Wireless Networking Wonder

This afternoon I had a chat date with a friend at her house, but I almost didn't get there on time. After lunch I got caught up in some To-Dos and had to scramble to get out of the house. It wasn't until I was walking up to my friend's door that I discovered that in my rush I had left my cell phone at home.

In my mind I like to think I'm not dependent on my phone, but today I learned that's not true.

• My friend lives in a multi-unit building with a buzzer system, but she prefers to have me text her when I get there. Today I had to navigate her automated system, which is more complex than I'm used to.
• At the end of a lovely visit my friend pulled out her calendar to set a date for our next time together. I realized that without my phone I could only guess when I was free.
• I usually text Hubby Tony when I'm on the way home, but today I just headed that way.

Wikimedia

When my car got close to my condo something surprising happened. Our unit is on the second floor, and there is a garage underneath the building, so on that side it is three stories tall. The primary bedroom's two windows overlook the driveway. As I pulled into the driveway and started towards the garage I was amazed to see the pop-up on my radio screen that my car had connected to my phone. The connection only lasted for a few seconds before it disappeared.

Once I got upstairs I found the phone on the vanity in the primary bathroom, which is across the bedroom, through a doorway, and catty-corner from the window.

That made me wonder just how far the range of a car Bluetooth was. Google told me it was around 30 feet (9 meters). Assuming each floor of my building is nine feet tall it would be 27 feet up in the air. The bathroom is approximately 22 feet from the window. That means the car 'found' the phone that was 49 feet away. 

Five years ago today: Civic Duty Completed

Yea For Us!

Hubby Tony and I are celebrating a milestone wedding anniversary this month. Forty-five years is a long time! A couple of weeks ago Tony told me he had an errand for us to run together. He kept me in the dark about what it was, but by the time his car pulled into the jewelry store lot I figured I knew what was up.

My original engagement/wedding band set came from the store where a friend's father worked. Both bands had split shanks (bands that split into two strands at the top) which nestled together beautifully. After the wedding I had them soldered together and the two became one ring.

On two different milestone anniversaries Tony traded in the engagement ring diamond for a larger one. I am thrilled with the ring as it is now, but for this latest milestone together we chose two stackable rings with rows of chip diamonds and attaching them to either side of the old ring. Every time I look down at my finger I am amazed at the difference.

Photo makes everything look huge. Trust me, it's not

 

Some time during our trip to California Tony looked down and discovered his plain gold wedding band had fallen off. It's not the first time it's been misplaced in the last 45 years, so after putting out some feelers he came home and pulled out a replacement he purchased a couple of decades ago. However, after losing some weight the replacement is now too large for his finger.

The first time it happened the original turned up and Tony happily went back to wearing it. I told him if this time if it didn't I would take him to the jewelry store for an upgrade.

Five years ago today: It's A Ruby Kind Of Day