Tag Archives: iPad Mini

Long Long Night

12 Jun

It rained and poured like crazy thus we had to leave home a little bit earlier to beat the traffic to get to the airport. What would normally take slightly under an hour took us an hour and a half.

But we had to leave early because sometimes when the timing is off by a mere five minutes, the consequences are very stressful. In this case, anticipating the traffic heading towards the airport.

But luckily we managed to arrive early despite a 45-minute crawl at one stretch on the highway. Oh well, we didn’t mind. Better early than late. We waited for an hour before the counters opened for check-in. And within a short time, we were checked in and all set!

We then went to the Premium Lounge to have a light dinner and a nice cold Carlsberg, chilling for an hour before heading to the gate. Everything was smooth sailing.

However, departure was slightly delayed because the runway was congested and we took off at 11.48pm, a 28-minute delay. We are finally on our way.

Within a short while, dinner was served! My goodness, talk about a midnight snack, it was a hearty Briyani Chicken rice. I ate whatever I could, which was not much, and tried to sleep. Not easy though.

Throughout the long long night, it was very uncomfortable. The seats were very narrow. I turned left, I turned right and couldn’t find a comfortable position. Needless to say, I hardly slept and we have another ten plus hours journey to go after the transit.

I dozed in and out of sleep. Somehow time went by pretty fast and soon, day was breaking and I couldn’t sleep anymore. My watch showed 7.45am, KL’s local time. And the first thing that came to my mind was my Candy Crush Soda! Hah! Still can’t let go.

The phone and the iPad could register Day 1024 because both are in flight mode and not updated with the time zone that we are in. Heheh… maybe the next leg, I won’t be so lucky.

Next I checked my MiBand2 and I actually only had 40 minutes of deep sleep and five hours and 21 minutes of light sleep. Yeah, I’m tired.

As I am jotting my thoughts now, the screen is showing another 23 minutes to arrival. Yay.

Be Silly or Be Happy

11 Jun

Today’s the day we leave! But there are worries, silly ones and several of it…

Silly #1: my cocoon is still hanging on the front tree and it’s been seven weeks since the giant caterpillar morphed into it; way overdue from what I checked online to be at this stage. Why is the moth not emerging? Is the constant rain stunting its metamorphosis? Is it even still alive and okay? I dare not climb up the ladder to check because it’s way too high. Whatever it is, looks like we will miss the moth emerging from the cocoon if it does decide to come out during our time away.

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It’s nice in here, I’m not ready for the world

Silly #2: my 1000 and more Days trek on the Daily Bonus for Candy Crush Soda on the retired iPhone5S will be broken because I am not bringing the phone along. And will the iPhone XR and iPad Mini have the trek broken too being in different time zones? I told myself I should stop this obsession but I just can’t shake it off. Silly.

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Day 1016 for the iPhone5S and Day 1023 for both the iPad Mini and iPhone XR

Silly #3: will Rooney, official pet number one miss us?

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Should I chew on it or not? Hmm…

Silly worries aside, there are some happy reasons too…

Happy #1: the pineapple in the garden. It’s been more than two years that hubby’s been taking care of it, and thank goodness it decided to ripen on time before we leave. Harvested last Friday, the fruit of labor and love weighed a whopping two kilos! Needless to say, the juicy and home-grown pineapple was thoroughly enjoyed.

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Juiciest pineapple ever!

Happy #2: the constant rain seems to be good for the habanero plant for it has thrived well and we had a bumper harvest. So much chillies! I ate a little on Wednesday night and oh my goodness, almost died from the fiery burn. This batch is super duper spicy.

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The spicy level of the reds win hands down over the greens

Happy #3: we will be meeting up with M2 in Amsterdam! Yes, our baby will fly tomorrow from Ireland to meet us at Schiphol. And she will miss a few days of Summer classes which unfortunately can’t be helped. I feel it’s important for her to attend her only sister’s Commencement ceremony, hence the plan as such.

Happy #4: we will finally be seeing M1. The last time the family unit was complete was when she came back for Christmas in 2017, so that’s like a year and a half since we last saw our firstborn in person. The weekly Skype video sessions do not count. Can’t wait. A 12 hours and 40 minutes flight for the first leg, then a four-hour transit before the second leg of 10 hours and 17 minutes flight (hopefully no delays) before the family will be whole again. Yay!!!

I guess with the happy reasons outweighing the silly ones, I shouldn’t be too silly and just be happy.

Daily Bonus Mess Up, Part 3

3 Jun

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Two weeks ago, when I achieved the 1000 Days milestone for Candy Crush Soda’s Daily Bonus with my iPad Mini and iPhone XR, my retired iPhone5S was not far off too, at 993 Days. There was a mess up on the tracking but I am not complaining. A week later after that achievement, the iPhone5S also reached 1000 Days!

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It’s a crazy obsession. I should stop.

1000 Days

20 May

Yesterday I reached the unimaginable – 1000 consecutive days collecting Candy Crush Soda’s Daily Bonus! I have been at this for so long, it’s crazy. Who does this besides me?

And what’s even more amazing despite a Daily Bonus mess up some time back, this milestone record was achieved on two devices — the iPad Mini and iPhone XR — on the same day.

1000 Days on the iPad

1000 Days on the iPhone XR

I guess I can stop now or should stop. After all, it was my intention to reach 1000 Days and I have done it.

Becoming Obsolete, Part 2

7 May

I couldn’t believe that I cannot download Pinterest on my iPad Mini yesterday. However, right after that problem, I had things to do in the office so I didn’t pursue further. But I didn’t give up to fix it.

When I had a little breather and time, I went back to the App Store to fiddle again. And thank goodness, the Cloud icon showed up for Pinterest along with a compatibility list that included devices that has iOS9.3 or later. Phew… But unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Skype and iFlix, both still need iOS10.

So Pinterest is back on the iPad Mini and perhaps, its lifespan has just been extended a little bit more than the rest of the devices by the bedside.

Becoming Obsolete

6 May

My iPad Mini is slowly becoming obsolete. Last week Pinterest couldn’t update and it riles me to have that number sitting in the corner of the App Store icon for a few days. But I left it as is because there was no mention of needing iOS10 and I could still use it.

However, this morning Pinterest was suddenly being installed although I didn’t do anything and it looked like it was stuck. So I restarted the iPad Mini, thinking this would help. The next thing I knew, my Pinterest icon was gone from the iPad! Yikes.

I then went into App Store to try to reinstall but there’s nothing for me to even click on to download. Why? Why? Why? It looks like arm twisting tactics here to push me to get a new iPad Mini.

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How do I download PInterest when there’s nothing to click on?

Two weeks ago, it was something else. I found out I couldn’t launch iFlix (not Netflix but similar entertainment provider) because it required iOS10 and my Mini cannot update beyond iOS9.3.5. Sigh…

And several weeks ago, it was Skype that couldn’t be used because it also required iOS10. I checked online if there were anymore older versions of Skype (that can run on iOS9.3.5) but apparently, Microsoft no longer support old devices for it. The only solution if I wanted to use Skype is to buy a new iPad Mini, according to discussions on community forums out there!

Gee… I don’t think I want to do this especially when I now have an iPhone XR that is much faster and sufficient for my needs. Anyway, I didn’t download Skype on the phone nor do I want to have the app on my desktop computer. I simply resolved the usage predicament by bringing my MacBook Air to the office for the weekly Skype session with M1. Easy peasy. As for Pinterest, it is on the phone too.

It’s just a matter of time before the iPad Mini will be relegated to being another bedside clock, along with iPod, M2’s old iPhone 5C and my recently retired iPhone 5S. Sigh…

Daily Bonus Mess Up, Part 2

5 Mar

The Candy Crush Soda Daily Bonus is messing up again. After that episode where both my iPad Mini and my iPhone XR showed the same figure, the next few days it went weird again.

First occurrence, the phone captured the Daily Bonus because I picked up the phone first. Then it didn’t show on the iPad, just like the first scare I had. Then the next day, I decided to launch both together and the iPad captured the Bonus but the phone didn’t. By the third morning, both captured the Bonus!

It’s like both devices are playing tag team to record the Daily Bonus – today my turn, tomorrow your turn and together in unison! I’d never know which devices’ turn to have the honor every morning.

I don’t know what’s going on but I figured if at least one of them is still on track to reach 1000 Days, it should be okay. Then I will stop this addiction after the record is achieved.

Daily Bonus Mess Up

25 Feb

It was a usual morning must-do routine upon waking up yesterday. I would reach for my devices to launch Candy Crush Soda. The phone was picked up, the game launched and it showed ‘915 Days’ instead of ‘17 Days’!

Strange… Why is it showing this figure on the phone? Typically, not including the gold bar tally, all devices (the iPad Mini, iPhone XR and iPhone5S) are independent of each other for the Daily Bonus trek and rewards garnered.

Then I picked up the iPad to launch the app. There was no Daily Bonus showing! Oh no… It got messed up. Would it break the next day? I got worried even though there were many occasions I wanted to stop this silly addiction.

This morning, with a slight dread, I reached for the iPad first.

‘916 Days’ when I launched. Phew.

And the phone… ‘916 Days’ too! What a weird mess up.

A Lovely Surprise

15 Feb

It was supposed to be my birthday present this year from hubby but my iPhone5S had other plans. It just didn’t want to cooperate and be good. The battery issue…

When we went back to hubby’s hometown for Chinese New Year, my internet connection was with the phone and data. There was no wifi at the in-laws’ place so this rendered the iPad useless without connection unless I sync it to the phone which was unnecessary.

So using just my phone, the battery problem spiked; I could feel the heat at the back of the phone if I use it too long. So much so, in a day I had to charge several times. I literally had to live with the lightning cable and power bank if I don’t stay put and have the power socket nearby.

My problem started when I updated to iOS12 last year. Prior to the update, when the phone was still on iOS10.3, it was fine. The battery could last a day without any issues or even longer with minimal usage. But after the update, the phone just couldn’t support the newer iOS. Even without usage, left idle after a full charge, the battery would drain to half. When things are not right, it escalates the problem. Sigh…

After holding out for so long, I finally replaced my once-reliable Apple iPhone5S. I must say, it was good while it lasted. Thanks for being such a wonderful device the past five years. But I have to retire it and move on because I cannot take the battery aggravation anymore. And it’s pointless to change the battery because the cost to do so is not worth it.

It’s been a week with me now joining the legion of oversized smart phone users with my spanking brand new iPhone XR. A lovely surprise indeed.

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900 Days

8 Feb

In the midst of celebrating and enjoying Chinese New Year, I was obsessing to achieve my milestone for Candy Crush Soda! The last four days, without fail I synced my iPad Mini to my iPhone5S, using the Personal Hotspot setting for connection to get the Daily Bonus. If this isn’t being obsessive, I don’t know what is.

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Today I hit Day 900! I am trying to convince myself once I hit the thousand mark, I will stop. I think.

I don’t know…

Yesterday our journey home took six hours, which was not too bad considering I was prepared for a ten-hour drive, unsure of the traffic condition before we started. After three hours on the road, there was a stretch that took longer than necessary but thankfully, the drive home was quite stress-free.

We packed lunch to eat in the car so we don’t have to stop and only did one stop for a toilet break.

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You see nothing but paddy fields in the first stretch of the journey

After a good night’s rest, we are back to work today, otherwise the holiday long break is too long and work will pile up come Monday. Better to clear some now and so that the weekend is more enjoyable with gastronomic gatherings with friends and family. And of course, continue on with the next pursuit for the 1000 Days milestone.