Here is tip #2 of the year.

Do you have slow drains in your bathroom sink?  I used to use the hair and grease cleaners and they seemed to work fine but lately, since I started using Dr. Ellie’s mouth/teeth protocol, I notice that my sink would not clear up with those cleaners.  I couldn’t figure out why so I took off the p-trap under the sink – and it was clean.  I then lifted up the plug thing on the drain and it had this black yuck – almost like seaweed, thick and goopy.

So good old Google searching led me to a product highly rated for bathroom sinks.  It is called Insta-Flo (I think I bought it at a hardware store).  It is an odorless drain cleaner that works in 60 seconds on hair, grease and soap scum.  That black goopy yuck was soap scum combined with all those dental rinses built up over time.  The standard drain cleaners did not address soap scum so I gave it a try.

And it worked – wonderfully!  The first step is to warm up the pipes with hot water.  Then, put 1/2 – 1 cup of Insta-Flo crystals into the drain.  It works best if you can get it directly into the drain by pulling up and out the drain plug instead of just pouring it into the basin.  My first try was into the basin and it didn’t do much, so my 2nd try was lifting up the drain plug and putting 1/2 cup directly into the drain pipe.

The next step is to run hot water until the crystals dissolve.  You can actually hear pops and sizzles – which are quite satisfying.  Let stand for 1 minute, then flush with hot water.

Swoosh!  Clear drains, seaweed goop gone!  Until the next time.

Actually, it recommends using a half cup monthly for maintenance – so it doesn’t ever get to the slow plugged up state.  We’ll see.  I tend to wait until I have a problem but maybe I can learn a new behavior.

I hope this Tip #2 is useful to you.  Tip #3 will be coming soon.

I am not a dessert person and can easily pass up a piece of cake or after dinner desserts.

But not this one.

OMG, it is like mousse and creamy deliciousness with subtle peanut butter on a crunchy wonderful crust meet up in rich delight. I have had pies from Costco before and have been underwhelmed with them, but THIS one takes the top prize. It is a very big rich pie so it is best to share with friends and/or neighbors. I already cut out a portion to save for myself in a lidded glass pyrex square.

It is quite messy – or maybe it is because I cut it and plop it on my plate so I can dig in right away. No matter. This one is a winnah!

Update: After having a piece a day for 3 days in a row, I am overloaded and don’t like how sweet it is. We ended up giving our neighbors three quarters of it and hope they like it.

I remember the first time I encountered a Ring doorbell. I went to visit my brother in Palolo but no one was home after I went to their front door. Then I had to jump back because my brother’s voice came out of the woodwork and said “Hi! We’re at Costco right now.” and I could hear my sister-in-law laughing in the background because she could see my shocked reaction via the Ring camera.

A few years after that, I decided to buy one for my front door and it has been one of the best techie gadgets ever. It is super easy to install – especially if it is the battery model. My grandson loves to ring it and hear the chimes and I can see whoever is there whether they press the door bell or just pass by. $39 per year will save videos so I can scroll backwards and see who came by (as well as seeing myself going in and out). There are several different models that can be found on the Ring.com website and once you sign up and buy one, you get special deals and discounts (so now I have a second ring for my back door). At first I balked at paying $39/year but it comes out to a bit more than $3/month and being able to scroll back is a wonderful feature vs. only getting live views that are not recorded.

The Neighborhood app

Just the doorbell and video features are great, but what is even niftier is the sister app to Ring called Neighbors. I signed up for notifications about crime, lost animals, community events all within a certain range from where I live. I get notifications about break ins, weird people walking into yards – captured and shared videos posted by other Ring users in my vicinity. There are some unlawful incidents and the perpetrators are caught on camera to alert us and help the police catch them.

Tonight, the Ring Neighborhood app brought home my daughter’s doggie.

Toshi wandered out of the yard around noon because the side gate was left open. Usually he hangs around since he is 14 years old, slow, and deaf but this time I didn’t notice that he was missing until a couple of hours had passed. I drove around and around and then put on my walking shoes after killing my feet with rubber slippers and walked for blocks in the hot sun asking people if they saw a loose dog. I gave up in the evening, called the Humane Society to report a lost dog, posted on Facebook’s Paw Posse Ohana (which takes a few hours to be moderated and approved), and then decided to try the Ring Neighborhood app.

I described the situation and posted pictures of Toshi. The app shows the general vicinity of where I live and immediately I started getting feedback and support from others in my neighborhood, asking what cross streets I lived on, kind sympathetic messages of hope, people saying that they would go driving around, etc. Within 10 minutes, a message showed up with a phone number and that they found Toshi! He was on a leash at a man’s house and when they saw him and asked the man about it, he said he found a dog roaming around on the street, fed him, and was taking him out to poop, hoping someone would show up looking for their dog.

I called the number and was given an address. I zoomed over and found a nice young couple (Tessa and James) in front of their house holding Toshi in their arms. The kindness of strangers. A community of caring individuals. How wonderful is that.

It makes me want to cheer: “I’m from Kaimuki and no one could be prouder. And if you cannot hear me, I’ll yell a little louder! …..”

I love this neighborhood and Ring helps us to be better neighbors. A big mahalo to Ring and its Neighborhood app. It makes me want to cheer for Ring but it’s hard to figure one out for a name that is just one syllable. “Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!”

Way back when, AT&T used to give the newest Apple iPhone free for each line, every 2 years.  Not sure how they did it but it was such a deal and opportunity, and Aunty used to have the newest phone until the free phone offers disappeared.  After that, Aunty would make do with older models.

Aunty recently went to the Apple Store and bought herself a brand new wonderful iPhone XS and was happy as a bumblebee (are bumblebees happy?) until Apple revealed the debut of the iPhone 11 with 3 different models.  Whaaaaa???  Suddenly, this bumblebee wasn’t happy, but the nice folks at the Apple Store assured Aunty that she could return her iPhone XS for a full refund if done within 14 days.  Or, give Aunty a “rebate” of $100 because of the timing of the new product release.

AT&T makes the deal

Meanwhile, while google searching if the iPhone 11 was superior to the iPhone X, Aunty discovered that AT&T (our family plan) was offering a BOGO – Buy a new phone and get one free (up to $700 in value).  Whoa Nellie, that sounded awesomesauce!

But it had a catch.  The free phone offer was only if a new line was purchased, or a number ported over from a different carrier.  NO problem!  Brand new son-in-law’s Verizon phone line got ported over to Aunty’s family plan (welcome to the family, Jack!) and Aunty got her beautiful silver iPhone 11 Pro, and son-in-law got his new space grey iPhone 11 Pro that he graciously gave up to his brand new wife.

Big deal

The iPhone 11 Pro is really big compared to Aunty’s old iPhone 6SE.  And much heavier.  Much.  It is also slipperier because of its rounded edges and thinner profile.  So slippery, in fact, that it flew out of Aunty’s hands at the AT&T store, crashed on the tile floor to the gasp and intake of breath of everyone there – without a scratch, shatter, or damage!  So, it passed the almost indestructible test with flying silver colors.

It does take getting used to swiping instead of pushing.  And apps got a bit messed up because of the temporary storage in the iCloud such as Aunty’s Starbucks app which had to be re-enrolled on the new phone which Aunty realized after ordering an iced caramel ribbon crunch frappuccino at the drive through so she could get bonus points.  It asked for user name and password and after several wrong guesses, Aunty was defeated and paid as a non member.  Ah well.  It is all good now once the super important secret notebook at home was consulted and user name and password entered correctly.

The camera to shoot for

This phone looks strange with 3 lenses.  Aunty has no clue how to use it – yet.  However, the camera is the reason that Aunty decided to go through the hassle of returning her brand new wonderful iPhone XS and going without a phone for a week.  That, and the extra long battery life – 5 hours more than the previous model and wireless charging!

A picture taken indoor at night from 10 feet away was quite good.  Surprisingly good, actually.  The selfie above was taken at night with an auto flash that didn’t really flash.  Pretty good and sharp, even with the mirror flip camera option, dontcha think?

Crushing candies

Candy Crush is more fun because the screen is so much bigger.  It also seems smoother to play, with the explosions and falling rows of candy moving faster and with less jerk.  Aunty is careful to limit her playing time because it really is a waste of time, just as Korean dramas are.

Ah, Korean dramas.  Something that Aunty can do on her new phone because of the bigger screen.

Hmmm.  Aunty thinks this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

from “Miss Granny”

Miss Granny is still Aunty’s favorite Korean drama movie.  A grouchy old lady who sacrificed her youth and life to raise a son who loves her – but still, she is a grouchy old lady that not too many people liked.  One day she decides to get her funeral picture done because Korean funerals all have a nice 8×10 photo of the deceased looking their best surrounded with rows of flowers.  She walks into a very good photo studio with amazing results.

Over a year ago, Aunty and a few friends hired Jalna to take our individual funeral pictures – several shots in various poses, and all in clear perfect flattering focus.  These would come in handy for “that” day when a funeral picture is needed so our families don’t have to go scrambling around to find a smiling picture to put in the frame.  Most local funerals that Aunty have gone to show a nice color photo of the deceased that has been cropped from a group photo, and not in the best of focus or setting because most local people don’t go to photo studios for individual head shots.

Then came the iPhoneX with portrait mode

And now, everyone can have a funeral picture of themselves, their family members, their friends, their dogs, etc. that is of Korean drama funeral worthiness.

Awesomesauce, really awesomesauce.  Aunty is still learning how but all kinds of filters are available at the touch of a finger, sliding this way, that way, making backgrounds diffuse, disappear, get brighter, cartooney, etc.!  There is more to find out – and one of the best bonuses of having an iPhone is the support at the Apple Stores and the nice folks there.

If you are ever at Kahala Mall and stop in the Apple Store there and say hello to Kale.  Cracked Aunty up when he spelled his name K-A-L-E after pronouncing it Ka-lay.  Super nice young man who would even make Miss Granny feel special.

An OOOPS update!!!

A few days AFTER Aunty got her new iPhoneX, guess what happened.  Apple released its news of the newer iPhone 11!  Aaargh!

However, because of poor timing, Apple will offer a credit of $100 to offset the pain.  Or, better yet, if Aunty returns her “old” iPhoneX within 14 days, the entire charge will be reversed and Aunty can start over again and purchase the newest Apple phone beginning on Sept 20 either online or at the store.  Aunty will do that but will be without a phone for a week.  That is rather scary but then we didn’t have portable phones back in the day and meanwhile all the files will be stored in that mysterious iCloud until the new phone arrives.

Will it be worth the wait and inconvenience?  Maybe so.  The new iPhone has 3 (THREE) crazy looking lenses under super tough glass and longer battery life.  Potentially Aunty can do awesome videos to post here.  Potentially, possibly, perhaps.  Another “we’ll see” in another chapter of Miss Aunty’s life.

Aunty had bought these solar LED accent lights on sale at Costco a few months ago for $20.  It came with 4 glass box lights that could be screw mounted to fences, walls, etc. and powered by the sun.  Since Aunty LOVES solar powered anything, it was a gotta try thing, and instead of mounting it on a wall, one was put next to the house in an area that only gets some morning sun.  Well, lo and behold, it was enough of a “charge” and it helped to light up that dark section of the pathway all night as soon as it got dark!

This was good stuff and sort of expensive so Aunty had to be manju and kept the other 3 in the box to figure out where to put them for maximum use.  The body was of metal and glass so sticking it on rock walls or in the garden where it could rust or break from a fall was out, and possibly mounting it on certain walls were options that Aunty procrastinated upon.  After all, $20 for the 4 meant that they were $5 each, and these were special!

Until …. yesterday, when Aunty did a Costco Hawaii Kai trek and saw the boxes and a clearance price of $4.97 each!  $4.97????  OMG, Aunty grabbed several boxes and told everybody in the store that this was the best deal EVER.  Fo real!  So now, Aunty is telling you readers (especially you, Jalna) about this super duper deal while it lasts.  *note:  these solar lights are sold out. 

Craft Supply Swap II

This next one is also for Jalna because she is such a craftaholic.  Kaimuki Library is having their second Craft Supply Swap session on Sunday, October 20!  Aunty signed up for their inaugural one in February and scored great supplies for free.

First thing, though, is to get put on the list by dropping into the library and signing up or calling the reference desk 733-8422 by October 11 (do it sooner).  Then, drop off craft supply stuff that you DON’T want or use according to their rules – i.e. new and unused good stuff by the drop off deadline of October 14.

Then you show up on October 20 from 2-3:30 in the basement meeting room and you receive your “tickets” for the stuff you dropped off, and with your precious tickets, you go shopping!  *note:  you must be registered with the reference desk and in order to get tickets, you need to drop off supplies in good condition at least 6 days prior to the swap day. There weren’t too many sewing supplies but had lots of scrap booking papers and plenty doo hickies and doo dads.

The best part about this Swap session was de-accessing Aunty’s stuff not being used but yet was good stuff.  The bonus was going home with more stuff with possibilities – that might end up back at Kaimuki Library, lol.

This has been a very busy week because of yet another marriage.  Two of Aunty’s kids got married in December (one big wedding and one very small).  Wedding #3 was on Wednesday with dinners for family and a beach house party for friends on Saturday.  Whew!  Three kids down, and one daughter left to marry off – the one in this video, catching the bouquet:

A great consequence of all this busy-ness (besides gaining 2 great son-in-laws and a wonderful daughter-in-law) is having son Mikey at home to tackle his assigned to-do list of computer fixing.  He whizzed through updating the company’s google listing search errors, transferred all the files and apps from Aunty’s old Mac laptop to the new one, and migrated emails and folders over (with some glitches that Spectrum and Apple Support helped figure out).  Aunty suspects a conspiracy with internet companies and computer makers that upgrade, morph, and change programs so we are forced to buy a new computer or phone every few years, and it is a pain to keep up, much less understand the new spin on it all.

Do you understand what the iCloud is?

If you do, congrats.  All Aunty understood was that it was storing stuff automatically, but where it was and how to access it was a mystery that didn’t need solving.  Except for pictures.

Nephew David is a photography hobbyist with a good camera and an eye for great shots.  He started sending Aunty bunches of photos with Google pictures.  Lots of them.  Waaaaah!  How to store them when iCloud is full and the desktop is already so crowded and iPhoto had years of old stuff taking up space.  “Mom,”, said techie son, “You need to store all your photos on Google photos because it has unlimited storage, for free.”

Oh, no, ANOTHER cloud thing?

Yep, but it had unlimited space and it was free, so….. Aunty said, “Okay, YOU do it, Mikey.”  And he did, at photos.google.com.   A prerequisite is a gmail account.  He also used an application to “pull” the photos from iPhoto into Aunty’s Google photo account.  This took a long time because each folder needed to be opened up and dragged into the Google photo page to be downloaded.  Once done, it was very nifty to be able to “search your photos” with a subject description (i.e. art or dogs) and create albums from those searches.  Really nifty, and that was just the beginning of Google brilliance.  Sharing becomes really easy because it is connected to your gmail account.  Pictures taken on smart phones also appear instantly on the computer, like magic.

Google also has another free cloud thing for documents called Google Docs – really awesome stuff where you can write, edit, save, etc. – but Aunty was already so full from computer migration and photo library moving, that it was techno overload and will be a lesson for another day.

Like Star Trek

Aunty feels like she has boarded the starship Enterprise, exploring strange, new worlds, to seek out new things and chuck the old.  Except Aunty is old and not ready to be chucked.  So it becomes a matter of learning new tricks, slowly, and one at a time.  It used to be a universal truth that the older you get, the wiser you become.  Maybe we still do get wiser, but those young people are smarter, learn faster and have nimbler thumbs.

Post note:  Aunty has used Uber twice since coming back from California.  Once to pick up her Mazda after servicing and another time to travel from Hawaii Potters Guild to Ala Wai Community Park.  It was VERY convenient.  The hardest thing about it is signing up for it at Uber.com (using this link will give Aunty some Uber credits!)  Google and Uber.  Two made up techie words that are changing our world for the better.