September, I went to Adam’s Mountain Cafe with a friend. It is still a going concern, despite being flooded this summer. As you can see in this photo, Fountain Creek was still very high at that time, shortly after the severe flooding near Boulder and other areas.
Smoky
My mother’s cat, Smoky, who is currently visiting, likes to keep me company when I am using my computer.
Tablets
Although keenly interested in changes in technology, I’ve never been one to acquire the latest and greatest. I like to wait a while until the initial wrinkles get worked out and the price comes down. In addition, I’ve gotten a lot of hand-me-downs over the years from Jack, when he gets the latest and greatest: computers, ereaders, PDA’s, and cameras.
Eighteen months ago, I decided to get a Kindle Fire when I was facing some surgery. I thought it would be a nice item to keep me entertained while I was convalescing. However, Jack sent me a link to a comparison between the Kindle Fire and an iPad 2 and I considered my use cases. Then I googled “refurbished iPad” and found an entry level model at a not totally unreasonable price at the Apple site.
If I had waited a couple of more months, I would have bought a mini-iPad, but it had not yet been released. However, I loved my iPad 2 with an almost unnatural passion, although I did occasionally regret that it wasn’t something I could easily slip into my handbag.
Recently, I decided it might actually be time to spring for a new tablet, with a lighter, slimmer form factor . Recent Android tablets have been getting better press, so I decided to check out the Nexus 7, which has been getting great reviews on technology sites. I found a wireless 32 GB one at a local Staples, asked about their return policy, and brought it home. I was quite disappointed: I loved the form factor and the way it worked, but not the fact that it crashed on a regular basis. I did a factory reset, and it still crashed. I scouted the review sites, and decided that maybe, just maybe, I had a lemon. I returned it to Staples, and they ordered another one for me. (I had discovered, based on my experience with the iPad, that I can fill 16 GB with no difficulty at all, so I wanted a lot more memory.)
With great trepidation, I unwrapped it. Not only was I afraid I might have another lemon, the packaging looked as though someone had run over it with a tire. However, the tablet inside the box was pristine and I quickly got it set up. I started waiting for it to crash, as I used it as much as possible. I waited, and waited, and waited, and finally decided it was working properly, and not a lemon.
Then I discovered I had a new problem: I don’t really need two tablets, and I prefer the Nexus. It slips into a side pocket of my handbag as if it were designed to do so. I asked Jack if he wanted it. So yesterday, I did a factory reset on the iPad, upgraded it to IOS 7, and handed it over. Now he has his first hand-me-down gadget from me.
Honeysuckle
