Last Updated: 23/10/2021

I always knew, that one day, this would have happened..

My old friend, Stinky Pete, has unfortunately died, luckily of old age.. He was 6 this years, and that’s not so bad, considering the adventures he had been on and how fast technologies do move forward these days..

I know what you are thinking..

It was just a mobile phone, and you are not a “real” mobile phone consumer..

I know… Still, like anything else in your life, you don’t realise how important they are, until they are gone.. I couldn’t believe the amount of stuff I had stored/saved in that little device in those 6 years.. Unfortunately the battery was no longer keeping the charge and I was getting about an hour or two before it went dead and needed to be plugged in again..

I know now, as it turned out, about 10 minutes too late (keep reading), that I could have replaced the battery, and not having to do the job myself. I had changed batteries in mobile phone in the past, and never really enjoyed as everything is too small for my eyes..

Stinky Pete, was the perfect companion.. Not too big, not too small, with enough power and gadget to fulfil most of my needs.. But its age was starting to show.. Only 64GB of memory, 2600 mAh of power, a 2.1Ghz chipset and a lot of other boring specs that are not longer the latest or supported by the industry..

The last software update was back in 2018, I was constantly running out of memory, so the dead battery, made me decided that it was time to look for a replacement or for Stink Pete Jr.

After a long week of comparison and tedious reading of manufacture’s specs, I set my eyes, on another Samsung phone, thinking that it would have being easier to move from one to the other.. Oh boy, how wrong I was.. It actually took 3 full days (and nights) to get the new Samsung, right where the old left off..

A small price to pay if you ask me, as now I can enjoy new (better) technologies and still having nothing or little to do with Google.. Or at least that was the plan..

This past Thursday I went to one of the Telstra shop to purchase a new phone outright. The young fella confirmed the availability of the phone but it still required me to wait an hour and a half for him to serve the other two customer in front of me.. I asked why I needed to wait as I just wanted to pick up the phone and fuck off to home to start to move the data across.. His reply was that there was still a bit of paperwork to do, a complete lie as it turned out..

So I left the shop and look for away to waste an hour instead of waiting in that stupid plastic and very uncomfortable green chair.. As I was walking around the shopping centre wondering what kind of possible paperwork was required to purchase a mobile phone without one of those “friendly” 24 months contract.

I decide to head back to the Telstra shop and ask for clarifications.. As I got there a new fella was serving the customer and when asked he had no idea of what I was talking about.. He went to the back, picked up a new phone ask for my driver licence and within 2 minutes I walked out of the shop with my new phone.

He didn’t have any protective case so I had to stop just outside to one of those Chinese stand where they have every possible accessories for mobiles, and sure enough, he had the right case for it.. While talking to the man I mentioned the fact that my old S6 had a dead battery and then it is when I got a bit of a surprise..

I can replace it, in 15 minutes your S6 old battery for $45 if you want. I got it here…

Bugger!!! I said thank you and nicely dismiss the offer as it was just a little too late to return the new phone…

Upon starting to use the new phone it became apparent that to get again Goggle out of my life to the previous level as going to be an uphill battle.. I know, I know, Google makes a living by selling my private data to other companies, I just wasn’t sure of how much of my data they already had considering that I always had most options turned off..

Imagine my surprise when this morning I logged into Google just to find all my contacts listed there for the taking. But wait, there is more.. The contact list available online was much more full of details than the current one on my phone.. They had email addresses and home addresses of my contacts that I don’t even have.. Talk about efficiency hey… They got the lot there.. People birthdays, addresses, emails, phone numbers, locations, daily movements, preferences, history of purchases, history of people you talk the most, icons you click and clicked on, pictures of everyone, application you are using, your weight, your fast food deliveries… The list is endless… Privacy my ass!!!

It seems that there is no way to delete most of the above unless you close your Google account and perhaps not even then.. Also, just because you tell Google not to download some features like contacts or photos from your phone, it doesn’t mean that it hasn’t already happened, perhaps from your computer or emails program..  All I kept in my new Samsung A52 is Google map and Google store.. Let’s hope for the best..

While shopping at Aldi the other day I notice something very disturbing… They sell drugs now, (coated in sugar), in the lollies section!

The main ingredient, Ibuprofen has the following possible side effects..

I wonder how many parents have bought one of these “New Lollies” and praise the manufacture for making his/her kids so sedated and sleepy.. Not sure if it was just a joke or a terrible mistake, but someone is going to get killed here, make no mistake.. Normal Ibuprofen tablets do not taste bad, so I’m also wondering why the need to sugar coat them?!? Now if they could sugar coated penicillin pills, I would understand, but this??

Perhaps Aldi has taken the meaning of “drugs that can be sold over the counter” to a new level, or perhaps it is just that so many people have headaches once they reach the counter, because of so many items out of dates, or empty shelf, (mind you the crappy stuff in the middle is always available)..

“Sorry Sir, we are out of bread, toilet paper and milk, but here is our new 18Volts cordless drill”..

I can’t wait for Bunning and Mitre 10 to start to sell groceries, fruit and veggie!

Lastly I was once again reminded that Australia fuel prices are just a joke and that there is no such thing as price gauging or price fixing..  Last week on Wednesday I purchase unleaded for the workshop at $1.45. Saturday, the same servo was selling unleaded at $1.78.. Why? Because of the long weekend!

In the US they are having new sign put up at the servo to help customers.. I’m just wondering how long it will take before this happen here in Australia as well..

That’s enough good news for this month..