My 2019 in Review – Technology

Every year there is something new from a technology perspective that I incorporate into the way I do things. 2019 was no exception.

The warranty on my old laptop expired and I bought a new one (Dell XPS 13 Laptop, Dell Thunderbolt ™ Dock TB 16-180W and Dell Ultrasharp 27 Monitor with Premier Color – UP2716D) – the current version of the same laptop I bought previously. The big enhancement from my perspective is the solid-state drive (the new one has a 1-terabyte drive compared to the 500-megabyte drive on the old one). I also got a new Bluetooth mouse and keyboard (Logitech MX Anywhere 2S and MX Keys). I’ve already learned to turn the key backlight off to extend the battery life on the keyboard. I also graduated from one monitor to two. I like to see a lot of the windows I have open all at once! The Dock centralizes all the cables mostly away from the laptop itself which makes it easier to unplug from my office when I am traveling. It took several months to get everything installed and operating the way a want. At the beginning of 2020, I am enjoying being done with the transition…not planning any more near term.

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The birdfeeder camera (Reolink Argus 2) is a relatively new addition to the technology at our house. I posted about it last Friday. I think our set up has stabilized and we might be mostly through the technology learning curve. Now we’re ready to use the camera to learn how birds interact at our feeder. Maybe we’ll put a camera on our heated bird bath too.

I subscribed to a year of the Headspace app in February 2019. It’s been a learning experience….using the app to prompt a 15 minute Headspace session for 260 days so far. I’m done a lot of the courses. I just finished the Mindful Eating course and it has been a big help in slowly changing some of my long standing eating habits….letting them go.

I am still using the same phone and iPad that I had before 2019…I make tweaks but no big changes. And they still get used almost daily. I did link my phone and laptop more closely in 2019 via the Your Phone app. That allows me to see my phone’s notifications, messages and photos on my laptop. I often type messages on the PC rather than the phone (if I happen to be in my office).

Ten Little Celebrations – February 2019

February is usually a quiet month for me – not much going on. February 2019 was dominated by the birding after the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival in January, family visits, and celebration of the staff where I volunteer. It seemed like a busier than usual February.

Conversations with my daughter – I celebrated my daughter being more available recently. Seeing her forging ahead in her career and life is something to savor. It feels good to see how wonderfully independent and caring she is these days.

Icy day – staying indoors – Ice is much worse than snow but has its own beauty. This one was easy for me to celebrate since I didn’t need to get out and none of our trees were damaged.

Snow day – What’s not to like about a snowy day if I can stay at home. Since I am retired…staying at home when I want to is easy. I celebrate every snow day – taking pictures and making snow ice cream. On our most recent snow day, the weather was warming to 50 degrees the next day, so we didn’t even shovel the drive way.

Spring-like day – And then we had a breezy day in the 50s. I celebrated that this will become the norm in a few short weeks.

Books – On all the cold days, I enjoyed good books on my PC, on my iPad and regular books. Celebrating all the forms that books come in these days.  

Cleaning out progress – We have so many things in our house that we no longer need or use but getting motivated to collect and then donate, recycle, or trash things is challenging. I am celebrating that I am making some progress…building the will-power to continue the trend.

Howard County Conservancy staff – The volunteers held a big celebration for the staff of our favorite non-profit this month. The staff makes volunteering a pleasure and a shared celebration is one way we show it.

Downy woodpecker – I was home in cold, snowy, or icy weather and enjoyed birding from my office window. I celebrated many of the sightings…the downy woodpecker the most. It’s small, it’s hyper, and it seems to enjoy both our trees and our feeder.

Pink egg salad – I discovered that adding a few slices of beet to hard-boiled eggs and mayonnaise in the small food processor makes beautiful, spreadable egg salad…celebration worthy food.

Headspace app – I subscribed to the Headspace app and am doing a meditation prompt every day. I am celebrating how easy it is to get started and keep going with this app.