When I bought a new iPad about a month ago I toyed with selling my v.7 on eBay. But decided to give it to the wife to replace her 5 year old Samsung. The first few weeks she hated it. Now she won’t give it up. Even though she absolutely hates Apple she agrees they make a good tablet.

On 2022-12-12 20:16, Thomas E. wrote:
> When I bought a new iPad about a month ago I toyed with selling my v.7 on eBay. But decided to give it to the wife to replace her 5 year old Samsung. The first few weeks she hated it. Now she won’t give it up. Even though she absolutely hates Apple she agrees they make a good tablet.

Great...

....but let's talk about my sister-in-law's new Mazda3 instead.

On Monday, December 12, 2022 at 11:55:17 PM UTC-5, Alan wrote:
> On 2022-12-12 20:16, Thomas E. wrote:
> > When I bought a new iPad about a month ago I toyed with selling my v.7 on eBay. But decided
> > to give it to the wife to replace her 5 year old Samsung. The first few weeks she hated it. Now
> > she won’t give it up. Even though she absolutely hates Apple she agrees they make a good tablet.
>
> Great...
>
> ...but let's talk about my sister-in-law's new Mazda3 instead.

Nice...

....but let's talk about LED lightbulbs that fit 1950s style "C9" outdoor Christmas lights.

-hh

On 2022-12-13 01:23, -hh wrote:
> On Monday, December 12, 2022 at 11:55:17 PM UTC-5, Alan wrote:
>> On 2022-12-12 20:16, Thomas E. wrote:
>>> When I bought a new iPad about a month ago I toyed with selling my v.7 on eBay. But decided
>>> to give it to the wife to replace her 5 year old Samsung. The first few weeks she hated it. Now
>>> she won’t give it up. Even though she absolutely hates Apple she agrees they make a good tablet.
>>
>> Great...
>>
>> ...but let's talk about my sister-in-law's new Mazda3 instead.
>
> Nice...
>
> ...but let's talk about LED lightbulbs that fit 1950s style "C9" outdoor Christmas lights.

We decorated my sister-in-law's tree with an all white micro-LED lights.

Pretty much these:

<https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/noma-advanced-cluster-lightshow-christmas-lights-1000-led-lights-warm-white-83-ft-1513965p.html>

But never mind that.

What's under the tree is going to be a set of hockey gear for my 7 year
old niece:

<https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/sherwood-premium-youth-hockey-protective-kit-0839068p.html>

Given her age, the most important criterion is that that set matches her
skates pretty well.

:-)

On Tuesday, December 13, 2022 at 4:23:10 AM UTC-5, -hh wrote:
> On Monday, December 12, 2022 at 11:55:17 PM UTC-5, Alan wrote:
> > On 2022-12-12 20:16, Thomas E. wrote:
> > > When I bought a new iPad about a month ago I toyed with selling my v.7 on eBay. But decided
> > > to give it to the wife to replace her 5 year old Samsung. The first few weeks she hated it. Now
> > > she won’t give it up. Even though she absolutely hates Apple she agrees they make a good tablet.
> >
> > Great...
> >
> > ...but let's talk about my sister-in-law's new Mazda3 instead.
> Nice...
>
> ...but let's talk about LED lightbulbs that fit 1950s style "C9" outdoor Christmas lights.
>
>
> -hh

How about figuring out how to tap into the wiring on my new tree for a lighted tree-topper?

On Thursday, December 15, 2022 at 6:44:43 PM UTC-5, Thomas E. wrote:
> On Tuesday, December 13, 2022 at 4:23:10 AM UTC-5, -hh wrote:
> > On Monday, December 12, 2022 at 11:55:17 PM UTC-5, Alan wrote:
> > > On 2022-12-12 20:16, Thomas E. wrote:
> > > > When I bought a new iPad about a month ago I toyed with selling my v.7 on eBay. But decided
> > > > to give it to the wife to replace her 5 year old Samsung. The first few weeks she hated it. Now
> > > > she won’t give it up. Even though she absolutely hates Apple she agrees they make a good tablet.
> > >
> > > Great...
> > >
> > > ...but let's talk about my sister-in-law's new Mazda3 instead.
> > Nice...
> >
> > ...but let's talk about LED lightbulbs that fit 1950s style "C9" outdoor Christmas lights.
>
> How about figuring out how to tap into the wiring on my new tree for a lighted tree-topper?

Simplest thing to do is to not to: just run its own independent power lead up the trunk to the
tree topper. Its pretty common for Christmas lights to have a pass-through plug, which
obviates the need for a 3-way adaptor (or power strip).

From there, plug the power into a Wyze Plug <https://www.wyze.com/products/wyze-plug>
to allow you to control the lights' on/off from your iPhone / iPad, as well as to set up some
preprogrammed hours, rules, etc. I've set this up for our indoor & outdoor lights; the only
glitch I've run across is that their outdoor plug seems to have a pretty poor WiFi range, but
that could be because of a handshaking issue with my Ubiquiti WiFi6 access points (which
I understand that UI has a firmware update which reportedly resolves this, so that's next on
the IT 'to do' list).

Meantime, this thread reminded me that I'd done some iOS hardware upgrades. I'd bought a
backup iPhone SE2020 and a 9th Generation iPad on sale awhile back, but with the existing
devices continuing to plug away, there was no urgency to put either into service. A vacation
at the beginning of this month was finally the push to swap out my 6s for the SE for gain eSIM
capability to be able to add EU cellular for the trip (FYI, "Orange" worked out great; was just $20
for 8GB data; 15 days). This week, I finally to around to the iPad. The old one was from 2017
(5th Gen); it has a cracked screen from being knocked off a table ~1.5 years ago, so essentially
no real trade-in value; it had been doing fine except that I'd been regularly hitting against its
32GB limit, and with no headroom, devices get boggy & 'freezy'/etc. Surprised it didn't crash.
That's now done, so I'll be looking for a new case, as the old one is worn thin. Perhaps I'll try
one of the combo Case/BT keyboards...

-hh

On Wednesday, December 21, 2022 at 3:17:16 PM UTC-5, -hh wrote:
> On Thursday, December 15, 2022 at 6:44:43 PM UTC-5, Thomas E. wrote:
> > On Tuesday, December 13, 2022 at 4:23:10 AM UTC-5, -hh wrote:
> > > On Monday, December 12, 2022 at 11:55:17 PM UTC-5, Alan wrote:
> > > > On 2022-12-12 20:16, Thomas E. wrote:
> > > > > When I bought a new iPad about a month ago I toyed with selling my v.7 on eBay. But decided
> > > > > to give it to the wife to replace her 5 year old Samsung. The first few weeks she hated it. Now
> > > > > she won’t give it up. Even though she absolutely hates Apple she agrees they make a good tablet.
> > > >
> > > > Great...
> > > >
> > > > ...but let's talk about my sister-in-law's new Mazda3 instead.
> > > Nice...
> > >
> > > ...but let's talk about LED lightbulbs that fit 1950s style "C9" outdoor Christmas lights.
> >
> > How about figuring out how to tap into the wiring on my new tree for a lighted tree-topper?
> Simplest thing to do is to not to: just run its own independent power lead up the trunk to the
> tree topper. Its pretty common for Christmas lights to have a pass-through plug, which
> obviates the need for a 3-way adaptor (or power strip).
>
> From there, plug the power into a Wyze Plug <https://www.wyze.com/products/wyze-plug>
> to allow you to control the lights' on/off from your iPhone / iPad, as well as to set up some
> preprogrammed hours, rules, etc. I've set this up for our indoor & outdoor lights; the only
> glitch I've run across is that their outdoor plug seems to have a pretty poor WiFi range, but
> that could be because of a handshaking issue with my Ubiquiti WiFi6 access points (which
> I understand that UI has a firmware update which reportedly resolves this, so that's next on
> the IT 'to do' list).
>
> Meantime, this thread reminded me that I'd done some iOS hardware upgrades. I'd bought a
> backup iPhone SE2020 and a 9th Generation iPad on sale awhile back, but with the existing
> devices continuing to plug away, there was no urgency to put either into service. A vacation
> at the beginning of this month was finally the push to swap out my 6s for the SE for gain eSIM
> capability to be able to add EU cellular for the trip (FYI, "Orange" worked out great; was just $20
> for 8GB data; 15 days). This week, I finally to around to the iPad. The old one was from 2017
> (5th Gen); it has a cracked screen from being knocked off a table ~1.5 years ago, so essentially
> no real trade-in value; it had been doing fine except that I'd been regularly hitting against its
> 32GB limit, and with no headroom, devices get boggy & 'freezy'/etc. Surprised it didn't crash.
> That's now done, so I'll be looking for a new case, as the old one is worn thin. Perhaps I'll try
> one of the combo Case/BT keyboards...
>
>
> -hh

This is pre-wired tree. I checked and there was no allowance for a plug-in at the top. So, we went for a fancy ribbon topper. The tree is otherwise very nice. I posted a picture on FB.

I wired up the tree, the mantle garland lights and an up-light to a power strip. One click and it all comes on. Wiring is hidden under the tree skirt.

Loved my little SE! Great phone but the 14 Pro is a big step up. The SE is a big step up from a 6s too. For the first time in a long time no worry about battery life. I'm charging every other day with a reserve left. The iPad 9 is OK, but not remarkable compared to my old 7 that the wife has now. I went with 256 gb on both. Foreflight takes up 22 gb alone, and I'm doing video on the phone for my YouTube "channel". I'm not pulling in many hits but the focus is narrow and it's just for fun.

Happy holidays Hugh!