Friday October 13th 2023

Yesterday’s humidity and wind turned into rain overnight. I woke up several times to the sound of heavy rain on the roof. With daylight the rain was gone, but if anything the humidity increased. There was plenty of rain in the area, but most of the storms went around my location. The only rain was late in the afternoon. The edge of a storm to the west hit with a glancing blow. The high temperature was in the low nineties, but the thick humidity made it feel much hotter.

My mission for the day was to replace my cell phone. My three year old phone was getting progressively worse. The battery was holding less charge with each passing week and the display had developed some persistent artifact. The new Google Pixel 8 phones became available yesterday. Today I made the thirty mile trip into Fort Myers to get a Pixel 8 Pro from the Verizon store. I would have preferred to buy the phone straight from Google, but the logistics of receiving a package overly complicates things. The purchase process wasn’t difficult, but I wasn’t impressed. I knew what I wanted and the sales rep didn’t have anything to do but ring up the sale. Still he saw fit to try a hard sell on device insurance at more than $17 a month. I had to say no more than half a dozen times. He even had the great suggestion that I just get it and stop it after four or five months. Then he tried to up the anti even more by offering to sell an all electronic device insurance package. After another half a dozen “NO” statements from me, I finally got my new phone and was out the door. Whatever amount of commission on the insurance he wanted was still in my pocket.

Once I got home getting the new phone set up was another challenge. It really wants you to have an internet connection other than the mobile data on the phone. I ended up sitting in my car with the motor running using the mobile hot spot it provides. It is still mobile data but the phone didn’t know it. A half an hour and one phone call to the Verizon Tech support automated help line to get the phone activated later I was up and running. The last two times I’ve bought a new phone at the Verizon store they have done all this for me. The commission deprived sales droid I had today couldn’t be bothered. There are still a few setup things like pairing my earbuds with the new phone that remain to be done. So far I’m happy with the new phone.

The campground has filled up a little for the weekend. It still isn’t as full as it was last weekend. The humidity and the uncertain rain in the forecast may be the issue.