I'll see you high above the fields of Mars

[the_siobhan]

New phone has arrived, has been set up, has stopped beeping at me to let it know it's updating software.

It's very shiny and black and has a very slick interface that is going to cause me lots of problems until I get used to it. Already I've been late for work because the "turn off alarm" swipe is in the direction that the "snooze" swipe used to be on my old phone. I expect to be late for work a few more times before sleeping brain catches on.

It's also very frictionless - it keeps sliding off my desk no matter how far back from the edge I put it. Currently it's shoved under a small stack of paper to keep it put. I have ordered a new case for it, which is on it's way and should be here early in the new year. (Axe was debating with me whether I even needed to buy a case for it. "I mean how often do you really drop your phone?" "A couple of times a day." "Oh, um. Yeah, you should order a case.")

There used to be a drop off at the community centre for old phones to be donated to charity, but that's something I'll worry about when Toronto is under 2000 new Covid cases a day.

***

conuly recently mentioned seeing a patch of unshoveled snow between two houses - an obvious dispute between two neighbours. It reminded me of a house I used to see every day from the bus window on my way to work. It was a duplex with two doors leading onto a shared porch with a single set of stairs. It also was on a steep hill, so there were at least 40 steps leading down to the sidewalk out front. Every winter the right side of the porch was cleared and their would be a neat line down the centre of the stairs with the right side cleared and salted and the left side covered in snow.

It was such a great example of pictorial story-telling it made me snicker every time I saw it.

***

Construction out back has been quiet for a few days. Before they left they installed an enormous concrete fence on the train side of the path. Looks like this:



This is completely different from what they promised us in the consult - the drawing they showed us can be seen here - we were promised a mesh fence with vines growing on it, which is what the existing sections of railpath has. Maybe people said they wanted a better sound buffer? No idea.

Now I'm wondering what kind of fence they're going to put on the people side. It was proposed to be a mesh fence with a line of trees along the outside. I guess we'll find out when it shows up.

Comments

[greylock]

If I was going to guess, they'll come back and throw up the wirework for the greenery once the concrete panels have settled. I don't know a huge amount about tilt-up, but it sees logical, because all that greenery would look nice.

because the "turn off alarm" swipe is in the direction that the "snooze" swipe used to be on my old phone

Ugh. Swiping. Why is everything about swiping?

I hope y'all have a good Christmas!

[doggiesushi]

About 10 or so years ago, I don't think I dropped any my phones _ever_. It helped that they weren't as nicely designed and were more blocky. I think I drop my new phones about once a month now. They're all so sleek with rounded edges; they're seriously hard to keep in your hand.

[the_siobhan]

I have arthritis in my hands, I drop shit a lot.

But then I always did. I got a razor flip-phone back in the day because they were made out of metal so they were a lot more resilient.

[doggiesushi]

Oh! I didn't realize that. Yeah - that would definitely make it hard to consistently hold on to things. For me, I find that I get kinda mindless with my phone when I'm holding it or picking it up - maybe it's from years of them being blocky and easy to hold. Now that they've gotten more slick, I've built the muscle memory of not being super careful. OOps!