Weekend Coffee Share: summer soft tops & new tech

Hi there! Come on in and grab a cup. I’m currently drinking The Original Donut Shop Cinnamon Dulce Cappu c cino. I normally hate flavored coffee, but this one is actually pretty good. Plus it’s got creamer built in if you’re into that sort of thing.

This was a short work week, because of the 4th of July. I had Monday off, but not Tuesday when I really needed it. I didn’t get to sleep on Monday night until well after 1 am because of fireworks. My poor dog is terrified of fireworks and only remains somewhat calm when I’m no more than a few feet away. Any more than that, and she panics, so I couldn’t do much.

A friend of mine invited me down to his house in Manhattan Beach to watch the fireworks over the ocean and I had to turn him down, because dog. He’s a dog owner himself so he understood. For the past 11 years, I’ve had to turn down every offer to do something on the 4th, which is kind of sad, but there’s no way I’m leaving a terrified dog home alone. Plus I’m not overly fond of fireworks or driving that far on a drinking holiday (over an hour) when I have to work the next day. Even if my dog was okay with fireworks, I probably would have turned him down anyway for those reasons. Still, it would have been nice to see this particular friend of mine, because it’s been years since he moved to Manhattan Beach and I haven’t seen him in all that time. It’s funny how you can live an hour and change from someone and never see them in person.

Other than that, I got a new phone and a new iPad. The lease on my iPhone 12 was up, so I upgraded to an iPhone 13. I see no real difference between the two except they moved the buttons up slightly on the 13 just so that it doesn’t quite fit in my old phone case. Thanks, Apple. I ordered it online and when it came, it had no sim card even though the instructions that came with it told me how to install the sim card I don’t have. I called my cell phone provider and they told me that the iPhone 13 doesn’t need a sim card. “Well, then why did your activation instructions not say that?” Derr.

I got a new iPad because the battery on my MacBook Pro, which is only one year and one month old, died last week. They had to send it in for replacement, and of course, it wasn’t under warranty. They said it would take 7 to 10 days to fix. Apple does not give loaners. I asked. It is the only computer I have, so I upgraded my iPad so that I could install the Adobe Creative Suite and Excel on it and get some work done while my laptop was in the shop.

For work, the apps I absolutely have to have are Photoshop, InDesign, Excel, and Illustrator in order of necessity. It turns out that Adobe doesn’t even make a version of InDesign for iPad. Strike one. Photoshop for iPad is completely different than Photoshop for Mac, and practically useless. Strike two. Same with Illustrator for iPad. Strike three. Excel, however, functioned almost normally.

So, I limped along for 3 work days until my MacBook Pro showed up at my door, 4-7 days earlier than expected! I was so happy to get my laptop back that I did a little applause/yay type thing at the UPS driver who looked at me like I was crazy.

It turned out that I upgraded my iPad for not much benefit since I can barely work on it. Still, it’s nice to have a new iPad. The funny thing is that the only iPad they had in stock is baby pink, which is soooo not me at all. At least I was able to get my new iPhone in red.

Other than that, it’s been unseasonably warm here lately, meaning that it’s cooler than usual. Normally, it’s roasting here in July. I’ve had the roof open on my Jeep for the past two weeks like so:

I have the same Jeep and top as the one above. I absolutely love my Jeep. It’s probably my favorite car I’ve ever owned and I’ve owned a lot of cars. This one just barely edges out my 1970 Buick Skylark. I bought the soft top for it, because the windows come out, like so:

I bought it so the dogs could have 360° fresh air, but it turns out that my German shepherd barks at everything with the widows out as if she’s saying, “You’re too close!” She’s much better with the windows on. So, I bought a not inexpensive top for the dogs and it turns out that I can’t even use it as intended because of my dog. Sigh. I’m hoping in a few years, she’ll get over her panic and I can take the windows out again, because it’s very fun driving that way. One day, I’d like to take the doors off too, but I need to get some little side view mirrors to make it street legal first.

That’s about it for me. How are you doing?

Read the rest of the Weekend Coffee Share posts hosted by Natalie the Explorer.

8Comments

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1

draliman on July 8, 2022 at 9:38 pm

That’s a very cool Jeep! I finally got my new car last month (13 months to build due to chip shortages) and went for the panoramic roof. Not quite as configurable as your Jeep, but it does rain a lot here 🙂

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- 2
  
  goldfish on July 9, 2022 at 12:14 pm
  
  Thanks! Congratulations on your new car! They keep trying to get me to trade mine in but they don’t have many cars available to replace it. Panoramic sunroofs are nice. My sister has one on her car.
  
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3

Jennifer Jones on July 8, 2022 at 11:56 pm

I think it’s lovely that you turn down invitations because of your dogs. I do that on NYE. Too risky to leave the dogs alone. And it’s too scary for him. Your car is very cool. We are in winter here so there’s no opening the top up here.

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  goldfish on July 9, 2022 at 12:16 pm
  
  Thanks! I just couldn’t leave an animal alone and in distress like that. Some people do, but I can’t. We also have fireworks on NYE but they’re not as bad as on July 4th.
  
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5

Writing Sparkle on July 9, 2022 at 6:23 am

So, frustrating when our technology lets us down. I was looking at purchasing a mini lap top for traveling but I’m not sure I want to part with the money. Thanks for the virtual coffee. Have a great week.

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- 6
  
  goldfish on July 9, 2022 at 12:18 pm
  
  I know! Especially since my laptop was just one month outside of the warranty. Grrr. Those mini laptops are nice, but for working, I need a regular one. Mine’s 13 in which is already sort of mini.
  
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7

alexp01 on July 9, 2022 at 11:54 am

During the early part of the current pandemic, I got addicted to Starbucks Via Instant Iced Coffee pouches, which I could use to easily make iced coffee at home since hot coffee makes my mouth blister up. Then they discontinued it, so I’ve been scraping together additional packets from eBay like some kind of powdered coffee addict, always looking for my next fix.

Our little college town is overrun with Jeeps, but they’re not the practical two-door Wranglers like you have, but rather the four-door models (and recently, saints preserve us, four-door trucks). We’ve noticed that the two-door models tend to be driven by normal people and the four-doors almost always have a frat boy behind the wheel, so much so that they have become known as “douche Jeeps” to my wife and I.

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- 8
  
  goldfish on July 9, 2022 at 12:23 pm
  
  Bummer about the discontinuation. That happens to me most of the time I find something I like.
  
  Douche jeeps… lol. I know exactly what you’re talking about. One thing I learned driving around the country is that America has a Jeep infestation in nearly every state. Mine’s a 2 seater 2 door because I’ve removed the back seat for the dogs. The 2 door is an endangered species.
  
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