Whenever I visit our family in Fremont, California, I keep my eyes open for wildlife—turkeys and deer in particular, which seem to wander around in no particular pattern, just living life they way they're used to.
One day on Facebook, I saw a mini-telephoto lens advertised for about 20-30 bucks or so. As you know, I'm a sucker for these things, so I ordered it.
It's small, but rather heavy and bulky for its size.
Whenever I use it, the camera tends to lean forward on its own, so it's definitely a two-hand operation to take a telephoto picture.
Not only that, trying to align the camera and telephoto lens is a pain.
Finally, the resulting pictures are not sharp. I can do just as well using the camera's enlargement feature.
So ... I gave up using it as a telephoto lens and now use it as a mini-telescope. It does that well.
I'll show it to my grandson, and perhaps, just perhaps, he'll want it and I can score more grandpa points with him.
While waiting for our flight home from Fremont last November, I noticed a vending machine when I wandered back to the waiting area from the restroom (not that the restroom has anything to do with it).
Curiosity got the better of me ... the vending machine was selling portable device fuel rods. Y'know, for your cell phone, iPads and tablets. The price seemed reasonable ($20) and included free replacement when the power ran out.
So I got one 'cause I'm a sucker for things like this. First thing I did was check the Internet to see if it was offered cheaper. It wasn't. In fact it cost $5 more for postage and handling.
And it works. I used it on my flight.
About a month later, my grandson visited us for Christmas and while he was playing with his iPad, it ran out of juice and he couldn't finish what he was doing. So instead of letting him suffer while his iPad recharged, I let him use the fuel rod.
He was so impressed that I gave it to him.
Now I needed a replacement, but either had to wait until I got to Oakland International Airport in the spring, or spend the extra 5 bucks and order one online.
No need. A couple of weeks later, I saw something similar on sale at the impulse rack at a local supermarket for $10. I bought one, just to give it a try.
It works! I scored again.
