My Excellent Choices

Carry the cloud in your pocket! These palm-sized external storage devices plug into the USB connector and are made by Samsung in 1TB, 2TB and 4TB capacities. I bought the 2TB to keep a backup of photos, videos, documents, everything on my laptops and in my personal cloud!

It very fast compared to the USB “sticks” and memory cards that I have used in the past. I used to back up everything from my local machine to the cloud. Now, I do the opposite. Everything in the cloud gets backed up to this external USB.

Choose two or more and select different colors to quickly recognize “yours and theirs” in your family.

UPDATE:

After eye surgery both of my eyes were corrected and perfect for distance vision; but I had worn glasses for several years and I am always reading and working at the computer. While I can still recommend the clip-on readers as a good solution for folks who wear corrective lenses, my personal needs have changed.

I found these glasses with NO prescription for distance vision, and a progressive lens that transitions to computer and reading distance. I chose a pair with no visible line, blue blocking and high-quality non-reflective lenses. Visit their store with the link above and browse their latest styles.

June 19, 2020

My two eyes just aren’t the same. One is 20/20 and the other is very near-sighted.

If I read without glasses, the near-sighted eye can see the computer screen, but the 20/20 eye is blurred. (It’s needs a reading glass lens.) If I put on inepensive reading glasses the situation is revered. My best eye can read, but the near-sighted eye is even worse!

Thankfully, I have good prescription lenses that balance my eyes for distance vision, but computer screens are still a problem. It occurred to me that clip-on reading glasses (like inexpensive sunglass clip-ons) might be just the solution, and it was!

These clip-on reading glasses are available in different powers (I ordered a “1.5 and a “2”) and they are a perfect solution to my eye-strain problem.

If you like quick, high-quality meals – a Food Vacuum Sealer is an essential. Fresh fruit and vegetables keep longer in the refrigerator if they are sealed and re-sealed.

We prepare 2-3 weeks of meals (pre-cooked salmon, burgers, streaks, turkey, chicken, quiche) in vacuum-sealed freezer bags. Each bag contains a meal portion for one or two people. Thanks to the handy microwave. the main entry of any meal is ready in minutes.

Now for the bad news. Not all vacuum sealers are created equal. Since an airtight seal and a healthy vacuum pump is required for a really good seal – these handy kitchen tools will eventually need to be replaced.

But wait, for the really good news! After we tried three other models, our personal experience with this particular product has been stellar. It is still running now – already two, three, four times longer than lesser models. This one is worth the price!

Perfect for hard surface floors, every chair at our house has one on each chair leg. These snack tables needed floor protectors too. Try the square-leg version for the snack tables. This 32-piece package has enough for 8 chairs.

The felt tips are firmly bonded to the plastic cups, and you will want to match the size and shape of these little “boots” to the items. Check out the shape and size information on the linked page above.

You can install these in just a couple of minutes. Just gently stretch open and slide over the end of the chair leg.

This is a huge improvement over those “stick-on” adhesive felt protectors from the hardware store.

UPDATE:

I just discovered the “LIVE TV” link on the Amazon Video Home Page! It brings up a cable TV-style channel list offering free content and easy access to any add-on channels you may have enrolled.

June 13, 2020

Everyone knows about Amazon Prime free shipping, but some of my friends who have taken advantage of this original benefit have barely scratched the surface of the free and reasonably priced offerings in Amazon’s streaming video.

If you have tried the free and Amazon original productions, including an old TV favorite like Boston Legal, you know you need to stay on top of the current offerings. Popular favorites will sometimes be free for awhile and then rotated to the purchase isle.

Fortunately, there is always new free content, and some good buys if you decide to purchase.

One great feature of the Amazon video streaming platform is their bundling of add-on services like CBS all access, HBO, Britbox and more. It certainly simplifies life to have one streaming app that consolidates access and billing for the optional streaming services.

It’s really easy to add a streaming channel, like BritBox, to binge watch a show like David Tennant in the suspenseful detective show, Broadchurch; and then drop it from the monthly subscription with no hassles and no penalties.

If you stream Amazon video, or if you are new to Amazon Prime, click the link at the top of this post and check out what’s new. Try the search feature for an old favorite TV show or movie.