Start of Lent 2021

 Today is the start of Lent and I have been struggling to figure out changes to make for Lent.  I have decided that as a start I am not going to argue with people on Social Media when they post things that I disagree with.  I have also decided to fast each Friday during lent instead of just on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.  I am also going to make a concerted effort to attend Mass each Sunday during Lent.  During Covid I have been sporadic in my Mass attendance.  With my Asthma I have been very careful to avoid any situations that might put me at greater risk of catching covid.  I think my Parish has done a good job of mitigating risks to the best of their abilities but there are still times that I do not think it's best for me to attend.  Today is one of those days.  I had planned to attend Mass tonight for Ash Wednesday but have been second guessing that since I have had a bit of drainage that has resulted in a bit of coughing and hacking this afternoon.  I don't think that would be a good thing to do at Church even if I am wearing a mask.  

I was wrong about my 2020 Macbook

I had my 2020 MacBook Pro for over a week before I started to notice some things that were annoying me.  In the ended I decided that despite it being a decent Laptop, it was not what I wanted to spend my money on.  In addition to the couple things that were not quite what I wanted, the Apple Event to announce their first Apple Silicon Macs was on the last day of the return period for the 2020 MacBook Pro.  I decided to send it back and have decided that I really am impressed by what Apple claims their new Apple Silicon systems are capable of even for entry level systems.  I have decided to get the Mac Mini M1 as that was the cheapest way to try the new platform and if it works out ok then I can keep that for a couple years until they have the mid tier MacBook Pro available on Apple Silicon and then take a look at that. 

Finally Found my New Mac

 I have wanted to move to a newer Mac for some time now and have been trying different Mac Computers by ordering from Apple and then returning within the 14 Day Window if they did not meet my expectations.  I tried a Mac mini and thought that was going to be the answer but I decided that I really would miss the ability to be mobile even though I don't use it that often.  I tried a couple different MacBook Pro computers before I landed on the one I have now and I think I finally have the one that I will keep.  I have always had Quad Core 15" MacBook Pro Computers in the past and to be honest I probably didn't need a quad core all the time but I liked having it when I needed some power.  Apple doesn't make a 15" any more so I tried a couple of 16" MacBook Pro's and they were great computers but I decided that they were more expensive than what I really wanted to spend and I really wanted something a little smaller to take with me when I leave my desk.  I ended up with a 13" Quad Core I5 and so far it is running great.  I got it with extra RAM because it does not have a discrete GPU and I also want some head room for the rare times that I want to run a VM.  I have it connected via a single TB3 cable to my Caldigit Dock and that allows me to connect my Keyboard, Mouse, two monitors, backup drive and it also charges the computer.  I had heard a number of people that had said they had run too hot but that has not been my experience.  It idles around 120 and the fans don't even run most of the time.  I am anxious to see what the Apple ARM Laptops will look like in the future but not for a couple years when the bugs get worked out.  I have zero complaints about this new 13" MacBook Pro right now.

Still Looking

I thought that I had found the Mac that I wanted to keep but changed my mind again.  I sent the Mac Mini back and am waiting to see what the ARM Macs are going to bring. 

Found My Mac

 After trying out various new MacBooks I came to the conclusion that although I really like having a new MacBook, I really don't like the prices of new MacBooks.  I don't travel with a computer nearly as much as I had in the past so it's hard to justify spending the kind of money that new MacBooks cost.  I decided that I wanted to get a new Mac but at a lower cost.  I ended up deciding to try a Mac Mini.  I used a tool called refurb tracker to watch for refurbished Mac Minis with the specs I was looking for.  The refurbished models were few and far between for a while but I finally saw one that I could live with.  It is a 3.2 Ghz I7 model.  It only has a 512Gb SSD drive but that should be plenty for my Boot drive.  I can keep things like photos and music on an external drive.  I got the model with only 8Gb of RAM since Apple is ridiculous with their RAM prices.  To upgrade to 32GB they wanted $600.   I was able to get 32Gb of Crucial RAM on Amazon for $140 and I installed it myself.  The install process is not as simple as it used to be but using a tool kind that I bought last year and the iFixit video/guide I was able to upgrade the RAM myself in about half an hour.  Now I have the Mac Mini driving all three of my older Dell monitors and have not had any performance issues so far.  I am pretty happy with the performance and price since I paid less than have of the cost of the 6 Core MacBook that I had tried recently.

Exercise - Starting Again

 So earlier this year I decided to start to exercise more and for some time I did a pretty good job.  From mid February through most of June I was doing a great job. I started at 10k steps a day and after a month worked up to 12k steps a day. I was hitting my goal every day and was watching what I ate.  Just before New Years I was up to 203 lbs.  In June I was down to 187 lbs before my schedule got all messed up due to a number of issues.  Since then I have not exercised as much and have not done a very good job of watching what I ate and I was back up to 193.  Today I started exercising again.  I am once again starting at 10k steps a day and will do that for a month before moving the goal up.  I have a goal of hitting 185 or maybe 180 before the end of the year.

Search for new Mac

 I have been looking at updating from my 2015 MacBook Pro for months and have been kind of picky in what I have been willing to settle for.  I have tried multiple 16 and 13 inch MacBook Pros and always came up with some reason that I didn't want to keep it.  Once Apple announced that they were going to transition to ARM processors I decided that I would wait for one of those but I think I have changed my mind on that.  I don't want to be one of the people that buy the first ARM based Macs.  I have decided to go ahead and replace my 2015 now and then in 3-4 years the ARM based systems should be mature with the bugs worked out and then I can adopt the new platform.  

3-Day # 10 Postponed Again

 I have been stuck on 3-Day # 9 for a little while now.  I had thought that after Philly in 2018 I was back on track and would hit my 10th last year in San Diego.  I ended up having to postpone that due to lots of stuff happening at home and the timing just not being right.  That meant that my 10th 3-Day instead would be this year in Dallas.  That however will not happen since Covid has shut down the 3-Day along with many other activities.  That means that at least at this time my 10th 3-Day will be back in San Diego in 2021.  Hopefully it will be safe to travel and gather by then.

It's a Start

A couple weeks ago I finally decided that I have to get in better shape and start exercising on a regular basis.  As of today I have been meeting my 10K step goal for 16 consecutive days.  I have also dropped about 8 pounds from my high weight just before the end of the year.  I have a ways to go before I meet my goals but it's a step in the right direction. 

New Fitbit - Love It

My Fitbit Charge 3 had become very difficult to read so I decided I needed a change.  I tried a Garmin Smart Watch but I was not satisfied with some of it's features and I decided to go back to the Fitbit Ecosystem.  I decided to try an Fitbit Versa 2 and I am glad I did.  The AMOLED Display is quite nice and easy to read and with many different watch faces available  found one that I really like.  I also got rid of the standard Silicon band and put on a nylon band that was less than $10 and I am really happy with it.  Now that I am happy with my new Fitbit it's time to start trying to use it on a regular basis