Digital Love on Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day is quickly approaching and I have a few presents to suggest that will make your significant other very happy!

I received a note from my friend at Dell about some interesting products that they have on the market right now. It was pretty obvious to me that they would make a perfect gift for the technophile in your life.  

Of course make sure that if you do decide to buy some of these items that I will list below, consider purchasing them in the colour RED for Valentine's Day. Don't worry though because if red is not suitable, there are many other beautiful colours to choose from. 

Top 3 choices:

Inspiron 11 3000 Series - $279.99 CDN

Beautifully-designed, ultra-portable laptop that is perfect for watching Netflix on cozy date nights, sharing photos and streaming music. Equipped with Windows 10, Intel® HD Graphics, Waves MaxxAudio® Pro and up to 10 hours of battery life. Available in Tango Red (the obvious Valentine's Day colour), Bali Blue and Alpine White.  

Dell Neoprene Sleeve (Red) - $27.99 CDN

Keep your laptop cozy and protect it at all times – and look stylish doing it. With a trendy, modern design, the versatile 15-inch sleeve is made for mobility, lightweight for travel and provides anti-scratch lining and cushioning that will keep your laptop sleek and safe from damage. While the red colour is perfect for Valentine’s Day, the sleeve also comes in blue and black, and can be used alone or tucked inside another bag.

Garmin Vivofit 2 - Activity Tracker (Red) - $119.99 CDN

Fitness challenges are a great way to keep the spice in a relationship – so get moving, get active and track all your activity with the Garmin Vivofit 2. As an added bonus, the adjustable wristband reminds you to stay active throughout the day with an audible alert that gets you moving every hour.

You can purchase all of these online from: www.dell.ca  Note that the prices are for the product  only.  There are extra costs for taxes and delivery.  The  product prices are valid today and could change later so check them out!

If you don't have a partner, not to worry. Buy yourself one of these gifts or give to someone special that would benefit from any of these new items from Dell.

Remember that no matter what you buy your loved one this Valentine's Day, make sure it comes straight from the heart!

Can You Explain The Weather

That's the latest page I saw on the Weather Network website.  It shows how cold it is supposed to get here and how quickly too. Honestly, I can't figure it out at all anymore. Seriously, how many weather reports that I have read about never came true. In fact, we were supposed to have a very big rainstorm last night but it did not happen.

Whether the weather will remain the same as predicted for the rest of the day as it is right now (1 PM on Wednesday), I don't have the faintest idea. It is supposed to change rather dramatically I heard and get much colder. 

What is going on now with temperatures in this part of Ontario has to be viewed as quite bizarre. It certainly is to me. Here's part of the story I saw in the Windsor Star: http://windsorstar.com/storyline/windsor-smashes-warm-weather-record-%F0%9F%8C%9E

"Windsor smashes warm weather record  

The mercury hit 11 C at 2 a.m., busting the 9.8 C record for February 3 set in 1991. The temperature climbed throughout the morning and had settled at 13 C by noon." 

How can it be this kind of temperature in February when it should be close to the zero mark or even below it? Just remember last year after all. I don't have the faintest idea what is going on. It just seems so weird. 

My wife and I decided to go out this morning for a walk because the temperature was predicted to be so nice. We usually take a stroll because it is good exercise for me because of my illness. I have not gone out for quite some time during this time of the year because it has been rather cold and I did not wish to get ill. When I heard on a Detroit radio station early this morning that their temperature was already 51°F, I thought it made sense for us to go for walk to get some really good exercise. 

Around 10 o'clock, right after I had my usual health service appointment, my wife and I got warmly dressed and went out for that walk. The excuse we used was that we were going to the Tecumseh Library to get some DVDS that we had ordered that they told us had arrived already.  

It was truly amazing how nice it was to go for a stroll at that time! It really was warm even with a bit of wind blowing then.  It certainly seemed to be around the temperature that I heard about on the Detroit station. Not only did we go for a walk to the Library and bring back the materials to our house, but after we dropped it off, we went out for a longer walk around our area. 

Unfortunately, by that time, the wind had picked up and while it was not freezing out, the strength of the wind was such that we did not stay out very long. Not only did it blow us around a bit but it was getting slightly colder as well Nevertheless, it was fun to do and something that we had not done for a very long time. It really was something that we had missed because of what we had done during the summertime. 

Of course, we were still bold. Right after lunch, we wanted to take the risk of going for a stroll again. Naturally, we checked out what the weather was going to be like this time and the temperature still seemed rather high. I had seen in the earlier weather forecast that the temperature was supposed to start to drop at around the noon-time.  So I was pleasantly surprised at how pleasant it was still supposed to be. 

The weather had changed a bit. It was still sunny out and still relatively warm. It did not seem that the temperature had dropped very much as I feared. Unfortunately, the bad part was that the wind speed had gone up significantly and it was bringing in colder weather. Accordingly, it was extremely difficult to walk very far on our street not only because of the wind but primarily because it was sending cold temperature at us that we could feel as we walked. 

To be honest, everything going on now in the weather just seemed so unusual. How could it be this warm, a record-breaker day at such a high temperature, at this time of the winter season. Yet, the temperature was supposed to drop to -1 overnight. That quickly. It really made no sense to me.   

However, why be so concerned? No major snow storm is coming over the next little while. Or at least, it is not being predicted at this time. And on Saturday, which is our big grocery shopping day, the temperature is supposed to rise 3°C. While not exactly a warm temperature, it is not all that bad for this time of year.  Nevertheless, the weather prediction for the future temperature for this area is in the minus mark for quite some time.   

Oh well, I have been outside a fair bit today and so I am now content with staying in the house to do some research on some stories that I would like to post on here. 

 

Have a great day everyone and thank you for reading my blog post!

Just Some Thoughts

February 1 is an important day for me. No, it is not a special day with respect to someone's birthday or anniversary or some other reason for which I shall remember this day for a very long time. What it is for me is the end of the month of January in the year of 2016 which is a very key day for me forever. 

In case you don't know what that means for me, it is the end of one year of my misery on the strange disease that I had that hopefully I am beating well now. It does take a long time to recover as much as I can because there is a percentage of my brain power that I have lost and will never be able to recover. I will just have to learn to work around it as I am doing now. 

I wrote this on my Facebook page and I thought that I would repeat it here because it is quite important for me and some of you may not belong to Facebook: 

"Thank heavens that it is February 1.  

Believe it or not but this January was a horrific month for me and also a fabulous one. Thank goodness it is now over and I am still around. 

This January was the one year anniversary of my near-death and then the start of recovery from a very unusual and virtually unknown disease. I survived very well all things considered and I am still getting even better. 

My friendships have become even better as well and I am so pleased about that. Thank you to all of my friends. 

Most of all, my family proved itself fantastic. My wife and kids have looked after me so very well even though they were placed under tremendous pressure because my health and possible success was not known at first. We have become closer and so supportive of each other no matter what. That will definitely last forever between all of us. 

My new life is now starting and hopefully will last for a very long time." 

I really do mean it. My family and friends have been so good to me that I just am in such a great mood all of the time. So thank you very much to everyone who has been so kind to me! 

One of the things that I thought was very interesting that I read about was how poorly our Councillors act or rather, do not act. It does bother me. The approach of their action with respect to approving the budget for the City is quite an example because it is so bizarre in my opinion. It just seems they got this big pile of budget material before the Council meeting to review so that they could approve the budget in the one Council meeting a few days later. Here's what happened with one very large item that I assume no one had prepared for. That made no sense to me. Here is what I read in an article by Doug Schmidt, Windsor Star on: January 28, 2016: 

"City councillors, particularly those representing wards that cater to cafés and bars trying to expand Windsor’s patio culture, are getting their ears chewed off as municipal notices go out of steep increases in licensing and administrative fees for sidewalk cafés. 

And some of those councillors are just as surprised upon discovering what they approved during last month’s budget-making marathon.  

“I’ll admit that I didn’t pick up on it in that big pile of material,” said Ward 9 Coun. Hilary Payne. 

Five councillors admitted they had no idea they voted Dec. 21 to steeply increase sidewalk patio fees, according to a phone survey conducted by the Star Thursday. Ward 6 Coun. Jo-Anne Gignac could not be reached for comment. 

Charging thousands of dollars a year now for a typical sidewalk café — up from a dollar last year — was “not on my laundry list of issues,” said Ward 7 Coun. Irek Kusmierczyk. 

Ward 2’s John Elliott, Ward 5’s Ed Sleiman and Ward 8’s Bill Marra also confessed they weren’t aware that council on budget night reversed a promise made last March to waive sidewalk patio licence fees for the balance of the current council term." 

Here's what Administration stated: 

"administration justified the reversal on waiving sidewalk café fees as necessary in order to help reach another zero-hike budget." 

What a mess don't you think. I find that very surprising considering that the Mayor found $10 million that he added to the budget just before the Council meeting ended. This is what he presented to Council members on budget night at Council: 

"But Mayor Drew Dilkens said the same budget process happens every year, including with former Mayor Eddie Francis. 

“This is something that councillors — certainly, the ones who are complaining the loudest — are very used to,” Dilkens said. “This is what we’ve done for many, many years.” 

I also read a very fascinating article which is part of a book written by Todd Rose that was quoted in the Toronto Star on January 16. The excerpt from the book is quite interesting and you ought to take a look at it all. It dealt with airplane crashes that no one could figure out at the time: 

"In 1950, researchers at Wright Air Force Base in Ohio measured more than 4,000 pilots on 140 dimensions of size, including thumb length, crotch height, and the distance from a pilot’s eye to his ear, and then calculated the average for each of these dimensions. 

Everyone believed this improved calculation of the average pilot would lead to a better-fitting cockpit and reduce the number of crashes — or almost everyone."

 

Unfortunately, the statistics did not accomplish this at all: 

"Before he crunched his numbers, the consensus among his fellow air force researchers was that the vast majority of pilots would be within the average range on most dimensions. After all, these pilots had already been pre-selected because they appeared to be average sized. (If you were, say, six foot seven, you would never have been recruited in the first place.) The scientists also expected that a sizable number of pilots would be within the average range on all 10 dimensions. But even Daniels was stunned when he tabulated the actual number. 

Zero. 

Out of 4,063 pilots, not a single airman fit within the average range on all 10 dimensions." 

Take a look at the rest of the article to see what happened afterwards. It was most fascinating. 

I saw this comment in a Windsor Star article that makes sense to me about the automobile industry and changes being made by Chrysler in the products they are selling. Unfortunately, I just don't see what Chrysler is doing as being a long-term strategy: 

"Fiat Chrysler’s decision to refocus efforts on its popular Jeep SUVs and Ram pickups is a risky strategy that banks on oil prices remaining low, a University of Windsor auto industry expert warned Wednesday. 

“The market is certainly into pickups, SUVs and crossovers at this point in time,” said Tony Faria, co-director of the Office of Automotive and Vehicle Research at the Odette School of Business. “Right now, that would be the market to be in. But I don’t know that you can count on that forever. I would hate to put everything I have on the whole hope that oil prices will remain low forever.” (Grace Macaluso, Windsor Star January 27, 2016) 

Let me just post this sports matter from Blackburn News as my last comment in this article: 

"Spitfires Working With Dwindling Support (Poll)

By Mike Vlasveld January 27, 2016  

The Windsor Spitfires are in first place in the OHL’s West Division, yet are seeing the lowest fan turnout since moving to the WFCU Centre in 2008. 

This season’s average attendance of just over 4,500 per game might seem like a lot to some OHL franchises, but it’s a far cry from the 6,200 seen in Windsor from 2009 through 2011." 

Obviously, what they have to do is get those numbers up if they are to be successful.  That should be an important challenge for them for which they must be very successful.

The Need For My New Blogsite

It is slightly over a year since I was diagnosed with a rare form of Encephalitis that almost took my life. Fortunately, it was identified and luckily for me action was taken immediately to stop the inflammation in my brain caused by the virus. I am still recovering from that illness and the damage it has left me with. I think I am doing quite a good job. The big dilemma that I have now is: what should I do with the rest of my life? 

 

I still enjoy reading about our local politicians and events that go on. It is very exciting to me.  I also like to browse the news about technology and new innovations going on. I am interested in financial matters and the banking industry. I find weather fascinating.  That's why I like to talk about that subject.

 

But now there are new topics that interest me so much.  How about those new homes that are being built in Tecumseh right behind me. They should be fun to discuss especially about their costs and whether it helps my home's value increase! Wait until the spring gets here and I can talk about planting flowers. I'm now involved with a game called Scrabble, which is a fun activity to play and you won't believe how many movies I have watched over the last while.  Oh and books. I love to read. Winston Churchill was quite a fascinating man and I have many of his books to enjoy.  Maybe you can suggest other books that I might enjoy taking out from the library too. 

 

There are lots of different topics to write about that I have barely written about before. To me now, they are very important.

 

In other words, there are lots of things to discuss of which I really did not do for so many years that are very important. Yes, there were many of those debates on subject matters that I was writing about which had such an influence. Given my state of affairs now, they really just doesn't seem all that important to me today because their solutions are obvious. For whatever reason, our leaders just seem incapable of getting things solved.  After a year of not being able to keep up-to-date on news because of my illness, when I started doing so again I did not see a lot of changes that had been made. 

 To be honest, that surprised me and really bothered me.

There is still fighting over the same ridiculous events that were outstanding before. Now, as an example, you will now understand a little better why I don't want to do very much now to write about the building of a new Ambassador Bridge. I've written about it for over a decade and all that is happening is what I was predicting for so long. Accordingly, I've had enough of the subject and just wrote a column telling you what should be done and that I'm sick and tired of writing any more about it. And I won't!

 

I really do believe that what is important is to write about where I am these days because it similar for so many other people. I'm hopeful that what I write about will be useful for people around my age and for those who are even much younger as well who can learn from me. After all, what people of my age are experiencing is something new for our Society.  Let's talk about it and discuss.

We are people who are post-World War II who have dealt for so many years with new experiences that have an impact on us and which influence us. Let's teach each other about that. That experience that we talk about can also now be used as well by those who are our children and grandchildren who, I think, will find this information useful for their lives as well as they grow older. They can certainly teach us things as well. 

I'm happy that I was able to get a new blog site created so I can post about many subjects that may or even may not interest you. Please come over to my new blog site and take a look at what I have to write about. 

Right now, writing articles for you, dear reader, is very important in my life. The whole concept makes me think a lot better than I did before. I have to get my brain working in order to overcome the problems that I developed because of my sickness. I truly want to overcome it and writing an article for you to read is a good way for me to be doing so.

It's That Special Day

What a great day today!

While it is a fabulous one for Marsha and me as a wedding anniversary, it is that important a day for me especially because of what I have lived through for a bit over a year now because of what she  has done.

Thanks to Marsha who has worked so hard for  me, I have lived to celebrate another wedding anniversary with her.  Because of her efforts, it has become one of  many more that we will celebrate together.

No wonder we met so many years ago and got married so soon afterwards!  She is a special woman  who is so important to my life. 

Thank you Marsha....for being my wife.  Happy 40 (plus one) anniversary!

Very Special Day

 

Tomorrow, January 26, is a very important day for my wife, Marsha and for myself. 

It is our 41st wedding anniversary! 

More importantly, it is of significance because our life has become so much better. It is really our first anniversary time-period in our new life together that we share between us as I am recovering from my illness.

Yes, our marriage has gone on for many years and will go on for many more. In fact, our marriage is even better and happier between us now than it ever has been before! Marsha has always been a fabulous woman as far as I am concerned. She is my partner who has helped me to recover so much over the past year and for which I am so grateful. 

January 26. What a day that will be because of what has happened over the last 12 months. I don't want to talk a lot about the events in 2015 since the beginning of the year because, dear reader, if you have been reading my other entries on my blog, you'll be quite familiar with what has happened and with what I and my family have had to deal. Yet, I just still have that important need personally to talk about it a bit at least one more time. Then, I want to forget about it because I believe my life has changed dramatically for the better. Forever! I do not want to remember any more about the near tragedy of the past. 

As I'm sure that you remember, on December 31, 2014/January 1, 2015, I had to go to hospital because of an illness that I was suffering. I had gone home on the 31st because not much was going on there even though I had stayed around for a good number of hours. I thought I was feeling better. As far as I was concerned, they did not seem to know what the cause of my illness was anyway. However, I had to return on January 1 because I was even more ill and in fact was admitted to hospital quickly because of how sick I was. The information I now have was that the Encephalitis virus that escalated to my brain may be fatal. If I had not been in the hospital, and at least the doctor who was looking after me had a suspicion what was going on and started immediate treatment, otherwise I would probably be dead now. The illness is complicated to deal with. I was quite fortunate being able to survive and that I was treated so well. 

Again, as you may recall, I was brought home in the middle of January and was treated under very expensive and intense medical care and medication for another month. I cannot recall anything that happened to me from January 1 until mid-February, believe it or not. I was so totally out of it by the care and medication I was under. My family worked so hard for me during this time frame at our house along with doctors, staff of hospital people and people from outside medical organizations. They were there to help me recover and to get better by doing all that work. 

Again, as you know, for about the next 3 months, I was pretty much in bed and could not move around a lot especially from my second-floor bedroom. I did not take the chance of walking down the stairs at all during that time because there was no guarantee that I could do that without falling down the stairs and hurting myself seriously. 

I started undertaking increased physical exercises that ultimately allowed me to start moving around. I was even able to go up and down the stairs very slowly towards the end of April. It was during this time frame that the decision was made for us to sell our home and to try and find a new place to live. I really could no longer live in a large, two-story home that was so expensive to look after. Fortunately, my wife assisted by my daughter and her boyfriend were able to accomplish what was necessary to do because of the excellent work provided by the real estate company that worked with us. We were able to sell our house within days once we put it on the market. That was something that I never expected to happen.  Accordingly, we had good reasons for our new life to begin. 

From the end of May, we started living in our new home in the Town of Tecumseh. It was really something that I never expected to happen since I was not very familiar with the Town at all. Our place though was a fabulous one, a townhouse, that we were able to purchase and which required relatively little work to fix up when we moved in. Moreover, living in a more quiet area allowed me, accompanied by my wife, to walk for several hours almost every day to get my physical condition improving dramatically. 

As I have been recovering over the past 12 months, I have talked to and met with so many people that I have known over the years who have been so kind in their relationship with me. Many of them came to our place to meet so that I could enjoy how well I was recovering in my life because they were such good people. To be quite direct about it, not one single person whom I have known has done anything wrong between us over the last year and has in fact made a lot of effort to help me get better. I'm so grateful for that. 

Of course, we met many of our new neighbours very soon after our move and have had a tremendous relationship with them.  Again, they are all good people and have offered us assistance to help me out if required once they knew what my condition was. I am grateful for them being so kind as well. 

By the way, I'm not going to talk about my wife and 2 children very much in this article. You know how appreciative I am of them if you have read anything at all that I have written since I started up this website. They made the decision to make me an important part of their lives to help me recover. The past year for them has been very difficult because they had to deal with a person who was very ill with a disease that not many medical people knew very much about. They had the difficult task of not only looking after me but also learning about something that was possibly so tragic for them as well. The 3 of them all did a remarkable job in helping me recover so very well in such a short period of time. Of course, there is an extra person to add on and that is my daughter's boyfriend, Bill, who was wonderful and also helped me recover.  

I do know that this year my children devoted so much of their lives to assist me out that has hurt them in a number of ways. They just stopped doing anything significant in their own lives to help out me and their mother whose life also changed so dramatically. Yet, I also know that their actions helped them change their lives for the better in a way that none of us ever expected would happen although it quite often does, as I have seen even in my own life with my parents.  As far as I personally am concerned, they should expect that they will do so well in the future because of how much they have learned in taking care of their parents over the past 12 months. 

As for Marsha, well, you know how strong she has become. She has become the key person in looking after me. She learned so quickly how to make my life better. I am not going to say anything else about that because you have read about it already on here.  

I have worked so hard to overcome the bad and believe that I have successfully done so with the assistance of so many terrific people. 

On our very special wedding anniversary tomorrow, the 26th day of January, I know for sure that we are going to work hard to make a fabulous meal and spend enjoyable time together. 

Thank you for reading and continuing to be part of my life!

Dell Does It So Well Again



Yes they do. After reviewing many computer products over the years, Dell seems to be continuing to provide all kinds of interesting offerings for purchasers and really sets the bar high for its competitors.

I'm hardly a computer expert. However, I don't think that is negative because most purchasers are not said to be an "expert." In truth, in my articles, I am just the average person who is going out into the marketplace to look for a piece of computer equipment to purchase. I get a new computer from Dell, work with it for a period of several weeks and then give my comments on it. I describe how I would use it as an individual and not as a professional who works in this area. I've been very fortunate that the equipment that I have been provided with are items that I would actually purchase and recommend to others.

If there were problems with a piece of equipment or if it was something that I would not be interested in purchasing, I would let you know about it in my article. I'm not going to promote something that will cost people lots of money if it is not worthwhile for them to spend a penny on it. I just won't do that.

I'm telling you about this, dear reader, just before I write the article about another piece of hardware that was provided to me by Dell. It is the Dell XPS 13 computer. I want you to understand why I write as I do about the equipment. To be direct, Dell's new equipment really is that excellent. I'm not sure that I have seen something that was designed so well before. I think that it gives Dell a huge advantage in the marketplace.

So what can I say to you? The first thing has to do with the package I received from Dell which was relatively small in size and very lightweight. Between you and me, dear reader, that made me a bit nervous. Why the heck was I getting such a relatively small computer that weighed so little? I wasn't sure if I was getting something that wasn't going to be satisfactory to me.

Well, was I ever wrong to be so anxious! Dell's XPS 13 computer was fantastic for me to use, weighing only 2-3 lbs. Here's how Dell describes it:

"The smallest 13-inch on the planet with the world’s first InfinityEdge display

More screen, less to carry: The virtually borderless InfinityEdge display maximizes screen space by squeezing a 13-inch display in an 11-inch frame. With a bezel only 5.2 mm thin, weighing in at only 2.7 pounds and measuring a super slim 9-15 mm, the XPS 13 is exceptionally thin and light."
 
The description above is accurate as purchasers will enjoy an unbelievably lightweight product that offers many distinct and unique features.

Take a look at its size for instance. Here is some information about the size of the Dell XPS 13 computer. "Height: 9-15mm (0.33 – 0.6") | Width: 304mm (11.98") | Depth: 200mm (7.88") | Starting at weight: 1.2 kg (2.7lbs) non-touch, 1.29kg (2.9lbs) touch."

Yes, the Dell XPS 13 computer is relatively small but after I started using it I was no longer concerned about its size. The display layout was great since the images were large enough to see.

The colour scheme was extremely sharp. It really made everything look crisp and if you needed to adjust anything, which I didn't, the functions were simple to alter based on your preferences.

At times, usability is a problem for those who are accustomed to larger-sized laptops, but I appreciated how they built the laptop to make it perform like a powerhouse computer.

Dell gave itself a lot of credit about how they designed the XPS laptops:

"XPS laptops are thoughtfully designed for performance and function... XPS laptops are precision crafted from printing materials... for incredible durability and a superior experience...

We clearly fit a stunning 13.3 inch display in an 11 inch size laptop making the XPS 13 the smallest 13 inch laptop on the planet."

It is described in this way as well with respect to its screen:

"Stunning UltraSharp™ QHD+ resolution (3200x1800): An optional upgrade gives you eye-popping detail with 5.7 million pixels (276 ppi)."

The colour was quite amazing on the XPS laptop computer screen with its sharpness and detailed graphics.

Let me give you another quote from Dell. They are very confident in how they are promoting this new computer:

"Microsoft and Dell have just raised the bar. Again.

The best windows ever meets the best Dell ever. The result? A whole new era of power, performance and productivity."

It is amazing how two huge companies in the computer/software fields are partnering and publicizing their advantages. The word "best" is something that the parties have to be pretty accurate about if they are to be taken seriously. Otherwise, it ends up being a huge disadvantage for the customer.

There is a lot more from the technical side that you, dear reader, should take a look at by going to the Dell website and reading about the Dell XPS 13 computer given its many unique features and you can easily contact a representative from Dell to answer any of your questions.

So that's it, dear reader. For a small little laptop, this one certainly holds its own and is an exciting additional to the Dell family. With an attractive looking design, superior performance and long-lasting battery life, the Dell XPS 13 computer is a fantastic one that will definitely leave you feeling technologically-refreshed for the start of 2016!

For more information, visit the Dell website: http://www.dell.com/ca/p/xps-13-9350-laptop/pd?c=ca&cs=cadhs1&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn