Tom's Diary

Today’s Activities

• Shower.  DONE.
• Cat duty.  DONE.
• Balance all checking accounts.   IN PROGRESS.

Log

07:45 AM: I’m up.

10:00 AM: Facebook friend count: 108.

10:45 AM: Wrote 600 words this morning.

11:00 AM: Finished adding content to the   The Final Close Encounter With Emeebee   piece on the   Tom’s Love Quest   blog. It’s now 7818 words long, and that’s long enough; it almost qualifies as a short story!   Anyway, I’m off to brainstorm the next post.

11:30 AM: Threw a 2 and 1/2 pound beef chuck roast into the crock pot with lots of carrots, potatoes, and onions.  Yum!

03:40 PM: Added about ten beef bouillon cubes to the roast.  It hasn’t begun smelling strongly appetizing yet.  But it should start sometime in the next hour or so.  The crock pot is set on high.  So it’s only a matter of time.

03:45 PM: Ordered this week’s batch of Mom’s prescription meds.  They’ll probably be ready when sister JoJo and I go shopping this Friday.

03:50 PM: Watched today’s episode of   The Young and the Restless   on the DVR.  In addition to Snapper and Elisabeth, Greg Foster made an appearance as well.  Boy, this reminds me of the seventies.  I enjoy when they “resurrect” the original characters now and again.

03:55 PM: I’ve been reading about this   Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 Preferred   dictation software.  I think I’ll purchase a copy because if it works as advertised, it will save me lots of typing, and likely increase the thoughtfulness and over quality of my writing.  If I’m less focused on pressing the right keys, I might be freer to devise more insightful ideas and themes for my work.  I have not yet ordered it; it will cost $135 approximately.  But I probably will.  Plus, as I’m still running Microsoft Office XP, I probably should upgrade that the the 2010 issue as well.  That’s over $300.  Well, I’ll be starving this month. 

04:15 PM: Balanced the   WPSBC Alumni Association   checking account.  No surprises, and no errors either; even if I do say so myself. 

05:00 PM: Balanced my personal and business checking accounts.  Now I just have Mom’s account left to do.  That’s the hardest one. 

05:15 PM: Okay, all account linkages have been established, so my advertisers can pay me.  Yes!  Now, actually getting paid.  That’s gong to be the much harder part.

06:30 PM: Took notes for a new piece for the   Tom’s Love Quest   blog.  This one makes the case for moving VERY slowly into new relationships.  As per usual in these pieces, I support my stands by offering my own experiences as examples of what and what not to do.  In this particular work, I’ll describe how I goofed up big time, leaping before looking, and then suffering for months  or years sometimes, before the emotional damage that resulted from my recklessness could be overcome.  It’s a great article, and it should be lots of fun to write.  I’m looking forward to it.

06:30 PM: Nap time.

07:00 PM: I’m back up again.  Time for supper; that beef roast smells wonderful.

07:20 PM: Well, the chuck roast   was   wonderful, and quite filling as well.  I’ll get a few meals out of this crock of food, and I know they say you’re not supposed to do this.  But no dining experience tops eating a big bowl of carrots, beef, potatoes, and onions seasoned with bouillon while watching CNN’s John King analyzing his touch-screen electronic maps, graphs, stats, and satellite pictures.  Nothing better.

08:30 PM: Recorded audio journal episode   AJE-2010-06-17-20-04.

09:15 PM: [Emmy] called and we talked for a little while.  Her cane tips came tonight, finally, after three months of waiting and calling.  I told her that if they take this long to receive, then perhaps she should order more, right now. The maybe, just maybe, they’ll arrive by the time the ones she got today have worn out. 

10:15 PM: Sister Christine called me back and we chatted about this and that — family issues.  Perhaps I’ll write about them in ten years.  But they’re too hot to discuss at the present time; though I did detail them in today’s audio journal episode  (AJE-2010-06-17-20-04).

11:25 PM: Facebooked a while.  Friend count is now 117 and rising.

12:30 AM: Facebooked some more.

02:00 AM: Posted the   iPod Touch Play Time Per Charge Time   piece to the   Tom’s Diary   blog.

02:05 AM: Well, the official part of my day is now complete, and I’m headed into bed to read for a bit.  So take care, have a good night, and I’ll catch you back out here tomorrow.

Tom Hesley

Received Mail and Shipments

• Note from our investment firm, advising us to stay the course on our funds.  They recommend keeping our funds allocated just as they have been even though the market has seen serious volatility so far this year.  They feel that over the long haul, the market will provide well for us; even though it’s moving in fits and starts at the moment.
• Sewage bill.
• Letter from Mom’s medical insurance company, providing information about  tests the various tests available for cholesterol and diabetes.
• Notice from Mom’s medical insurance company that they’re covering much of the monthly rental fee for her wheelchair.  We’ll probably have to take that back to the vendor soon, as she no longer uses it very much.

Related Posts

• Facebook Tid Bits: 2010-06-17
• iPod Touch Play Time Per Charge Time
• Today’s Diet: 2010-06-17
• Weight Loss: 2010

So, you have an iPod Touch on your hands with a completely dead battery that you’d like to charge fully.  Unfortunately, this would take roughly 2.5 hours.  But you don’t have that kind of time.  So you wonder how much play time you’d get if you charged your unit for five, ten, or twenty minutes. 

Well, it just so happens that I ran battery tests on my then-new 64 GB iPod Touch in February, 2010 and gathered that very information. 

The charge / play times given next assume that your iPod is completely dead when you begin the charging, that your screen is set to moderate brightness levels, and that you have the WiFi capability enabled.  These times also presume that you’re using the ear buds that came with the unit, instead of the built-in speaker.  Given all that, here are the data.  If you charge for C minutes, you get approximately P minutes of play time as follows:

• Charge for 5 minutes (to 10%), get 0 hour and 50 minutes of play time.
• Charge for 15 minutes (to 20%), get 2 hours and 26 minutes of play time. 
• Charge for 20 minutes (to 30%), get 4 hours and 0 minutes of play time.
• Charge for 23 minutes (to 40%), get 8 hours and 0 minutes of play time.
• Charge for 27 minutes (to 50%), get 9 hours and 0 minutes of play time.
• Charge for 30 minutes (to 60%), get 9 hours and 35 minutes of play time.
• Charge for 38 minutes (to 70%), get 11 hours and 30 minutes of play time.
• Charge for 46 minutes (to 80%), get 12 hours and 15 minutes of play time.
• Charge for 62 minutes (to 85%), get 13 hours and 0 minutes of play time.
• Charge for 86 minutes (to 90%), get 13 hours and 45 minutes of play time.
• Charge for 125 minutes (to 100%), get 16 hours and 0 minutes of play time.

Disclaimers

• This test was run on a brand new iPod Touch 64 GB model, the fall 2009 version.  As iPods age, their batteries hold less charge.  So these figures will become less accurate, the older your iPod Touch gets.
• The charge percentages given were my estimates from viewing the graphic battery on the screen and approximating how far the little green bar had moved to the right as the battery charged.  I had no way to get an exact numeric reading of the charge percentage.
• I played Internet radio during this test.  No videos.  So you may have different results if you view photos or play music locally on your iPod Touch.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• iPod Touch Battery Test #1
• iPod Touch Recharge Times

07:52 AM:   Sorry I just up and disappeared from this thread. Encountered Facebook account problems and had to start over.

08:07 AM: Sounds like a highly useful affirmation.

08:13 AM: Mindy, what happened to your Mom? I can’t find her on here anymore.

—–

08:42 AM: I’m wonderful, Don. Not much software engineering these days though. Instead, I’m a full-time writer, part-time DJ, part time computer technician, and I care for my mother. My health is great, life’s been highly educational the past several years, and I’m enjoying serving as butler and handyman for Mom and her property.

I’m thrilled to find so many ex coworkers here, and was tickled to see that you’re still around and looking well. Do you still wear those bright colored cover-all snow suits to work when it’s cold? Your signature outfit, and I liked it.

How are you? Your kids must all be grown by now, and you must be president of the company.

Oh, and speaking of coworkers: If you see Angela, would you say hi to her for me? We both played on the Tracker product team some ten years back. Sometimes, I get to missing all you folks, and often relish all the great memories. Those fun days seem like yesterday though they occurred long ago – sort of.

Anyway, great to hear from you, and stop by anytime.

Take care.

10:56 AM: Things are great. Just had problems with my old Facebook account. But I think I’m back in business. I hope all is well with you too.

01:12 PM: Inflation has hit our post secondary education system hard. People today pay more for a single year of college than I paid for my entire collegiate education 22 years ago.

01:14 PM: Hmmm. There’s nothing like a subliminal message.

03:15 PM: Break out the chainsaw…

10:15 PM: If a gift you bought for someone years ago but never gave it to him makes you sad, regift! I suppose though, that it depends on why it makes you sad. If it brings to mind very bad memories, then regift. But if it saddens you because it reminds you of good times that you no longer have but would like to keep remembering, then keep it. I dunno.

10:18 PM: Well, on the bright side: At least you’ll probably never make those sane mistakes again ’cause they hurt too much this time around. Remember the pain and the lessons learned from it too.

11:15 PM: Yep. You’re probably in for dark ride for a little while. But the tunnel does end and before too long, you’ll be back out in the sunshine again. Good night.

11:27 PM: It’s about time you profiled your face.

11:39 PM: Tom Hesley  wonders if Facebook booted him on Monday for posting links to writings on his blogs. The help docs do seem to forbid promoting one’s self professionally via a Facebook personal account; though he’s seen many others doing it. Still waiting to learn for sure what happened. But it’s been nearly four days with no word f…rom the Facebook team. So the world may never know.

11:41 PM: Yea, really. If I didn’t know you, I might have begun thinking you were a dog.

11:45 PM: You engaged, Carol?!?!? Congratulations!

11:48 PM: Yep, this is America alright. So get used to the broken English on calls to customer service departments. It’s cheaper for companies to pay operators abroad to take our calls than someone who speaks great English here in the states.

11:50 PM: Yes. I wish they’d get back to me, because I’d hate to inadvertently break rules and get deleted from Facebook again; it’s been a real pain re-establishing all my connections.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Today’s Business: 2010-06-17

I keep this food diary to stay aware of just how many calories I’m eating daily, with the hope that it decreases the likelihood that I’ll overeat.    It seems to work, so here we go with another day…

Today, I consumed the following items:

• Herbal tea and diet caffeine-free Pepsi  throughout the day. 0 calories.
• 01:30 PM: Almonds.  300 calories.
• 04:30 PM: 1 banana.  125 calories.
• 07:00 PM: Beef chuck roast and vegetables.  1000 calories.
• 11:00 PM: 1 banana.  125 calories.

Total calories: 1550.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Other Food Diary Entries
• Today’s Business: 2010-06-17
• Weight Loss: 2010