I find it difficult to write which is why I don’t post often besides the monthly BAJOAT updates on this website. Sometimes I’ll have an idea for a post but by the time I get to write about it that idea isn’t as compelling or I forgot to document parts of a project so anything I write won’t do it justice so I don’t. My perfectionism is really procrastination in the end and has been my life long battle. It’s something I’m aware of and working on – hence this post apropos the bits and pieces of things that have been going on with me this summer that I’m forcing myself to write about.
Shoe Retirement
I’ve been wearing a pair of Brooks Glycerin 15 running shoes when I walk or run to do errands for the last 2 years. I got them for free from my mom who had in turn received them from an elderly person who was getting a new pair of shoes. That elderly man died about 6 months later by which time I had not yet even tried them on. So I always referred to them as my “Dead Man’s Shoes”. They were in used but good condition still and I had never had a pair of Brooks shoes before. They quickly became my favorite pair. They were extremely comfortable and kept cool especially on hot summer days which is important as my feet sweat a lot. They originally retailed at $150 ($175 after tax thereabouts) which explains my lack of experience in regards to Brooks. Overall they were a great pair of shoes that have survived multiple washes and hundreds of miles so if I ever find a similar pair for under $40 (or in the garbage ideally) I will definitely go for that brand again. Sadly they died about a week ago when I finally wore holes (cracks) in both shoes from use.
New “Tablet”
My routine every night before I fall asleep is to watch videos on Youtube (or some similar streaming APP). When the tablet starts slipping out of my grip I know it’s time for bed. Since January of 2021 I’ve been using a Lenovo Smart Tab M10 that I paid $150.80 ($173.38) for that purpose.
It fit my needs until about 8 months ago when it really began to show its age. It came with 2GB of ram which is just not enough to run even current mundane applications under Android 9 without substantial lag. It only had 32GB of storage which meant I couldn’t install many programs natively without triggering storage full warnings and had to force developer mode so I could transfer them to an external SD card (but even then problems persisted). The last straw was that the battery started showing inaccurate readings in regards to charging/capacity and would sometimes drop suddenly from 30-50% remaining to 3% then immediately shutdown thereafter. It’s a telltale sign that the battery is going bad so I knew I would have to find a replacement tablet soon.
I had been shopping around for a few months for a new tablet but there were just no deals that I could find. With the RAM and storage price surges due to A.I. driven demand even lowered spec consumer grade units (without what I consider significant performance upgrades over what I currently had) were outrageously priced.
What finally happened was that I impulsively purchased a Google Pixel 6 pro that was listed on Ebay as untested for $70 after shipping. It was a terrible idea in retrospect since so many things can go wrong with used cellphones besides hardware issues but I had convinced myself I could fix whatever problems the phone had. Plus I was just sick of shopping and it was clear tablets were nowhere to be had anyway.
New Kid On The Block
As it turns out the problem with the Google Pixel 6 pro I received was that it had a broken screen and digitizer. Luckily it wasn’t account locked too so I ordered a replacement screen from Amazon to get it functional again. I am now confident that it will the last cell phone screen that I will ever replace because it was a nightmare. The flatflex ribbon cable on the replacement screen was about 1CM shorter that the OEM one so it was almost impossible to install it properly to the motherboard without ripping the cable off the replacement screen. In addition to that you had to secure the cable to the motherboard with 2 micro screws and I managed to drop one on the ground while doing the installation. It took 15 minutes to find that damn screw and in the process I almost had a mental breakdown. When the screen was actually installed I had to secure it to the phone body with some black glue that would create a waterproof membrane while sticking it down. The glue oozed absolutely everywhere and whatever membrane that was supposed to form when it dried sadly did not occur. Luckily the case hides the botched job so you can’t notice it.
Cons & Pros of my new Google Pixel 6 Pro
Cons
- The replacement screen I installed did work however it had a greenish tint instead of the proper deep black that was supposed to be displayed on a dark screen. I was thoroughly pissed off but the Amazon seller ended up refunding me the money I paid for the replacement screen because of the error.
- I messed up the screen installation so the phone itself isn’t pretty but the case hides it.
- It took a few hours to get used to going from a 10″ screen to 6″7 plus the green tint was bothersome at first but now I hardly notice.
Pros
- It was inexpensive. The Google Pixel 6 Pro ended up costing me $83 ($70 for the phone and $13 for the case).
- Although OS updates/upgrades will end in October 2026 it’s been upgraded to Android 17 which is significantly newer than the Android 9 I had been using on my Lenovo Tablet.
- Performance is noticeably better than the Lenovo M10. It has snappy performance and 12GB of Ram which is more than all but the highest end tablets currently on the market. It runs everything I’ve thrown at it without any lag or stutter. It also has 128GB of storage which means I won’t have the bottleneck issues with the OS anymore.
- The battery it came with was used but it had a large original capacity (5003 mAh) and I can still get a full day with light use or 8+ hours of streaming on it.
- The camera is fantastic (although irrelevant as it’s just a media streaming device currently). This means however that it can serve as a backup for my Google Pixel 6a if something ever happens to it.
Overall I’m happy with the outcome but the lesson to be learned here is that I got lucky and things could have gone wrong any number of ways.
Miscellaneous
Here is where I’m going to do the piddling updates that don’t require longer explanations.
- It’s been a little over a year that I’ve been using my Google Pixel 6a and it’s a fantastic phone. I should have gotten a smart phone long ago because it’s proved to be an invaluable tool but my stubbornness not to have a phone got the best of me again.
- The MAXWISDOM Model RS320 electric shaver purchased for $16 in October is still working fine. I cleaned the rotary heads this week because they had begun to clog up and it shaves like new again. It’s been 10 months so the cost per month is down to $1.60
- I’m still using the Lenovo R500 and it’s had no issues besides being bulky. Linux Mint runs great on it and I’ve not run into any performance issues with the things I’ve done on it. I was hoping to upgrade at some point but things are a mess right now in the used computer market.
Anyway that’s it. Until next time.
CatsGamesWhatever 