When you want to fix or adjust something in your house, what do you do? Just wing it, and hope for the best? Do you Google it? Do you look through your drawers for the old manual that came with the item? Are you lucky enough to have stashed all of your manuals in one place –- say, a big … Read More
Is Anything Left for Me to Lose?
Robert Ebsen
What would you like to find? A key? An iPhone? An old email? A file stored somewhere on your computer? A labeled photo somewhere on your computer? Certain words in a text? For the key, use the TILE app. For the iPhone, turned on or off, use the FIND MY iPHONE app. For the email, use the email search bar … Read More
Talk About a Breath of Fresh Air
Robert Ebsen
Can you imagine an asthmatic breathing in the same air for 28 years? What’s wrong with that picture? Duh – The blower unit in our house had been routing air through old ducts made of fiberglass. Yesterday was demolition day. The old blower and ducts were ripped out. Today the new non-fiberglass ducts and new blower unit are being installed … Read More
Speaking of Blowing Hot Air
Robert Ebsen
For more than 25 years, my wife and I have contended with a noisy AC/heater blower unit situated just a few feet away from our TV. We would either turn the TV volume way up or turn off the AC if we wanted to hear the TV. Years ago we got a $5,000 quote to move the unit to the … Read More
Look at How Much I Have (Just) Changed
Robert Ebsen
I am probably the most patient and calm person in town. I mean, who holds the door for people 20 feet away? Who sits and listens for hours, sometimes, while others talk about their issues? Who didn’t give up hope on Trump for President until his umpteenth off-message delivery last week? Yes. I am the most patient person – until … Read More
Highest Form of Coincidence
Robert Ebsen
My wife says there are no coincidences, and I have come to believe her. This afternoon, on the third day of our trip north, we were driving around Merritt Lake in Oakland. My wife wanted to stop and walk around the lake. But I decided to keep driving. We told our GPS to take us to Trader Joe’s to pick … Read More
Letters from My Mother-in-Law
Robert Ebsen
I just completed the paperless project that I began two weeks ago when I purchased a Fujitsu Scansnap scanner. I finished scanning in over one thousand letters written by my mother-in-law to my wife during the 16 years they were separated from each other. They were separated by continents. So it was difficult for them to see each other. While … Read More
Oh, Peas. Was I Born Too Early?
Robert Ebsen
When I was a kid, my mom used to give us raw veggies. I remember the raw green beans, raw carrots, and raw peas in a pod. Last month, when I fell in love with sugar snap peas, I wondered why mom never served them. She never served sugar snap peas because they had not yet been born. Although the … Read More
Our Man Loves His Electronic Hobbies
Robert Ebsen
Years ago, when I scanned in 6,000 photos to my Mac, I did it in batches of about six photos at a time on my flatbed scanner. It took at least two minutes to both scan in those six photos, and then separate, crop and orient them using Picasa. So, doing this for all 6,000 photos took 2,000 minutes, or … Read More
Here Is a Way to Live Longer
Have you ever called 9-1-1 to report a possibly drunk driver? I did last Monday while driving to San Diego. I wish I could have stayed on the freeway to see if the Highway Patrol stopped this driver, but I soon exited. The swerving driver was behind the wheel of a huge Bud Light truck. I toyed with the idea … Read More