Survival 101 Part 2 Where Devoted Spouse Gets Down With The Gadgetry

YES I ACTUALLY KEEP ONE OF THESE IN MY CAR GLOVE COMPARTMENT

I adore Devoted Spouse, y’all know that.  But the man just cracks me up so bad sometimes.  My last post was about how we weathered a storm (sorry bad pun) using his Survival Skill Set.  There was so much more I could have told you about that night and about Survival Man but the post was long enough.  So I decided to regale you with one more Survival story regarding this dear sweet man who has every survival kit, gadget, book, magazine, ever made.

The evening of the storm our power went out.  Of course, I frantically searched for a flashlight.  I’ll give Devoted Spouse, I mean Survival Man, credit, he had a flashlight where he could locate it quickly and easily.  I, on the other hand, had to grope my way through the house, up the stairs and across our master bedroom to my nightstand, open it, and rummage through hoping that the teensy LED flashlight was in there and still worked.  Yes it was and yes it did.  We were set.

We went downstairs and lit candles but as I noticed the winds starting to get much stronger, I wanted to get away from the windows.  There really are few places in this house one can escape windows:   2 bathrooms and a walk-in (albeit small) closet.  One of the bathrooms is just a half bath and there’s no way you can squeeze in two grown people and an 80 lb dog.  The other bathroom would work but it would be a fight as to who got the tub and who had to lie on the floor w/the dog (she won’t get in a tub for any amount of treats).  So it was the somewhat small master bedroom closet where we lodged for a couple hours.

While in there in the semi-darkness (I had a small Yankee Candle lit and up on a mini-dresser out of the way of the dog’s tail) we chatted about Survival and the fact that Survival Man is not prepared anywhere for an emergency except in his head.  I was also bemoaning the fact that my cell phone had not been charged that day and my battery was very low so I had to turn off my phone to keep it in case of an emergency (for example if I truly needed chocolate I could call one of my friends to bring some…you know…a real emergency).  Plus,  I couldn’t get on FB and that was truly annoying to me.

Survival Man reminded me of one of his gadgets and I thought I was gonna die I laughed so hard.  See pic below:

That’s an American Red Cross emergency radio and it uses a hand crank.  It also has a USB port and you can actually plug in your cell phone and hand-crank its battery.  I am not making this up.  Survival Man actually suggested we do this.  I had this image in my brain of me and Survival Man taking turns with the hand crank to get some juice into my cell phone and how the power would probably come back on in 1 or 2 days and we’d still be cranking.  He was dead serious when he offered me his emergency radio.  We never took it out of its box.  Although, come to think of it, in a bad storm we should have had it on – but I would not have been the one to do the cranking.  I was already cranky.

It’s nice to know that in a storm I can count on Survival Man not necessarily to help me with emergency “stuff” but to give me a good laugh and take my mind off the situation for a few minutes…sigh…

I Simply Couldn’t Resist the Bargain

pic courtesty of http://www.4freephotos.com

Recently, Amazon.com bought out a company known as Woot.com.  In celebration (or anticipation?) Woot.com offered a one-time good deal on the latest generation Kindle.  $149.00.  Yep – Amazon is still selling the latest generation (6″) for $189 but that one day on Woot.com I got it for $149.00.  I know…sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?

This stuff never happens to me.  Oh I find bargains – but not bargains like this.  I worry now that I have bought my amazingly-priced Kindle at $149.00, Amazon will start advertising it at  $130 – since they and Barnes & Nibbles keep having a price war.   That’s the kind of luck I normally have.

I don’t care.  I told all my friends if the Kindle got down to around $150 I would buy one.  People started sending me links to Woot.com when that advertisement hit; I had already seen it and ordered (okay a bit apprehensively I admit).  I know nothing about Woot.com except I am now a FB fan because their writers are hysterical and the website is well done — with specials every day.  It seems a good place to shop – I dunno yet; I will reserve judgment until my actual Kindle arrives in working order with everything it’s supposed to have in the box.

I get a bit nervous when I take a leap of faith in a retailer I know nothing about.  I’ve had problems in the past and some of them have gone unresolved and been filed under the category “Lessons Learned”.   Woot.com tells me my Kindle should arrive in about 5 business days.   Let’s see…counting for the 4th of July holiday I figure I should have it either Fri the 9th or Mon the 12th of July. 

I’m already making a list of books to order.  Like I don’t have enough to read….oh no I may not have time to blog!  …sigh…

P.S.  Go here to read Woot.com’s blog – wish they’d hire me to write copy for them – I can be funny.  Well, I can.  Just ask my 11 faithful readers!

P.P.S. If you’re looking for lots of neat photos for your blog that are in the public domain may I suggest trying here?

I’m Not Smart Enough for a Smart Phone

I am so confused about smart phones.  All I know is I want one.  But I don’t know which one I want.  There are millions of different phones out there, all of which are better than my pink (blechhh) piece of crap very old flip phone from Cinci Bell.  It does nothing except ring sometimes and then when I flip open the phone, the volume button is located on the side of the phone so I usually hit that button just holding onto my phone which lowers the volume and then I can’t hear whoever is on the phone.  Ackk. Very bad design and most irritating.  This phone takes photos but not very good ones and there is no way to get them to my computer – seriously – they have to stay on my phone for eternity.  The key numbers are all scratched off and the flip part of the flip phone is wobbly at best.  In other words, I really need a new phone.  It won’t even allow me to download a new ringtone – oh I called Cinci Bell and talked to someone who assured me…ASSURED me that I could download a new ringtone.  So I went to the website he told me about and downloaded (and paid for btw) a new ringtone from Pirates of the Caribbean and did it work?  No. Talk about pirates… I still got charged for it.  Grrrrr.   Stupid tech people.

So I want a new phone.  It doesn’t have to do everything; I don’t want it to print money even though I could use some money now with school starting.  I asked Devoted Spouse…”How do I choose which phone?”  He simply said, “Go online and do some research.”  So I went online.

Now my eyes are bleeding from looking at and reading about all the new phones and the different functions and the billions of potential apps for any particular phone.  AT&T is getting a bad rep on tv commercials for not having enough service; Verizon has this fancier map supposedly proving they provide better service.  I don’t believe anybody.  I have a friend who just got a new iPhone and is all excited but I have heard they aren’t really good phones.  I like the commercials for the new ‘Droid phones – I like Google.  Do I need a BB?  I would like to be able to access my email but it’s from my cable company – can I get Roadrunner email from an AT&T account?  D’ya see why I’m confused here?  I have a Gmail account too and I want to access that.  Then there’s Facebook and Twitter and I need to see my school stuff on the Web and I feel like I’m just running around in circles.  It’s not like I want this thing to do the laundry – just give me my emails, let me tweet, check my FB page, Google a coffeeshop nearby and maybe even make a phone call.

While at the mall the other day I walked into the AT&T store and looked around and then I got a panic attack and had to leave.  I couldn’t breathe.  I went into the Cinci Bell store and the same thing happened.  I don’t know what to do.  I want a Smart Phone that won’t make me feel so Stupid.

So here’s the deal.  Everybody who reads this blog — all 8 of you — tell me what type of Smart Phone you use and why.  What does it do?  What is your favorite feature?  What do you think I should buy?

Maybe I should just go buy a new car — I’m good at those negotiations – car options I understand.  Help. I’m in Smart Phone Hades.