Some new stuff

Happy weekend, everyone.  I don’t know about you, but this couple of days off could not have come at a better time!

Took advantage of clear conditions earlier this afternoon and mowed our yard for hopefully the last time of the season.  Let the mower run so that I emptied the fuel tank and it took way longer than I would have guessed!

Anyway, have picked up a couple of new things that may be of interest to you, since I often mention new items here.

First up is some new tech.  I watched the Apple keynote two or three weeks ago with interest, as I always do, and a couple of things got my attention.  First of these was the Apple Watch Series 10, because my wife’s Series 6 was beginning to show its age.  We went to the local Apple Store, mistakenly, on the date of the release of iPhone 16, so really were only able to look at the watches, store was just too crowded.

We returned the following day and got my wife what she wanted, and I began to think about how light and thin the new series is.  I bought an Apple Watch Ultra a couple of years ago and liked it, but I did some checking on the trade-in value and decided to trade mine in for a new Series 10.  Screen is actually bigger, charges faster and can be seen from more angles, which I find helpful since I drive so much!  All good here at the Smith house, as my wife and I are both very happy with our new watches!

The other item featured in the Apple presentation was the AirPods 4.  I really liked the AirPods Pro earbuds but never could find a way to make them comfortable for more than a few minutes, because I just don’t like things in my ears.  The new model, the 4, do not use silicone tips, which track with the original AirPods and their immediate successor.  Apple tried to revise the “base” model a couple of turns ago and more people had problems with the fit than liked them, including my son-in-law!

So last Friday my wife and I went to the Apple Store before having a pizza and I tried them out, found they fit my ears nicely and stayed in through a lot of aggressive head shaking.  I opted for the model that includes active noise cancelling and they are really great, despite not “sealing” the wearer’s ear canals.  I wore them for a couple of Zoom calls and they were comfortable and had great sound.  Took them on a business trip and conducted a couple of calls from inside the car with them, all good there, and then talked by phone with my wife that night for about an hour and never had an issue!  So really happy to have picked these up!

My wife found the next item for me.  I like popcorn as a snack, and as a Type II diabetic, I need to have a healthy snack between dinner and bedtime to help regulate my glucose levels overnight.  My wife spotted an air popper on Amazon that is quite a bit different from what I remember from years ago.  The original ones would just blow and blow and some of the corn would pop and some would not.  The one she picked out, the Presto PopLite MyMunch makes tasty popcorn in a small batch pretty quickly.  Have a look if you like popcorn.  Way cheaper than buying bags of pre-popped corn or the mess and preservatives in microwave popcorn.  So far so good!

Finally, I have been looking for a replacement for the winter coat I’ve been wearing for about ten years.  Love that coat, which I didn’t even want when I bought it.  Has a zip-out lining, is very water resistant but is a little long in the tooth and I thought it best to start looking for a replacement before it gives up the ghost.  Found a very nice jacket that has a quilted exterior with a stand-up collar and what seems to be sufficiently warm lining.  Navy blue, so will look OK in my business travels.  As with the popcorn maker, so far, so good!

I guess a little retail therapy never hurt anyone, right?