Simple Living

 I'm quite impressed at my original iPad 2 that I purchased 7 years ago in 2011 is still going strong.  Just checked the battery health and it's at 85% useful life, which is impressive.  The iPad 2 is probably one of the oldest pieces of technology that has survived and continues to work as designed. Granted it's a bit laggy relative to my more modern laptops and iPhones, but is totally functional and I rely upon for both its size, weight and form factor as its unparalleled in terms of reading PDF documents; especially with the handy bookmarking feature. While it's required me maintaining a set of old charging cables, the battery life allows me to use this tablet for several days between charges, so I'm not as concerned.  Perhaps in 3-5 years I'll finally retire this device and upgrade to a new iPad or relevant tablet. Update - Aug 2023 - Digital Photo Frame Now in its 12th year, repurposed it to become a digital photo frame.     It's too slow

 I have about 92 items in my primary collections.  By treating them as 'collections' helps me focus and carefully select which items to add, replace or keep. Headphones -- 15 -- $700 Technology -- 11 -- $1700 Watches -- 11 -- $6000 Fountain Pens -- 4 -- $100 Whisky -- 5 -- $300 Clothing -- 46 -- $3200 Value Estimation -- 91 // $12,000 10 items constitute the bulk of the valuation at about $8,000; of which the Rolex and Omega constitute most of that.  The rest of my possessions tally up to barely $4,000.  I used a combination of depreciated or replacement cost to determine valuation; for example I can find my Rolex Explorer online for about $3,700 and used that as the value basis.  Kinda surprising how much money I've spent over the years accumulating all this stuff and in only 91 items! Reflecting on that, none of these are actually my 'primary' expenditures.  I spend more on food, housing or transportation each year.  My car costs at least several thousands in car

I scored a pair of Beats Urbeats Earbuds as my friend switched to bluetooth only headsets.  I was naturally skeptical as I used to own a pair of Series 1 Beats Studio headphones and was quite disappointed with them. But when I tried on these Beat Earbuds, I was surprised and impressed.  The bass was toned down (unusual for 'Beats') and the mids/treble are tuned to be a bit brighter.  I immediately had to compare them against my Klipsch R6i's. Environment Sound Source - iPhone 6s Volume - 50% Klipsch R6i Specs: Drivers -- 6.5mm Frequency Range -- 10 ~ 19,000 Hz Sensitivity -- 110 db/mW Impedence -- 18 Ohms Noise Isolation -- -22 3.5mm Plug (Gold) Flat Cable (Tangle Free)  Microphone In-Line Control (Volume Up/Down, Start/Pause) $60 @ Amazon Beats Urbeats Specs***: Drivers -- 9mm Frequency Range --10 Hz ~ TBD Hz Sensitivity -- 112 db/mW Impedence -- 18 Ohms Noise Isolation -- -20 3.5 mm Plug Flat Cable (Tangle Free) Microphone) In-Line Contr