Ain’t dead yet!
—“Okay, ****** ****, you’d probably wanna know. I’m gonna trade this here i6, which has been acting wonky, for an i11.”
****** **** is one of my so-called “flirts” — my brother-in-Boston calls ‘em “flirts.” She’s one of my friends at Canandaigua’s YMCA swimming-pool who happen to be female.
****** ****, like me, has an Apple iPhone. I happen to have her phone-number, so I’ve texted her way too much. I have other female friends at that swimming-pool, but fortunately for them I don’t have their phone-numbers.
I’ve had my i6 at least five years, maybe more. I got it as a promotion from Verizon to renew my cellphone contract. I upgraded from an i4.
I never did much with it — mainly I figgered how to take advantage of its many features.
My grocery-lists are in it, and I take photos with it. I text and e-mail with it, and I also use Siri. But most everything else is via this laptop. I also write these blogs and process photos in this laptop.
I carry my iPhone in a rear pocket, which gives me the advantage of updating my grocery-list when I run out.
“It’s mainly a phone,” I say. Plus “best camera I ever had.”
I say that to photographer wannabees fiddling their Nikons with giant phallic telephoto lenses.
It allows me to just aim-and-shoot. I also have a Nikon, but I only set shutter-speed with it. Train-photos have to be fast: 1/400th or more. Aperture and focus the camera sets automatically.
But with an iPhone I just aim-and-shoot. Everything is automatic. It won’t stop a train, but it’s great for snapshots. Or even more professional.
But my i6 was acting wonky. I suspected its battery. It ran out of volts very quickly. It died during phonecalls.
I’d already been to the so-called “dreaded Apple-store,” totally unlike most brick-and-mortar stores. I was attempting to solve the volts problem. New charger, new cable. It would quickly do 100%, then just as quickly run out.
The gigantic shopping-mall the Apple-store is in is also intimidating. Climate-controlled, all sweetness-and-light. Except for the distances one has to trudge to get anywhere. Ya need a powered wheelchair. I’m glad I walk my dog miles at a time.
“Any way to test the battery in this thing?” The Apple-store has greeters.
“Take a seat next to the big video-screen. Figure 10 minutes max.”
I hardly sat when a beaming young techie introduced himself. He was clad in a black long-sleeve teeshirt with a tiny white Apple logo, as were all the staff techies.
He looked like Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook = androgynous.
I visited this Apple-store years ago when it was much more intimidating. It’s less so now. I suppose they can afford it. Apple seems on-a-roll.
That first techie wasn’t whom I ended up with, who would be Joe, age 29, skinny as a rail.
“Your iPhone is swollen, he cried. “It’s the battery.”
We tried to do something — I forget what — and my i6 died.
“We need house-current,” I declared. We ambled to a so-called “Genius-Bar,” and Joe got a charger.
The Genius-Bar was awash with glistening iPhones.
“This thing is an antique,” I said. “I’m embarrassed to be here.”
“We’re not on commission here,” but Joe was hot to replace my i6. He whipped out his i11, which cost maybe $1,200 when he bought it two years ago.
“It unlocks by facial recognition.” Which solves my most irksome i6 problem: unlocking it. The fingerprint thingy worked for a while, but was erratic. It was probably my protective case.
I’d have to key in the unlock code, which for a stroke-survivor is a shot-in-the-dark.
An i11 also has two camera lenses. One is normal, and the other is wide-angle. I guess there also is an iPhone with three lenses, the last being telephoto.
I never cared that much. Resolution is only 72 pixels-per-inch, but the image is so big you can crop quite a bit.
By now I had given Joe “the speech.” “You’re talking to a stroke-survivor. I have aphasia. It’s slight, but can be so bad the person can’t talk. I may have to ask you to slow down or repeat. Sometimes I lock up or can’t get the words out, I’ve had people get angry. I found if I inform listeners in advance, I usually get understanding.
He then noted the most recent iOS upgrade to my i6, 12.4.2, will be the last upgrade Apple will do for an i6 or earlier. The iOS upgrade to his i11 was 13.something.
An i6 doesn’t have the more powerful processor anything since has.
“Well, I guess it’s about time,” I said.
My i6 gets traded for an i11. Nearly 700 smackaroos = “I can afford that.” Over a thousand I’d be leery.
We couldn’t do anything because I wasn’t sure of my Apple-ID password, that accesses my i6 contents on “the Cloud.” Everything backs up automatically.
I’d return Sunday to retire my i6.
Slowly I trudged out of the mall. I’m sorry, but doing this asserts I ain’t dead yet.
I began tearing up. I fully expect to wake up every morning for many years.
My cardiologist tells me to “Get outta here,” as does my doctor. “See me in six months/two years”/whatever!
My inclination was to keep my mouth shut, but ****** **** would wanna know.
She did.
• ****** **** and I go back three or more years. We both use the same dog-groomer, people I once worked with at the Mighty Mezz. I been working out at Canandaigua’s YMCA for years, since before my wife died. My Messenger friend noticed my balance was failing, and told ****** ****. She does aquatic balance-training in Canandaigua’s YMCA swimming-pool, and thought she could help me. We were one-on-one at first, but now I’m in one of her classes, and have been a long time.
• The “Mighty Mezz” is the Canandaigua Daily-Messenger newspaper, from where I retired almost 14 years ago. BEST job I ever had. I was employed there almost 10 years — over 11 if you count my time as a post-stroke unpaid intern.
• I had a stroke October 26th, 1993 from an undiagnosed heart-defect since repaired. I pretty much recovered. Just tiny detriments; I can pass for never having had a stroke.
• “Siri” (“Sear-eee”) is Apple’s iPhone assistant. It works by voice-command. “I need a Taco-Bell in Altoona, PA.” “Here, check it out!”
• RE: “Train-photos......” —My brother and I are both railfans. We often go to Altoona, PA, to photograph trains. Altoona is where the Pennsylvania Railroad began crossing Allegheny Mountain in 1846. It’s now Norfolk Southern, but it’s still the same alignment. Every year I do a calendar of train-photos my brother and I took. I send them nationwide as Christmas presents. I use Shutterfly.
• RE: “Tearing up......” —Another stroke-effect is lability = poor emotional control. It manifests in increased laughing or crying — crying in my case. It’s only slight, but I’m more likely to start crying.
****** **** is one of my so-called “flirts” — my brother-in-Boston calls ‘em “flirts.” She’s one of my friends at Canandaigua’s YMCA swimming-pool who happen to be female.
****** ****, like me, has an Apple iPhone. I happen to have her phone-number, so I’ve texted her way too much. I have other female friends at that swimming-pool, but fortunately for them I don’t have their phone-numbers.
I’ve had my i6 at least five years, maybe more. I got it as a promotion from Verizon to renew my cellphone contract. I upgraded from an i4.
I never did much with it — mainly I figgered how to take advantage of its many features.
My grocery-lists are in it, and I take photos with it. I text and e-mail with it, and I also use Siri. But most everything else is via this laptop. I also write these blogs and process photos in this laptop.
I carry my iPhone in a rear pocket, which gives me the advantage of updating my grocery-list when I run out.
“It’s mainly a phone,” I say. Plus “best camera I ever had.”
I say that to photographer wannabees fiddling their Nikons with giant phallic telephoto lenses.
It allows me to just aim-and-shoot. I also have a Nikon, but I only set shutter-speed with it. Train-photos have to be fast: 1/400th or more. Aperture and focus the camera sets automatically.
But with an iPhone I just aim-and-shoot. Everything is automatic. It won’t stop a train, but it’s great for snapshots. Or even more professional.
But my i6 was acting wonky. I suspected its battery. It ran out of volts very quickly. It died during phonecalls.
I’d already been to the so-called “dreaded Apple-store,” totally unlike most brick-and-mortar stores. I was attempting to solve the volts problem. New charger, new cable. It would quickly do 100%, then just as quickly run out.
The gigantic shopping-mall the Apple-store is in is also intimidating. Climate-controlled, all sweetness-and-light. Except for the distances one has to trudge to get anywhere. Ya need a powered wheelchair. I’m glad I walk my dog miles at a time.
“Any way to test the battery in this thing?” The Apple-store has greeters.
“Take a seat next to the big video-screen. Figure 10 minutes max.”
I hardly sat when a beaming young techie introduced himself. He was clad in a black long-sleeve teeshirt with a tiny white Apple logo, as were all the staff techies.
He looked like Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook = androgynous.
I visited this Apple-store years ago when it was much more intimidating. It’s less so now. I suppose they can afford it. Apple seems on-a-roll.
That first techie wasn’t whom I ended up with, who would be Joe, age 29, skinny as a rail.
“Your iPhone is swollen, he cried. “It’s the battery.”
We tried to do something — I forget what — and my i6 died.
“We need house-current,” I declared. We ambled to a so-called “Genius-Bar,” and Joe got a charger.
The Genius-Bar was awash with glistening iPhones.
“This thing is an antique,” I said. “I’m embarrassed to be here.”
“We’re not on commission here,” but Joe was hot to replace my i6. He whipped out his i11, which cost maybe $1,200 when he bought it two years ago.
“It unlocks by facial recognition.” Which solves my most irksome i6 problem: unlocking it. The fingerprint thingy worked for a while, but was erratic. It was probably my protective case.
I’d have to key in the unlock code, which for a stroke-survivor is a shot-in-the-dark.
An i11 also has two camera lenses. One is normal, and the other is wide-angle. I guess there also is an iPhone with three lenses, the last being telephoto.
I never cared that much. Resolution is only 72 pixels-per-inch, but the image is so big you can crop quite a bit.
By now I had given Joe “the speech.” “You’re talking to a stroke-survivor. I have aphasia. It’s slight, but can be so bad the person can’t talk. I may have to ask you to slow down or repeat. Sometimes I lock up or can’t get the words out, I’ve had people get angry. I found if I inform listeners in advance, I usually get understanding.
He then noted the most recent iOS upgrade to my i6, 12.4.2, will be the last upgrade Apple will do for an i6 or earlier. The iOS upgrade to his i11 was 13.something.
An i6 doesn’t have the more powerful processor anything since has.
“Well, I guess it’s about time,” I said.
My i6 gets traded for an i11. Nearly 700 smackaroos = “I can afford that.” Over a thousand I’d be leery.
We couldn’t do anything because I wasn’t sure of my Apple-ID password, that accesses my i6 contents on “the Cloud.” Everything backs up automatically.
I’d return Sunday to retire my i6.
Slowly I trudged out of the mall. I’m sorry, but doing this asserts I ain’t dead yet.
I began tearing up. I fully expect to wake up every morning for many years.
My cardiologist tells me to “Get outta here,” as does my doctor. “See me in six months/two years”/whatever!
My inclination was to keep my mouth shut, but ****** **** would wanna know.
She did.
• ****** **** and I go back three or more years. We both use the same dog-groomer, people I once worked with at the Mighty Mezz. I been working out at Canandaigua’s YMCA for years, since before my wife died. My Messenger friend noticed my balance was failing, and told ****** ****. She does aquatic balance-training in Canandaigua’s YMCA swimming-pool, and thought she could help me. We were one-on-one at first, but now I’m in one of her classes, and have been a long time.
• The “Mighty Mezz” is the Canandaigua Daily-Messenger newspaper, from where I retired almost 14 years ago. BEST job I ever had. I was employed there almost 10 years — over 11 if you count my time as a post-stroke unpaid intern.
• I had a stroke October 26th, 1993 from an undiagnosed heart-defect since repaired. I pretty much recovered. Just tiny detriments; I can pass for never having had a stroke.
• “Siri” (“Sear-eee”) is Apple’s iPhone assistant. It works by voice-command. “I need a Taco-Bell in Altoona, PA.” “Here, check it out!”
• RE: “Train-photos......” —My brother and I are both railfans. We often go to Altoona, PA, to photograph trains. Altoona is where the Pennsylvania Railroad began crossing Allegheny Mountain in 1846. It’s now Norfolk Southern, but it’s still the same alignment. Every year I do a calendar of train-photos my brother and I took. I send them nationwide as Christmas presents. I use Shutterfly.
• RE: “Tearing up......” —Another stroke-effect is lability = poor emotional control. It manifests in increased laughing or crying — crying in my case. It’s only slight, but I’m more likely to start crying.
posted by BobbaLew at 6:44 PM
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