Dell Inspiron 15 Returned For iPad Pro 11"

Taken with the new iPad Pro

I really did try. I ran the Dell computer through it's paces, explored Windows 10 from every corner and did all the same stuff I do now. I do more than just live on the internet and have for years on my Apple 'toys' but by Monday night I felt like returning the Dell computer. By this morning I gave it another chance but by 10am I was resetting the computer back to factory settings so all of my personal information was off the computer. I already knew what my plan was today ... that new iPad Pro w/Keyboard.

It was cold this morning as it was yesterday for most of the day but Stella found some warmth on the patio combine with the sunshine to take a long nap outside. I rode my bike and returned home to get ready for my big doctor's appointment with the MD that was highly recommended and one I choose as my new General Practitioner. More on that appointment later in this post.

You might be getting tired of the photos I take from my patio and if so, I'll say it's just hard not to. Every day and sometimes multiple times per day, the sky really puts on a show. Like my friend said the other day when we were standing at the fence ... "from here you can't even tell you live in a neighborhood" ... and that is one reason, maybe the biggest reason I chose to buy this house.

This was Monday morning ..

I looked all over for Stella but didn't find her until I stepped into the yard and looked around the corner. She had found the warmest spot in or out of the house.

Monday nights sunset was fantastic. I didn't edit any of these photos.

This morning was a different story. The "feels like" was 40° with a chance of rain and those gusty winds were coming back to the area. I knew then I might be taking the day off from riding the bike, which really isn't a bad thing as long as I get 4-5 days of riding in from Monday through Sunday.

My appointment was at 2:45pm and I was there at 2:10pm as they suggested even thought I had filled out all the paperwork they had sent me in advance. The waiting was a mad house with different doctors working in the facility but the ladies at the front desk were well organized. The wait was well worth meeting one of the nicest doctors I think I've ever ran into. He was in his early 70's, a hiker of the high elevations that you see in these pictures.

He was well aware of where I ride my bike and knew the effort needed to climb the area plus fight the winds this time of year. He agreed with the number I told him that I wanted to get my weight to. I had lost 19 pounds from the time I moved here to the time I crashed. I am still about 9 pounds away from my goal and the number he suggested. We were had the same number in mind.

I brought my medical report the hospital had sent me last month. He read the heart information in detail and thought the same way I did after he read it. The word "Normal" shows up a lot in that report. My blood pressure was very good he said for someone my age as well as my heart rate. He told me to keep doing what I was doing. I asked about supplements, about different diets and we both agreed there also. His answers confirmed what I had been thinking for the past few years. He ordered some lab tests, exactly what I was wanting. They will check all the basic stuff to see if anything is hidden that I don't know about.

I am to see a cardiologist in 7-10 business days. I will see this doctor again in 7 weeks to go over the lab results and as he said "come up with a game plan". I was happy that I had chose him as a doctor to go see. I did tell him I've never had a General Practitioner and until my stupidity in September, I never had health issues. He told me he met another older bike rider just this week that did the same thing I did, bike slipped out from under him in loose sandy rocks/gravl ... only different broken bones and not the hip.

Stella has not been demanding a morning walk since the temps have cooled off. She is more interested in the crying puppy next door early in the morning. It isn't long after her breakfast kibble that she is back to sleep along with Heidi.

So in summary, it was good to get some things confirmed that I've had on my mind for over a year or more. I didn't think there were any issues I should be concerned about because if there were, there would be no way I could ride a bike as far and as long as I do. Plus I'd be out of breath just around the house from higher elevation than the tropics of Southern Indiana.

I could tell from the very start, the Dell computer was a good computer but didn't feel nor work as smooth as the quality of an Apple product. Plus Windows 10 has had a lot of improvements but it 'lagged' compared to the macOS I use on my iMac. I liked Windows 10 but the question kept creeping into my head ... "why do you need this when everything you have works?" I've been using Apple Products for 9 years not counting the 2 years in the 1990's where the business I was working for used Apple Computers.

There was no need to have 364Gb of photos loaded on two different computers running two different systems. Outlook never would deliver my email with the iCloud accounts. The Dell app that let me text and load message from my phone to the Dell worked the first day for about an hour and then never again. I had to turn off the backlight for the keyboard because I could not see the keys and the light was on at all times. Apple's will only come on when needed. The more I used it the more I felt like I didn't need it. I had cured my curiosity and decided what I had was best for me.

You can tell by the texture of the material the iPad keyboard covered, it's different than the typical old rubber portable keyboard. It is faster than my 4 year old laptop. The keys are normal size.

Why the iPad ??

It's better than the iPad mini to take with me when traveling. Plus my Mini does not have a keyboard and I hate typing with any on screen keyboard. It's just an inch or two smaller than my laptop but faster since it's new and had a faster processor, lighter of course. The way the keyboard has worked out this afternoon I can see the new iPad Pro 11" replacing what my laptop does ... except transferring all my Mahjong game results. I've spent years trying to get all 160 games completed under 3 minutes.

See the chair behind Stella?? There is a reason for that. That corner of the room is one of two favorite places she likes to sleep. But in the past few weeks she decided her new thing laying down was going to be leaning against the wall and sliding down to the floor slowly. The problem is, on that wall that she wanted to lean and slide against, has my cable connection from outside to my computer. Luckily the installer tacked the cable along the baseboard to behind the desk.

There is a couple of inches of cable sticking out from the wall connector and all I could imagine is 90 pounds of bloodhound sliding down the wall and bending the cable at the point of connection to the internet source. So, I put a spare chair in front of that cable connection to protect it and keep my sanity.

Amazon just delivered my first pair of house slippers I've ever had. Rubber soles on the bottom so I don't sleep in tile floors and sheep skin lined to keep my feet warmer than they have been since in the winter tile floors get cold. I do turn the heat on but for a very short time early in the morning and that is all that is needed. Now I can set out the trash can on Monday mornings without changing clothes ... I can look like I just crawled out of bed with my slippers on, even though by that time I have been up for hours and have at least two cups of coffee running through my veins.  LOL

In case the week passes by too fast ... I want to wish all my readers a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy all of the food that is prepared. I don't every year but this year I am starting to feel like cooking the meals I see on tv, have had in the past with family ... I can cook everything that is listed but then I eat too much, like non-stop, then live on Tums for a few days since there is that much food available. It's hard to follow a recipe for just one person so I cook enough for 4-8 people ... LOL

I'll pick up a new bottle of Tums when I go to the store to buy all I need to put that meal together.

Fun times here in the 'Wild West' ... I'm feeling some exploring here soon.

PC & Apple + Sore Hip

For the first time in 9 years I am typing tonight's blog post from a Dell PC on a Windows Operating System Windows 10. Quite a story behind it. All of the photos were taken with the iPhone the past couple of days. It might have stopped raining Thursday afternoon but that doesn't mean it started getting warmer. Another first … Saturday morning I fired up my furnace for the first time in this house. Gas powered instead of the electric system I had in Indiana. Needless to say it works very well and wasn't needed for longer than 22 minutes … raising the house temps from 64 to 70 in that short time.

So what is going on out here in the 'Wild West' based on the blog post title ???

Since the last time you heard from me, the hounds and I have had a great but slightly painful weekend. Friday I had a new friend drive down from Phoenix to have me install the Tacoma bed cover that I did not want, on to her Tacoma TRD Off Road truck. She met the hounds, saw my backyard view, the house and the "car lot", as my neighbor called it.  LOL

I gave her the choice of cars to take on my short tour, since we were pressed for time if we were going to have a large burger at The Diner before she headed back north. She chose the Mini Cooper S and off we went, giving her the same drive I take most of the time on my bicycle. She was amazed at the scenery and all of the large nice houses in that area … some were even for sale.

She had to be back in Phoenix by 4pm or so to pick up some furniture since she is moving into a new place Thanksgiving Weekend. After she left I had time for an afternoon bike ride. I felt sore and stiff from that short 5 mile ride on Thursday in really cold weather and I wanted to get back out there.

I knew Saturday was going to be a good day after I saw the sunrise. I always think, "that is the best I've seen" … then a few days down the road I see one better. They just keep on coming.

Saturday morning I woke up to a soreness on the side of my hip. I didn't see any swelling, no bruising but the whole thing had not hurt like this in weeks, if not a month. I had ridden 80 miles this week, counting the two days I took off due to rain. Had I screwed myself by riding too much when my body was telling me how good it was feeling ??? Or was it the cold weather since we are now into the 30s or low 40's when the sun comes up. The way I was feeling, such a drastic change I was guessing it had to be the change in weather.

I'd find out the answer to that question Sunday morning. (I talked to my PT friend Sunday morning and asked her the same questions above. Luckily I found out it is the weather and yes it can cause soreness, tightness and feeling achy.)

Both of the hounds have recovered from their intestinal issues, not at the same time but a week apart. So instead of getting a solid night of sleep like they were … it was me this time that was getting up every few hours to stretch my leg and then walk around the house a little to make the hip feel better. I wasn't that concerned but it was enough pain that bothered me, made it hard to sleep.

Saturday morning I had decided it was going to be a "day off" from riding. I really wanted to get a 100 miles in this week, with Monday being the first day of my riding week. Yet I didn't want to do something to that hip that still needs a few more weeks to completely heal the socket, which would take 2-3 months. On October 22nd the doctor said the hip looked fantastic as well as the broken femur. Why don't they let the patient see those same X-Rays??

Saturday was a day of watching only two football games and even the last one I couldn't finish. The hounds and I called it a day at 6:30pm local time. Stella had an afternoon walk instead of a morning walk. I had not rode my bike but the types of food I had eaten throughout the day was putting me into a state of sleep. It's called carb overload … unintended. It is the same result that I have had the past few years when I eat a lot of carbs. I do best with salmon, chicken, fresh veggies and only apples for fruit. Anything else puts me to sleep.

I didn't mind as I could tape the Oregon / Arizona St game and watch it on Sunday as well as the USC / UCLA game that I taped. My interest in the NFL anymore is almost nonexistent. So I will watch taped college games from the day before usually Sunday mornings while it's cold outside. They go pretty fast since I can fast forward during commercials and halftimes.

I forgot to add that on Friday after my friend headed back to Phoenix I moved the Mini back in the garage since there was no chance of the truck bed cover falling on it. That gave me the ability to pull the new RAV4 off the street parking space in front of the house and back into the driveway. I like that combo of cars/trucks. I've used both on a regular basis for what I bought them for. I am not sure though that the hounds will get in any vehicle other than the Tacoma. Besides they have plenty of room in that and they like to ride in the truck.

I know it's all my fault but my hounds have turned into professional food beggars. This is even after they are fed a good amount of kibble during the day plus a dog treat in the afternoon between meals. Yet when Heidi heard me open that new package of Tillamook Cheese … she sprinted from her bed in the back bedroom to the living room squeezing past Stella to be first in line.

They are hard to resist when they look that way … but I did it. Neither got even a small piece of cheese. They did not move until the last piece of cheese was gone. No worries, it wasn't too long after that when we headed to bed for the night.

Here are a couple of pictures of both of them during the day while I was watching football games. When that new bed arrived last month or so, I thought it might be too small for Heidi since it was smaller than the bed she had been using but she loves it and rarely sleeps anywhere else now.

Stella always seems to be pressed up again something like the couch, a table, the bedroom door or the leg of the computer desk. Not just leaning up against but pressed hard into those areas. She usually starts every night sleeping in that corner with the couch and love seat and sometime during the night will get up and move to the bedroom.

I am still very aware when I am around her, either getting ready to get up out of chair or bed, or to walk near or by her. She doesn't know her own strength nor does she care what she walks into or on … so I make sure I move around her when she knows what and where I am going to prevent any sudden moves by her into my leg or hip.

She has been good though since the day I got home. It's as if she knows I've had to heal that right leg and hip. Heidi definitely has since she will sit and stare at me on the right side but will not jump up to put her front paws on my right leg like she use to. She will do that on the left side of me though.

Display At Best Buy

So what's the story of a PC in a house that is full of Apple Toys ??? 9 years of Apple and now I'm going to a PC ?? I had heard about the latest Microsoft product announcements a few weeks ago. I forget what they call those presentations, Apple has the same kind of announcements. The only difference I was hearing though … Apple was no longer developing NEW stuff, just improving or small changes to computers that were years old. Microsoft on the other hand was back to making new hardware, better software and an improved browser.

Strange that I read most of my information on a forum of MacRumors … which means a forum of people that range from users to experts for Apple Products !!!! While Apple seems to be focusing on Pads and Phones, I am still a Desktop fan. My iMac is good for probably 4-5 more years and the laptop about the same since I use it very little. So what happens when they break?? More Apple or will it be time to move back to a company that is already developing new hardware ??

A few weeks ago I had a neighbor stop by hoping I could help her with a Facebook Business page and her websites at work. The plan was to download her sites onto my MacBook Air so I could work and then she could refresh those same websites on her PC sitting next to me.

I was shocked how she could touch the screen of her large laptop and how easy she was moving through and around Windows 10. She is far from a computer expert but her computer was easy for her. I had not used a Windows PC since I retired in April 2014. Since then I had no interest in what they were or were not doing as I was a firm Apple convert.

Was I missing some good improvements with my 'blinders' on ???

I must admit what little I saw from her Dell computer using Windows 10 was pretty impressive. There were even some long time Apple users on the forum saying the same things about what I had seen. I didn't tell them but just read what they had noted.  Let's say my "curiosity flag" was getting a little higher in the air. I started talking to my friend in Phoenix about it since she is an IT for a company and uses Windows at work. With an iPhone in her hand, she had nothing but good things to say about the Windows 10 system.

My plan was to buy cheap, a laptop just to see what Windows 10 was like. Would a Chromebook be all I need? Would a lower priced laptop be too slow with I3 processors? Could I get by with 4Gb of ram when Windows 10 takes 2Gb of that ram to just run. The different times I did a little research it looked like my price was climbing near $400. Then I started thinking why not buy the Surface Go. I am not an artist by any means, nor do I need that pencil they use, but I must say those advertisements are pretty impressive … yet I don't want their competitor, the Apple iPad that is that size, with the same features.

No, my curiosity was enough that I needed a Windows 10 something.

I never shop the day after Thanksgiving, in fact I try my best to stay off the highways and streets during that week. I hide out inside with plenty of food, movies to watch or ballgames a click away on my tv remote. With each day closer to those Black Friday deals I have been getting bombarded with EARLY Black Friday deals … Best Buy was one of them.

That pot just got sweeter this morning when I received an email telling me that not only would I have those same deals but more discounts added due to their bribery … telling me I was on their upper levels of customers. Ten years of buying electronics … I would hope so.

I walked into Best Buy this morning wanting a $399 small Surface Go … the $129 keyboard was NOT included so I am now up to $528 if I wanted a keyboard. Luckily I had a "true Computer Geek" as my sales rep. He listened to what I had, and what I wanted to do with this Surface Go. As we approached the smaller, older, slower Surface Go he told me "you really don't want to buy this" … I immediately asked "are you on commission?"

He turned to the other side of the isle and walked over a few spaces  to a Dell Inspiron 15 7000 … a tablet AND a laptop … with a faster processor the 10th generation of the i5 chip. For a $171 more it would be worth it. BUT … I STILL HAD DISCOUNTS and I found out later I had a LOT more discounts than I thought I had. I never take the financing option at Best Buy, I take the 5% and 10% cash rewards instead. He told me if I would give him my phone number he could tell me not only how much awards I had on the books but also any additional discounts.

I thought I had $55 in awards … I had $255 on the books !!! I love it when a plan comes together.  LOL

I know I probably don't need it. Just like everything I else I buy, I usually don't really needed it but I was a terrible minimalist when I tried a few years ago. At least I am finding out some answers that I had about the new PC's and Windows 10.

After an afternoon of teaching myself around Windows 10 and how this computer is set up I must say Microsoft has really been making some great progress compared to my days back in 2010 when I was using Windows Pro at home and Windows 7 at work.

I have rambled longer and more than I wanted and more than you want to read but to end this I have just a few points about the differences that I have noticed in just the few hours I've owned it.

- The 2.5 inches makes a big difference in the screen between the new Dell and my MacBook Air which is a 13" screen. The Apple retina display is much more sharper than the Dell screen.

- Scrolling webpages using the touchpad doesn't seem as smooth as the Apple computer. I've looked for that setting but have not found it yet on the Dell.

- I like the "old" Microsoft stuff … like the menu down in the lower left corner. I LOVE that I could pull my photos for the blog post tonight directly from the Windows Pictures folder instead of exporting photos from my Apple folder to the desktop before Blogger will import them. One less step.

- There are some adjustments, like Apple and Microsoft put their time, date, folders, open files on opposite sides of the screen. They have different terminology. It's not that hard to figure out.

This will give me time to work with both systems so when the time comes I'll know by then if I go back to a PC or stick with Apple. I know that I will never use my iPhone for my main computer nor will I use their 10" iPad for my main computer. YET … I can see using this 15.6" Dell for my main computer and the tablet. In both formats the 'touch screen' works very well.

So I basically got a newer computer for less than I was going to spend on the older Surface Go. This computer is a laptop and a tablet and is light enough I can take it anywhere I need to go. It has all of the programs needed to watch ballgames, movies etc on the computer or stream it to my large tv screen.

I also took advantage of the half price deal on a 5Tb external hard drive. The 1Tb I had for the Time Machine backup on the iMac had become full over the past few years and was deleting the older files as designed to do. I noticed the other day the oldest file was from just last month so I needed a bigger drive. That 1Tb drive will be formatted and wiped clean then I'll use that to replace the smaller drive that is close to being full with all of my photos, somewhere between 70,000 - 100,000 of them.

I guess Christmas came early this year.

*** One good thing about the PC --- I can now see the disc that show my original x-rays that day in the emergency room. I could not find the program that would open them on my iMac. ***

Still NOTHING … and I mean NOTHING will beat the morning sunrises I see from the backyard.

Another good weekend here in the 'Wild West'

Rain And Windy For 48 Hours

I knew rain was headed our way by noon on Tuesday so I went out on my bike two days in a row and covered a little over 28 miles on each ride. I've gotten spoiled by SE Arizona weather and although it will be my first winter here and much more warmer than back in the 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana, I can't wait for spring and then the hotter than hot summer. I did plenty of research before making the move so I know what to expect and the thing is, the hounds can take their walks and I get ride my bicycle outside year round.

You would have never known on Monday what would change so drastically by 12:30pm on Tuesday. About the time I thought the rain would stop, it was start again, or the wind would get stronger. The temps were also dropping fast. I found out that Heidi doesn't like the rain here any better than she did in Indiana and even Stella had no urge for the morning walk when the sidewalk and streets were wet. They both slept late or went back to bed as soon as the morning kibble was eaten.

Seeing Stella relaxing in the backyard on Monday I decided to leave them both outside while I took my late morning bike ride. Temps were barely over 70° and I wasn't planning on being gone more than a couple of hours. It is just amazing what she does once she figures out that I am not home. It freaks her out most of the time. She spent a lot of time trying to dig under the patio thinking that could be her escape route. She no longer stays outside when I am gone.

Heidi on the other hand is just like a cat ... totally independent and nothing bothers her. She is the perfect house dog and can be left alone inside for many hours at a time.

Monday night looked like the storms were going to get here a day early when I looked toward Bisbee.

In the southwest it looked even worse.

Tuesday morning it didn't look safe enough to take off riding my bicycle but the hourly forecast kept showing no rain until after 12 noon. I decided to take off around 9:00am and would have plenty of time to get home before it rained.

Stella continues to listen to the now 10 week old puppy next door howling for attention, but no one is home.

I had just changed from bike clothes to normal clothes after a shower when I glanced outside to see this. It was a little past 12:30pm on Tuesday and I had just made it back home in time. That rain is in the area I was riding just an hour earlier.

This morning I was hoping it would dry out enough make the roads clean enough to ride. The hounds had not taken a walk in two days and were getting restless if there is such a thing of a hound getting restless. They are not always couch potatoes.

Standing with Stella at the patio door I could see again this morning the hound walk was canceled until later today. We have taken the short walk to the mailbox every day between the breaks of rain. I was also getting restless. Once your body gets in better shape from riding a bicycle, it wants to ride all of the time until it gets tired and then feels like taking a day off. Today I was wanting to ride.

I had tried riding indoors on the trainer the other day but became bored after 15 minutes, plus my friend showed up a few minutes later. I wanted to ride outdoors sometime this afternoon. Would 47° be too cold? It wasn't when I rode on Whidbey Island 25 years ago so I should be okay today. The hounds? They were only interested in sleeping ... it's winter and they know it.

I pulled out the mountain bike, threw on a jacket and left my jeans on. I wanted to ride downtown to the bike shop and see if they had any winter bicycle gloves because starting next week I am going to need them if I still plan to ride outside ... and I do.

I rode for about 5 miles and got a ride back home from Mark the bike shop owner. He wanted to test drive a truck he is thinking of buying and I needed a ride because it was raining again. 47° and rain is not a great time to be riding a bicycle outside. The rainbow was a pleasant surprise when I got home and shows that sunny days are right around the corner, although they might be cool temperatures.

Monday and Tuesday was the first time I rode my bicycle back to back days for over 28 miles each day and for more than two hours per ride. At no time did I feel any hip pain or soreness and the next morning after each of these long rides the new hip felt normal. In fact unless I remind myself on purpose, I have forgotten all about the hip being replaced. I feel very fortunate for the quick turnaround with little pain.

The winds have finally died down. There are some breaks in the clouds with blue skies and the sunshine trying it's best to show itself, so good weather is just around the corner again. I was told today that this is the 'windy season' so to expect it every time I go out to ride.

Sorry that I don't have a trip to write about or more photos of the hounds but the hounds are pretty inactive during rains plus some of the trips we would like to take is affected by flash flooding if I were to drive off pavement.

I have a friend coming down from Phoenix tomorrow so I can install my truck bed cover on her Tacoma TRD Off Road pickup. Then after a short tour of the great little town we'll have some lunch at The Diner. I am in the mood for some of their extra hot chili and this time I'll take a couple of Tums tablets with me so I can get an early start combating what the chili will do to my stomach. Jalapenos I love, my stomach doesn't. LOL

A lot of the photos in today's post were taken with the Nikon D3500 and the 18-55mm lens. Just a few were from the iPhone 11 Pro Max.

BIG NEWS TODAY ... I almost forgot ... the replacement vertical blinds came in today. I picked them up and installed everything. That's it for the 'freebie' so from now on, Stella has to pay for them.

Winter has arrived here in the 'Wild West'.