Prius Prime and Samsung Galaxy S7

I thought for sure I’d made a road trip sometime during my second month owning the Prius Prime but we took the new Honda CR-V for the road trip to Pittsburgh (more on that in the posts over the next few days). I’ve included a picture of the car with a backdrop of snow piles at the South Mountain rest top on Interstate 70.

We did tease out about how much the electricity cost to charge the Prius Prime for my “around town” driving: the car got about 300 miles on about $5 of electricity!

I’ve had my Samsung Galaxy S7 for about a month….have most of the apps I’ll use frequently loaded. I leave it on my desk when I am at the computer – plugged in so when I leave it is always fully charged.

I added the app for my grocery store (Wegmans) so I can see the coupons I clipped electronically, experimented a little with the iNaturalist app for BioBlitz and used several apps while I was traveling recently: FlightView (to get the current info for my air travel), the Accuweather forecast for where I am and where I am going, and texts to people I need to connect arrival and meetings. I also have started using the phone for (Kindle book) reading on the plane.  I bought a lanyard phone holder so the phone is attached to me (without me dedicating a hand to it) in the grocery store and on the plane. I’m still experimenting with the length of the lanyard but the holder part works very well and will attach to just about any lanyard.

I’m very pleased with my 2017 tech purchases and am still learning how to best apply them --- using the technology effectively for the way I want to live.

Previous Posts about the Prius Prime: My New Car – a Prius Prime, Prius Prime – Week 1, Prius Prime – Month 1

Previous Posts about the Samsung Galaxy S7: A New Phone

Brookside Gardens with a Cell Phone

Earlier this week it was such a warm day that I wanted to get out and about - chose to go to Brookside Gardens. About halfway there, I realized I had forgotten my camera but then realized that I had my new cell phone (a Samsung Galaxy S7); it was time to experiment with the cell phone camera. I headed to the boardwalk between the conservatories and the Nature Center. The skunk cabbage was still not up under the cypress trees but there were crocus

And some dried ferns that were catching the sunlight (they look like big feathers!).

I walked toward the ponds and saw other early bulbs blooming

And turtles taking advantage of the warm day to come out of the mud at the bottom of the pond. I was beginning to learn about the camera in the phone; it does zoom (8x) but it’s all digital so the zoomed images sometimes look fuzzy.

As I trekked toward the witch hazel I had seen last time I visited Brookside – I saw a butterfly and managed to get a picture! It looks like a Question Mark Butterfly…hope there were others it found that were out and about.

Then I found the witch hazel trees again. They were still very bright with streamers around their blooms.

Some trees still have fried leaves clinging from last fall.

I learned that the camera in the cell phone does relatively well close up too.

As I completed the loop back to my car, I noticed some greenery between rocks (daffodils?) near the stream and wondered how the bulbs got wedged in that location.

Ten Little Celebrations – February 2017

Usually February has been a low-key month with weather dampening activity. This year – the weather has been mild – and my celebrations have been more active than usual for February.

I celebrated outings to 1) Conowingo (for Bald Eagles), 2) Brookside (for witch hazel and snow drops), 3) Mt. Pleasant (skunk cabbage), and

4) State College (to see my daughter and son-in-law.

There were also learning experiences to celebrate: 5) the TED dialog with Yuval Harari (I enjoyed his “A Brief History of Humankind” via Coursera back August 2013) and 6) The Changing Global Order course on Coursera (from Universiteit Leiden).

There were new (big) purchases to celebrate: 7) a Samsung Galaxy S7 and

8) a new Honda CR-V for my husband (I am celebrated more room for me in the front passenger seat than in his previous car…and I am still celebrating my Prius Prime every time I drive it).

Two things for myself that I celebrated this month: 9) a short haircut that maximizes the little bit of natural curl my hair has and 10) lots of lots of Zentangle tiles (new pens and more time than usual to create tiles).

I had a lot of celebrate in February 2017!

Prius Prime – Month 1

My Prius Prime (plug-in hybrid) ownership is one month and counting. I am still on the first tank of gas (still registering as ‘full’) with about 300 miles on the car. I’ve discovered that unless I take a road trip, it will take months to use a take of gas!

I have learned more about the car since my last post about it:

• Now that I have a smart phone – I’m getting used to the wireless charging surface in the car.
• The charging happens between 11 PM and 7 AM when the electricity costs from my utility are the lowest (the car has a feature that allows setting of charging times so I set it to start at 11:10 PM and it finishes well before 7).
• The audio system can play music from a USB drive – so I have one that I plan to just load up with music and leave in the car. Later, I may use music from phone but the USB option is working so well that I am not motivated to change right now.
• There is a handy slot for sunglasses in the ceiling and I’ve started using it.

The permanent license plates came during the month --- so everything is complete. I really do want to take it on a short road trip!

Previous Posts: My New Car – a Prius Prime, Prius Prime – Week 1