Another of the Sunset

Pictures: This is just another shot of the sunset from yesterday’s photo and it is a little closer shot, maybe you can see the bird in this one 🙂 Also one more of the Gambel’s Quail.

Apps: I have run across a app that I like. I am one that hates all the permission that apps ask for so when I see a poplar kind of app that has few or no permission I jump on it. One of the kind of apps that abuse permission is weather apps and I found this one (Klara Weather), it has much less permission than the others, so I’m giving it a try, so far I like it.

I guess accuracy is important so comparing forecast … comparing highs for today and tomorrow Klara = 82/86, AccuWeather =84/86, Under Ground weather, 84/88. So maybe Klara runs a little cool but nothing I can’t live with.

Exercise: I walked 2 miles this morning.

Night Folks

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New phone

Phone: I got a new phone (cheap one) which I will use for a pocket tablet. It is a Straight Talk phone and is on the AT&T network. The phone is a LG Access. The coverage won’t matter much using it as a tablet like device. It has a newer Android OS on it so hopefully it will run all my apps. Maybe I’ll try it out later today.

Update; Yep that is what I did all day, play on my new phone, pretty fun for a little cheap phone. Best of all my MayMyWalk app is working fine 🙂 and so far all the other apps that I have tried also work well. I have found that it has very little Ram memory in it, and I am not sure how that will go with all my apps. Now will I root it ….. I am sure one day I will get around to it 😀

Short post again today, having too much fun with the simple things in life.

Night folks.

Dead app

RIP MapMyWalk: The MapMyWalk app will no longer work on my old Thunderbolt Smartphone 😦 Okay it is time to give up the Thunderbolt. I only use it as a pocket tablet anyways so I guess things will work out. I don’t have a mobile phone because I am too cheap to pay the ridiculous monthly cost to have one, so for a phone I use Verizon Home connect and I kind of like the ideal of leaving the phone at home 🙂 But I do like to have a data connection with me … so some kind of device that I can carry in my pocket is the thing I,m looking for. A smart phone that is not connected to a carrier would do the trick like the Thunderbolt but a newer one that will work with modern apps. For now I just put the MapMyWalk app on my Nexus 7 and stuck it in my back pocket, but I would like a smaller device for that. So ….. I am on the lookout for something that will work. Maybe a iPod or Smartphone of some sort. At any rate I have needed to let the old Thunderbolt go for a while now so now is the time, RIP Thunderbolt!

Exercise: I took a good walk, just to walk off my frustration of not being able to get the MapMyWalk app on the Thunderbolt, and that I did, no more frustration 🙂 I walked with MapMyWalk! Distance: 5.30mi, time: 02:04:07, pace: 23:25min/mi, speed: 2.56mi/h. A nice walk.

Bird of the week ….? : Okay bird of something …. it is a
Curve-billed Thrasher.

Another.

Night folks

MayMyWalk App screw up

MapMyWalk screwed up my walk! For some reason it stopped working at 8.9 miles. If you look at the map from the link below you will see the loop is not closed. I always start and end at the RV, it shows me starting at the RV but ends somewhere out on the trail. Oddly it kept track of time but stopped tracking on the map and keeping distance. I am going to call the walk a 12 mile walk, and I am sure it was at least that long.

Here is an updated version where I have edited it to 12 miles, but the map is still not correct.
I walked with MapMyWalk+! Distance: 12.00mi, time: 04:19:10, pace: 21:36min/mi, speed: 2.78mi/h.
http://mapmywalk.com/workout/476102737
I did just a little stretching before I left.

The weather has cooled off a bit but still fairly pleasant. Looks like it will be cooler for the week and warm back up next week. I am running my heater tonight something I have not had to do for a while. I also run the generator for a while tonight …. to many cloudy days in a row, hopefully that will pass in a day or two.

New bird of the week is a Road Runner and I took this picture in Deming, NM.

Got an email from Image shack and I guess they are going to shut down the free part 😦 so that will break some links on my blog 😦 Lucky for me I have only about 30 images on there. Guess they are going to a service ….. they all want to be a service now to keep sucking money out of you. At first they say Okay we going to charge you a little so we won’t have to run ads on your site and as time passes they slowly sneak the ads back in. Greed, kind of like cable TV, we all see the ads they don’t run, LOL. OK, I am off my !

Night folks.

Blogging in a small Screen

This morning I am at the local McDonalds enjoying a cold drink, people watching and blogging. I am also being reminded that the keyboard on the old Thunderbolt smart phone that I carry around for data use is so much smaller than my tablet. I have not try to use the phone to blog any for a very long time. I would replace this phone if it was not too costly, I would just love to have the new Nexus 5, but at the price of $400.00 that is not going to happen. I don’t even use the phone part of the Thunderbolt anymore, I just carry it around for data over WiFi connection, for times like now. I have looked around for a data only device that is small enough to carry in my pocket but I have no luck finding one I like. There is the iPod, but a 4 inch screen don’t work for me, just too small. I would like something with a screen size of about 5.5 to 6 inchs, that would be tight for the pocket but it would work and it would give me a little bigger screen to navigate around. I don’t guess it’s no big deal, because I don’t do a lot while I am out and about anyways.

Back at the rig, good to have the tablet back in hand 🙂 . A 7 inch screen is much better than a 4.3 screen.

Okay let’s get on to the good stuff ….. Weather! Okay I won’t go on forever but I just got to tell you it is getting so much nicer with much better temperatures. The sunshine just warms my heart.

Man, I have missed my exercise! The knee still feels just a bit out of whack but I may try a small walk tomorrow, not sure just yet and kind of think maybe I should give the knee a bit more time. If I do walk, it will be a short walk of no more than 2 miles, but we’ll see.

A fellow RVer that I know (Tom) came by to say hello. Always good to see someone I know.

Night folks

My Workout

I walked with MapMyWalk+! Distance: 4.11mi, time: 01:15:43, pace: 18:27min/mi, speed: 3.25mi/h.
Click here to see the map of my walk

The above part of this post, posted from my Thunderbolt phone with the WordPress for Android app.

I had a good walk today, as you see from above it was just over 4 miles. One thing I like about the “apps world” is the ease that you can share info between apps, very handy.

I did get my laundry done today and picked up the needed oil to change the oil in my truck at some point. The rest of the day was pretty much spent goofing off. We went to lunch at the Golden Corral and I had more than my share of food. I did eat the right foods but a lot of it. That however is the part of the Atkins diet I like best, as long as you stay away from the high carb foods, you are fine. I did good and stayed away from my favorite, carrot cake.

Today I checked the status of my internet orders from Amazon and B&H Electronics and both should be here by Thursday. My friend still has a thing or two to get done and then we are out of here. We are both kind of thinking north a little ways, and by a little ways I mean under a hundred miles or so. At any rate the B&H order got delayed by another day for some reason (FedEx delay, not B&H) and the other one had been slow from the get go. I ordered from three different companies through Amazon and all of them did great, including Amazon, but the other one (Paradise Memory Co ) has been ridiculously slow. (Paradise Memory Co ) received my order on the 21st of October and didn’t place a shipping notice to the post office until the 26th of October and then didn’t release the item for shipping until the 4th of November. If a company is going to move that slow, I think they should let you know that up front. Oh well, now I know. Over all, things went great, out of about 10 items I ordered from Amazon, eBay and B&H all where fast and efficiently delivered, except the one.

Social; I would like to take a moment to say Thank You to all the folks that follow and stop in to read my blog, so to each and every one of you a big thanks!  To tell the truth I am a bit surprised by the number of folks that do stop in, because, a writer ……. I am not. I do like to have a little something to say everyday but often it sure is a bit of nothing, LOL! Another thing that has surprised me, is just how much I look forward to taking a few minutes of my day just to say hello to folks and write a few words about my small world. I know that there are a few folks that have follow me along the road for some time now and don’t ever say much, so a big thank you to you guys and gals too.

The posts that get the most responds are the ones with good pictures ………………… OK, I hear you guys, I will try a little harder to get photos worth posting. Still working on that Macro stuff 😦

I try hard to get over to each and every one of your guys and gals blogs to have a look see and see what you are up to, and I often do a “like” but I don’t comment much ………. most of you are such great writers I am sometimes a bit intimidated 😯 !  Again thanks so much for stopping in on me, I greatly enjoy having you by!

Night folks.

Warm day

A warm day it is, for the first week of November it is very warm. That is a good thing I guess, it could be very chilly instead and I don’t want that.

I took a ride on the bike today, just under 10 miles and it was a pretty good ride. A slow ride over some rough roads but still enjoyable. Here is a link to my ride, recorded with MayMyRide android app. Distance: 9.61mi, time: 01:05:35, pace: 6:49min/mi, speed: 8.79mi/h. Not a full 10 miles today which is usually my least ride length but it will do for a lazy Sunday. (The guilt is wearing off, LOL)

By the way, as some of you may remember I give up the smart phone service ………….. so how did I do that with my smart phone? Well, here is the deal. Everything still works on it except the phone and of course the LTE data, but it works very well with WiFi and I just carry my MiFi 4620L Hotspot along with me and all is well. That gives the MapMyRide app all the info it needs, maps and such. My old smart phone is the first LTE phone that Verizon came out with, the Thunderbolt, but it still runs most of my favorite apps. If they made a nice 5 to 6 inch tablet that I liked and that would fit in my front pocket, I would trade it out for one.

My bike has mixed tires on it for now, on the front I have a trail tire and on the back I have a road tire. Seeing as I am riding the rougher roads of late I may go back to the trail tires. They are cheaper anyways, and better for the rough, rocky and sandy roads around here that I have taken to riding. With the road tires I am sure to pop one if I go off-road much, but with the trail tires, while not near as good for riding the road, will do just fine when on the road, I just have to work a little harder when on the road, which gives me more exercise. A good thing?

Night folks.

P.S. I almost forgot to do my bird update for the week.

Here is a Osprey picture I took while at Heron Lake, NM.

Another running the roads day

My friend likes riding around and I enjoy going with. So for the last three days there has been lots of riding.

I did get Windows 8.1 updated in the desktop computer today. It may be a  long time before I get around to getting all the rough edges off the desktop install. I simply can’t run it on solar and so I don’t often run the desktop, so there is really no hurry. All the basic stuff seems to be working, good enough for now.

LOL, I got me a surprise when I turn the laptop back on this evening, many of my settings had sync across the two PCs, such as backgrounds and such. I have turned off many of the settings because I don’t want all my files syncing on my bandwidth. I will have to get back on the desktop and turn off some more syncing option, it takes a while to get things set up.(Well wait, if it is syncing it should see the settings that I have set on the laptop and make them to the desktop, mmmmm?) maybe?

Microsoft like all the other OS’s (Apple, Android) want you completely depended on them and if they can get us there them they can charge us a service. If and when that happens, is when I will be giving up computers, I will not pay a bunch of services and I think there are many others like me, it is just going to take the OS’s a while to see this. Or maybe they will just have to wait till all us old farts die off!

If you are setting up a Windows 8.1 machine be careful with it, because many of the syncing things are set to on by default. Especially if you are an RVer (or anyone) with limit bandwidth.

The syncing thing could be very handy for devices, such as phones and tablets and should I ever get one or both, then it may be good to have more syncing on. I could see wanting all my files on a tablet or a phone on all devices and computers, however I don’t see me wanting all my computer files on a tablet or a phone. I don’t have any Windows devices so I don’t know how all that works and don’t need to worry with it for now.

No exercise today.

Later

P.S. Bird update. This picture was taken at Heron Lake in NM

A day of relaxing

Today I called Verizon to disconnect my air-card and they won’t let me disconnect till the end of my billing cycle! Why you ask? Because they don’t want to give me my money back for the rest of the month, LOL. This is the very reason I am leaving Verizon, with most of my connections. I will only be using the Home Phone Connect with them for here on, for my data needs I will be using only Millenicom for data, which is working great by the way.

Exercise; This morning I walked around the lake again and this time I did my Google tracks app on the phone. To get this all to work I had to carry both my Phone and MiFi device, but that does work.

Here is the info from my phone, as send by the phone and Google Tracks, click the link below to see the tracks.
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I think you might be interested in this track:

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=211943932881730340661.0004de80f1f8d7569f6a4

Created by Google My Tracks on Android.

Name: Prewitt, NM 87045
Activity type: – Walk
Description: – A Walk around Blue Water Lake
Total distance: 8.51 km (5.3 mi)
Total time: 2:23:15
Moving time: 2:13:40
Average speed: 3.56 km/h (2.2 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 3.82 km/h (2.4 mi/h)
Max speed: 12.24 km/h (7.6 mi/h)
Average pace: 16.84 min/km (27.1 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 15.71 min/km (25.3 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 4.90 min/km (7.9 min/mi)
Max elevation: 2282 m (7486 ft)
Min elevation: 2216 m (7270 ft)
Elevation gain: 287 m (941 ft)
Max grade: 0 %
Min grade: 0 %
Recorded: 6/6/2013 7:48am

The above part of this post, posted from my Thunderbolt phone with the WordPress for Android app.
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The first 2/3 of the walk was by myself with a little faster pace and the last 1/3 was at a slower pace after meeting up with my friends, a good walk.

I have a possible day for leaving Blue Water Lake now, and it is a day or two earlier than my two weeks time limit. I have a friend coming west out of Tenn and will maybe meet him at a place where we all will need to turn north anyways. No need for him to come out of his way if we all are just going back that way. So what this all means is that I may be leaving about Sunday or Monday. We’ll see as the time gets closer.

Wow, another day has flown by me, gone in a flash! Later.

Off to see things

Today I will go with my friends to see some of the area’s attractions. I will take my camera along and get some pictures and post tomorrow maybe. It will be good to get out and do a little something away from the park. When left to my own doings  I have a tendency to stay in a small area. I do this because it is less costly and my budget is low. It is good to get coached out into seeing more things when I am with friends. I look forward to it.

Today will be my first trial for the smart-phone (now with data only) and the new data device (MiFi 4620LE). I will try out the phone function and see how it goes. If you have not been following along, I have drop my smart-phone plan and only use my old Thunderbolt phone now as a data device, but I have it loaded with Talkatone an app that works with Google Talk and lets you made free phone calls. For this to work I have to carry both the phone and the MiFi device. We’ll see how it goes.

Update at 5:30 pm; The Smart-phone test did not do very well, seeing as we where out of cell tower reach much of the time. We did have a nice time though. We went to El Morro National Monument and  Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary, I will hopefully get to process a few pictures tomorrow.

Well over the next couple of days I need to use up all the data I can (of the 5 gigs on my old Verizon plan) before I drop the Verizon Data plan. Got to get my money’s worth!

Exercise was a great walk around El Morro today, about two miles, it is at least a little something.

Later.