Thoughts on the Galaxy Note 5 – and the passing of my beloved cat Orange

Thoughts on the Galaxy Note 5 – and android google lock is broken!

I’ve been loving my Galaxy S5 for quite a while – and just picked up a Note 5 and have been evaluating it!

So far – thoughts – it looks super good.  it is MUCH faster, snappier, and though I thought I was buying a 64gb model (it was only a 32 sigh) – its still VERY nice for my use.

Moving between phones is really easy – Samsung Smart Switch uses an audio connection (speaker on one to mic on the other) to move data – and its FAST.  Moved 6gb in just a few minutes.  And yes it copies everything you would want to move!

Now – my S5 did have some pluses – the 128gb MicroSD is a very nice feature.  But I got an android-usb-microSD converter and I can have my microSD as an external drive.

Upon reflection I was torrenting things like Game of Thrones and movies.  These chew up space. But with the android-microsod adapter I can copy these things onto my external drive and keep my 32gb plenty big!

I think 32gb will be plenty for me. And (fortunately) it turns out we can break the google-lock.  This was a phone that walked in off the street and it was tied to a long-ago google account.  On the Iphone thats a fatal problem – as you cannot wipe a phone to reuse it.  And lots of folks sell these phones without properly removing their accounts from them – heck I’ve done that myself.  It is useful to know that you CAN reuse android phones.  If someone gives YOU a nice phone and you cant reuse it contact me I may be able to help!

El Capitan woes – continue!

Still are running into El Capitan related problems.  Office 365 supposedly works now.  But office 2011 still has issues!
Take care upgrading. its  a PAIN to try and go back to Yosemite.
MAKE A COMPLETE TIME MACHINE BACKUP BEFORE UPGRADING.  You will thank me later.

Windows 10 – they are getting PRETTY snooty and pushy arent they?

Supposedly July 27th is the end of the Free Windows 10.  And they are getting more and more pushy about it.
I made some registry entries on MY laptop to prevent the free upgrade.  Windows 7 to windows 10 is NOT a no-brainer. I have much on Win 7 that I prefer to what Windows 10 does.
And I do NOT like some of the aspects – particularly the installation of updates without YOUR approval!
But – for many folks – Windows 10 may be the best choice.
REMEMBER – for the first 30 days AFTER the upgrade YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR MIND AND REVERY TO 7!!!

My beloved cat Orange died today.

I have had this wonderful and VERY unique cat – since his birth.  He died today in my arms.  He had been fighting something (vets said cancer) that was causing him to lose weight.  And he was down to a bag of bones.

I was giving him water subcutaneously daily, and he was on Prednisone – the generic anti-cancer steroid treatment.

I brought him out here from Colorado when I moved here 13 years ago.  He was 15 years old and I had hoped to have him around quite a few years more.  I was NOT ready to lose him.
He was a Talker.  He complained on a wide variety of subjects.  But he had – and I choose my words carefully here – a VERY human soul.  He was the MOST NON-Cat like cat I’ve every had.  I can tell you stories – but they are rather personal. I could NOT leave him in Colorado – no one would have taken him in.  He had some habits that were – well – hard to understand.  Lets leave it at that.
I have had many cats.  Some had great personalities – but NONE were as extraordinary as Orange.  (My wife called him L’Orange a-la French to give him some more class).

A normal exchange with him (and he had a good siamese voice!) had him go on for some time on a subject. And then my wife’s little cat Stubie would chime in with a single squeek (he has not much of a voice!) – in agreement!

orange-bestfat

Orange is the young cat on the left community with my wifes Chinese cat BestFat.

I will miss him terribly.

I know not very computer related.  But I have always had various pets associated with my shop.  I had a parrot, several dogs and various cats at my computer store in Longmont Colorado – and various customers remarked on them.
But they all had their place.  Tubbs was my General Manager of the store:
Tubbs - my Colorado store general manager


The Mac Shelter – Systems for Adoption!

We have a number of good Macs and iMacs on hand ready for homes!  All come with a 6 month warranty.

Macbook Pro Retina 15in i7  – a 2013 model with 8gb ram and a 256gb solid state drive. $1500.
Macbook Pro 17in i7 Late 2011 (non-retina)  – 8gb, 500gb drive. $1350
Imac 2013. One of the super thin models – no optical drive. 4gb ram, 500gb hard drive $850
Macbook Air – 2015.  4gb, 128/256gb drive.  $850.
Others as well – ask me any questions 🙂

All with 6 month warranties.

Ask me for further information!