Forum > General Pinto Talk
Charter membership, logos, and decals?...
dga57:
Wittsend,
I was pretty sure when I wrote before that you and I are the same age but refrained from saying so because if I was wrong, I didn't want to insult you. I can generally see the value in new technology but I've also learned the wisdom of waiting for it be perfected and for the prices to fall. I bought my current computer new (a Dell all-in-one desktop with a touch screen) nearly nine years ago and it still suffices. Although I have access to an iPhone, I've never used it to access this site or any other social media. My wife's Facebook account was originally set up so she could keep in touch with her cousins in Tennessee and it has served her well in that respect. Since the pandemic, our church has been livestreaming worship services so she has been able to watch those. As a paid staff member there (I have been the organist for over 20 years), I've been involved in the production of those livestream services, not only in the music ministry, but by personally donating the necessary broadcast equipment for that and our outdoor drive-in services which we transmitted to FM car radios. My wife is the daughter of two ordained pastors, grew up in church, and loves that her chosen church is available to her at home now. I'm also the front man for a bluegrass gospel trio that sometimes performs for the church services, so those have been going out over Facebook for about a year-and-a half as well. Interestingly, it caught the attention of a Baptist church (we're United Methodist) about five miles down the road and they asked if we'd pre-record some music for their online services as well. In all, we recorded 24 songs for them.
The one place where you and I part ways is that I do embrace new automobile technology and therefore, keep newer vehicles around. My wife was severely handicapped by a stroke in 2007 and can no longer drive but I still maintain two late-model vehicles which serve as my daily drivers on a bi-weekly basis. This week I'm driving my 2020 Ram 1500 Limited 4x4. It is both capable and luxurious and if I were single, it would be my lone vehicle. On the opposite weeks (and anytime Gloria goes with me) my ride is a 2020 Lincoln Corsair Reserve AWD. It's smaller than anything I've owned in a long time but I really, really like it. It's powered by an economical 2.0 Ecoboost engine that is simply amazing. Its comfort level is comparable to that of the 2017 Lincoln Continental that preceded it and it is blissfully maneuverable in tight spaces. Both vehicles are equipped with 360 degree cameras, onboard navigation, and adaptive cruise control that make me feel just a little safer as I age. Monday morning I used it to take my twin aunts out for breakfast to celebrate their 91st birthdays and they were able to get in and out without any issues; not something that would have happened if I'd driven the truck instead. While I thoroughly enjoy a little outing in the Pinto from time to time, I'm not much of a mechanic and I much prefer up-to-date reliable vehicles for my day-to-day driving.
I think however, you and I would see eye-to-eye on more things than not; I certainly do not live a lavish lifestyle. Here's to both of us making it to eighty!!!
Dwayne :)
Dtmix:
I am only 56, and feel that my ability to keep up with all the technological advances is lagging beyond! Now I know how my late father felt when I admonished him for not setting the ever-flashing clock or recording on the vcr to start and end at a specific time. I remember how he would press record and go to bed. He only wanted to see one thirty minute sitcom. Lol…
Happy Motoring,
Dan
dga57:
Dan,
You just made me laugh out loud! I'm "only" 64 but I did a totally senior thing yesterday. Now, in order to see the humor in this, take into consideration that we have the top cable package available through our provider, for which I pay in excess of $300 per month. It features OnDemand as well, and over the years we have purchased entire series such as Big Bang Theory, Third Rock From the Sun, New Girl, Two Broke Girls, etc. These generally sell for about $20 per season each. We do this because in the early Spring and late Summer, we find there is absolutely nothing broadcasting that interests us. Most of these series have been watched in their entirety at least twice. Neither of us are sports fans so we're now in the midst of rather dry spell, programming-wise. We have a Roku streaming device that we received several years ago as a gift but I've never bothered to figure out how it works so it's useless. I commented to Gloria over the weekend as we were watching Third Rock From the Sun for a third time that I missed having a DVD player. We actually own probably close to hundred DVDs that we've never watched! Some were gifts and some were purchases that we never had the time to watch before we replaced our trust old VCR/DVD combo with a DVR some years ago. She asked, "do they still make them?" and to be honest, I didn't know. A quick online search told me that they do, so I went by Walmart and picked one up Monday morning; nothing fancy, just a basic DVD player which supposedly came with everything needed to hook it up. Our den television is a 65-inch wall mounted set with all wiring run through the wall for a neat installation. It has HDMI ports available on the right side which is good because that's how this DVD player connects. I had a dickens of a time getting that HDMI cable plugged in because it's 12-14 inches from the edge of the set and it's hard to slide your hand in there, position the plug correctly, and push it into place. The cable that came with the DVD player was only four feet long and would not reach the access hole into the wall! As a temporary measure, I decided to place the DVD player on a small table with its black cable exposed. The power cord is only three feet long and could just barely reach the one available receptacle, so I ended up with the player on a small table with the HDMI cable coming from the TV on its left, and the power cord continuing toward the right to the receptacle. It looked terrible, but it worked! We started into a seven-disc set of the lost episodes of The Carol Burnett Show which we purchased in 2015. It was still in the wrapper! Tuesday I was out playing music so I couldn't turn my attention back to properly installing this thing until last evening. Went back to Walmart, purchased an additional $50 worth of stuff, and dived in. They had HDMI cables in six foot and twelve foot lengths but nothing in between. Deciding to err on the side of caution I went with the twelve-footer which I had to wrap up around the TV mounting bracket to take up slack. Then I couldn't guide it into the access hole in the wall without removing the lock rod from the bracket and pulling the bottom of the television outward, away from the wall. That was fun! Got it in and fished it back out through the egress hole below it and re-secured the television. From there, I threaded the HDMI cable in through the hole in the back of the media cabinet below the television and the power cord out through the same hole to go to the receptacle. I added a six-plug receptacle-mounted surge protector in order to accommodate the power cords for the TV, DVR, and DVD player. Done! Turned it on and it didn't work! Starting at the receptacle, I retraced my steps and found that the HDMI cable connection wasn't properly seated at the television. Oh, if I'd only started my retrace at the other end! lol So... at age 64 I can even be challenged by old technology! That's why the description of your dad's VCR recording skills made me laugh. Have a great day!!!
Dwayne :)
Wittsend:
"We have a Roku streaming device that we received several years ago as a gift but I've never bothered to figure out how it works so it's useless."
I got a Roku (Streaming Stick) a number of years back. Yes, a bit fiddly to set up but well worth the "on sale" $30 I paid for it. In the activation process they want a credit card in case you elect to use the "paid" channels. There are work-arounds available on line to prompt you through avoiding this. If you have no issues providing your card number and elect to pay for certain channels this is not a problem. You program in the channels you want individually rather than getting a "package."
That said there are roughly 1,000 channels on the Roku with thousands of movies and TV shows and a lot are FREE. Many are cloned duplicates of others but at a minimum I'd recommend Tubi and Pluto. They have a large selection and seemingly fewer commercials. You can also watch You Tube on the Roku too. As is the case "free" means commercials because they need to make money one way or the other. But, if you watch regular broadcast TV you are use to that.
The TV package of my $173 Internet/Cable bill is about $110. And sadly with the exception of about three channels we could do without the TV package all together. I watch a lot of METV and a fair number of the scheduled shows they broadcast (Andy Griffith for example) are available for free on Pluto TV or as stand-alone Andy Griffith channels through the Roku.
Lastly the Roku allows you to "cast" the screen of your laptop/desktop via Wi-Fi to your big screen TV. So, if you have that "nothing to watch time," you might consider filling in that time by getting the Roku up and running. Nothing to lose and something to gain.
Dtmix:
Well, well, well. I have learned a lot just from your posts, and it had nothing to do with Pintos! LOL...I will definitely look into the Roku. Currently, I have Chromecast...a ren't they the same thing?
On another note, I am glad you enjoyed my father's VCR programming story! :-)
Happy Motoring and videoing!
Dan
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