Need Antivirus Software on IPhone?

It used to be in the old days that antivirus software was required on laptops and such. It was necessary not only on work computers - which wasn’t my problem - but also at home, and that was my problem. Over the years I had a variety of laptops and Norton was the software of choice. I always kept one non apple laptop at home because I still needed it to do functions that an iPad couldn’t. Sometimes a completed digitalart art work needed to be sent via laptop to a customer. I also have to upload images to Amazon Merch via laptop because they are not friendly to mobile apple products. But when my last laptop died I didn’t replace it. My iPad Pro does most everything now, but I still can’t upload images to my Amazon Merch shop. But lately there have been more and more questions about antivirus software - even if you have an apple product. So I started a chat discussion with apple just to get a read on the state of things. The general answer was you don’t need an antiviral software on apple products, but if it makes you feel better it wouldn’t do any harm. And they certainly don’t have their own product and definitely wouldn’t recommend any one in particular. I asked if they or any of their colleagues had it on their devices and they said no. I suppose if you continue to update to the latest operating system and keep everything else up to date things should be okay. One of my friends was going to ask apple what they thought. I suppose we can compare notes. I still have a question in my mind but don’t feel like dealing with it right now. 

AI ChatGPT

We have been hearing about the interesting aspects and concepts of artificial intelligence. We asked our almost twenty something year old grandson about it around Christmas. He didn’t think much about it. I thought it would have huge ramifications for both college students and professors alike. I can’t imagine that it won’t touch everyone somehow. Now there are so many versions of it it’s hard to keep up with them all. Last week we got an invitation to join Google’s program called Bard. But there is a wait list and we are waiting for the next email to let us know when it will be available. So I decided to download the Chat GPT app. It cost twenty dollars a month. I figured we could test it to see what it’s all about and then cancel after a month. Well, that was a big waste of time. We haven’t been able to get past the “busy servers” that are so occupied they have no time for us. We tried one day, then the next day. It didn’t matter what time. So I searched for support and asked what we could do. Within minutes we received a canned email describing all of the options - which were all useless. And at the end in fine print you cannot get a refund for this lousy service. Both my husband and I like to stay ahead of things so we know what’s going on around us. We already feel like we are behind the eight ball with technology and so much more zooming past us. But this was a huge disappointment given all of the hype about it. We had heard a long time ago how this technology will disrupt the creative arts like painting. Now I think China has a name for their version called Ernie Bot. I wonder what jobs will be most impacted by this new invention? It feels like the beginning of the internet or the Model T. How life will change - again. But it would be nice to see how it works - especially when you pay for it. 

The Balcony Flowers

We have a very small balcony. And on the balcony there are three flower baskets. Since nothing can be hung from the balcony railings, we placed the baskets on the back of the chairs using zip ties. So the baskets face out away from our view. During the winter we turn the chairs so the baskets face the living room. That way we can enjoy the Christmas decor and greens. In the spring and fall we change out the flowers to whatever is more seasonal. The spring/summer are more annual in nature; in the fall/winter pansies and violas are planted. And of course there is always ivy for trailing plants and spikes for something tall. We also have a small miniature rose plant in a pot that my husband has nurtured for the past two years. This past winter was pretty brutal and we didn’t think anything would survive the almost below zero temps! As the sun begins to warm the balcony - especially in the afternoon in to the sunset - the brown stems of winter are slowly turning green with a bit of green leafy additions. I cut back the spikes but they didn’t survive. But the ivy is doing well and the violas are doing much better than the pansies. It’s just so wonderful to see any sign of life. But the biggest surprise is the miniature rose. It too is doing well. One of these days we will refresh the baskets. We always had gardens in our Midwest and Capitol Hill homes. This is just enough to keep us occupied. 

52Frames Music Weekly Photo Challenge

The 52Frames photo challenge this week was “music.” I had nothing specific in mind - all I know is we don’t have anything musical in the house. I could only think of my husband whistling and clicking his fingers. I knew I’d never get close enough to a bird. However, we did have bird salt and pepper shakers and I had an idea for a composite art/photo image. Photos of the birds were taken from two different angles and another photo of my finger. Then the bird and finger images were isolated and added to the procreate app. Two more birds were duplicated and added to the scene so the end result was one black bird facing three white birds - all sitting on my finger. The background was painted blue and the notes and bird feet were added. Only the finger was shown - the rest of the hand was removed. I used to have a parakeet who did all sorts of tricks and he sat on my finger when I called to him. You could say this exercise reminded me of him and all of the music he made. When we went in to town we decided to visit the “Entertainment” exhibit at the Smithsonian American History Museum not knowing what we might find there. We really hadn’t planned to go there and went on a whim. In fact I wasn’t even thinking of this project until after we got home. I had taken a photo of Prince’s yellow guitar. So I created another photo/art image using the guitar and sketching Prince playing it. I rather liked it, but it was more of a sketch than a photo so I decided not to use that one. I’m sure I stretched the limits of what a photo has to be for the challenge. But it’s nice to stretch the limits sometimes. Now I’ve found a new way to incorporate digitalart and photos. 

Happy Birthday!

Today is my husband’s 84th birthday. The sun is out and I am so thankful that we are celebrating another year and look forward to many more! Not a day is taken for granted and every day is cherished. 

Cherry Blossoms Elsewhere

Everyone flocks to the Tidal Basin to see the cherry blossoms. We haven’t missed a year since we moved to Capitol Hill seventeen years ago. We usually try to go when it is the least busy. But there are a lot of other places that you can go to see the beautiful blossoms. This week we drove in to town and went to see the new exhibit called “entertainment” at the Smithsonian American History Museum. After that we walked down Pennsylvania Avenue and saw cherry blossoms popping out here and there. Then we headed towards the Capitol Building and then made a turn at the National Gallery of Art. There was a beautiful street lined grouping of the beautiful trees. Unfortunately it was a bit overcast so the flowers didn’t pop against the gloomy sky. As the time was running out in the park mobile app we needed to get back to the car that was parked next to the Air and Space Museum. But before we returned we stopped at the Hirshhorn sculpture garden where there was a beautiful tree located by the outdoor garden. Just a few days earlier there was hardly a bloom to be found - now it’s covered in pink cotton candy flowers. It’s a beautiful time of year to visit the city. And we take full advantage of it. 

Uber Rides Resume

We took our first Uber ride in 2014. It was to the Libraty of Congress concert at the DAR building by the White House. We took a few rides more here and there. But since we moved to northern Virginia four years ago - and the pandemic - we haven’t used it since - except twice for food delivery. Our car needed to have a major checkup yesterday and we didn’t want to spend all day at the dealer. So they provide a free one way Uber ride back to your house, but you need to get your own ride to pick up the car. So I made sure the Uber app was updated and ready to use. There is a lot more on it since we last used it, including safety reminders. The service people arranged for the ride and the driver arrived promptly in a grey RAV4. We validated names and got our ride home. We tipped the driver with paper money this time. Our car needed to stay over night so this morning we called up the nearest vehicle and it arrived within five minutes - a red Camry this time. It’s still amazing to me how all of this works and how things are all connected and fairly easy to use. Unfortunately my husband doesn’t deal with any of this stuff so I need to stay on top of digital services. We don’t have any friends in the immediate area who we could rely on for a ride so it’s nice to have this option since I really hate buses and metro. All I can say is that it felt very weird not having our car for the day - like we were really missing it. We don’t do well whenever there is a change in our routine - even if there are other options. 

Entertainment at the Smithsonian American History Museum

I read about it a while back. There is a new exhibit at the Smithsonian American History Museum called “entertainment.” Some of the articles on display are Judy Garland’s shoes from the Wizard of Oz, and Archie Bunkers’s chair. We have seen these items in the temporary exhibit space when we visited there many times before. Now they are a part of the new surroundings that are located on the third floor. So when we drove in to town yesterday for a morning walk we passed through the Tidal Basin and the cherry blossoms and then parked by the air and space museum on the National mall. Then we walked over to the history museum which was surprisingly empty - just the way I like it. While everyone was looking at cherry blossoms we were looking at an interesting array of Americana - it was quite nostalgic in many ways. It started with the Ringling Brothers circus posters and Tom Thumb. There were a lot of baseball items, R2D2 and C-3PO, and a 1950’s Kermit. Then there was Mae West, Babe Ruth, Superman and the Lone Ranger items. Diana Ross, Phyllis Diller and Mohamed Ali also were showcased. Who could forget Howdy Duty and Elmo? What about Rocky Balboa, Michael Jordan and Kristi Yamaguchi? The Sixty Minutes stop clock and Prince’s guitar were also favorites. All of the signage was in both English and Spanish. We didn’t see everything and will probably return again. I need to study the website and see what we missed. Afterwards we took a morning walk along Pennsylvania Avenue and saw a few cherry trees along the way. It’s always such a pleasant time whenever we visit our old neighborhood.