Murderbot waiting for me after a Starbucks run

I considered several different SUVs in my search but the big Tesla price drops earlier this year and the $7,500 federal tax credit put the Model Y in my sights and I pulled the trigger after a test drive in April. I picked it up in early June and it’s an absolute joy to drive. My last SUV was so old that it had no cameras or Bluetooth streaming and I’d chosen an option package that didn’t include GPS. My Model Y has all of this and much more and it’s delightful having all of these new features. I’ve read many complaints from those who think the Model Y still lacks a lot of features (like a 360º camera view) but coming from my last car with no cameras, any camera is a huge improvement for me. Everything is relative.

My Long Range Model Y is named Murderbot after the excellent Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells. If you like science fiction, I highly recommend it! Murderbot isn’t nearly as terrible as the name makes it sound, unless you hurt its crew. No spoilers from me but you’ll know what I mean if you read the books.

If you’re thinking of getting a Tesla or even just want to test drive one, please do so through my referral link: https://ts.la/marianne978265. I get points in the program if you schedule a test drive or make a purchase. If you buy a Model Y or Model 3 through my link, you’ll get $500 off! If you buy a Model S or Model X, you’ll get $1,000 off. Tesla is also currently offering 3 months of Full Self Driving Capability in addition to these discounts on vehicle purchases. The referral program didn’t offer these incentives when I ordered my car so I didn’t get any of these benefits but you can!

If you have any questions about the Model Y, let me know in the comments.

I've mostly focused on tech products in my reviews here, but I'm straying a bit with this one. This is one of my new Favorite Things and I wanted to share how awesome it is.

First, I'll give a bit of background. Feel free to skip ahead a few paragraphs if you're not interested in how I came to buy three––well, technically four, Rumpl blankets. Rumpl makes premium sleeping-bag like blankets that are great to use both outdoors and indoors. I'd first heard of Rumpl products through a co-worker. I checked out out Rumpl's site and came across this beauty, the Pyro Fade blanket. I've always liked gradient color schemes and this one appealed to me immediately. I added it to my Christmas gift list in a not-so-subtle way and Santa, AKA my boyfriend Chris, delivered! And I was hooked.

Image courtesy of Rumpl.com

That blanket became my go-to to relax with on the couch. It came with us on a 2-week mid-summer road trip and saved our bacon on an unexpectedly cold night while sleeping in our truck bed tent in Minnesota. I was taking that blanket everywhere, including back and forth between home and Chris's every weekend. So then I thought, what if I get another one to just leave at his place? And maybe this would be a good time to try a down version, to boot. This led to the purchase of Rumpl #2, the down puffy in black.

The down version feels warmer than the synthetic-filled Pyro Fade blanket, even though they're both rated to be comfortable down to 40ºF, and it's lighter and can compress down smaller in its stuff sack. This became the blanket that stayed at Chris's while I enjoyed the Pyro Fade at home.

But to tell the truth, I wasn't as enamored with the black color compared to the beautiful vibrance of the Pyro Fade blanket. And, Chris began using the black Rumpl a lot––enough that I started bringing my Pyro Fade blanket with me again each weekend so we could each have our own. One of us is not a big cuddler, so sharing a single blanket was not the best idea.

Oh, and that one of us is Chris. Sorry to out you like this, babe.

So I started wondering. Did Rumpl have a down version in a similar gradient color scheme that I could get? Yes. Yes, they do. It's the Baja Fade. So we struck a deal: Chris keeps the black down blanket and got me the Baja Fade. It's light and warm and gorgeous. In Marie Kondo's words, it brings me joy to see and use.

This is me nice and cozy under my Baja Fade down Rumpl on the couch

There's one more Rumpl in this background story. Before I bought the black down blanket, I bought a Puffy Fleece blanket in Deepwater Blue in the 2-person size (88-inches by 84-inches) for Chris for Christmas. With a soft fleece side that's not water-resistant or particularly rugged, it's less outdoor oriented than the other blankets.

I figured we could use it on his bed and it would be much easier to keep free of dog fur than the cotton duvet cover. While it is enormous–large enough to just cover his king size bed––it's also heavy and bulky. And the fleece side seemed to pick up smells way too easily (slow cooker chicken soup and wet dog, to be precise). While it was still warm and cozy, it has been my least favorite Rumpl. It’s no longer even listed on Rumpl’s site anymore, so this may have been common feedback that caused its discontinuation.

I'm not a big hiker or camper, but all three outdoor-oriented Rumpl blankets have been sturdy, stain and dog fur resistant, and warm in every situation so far, indoors and out. The ripstop nylon exterior of the down blankets and the polyester exterior of the synthetic fill Pyro Fade blanket have not torn, stretched or ripped, even under the dog's claws. If I had to nitpick, I'd say that the blankets are a little noisy, making that papery crinkling and slithering sound with every movement. But this is normal for every down jacket and sleeping bag I've ever used and is par for the course for the material.

The down versions can pack down very small in their included stuff sacks. According to Rumpl's site, the 1-person size (54 inches by 80 inches) weighs 1.2 lbs can pack down to just 7" x 7" in the stuff sack. I haven't tried to compress it down this small, but I believe it's possible. The synthetic fill blankets weigh a little more, with the 1-person size tipping the scale at 2.1 lbs. Also, it doesn't compress down as small, getting to 6.5" x 14" according to Rumpl. If you want the lightest and most compressible blanket possible, you'll need to get a down-filled Rumpl.

Down Rumpls in their compressions sacks, image courtesy of Rumpl.com

Rumpl's aren't cheap, which is the only negative in my view. However, they're a luxury item, not a life necessity. The throw-sized synthetic fill Pyro Fade blanket costs $129 (the solid color blankets cost a little less at $99). The down blankets start at $159 for throw sizes in solid colors and $199 for printed or patterned blankets.

Rumpl offers a 10% off coupon code if you sign up for their email list. And I've seen that they usually offer 20% off coupon codes to email list subscribers in October and November to help you get ready for the holiday season.

You can also purchase Rumpls from Amazon. Here are links to the Rumpl blankets that I have and covered in this review:

• Rumpl Down Blanket in Baja Fade print, 1-person size
• Rumpl Down Blanket in black, 1-person size
• Rumpl Original Puffy in Pyro Fade, Throw size

These are affiliate links and I'll earn a tiny percentage of any sales made using them. All of the Rumpls covered in this review were purchased with my (or my boyfriend's) own money.

If you're gearing up for holiday shopping in general, I'd recommend shopping through eBates.com. eBates is essentially a massive affiliate referral site – they get kickbacks from stores you buy from online, and then they share some of that money with you. If you sign up using my referral link, you'll get at $10 bonus when you make your first purchase through them. They mail you a check or send money via PayPal quarterly. Yes, it's easy. No, it's not a scam.

Image courtesy of EyeBuyDirect.com

I recently had eye surgery (a scleral buckle to fix a detached retina <– that video is not of my surgery and is NOT for the faint of heart) and now need glasses since the vision in that eye has changed. It’s been more than a decade since I’ve needed glasses thanks to Lasik and I was dreading doing what I’d always done before – going to a local optometrist and paying a few hundred dollars for a pair of glasses that I’d be terrified of breaking or losing, and out of style in a year. But, wait – I have the Internet now! If I can order toilet paper online, I should be able to get glasses online for less, right?

I searched for the best online stores for prescription glasses and came across several. Looking at EyeBuyDirect, I liked a lot of the frames I saw there. And their pricing was unbelievably low. Like $6 for a pair of glasses including basic single-vision prescription lenses low. I was worried that this was too good to be true, but from what I could tell, it was a legit site with a facility in Austin, Texas, so I took a gamble and ordered two pairs for a grand total of $57.71. I didn’t really need two pairs but I was a little giddy from the idea that I could get two pairs for hundreds less than I was thinking I’d have to pay for just one.

They arrived in the nick of time before I left for a vacation to Hawaii (and I’m incredibly grateful that I was able to see Hawaii’s beauty even better with them). Aside from an issue with my prescription itself (which EyeBuyDirect had nothing to do with), they were fantastic! I ordered the Sydney frames (shown on the model in the picture in this post) as my main pair and the Milo as my back-up. The Sydney is my favorite and I’ll be ordering another pair with my updated prescription. I’ve also since ordered the Robbie frame with my updated prescription, which cost just over $16.

I purchased clear single-vision lenses and they also offer reading multifocal lenses, along with additional lens options like digital screen protection, tinted lenses to turn any pair of frames into sunglasses, and light-adjusting lenses. You can also add on UV protective, anti-scratch, and anti-reflective coatings. The basic lenses I’ve ordered so far from them come with anti-scratch and anti-reflective coatings.

The hardest part of ordering glasses online is knowing which frames will fit and look good on you. EyeBuyDirect and other online eyeglass stores offer a virtual try-on feature. But I cheated a bit and went to a local LensCrafters and tried on several pairs and noted the frame styles and measurements I liked and purchased similar ones at EyeBuyDirect.

I definitely recommend EyeBuyDirect. The links to them in this article are referral links and will get you $10 off your first purchase there (and I’ll get $10 off my next purchase). I earn no other compensation from them and I wrote this on my own initiative. I’ve just been incredibly happy with my glasses from them and since I’d seen in my own search that independent reviews of them are not plentiful online, I wanted to share my experience to help others.

Earlier today, I ordered another pair from EyeBuyDirect (I’m predicting that having such easy access to stylish yet inexpensive glasses is going to be trouble for my wallet), this time with light-adjusting (photochromic) lenses for the summer. I expect those to be fabulous as well and will update this post if they’re not somehow.

If you have any questions about my experiences with EyeBuyDirect, please feel free to comment on this post and I’ll do my best to answer.

I have a fairly old-school (at this point) official factory iPod kit in my car that was originally meant to be used with plain old iPods. I was thrilled and surprised when it worked perfectly with the first-generation iPhone in 2007 and it has worked with every iPhone since then. I even kluged together a revised connection system to go with a dashboard holder a couple of years ago, which has been absolutely fantastic for my needs.

Apple had published little information about the Lightning to 30-pin adapter and it seemed very possible that it wouldn’t work with my existing system. But it was worth a try first before I scrapped my entire set-up and invested in a new kit that would be able to route all audio from the iPhone 5 through my car stereo system directly (my car has Bluetooth but lacks the A2DP profile for music, and I’d rather have a wired line out connection for music anyway).

My adapter arrived yesterday and after waiting several agonizing hours for my husband to get home (I’d forgotten he’d taken my car to work that day) I tested it out. And it works!

My set-up is a little bit more Frankensteinish with the addition of the adapter, particularly since it’s white and stands out so much against the black dashboard. But it works and frankly, I don’t give damn at the moment (though I will happily buy a black version if anyone makes one in the future).

Also, I can’t wait for an untethered jailbreak to come out so I can get rid of the “Accessory Connected” screen when connected to my car.

I did test the adapter with a few other accessories including an old Apple Hi-Fi speaker system and an iHome IP9 clock radio. It works with both but does not charge the iPhone 5 through the Hi-Fi.

The adapter fits flush with the bottom of the iPhone 5, so if you have a case that doesn’t have a wide opening on the bottom, it probably won’t work with it. It works with a flexible generic $5 silicone case I purchased through eBay but doesn’t work with a bumper case I bought through Amazon.

Thinking about getting the Lightning to 30-pin adapter? Feel free to ask any questions about it in the comments.

The MacBracket is a metal bracket that slides into your MacBook Air’s hinge and has a Kensington lock slot on one end so you can attach a lock to it to secure it to a desk. The MacBracket is made of a high-quality alloy by a company in Germany. It retails for €19.90 (about US$26) plus shipping and can be purchased directly from MacBracket’s site or through the German or UK Amazon stores. It’s available in two versions – one for the older 2008 and 2009 MacBook Air models and another for the models made in 2010 through the present. The version I have is the latter to work with my mid-2011 11-inch MacBook Air.

Here’s my video overview of how the Bracket works:

The pros of the MacBracket:

• Portable and simple solution
• Easy way to add a layer of security

The cons:

• Takes time/fiddling to get the hang of installing and removing
• I’m worried it could scratch the hinge and top case corner when sliding it over to expose the lock slot

Given the design of the MacBracket and other brackets like this I’ve seen (check out my review of another bracket I used with my 2008 MacBook Air), you can damage your MacBook Air severely if you forget that it’s installed and try to close it, so beware. I don’t consider this a con of the MacBracket itself since Apple really leaves no other option to secure a lock slot to the MacBook Air but it’s worth noting if you’re the forgetful type.

All in all, I think the MacBracket is a worthy purchase if you need a quick (once you get the hang of it) and easy way to secure your MacBook Air while you’re away from home.
[frame]Disclosure: MacBracket provided me with this review unit at no charge. Despite this, my review is based on my own experiences and opinion and MacBracket did not provide have any input in this review.[/frame]

As an aside, I’ve been working on improving my video recording set-up to get better audio quality and lighting. I just got the iRig Mic Cast to use with my iPhone (which is my video camera) and a pair of PBL softbox lights so I don’t have wait for a sunny day to get good light in the spare bedroom I use to record my videos. Hope you like the improvements!

We recorded this episode on release day – Chris got his iPhone 5 from a local Apple Store and mine was delivered by my wonderful UPS guy at 9:06 am that morning (after I did many neurotic things waiting for him to get here).

We’ll be recording another episode very soon with more of our impressions of iOS 6 and the iPhone 5 now that we’ve had them for several days now along with the latest iPhone and iPad news and rumors.

The screen protector came in the mail today and I installed it within minutes of its arrival. So far, it’s absolutely great at rejecting fingerprints much more than the iPhone 5’s naked screen and I expect it to work just as well in the long run given my experience over the years with SGP’s screen protector products. If you are looking for a crystal clear fingerprint-resistant screen protector, you can order this SGP one through Amazon. It (you actually get two in the package) costs just $13.99 and is Amazon Prime eligible so you can get free 2-day shipping if you’re a Prime member.

After this tangent, we talked about the first purported iPad mini part leak and speculation about the size and design of the rumored device that indicate it will look like a large iPod touch with a slimmer bezel compared to all iPad models to date. Also on the docket were lots of iPhone 5/sixth-generation iPhone rumors that indicate that the new iPhone will be available for pre-order on the date it’s announced, which is shaping up to be September 12 with an actual release on September 21.

My Teh Awesome of the week was the Dark Sky weather app, which I featured on AppShopper here and here. It’s a neat app that offers more precise weather information based on your location to give you detailed information on impending precipitation. A recent update to the app added push notifications so you can get alerts about when it will rain or snow in your area 15 minutes in advance. It’s pretty neat and has already helped me avoid rain on my dog walks.

Chris’s Teh Awesome was the Rhapsody music service and its free accompanying iPhone app. Rhapsody is a subscription music service that lets you listen to any of the millions of songs in the company’s catalog and even download music for offline listening on your iPhone. With the Rhapsody iPhone app, you can get a free 30-day trial and if you want to subscribe after that, it costs $9.99 per month.

The upcoming review I mentioned is for the MacBracket for the MacBook Air. The MacBook Air has always lacked a Kensington lock slot so you can secure it using an industry-standard computer lock. Years ago, I had found one enterprising eBay seller who made a lock bracket for the 2008 MacBook Air, which I reviewed. MacBracket is a German company that has designed similar brackets for the various MacBook Air models and they were kind enough to send me a version that works with the late 2010, mid-2011 and mid-2012 models so I can try it out with my mid-2011 11-inch MacBook Air.

If you enjoy our podcast, we’d really appreciate it if you’d subscribe to it in iTunes and/or leave us a review.

[frame]I missed posting about episode 67, “I am not a thumb model” and you an find the details about what we talked about in that episode at everythingiCafe.[/frame]

If you’re not familiar with the Capta, it’s an aluminum tripod mount and stand accessory for the iPhone or any other smartphone or smartphone-sized device. It has an über sticky polyurethane pad used to secure your smartphone and a ¼-20 threaded hole to mount on a tripod or any other accessory with a stud this size.

Here’s my video review of the Capta:

If the video is TL;DR for you, here’s my summary:

Pros:

• It’s very light and portable for use on the go
• Super sticky – will not let go of your device!
• Works with a variety of devices
• Well-made, should last for years

Cons:

• Almost too sticky, though I’d rather it be too sticky than not sticky enough and drop my iPhone
• $34.95 feels a little expensive for what it is but it can be an essential tool if you need a versatile tripod mount

If you’d like to buy the Capta, you can get it from BiteMyApple.co or from Amazon.

[frame]Disclosure
BiteMyApple.co provided the Capta for this review. Despite this, my review is based solely on my own opinions and experiences with the Capta over the past several weeks and neither BiteMyApple.co nor any other entity provided input for this review.[/frame]