Fall-Winter 2021 Part 3 - Catching Up On Stuff

Replacing Broken and Marginal Stuff

A great thing about being retired is having time to catch up on those little tasks that have been on the “to do” list for a while, like replacing stuff that’s broken or not quite working right—and, thanks largely to Amazon, finding those replacements is easier than ever.  For example, shortly after retiring I took inventory of all the burned-out light bulbs in the house, bought new bulbs, and replaced them—even the ones in the chandelier and the fluorescent ones in the kitchen.  I also bought a new electric shaver instead of continuing to have to go over the same fuzzy spot like a hundred times with the old one.  This despite the fact that I am shaving significantly less now that I do not need to go out in public (i.e. to work) every day.  And then I replaced our old cordless landline phones (yes, we’re old, we still have landline phones) that were working more and more flaky.

In addition to just replacing broken stuff, I found opportunities to buy things to enhance the house.  For example, when I noticed Pat seemed to always ask “Alexa” what the temperature was outside, I went and bought one of those cheap, round outdoor thermometers for the porch.  Although she still asks Alexa what the temperature is, by the way.

Fixing My Foot

 One of the most significant “fixes” I attempted was seeing a doctor about my nagging foot pain.  Turns out I had Plantar fasciitis that was ultimately resolved by exercises, ice packs and expensive (by my standards) sneakers with arch support.

With regard to those special, arch-support sneakers, I first found it a little suspicious that the podiatrist sent me to a specific store (The Running Zone) and even gave me a coupon to use there.  However, putting aside my conspiracy theories about kickbacks and such, I went to the store and got a couple pair of new sneakers, figuring one would be for outdoor stuff like yard work and hiking and the second would be for more “formal” use—like going to the grocery store.

When checking out, I asked the very youthful sales clerk if I could clean these sneakers in a washing machine, as I would with my usual $20 sneakers.  He got kind of a horrified look on his face, apparently shocked that I would abuse such expensive footwear.

In the end, I did wind up throwing the sneakers in the washing machine, however, I had purchased a special mesh bag that was supposed to protect sneakers from the gyrations of a washing machine.  The sneakers appeared undamaged, however, they also didn’t really come out very clean.  Ultimately, I still wore the “good” sneakers to even the nicer restaurants we go to, figuring it’s Florida where people generally dress like the unhoused no matter where they go.  Also, even though the sneakers weren’t pristine, I figured they were “good enough for government work.”

Plantrar Fasciitis solution 1: exercises	Solution 2: New arch-support sneakers	Cool bag for washing sneakers (not part of solution)

A Better Way To Listen To Tunes In The Yard

I just have to be listening to music while I’m doing my yard work.  For who knows how many years I’ve mowed, weed wacked and trimmed bushes while rocking out with one of my old school iPods and cheap wired headphones.  The problem with that was the cable connecting the headphones was always snagging on stuff and getting yanked out, especially when maneuvering through bushes, vines and other vegetation.

One of my first goals in retirement was to solve this annoying problem.  I figured it’d be simple.  Just get a Bluetooth transmitter to plug into the iPod to send the music to Bluetooth headphones et voila: music streamed wirelessly from the iPod in my pocket to the headphones.

I got the hardware (from Amazon, of course) and it all worked except for one problem: it sounded like crap.  After isolating the problem to the headphones, I exchanged them for some better ones.  They also sounded like crap.  I tried a total of 4 sets of headphones, topping out at an $80 pair (I refused to spend more than that on yard headphones) and none came close to sounding as good as the old, $16 wired headphones.

Then I had the idea of simply attaching a Bluetooth receiver (with double-sided tape) to the cheap-ass headphones.  It worked and sounded great and I’m still using that setup every time I work in the yard.  Problem solved.

My new mobile music listening setup using Bluetooth transceivers, cheap-ass headphones and an old iPod Touch (the paint on the wired was not required or intentional)