Lets call this a camera test... yeah thats the ticket

So I took a little trip up to see my grandkids.. and I guess their parents as well. All my carry on was tech gear, as I planed on taking a few photos while I was there (and I did). Some didn't turn out so well and some turned out very well. I will post a few here in a minute.


While I was out in the middle of nowhere Washington I was roaming on Verizon towers. I was running with a signal of -104dBm while in the house and had no trouble making and receiving calls and text, although I could not send picture messages, but I was ready for that. I had "Text now" installed and used that through the Wi-Fi to send a few pictures. My daughter was so impressed with my phone that she is nw planning on getting the Samsung Galaxy S4 herself. She just loves the pictures it takes. So now I will show a few that I took while I was away.

This was the "WTH" photo. I have never had this happen while using "Drama shot" on my phone. I call this one "2 1/2 Gabes"

Everyone loves a good panorama shot..here's mine from the trip.

This one was taken at the same place as the photo above.

Grandpa and his buddy

Getting ready for the game!

All smiles playing with grandpa.

Fallowing in grandpas foot steps.(took me 3 hours to get the camera to work right again...)

The only photo in this post not taken with my phone. My favorite family, miss them bunches already.

This photo is saying "You better like this post!"

Thanks for visiting, come back again soon.

Taking a trip, and leaving the farm

Well I am heading North for a few days. Going up to spend sometime with my grandkids and I guess their parents too, but really to see the grandkids. I will be testing the roaming reception which should suck ass not expecting much really as even they have bad reception out in the middle of nowhere Washington. Good thing is they do have Wi-Fi so all should be good. My daughter has started a "Daddy-do" list that I am hoping to complete while up there. So far nothing to big. A shelf, repair some sprinklers and such. I hope I can squeeze that in between playing with Gabe and Melissa....


Still waiting for my carrier to release the Moto X and my phone bill. It is not looking good for them and that's a shame. They were the best out there for me... But they are sinking like a stone. I would hate to see how many customers have dropped them over the last 2 months. I look on their fan page on Facebook and just shake my head. It all comes down to changes they had to make to sell one type of phone... And it has bit them in the lower 40. Iphone lovers I'm sorry but the apple business practices are going to be the death of this company. I will stop there as I really don't want to go on, on how apple runs its business.

I will do a post from my grandkids place but it will most likely be pictures of them.. I will call it "Testing the camera on the S4" That works for me :-)

New toys are on the way

So we have a ton of new toys out and coming soon.

The Nexus 7, LG G2, HTC One Max, Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and a host of Motorola's. There are a few new tablets that are making noise that aren't from "Brand name" makers. Some that look interesting, some that make me want to say WTF?

If you could pick any device to have, no matter pricing and carrier (if that would apply) would you have, or would it be more than one. I myself would love to have the new Nexus 7 and the LG G2. Leave a comment on which you would use and why.


The Moto X is at USCC and a host of others, I plan on checking that phone out today and giving a review on it later this week.


Update on the issues that USCC is having on their billing... Nothing has changed really. I have yet to receive my bill. Call times are still 20 minutes+ and complaints are many. To many of my friends have had it with them and are looking for "Options" I am hanging in there for now, hoping that things will clear up soon. I want to see what these new plans they are going to roll out look like. They will need to be pretty awesome to save this sinking ship.

The cost of change

Just a quick (I think) post.

My carrier USCC has switched to a new billing system. As with most tech switches there has been a few hiccups. Things haven't gone very smooth and as one would expect to complaints are flying like a flock of geese. I understand customers want their bill, they want service. I want those things as well. I am willing to ride the storm with minimal fuss. But as with all things each persons length of rope is different. The fan page on Facebook has been rot with complaints, and the people have that right. USCC has for the most part been absent from that page. Only commenting here and there.


I say give it time people, let things run its course. Complaining will only raise your blood pressure. It wont get the fix in any sooner. After they get the fix in, lets see what USCC has to say.


Give peace a chance

Hello, its been awhile..Sorry bout that.

Well yes I have been MIA from here for a bit. Work has been keeping me pretty busy lately. Long hours and 6 days a week make for a tired old man. That doesn't mean I have been out of the loop though and I have a few things I am going to touch on here today.


First up is my poor carrier, They switched to a new system. Now normally one would think that was a good thing. But.... They were down for 4 days and when they came back online things went a miss. I have been getting reports of phones being activated but not actually coming on until the midnight hour, some not at all. Billing has been a nightmare. I have yet to receive my bill as have many others. I am hoping that things come together soon as customers will not wait for long. Its different when we the customers make an error, but when its a company we pay money to we tend to be fickle. Lets hope thing get better soon.



Next up, SD cards. I picked up a class 10 32GB San-disk card last week. I loaded 1100 songs on it then copied said songs to another SD card then loaded them into my two phones. The one that got the new card then started doing something a phone has never done to me before. It would randomly shut off. Not reboot mind you, but just flat out shut off. Some time s it would do it twice in a day sometimes only once. Now I never panic so I monitored this for a few days, I just forwarded my calls to the other phone so I didn't miss anything. After a few days I finally pulled the card and stuck another one in. The phone has been perfect (once again) ever sense. I will be returning the card for replacement today... if the rain lets up. Which brings me to the next subject.



I live in central Oregon. the area is called "The High Desert" We don't get a lot of rain here, on average we get 10" Which we got last night in the storm from hell The rain came sometime during the night, not exactly sure what time it was as I was dead asleep from a LONG LONG day. But the thunder woke me a few times, but only when it was loud enough to shake the whole house. Then the rain came down in buckets. I would of loved to gotten up and watched the rain fall but my body said NO! So I stayed in bed and listened until I went back to la la land. When I woke the rain was gone and I was ready to start my day. My day off always starts at Starbucks. So off I went. Now here I am with my laptop in tow and just a light jacket. You will never guess what its doing outside...SMDH Its raining and has been for the better part of an hour. I am trying to wait it out but just how much coffee can a guy pour in him?.. I will update you on this when I find out.


Next, I have not forgotten the "Knox" feature I promised. Just haven't had a lot of time to be gathering all the info I want. I did stop into the Samsung store that is now in my local Best Buy store. I asked the guy about Knox and the look on his face told me before his mouth did "I have heard of it" I looked at him and asked "You are supposed to be a Samsung specialist aren't you?" He didn't answer but he did Google it....Again SMDH. I will get said info and post about it soon.


And the other post I promised is just about done, I have a few more pics to do and then I will let that one out to the public.


Get some rest and get ready for the weekend peeps something tells me there is a ton of tech news coming this month!

Update for the S4 brings some cool features

So most of the carriers have pushed out an update for the Samsung Galaxy S4, my carrier (USCC) started pushing it out Monday and I have now gotten it on both devices.

What does this update bring? Well a few things it brings is the option to move applications to the SD card, thus freeing up some much needed space. We were also blessed with the much awaited "Google Wallet" Although for me its not very useful as in my town there isn't any place I have found that lets me use it. The one addition I have been waiting for is the "Knox" security feature. You can find out more here https://www.samsung.com/global/business/business-images/resource/brochure/2013/05/knox_0510_leaflet_web-0.pdf.

I haven't read through the whole thing but when I have a day off I will read through everything I can. This just could be one of the biggest steps in keeping not only you stuff on the device safe, but also keep thieves from even bothering to steal the device in the first place. Stay tuned as I will be updating you on all the features "Knox" has to offer. I will be also posting a little fun post very soon as I am still working on getting all the photo's in order and taken. Sometimes we all need to toss some fun in our day and I am going to try to toss some in yours.

Until then please be safe, have fun and enjoy your device!

Happy 4th of July to you, my readers

Just want to wish you all a happy 4th of July. I have been super busy at work the last couple weeks but things should calm down now. I will be posting a couple times this next week as I am expecting some big news. For now please take time to enjoy this day, have a burger drink a beer and watch some fireworks. Be safe, have fun. HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA