Yup ..my dear dear friends..
I went to the dark side a long time ago.

Why buy low end? you ask...Dave...
Because it isn't worth buying high end..
and it most certainly isn't worth buying middle of the road ...
And it most definitely isn't worth it when every year sees something that one covets more than last year.

So I have what I call a "Snowden Special" ...
Not that it is "special" ...
rather because it is a throw a way...(Like the poor bastard was..)

So I have a garbage android ...
for exactly the few apps needed that the n900 cannot do and cannot do any longer
...and for the LTE .for the few calls I do.
Still use my nxx0 daily.
But now it is at that tipping point where...I cannot say I can get by without something more current ..JUST to keep in touch with friends and family who use a current phone.

I would rather use a $1000 + a year on something more worthwhile,like a proper linux phone, or a ton of BB's, Pi's, or pocketchip's....
....Than continually go for the latest android , iphone or windoze...and "Chase the Dragon" perpetually ..like some Junkie .


Oh I was in the picture mscion..
I was on the grassy knoll.

So Dark side...
yup.
out of pure necessity ...
like pretty much everyone else here

Wait. endsormeans has an Android phone now?

Countdown is over. I've decided.

hahahaahhaahaha

yeah...
I got one...
it is an old piece of crap ...
an off-the-convenience-store-shelf model alcatel...
got it a few years ago now for a couple of bucks...
I figured it would be great because it could run not only android...but firefox and a few others...
I was intending to do just that ...
but all the alternative os's folded...
so all that was viable was keeping it as an android...
I started using the thing earlier this year...out of pure necessity for a some of the apps...mainly translation apps.
which we have zero of for the maemo os.

Hell if we had translation apps or translation alternatives for maemo...
I wouldn't be using android at all.

My woman from veracruz ...a very very very cute school teacher ...speaks zero english ...
and well....
Love and lust trump all..
including blind maemo devotion.

Hang on a minute, I thought you got an Android phone so you could chat with her on WhatsApp? Now you are telling us you need it to translate as well? You poor old sod!

yeah....
she is my fiance now...
my spanish and her english are coming along...
but not fast enough for a conversation in just one language...
at best we have a pidgen spanglesh going on...
Last time I was in Veracruz to spend time with her we made good headway in Mexican - Canadian language barriers...
mainly in profanities and pillow talk
hahahahaha
Since then ...my spanish and her english has improved...
and when she comes to Gabriola Island in...what is it?
13 days from now...we are going to work a little more seriously on our communication ...
She's coming for a month and a half...
and it is her first trip to Canada...
Hell ...it is her first trip to anywhere... where she doesn't have to fear for her wallet or her life..
and where the average temperature is less than 45 degrees every day

It is going to be an interesting experience for her.

Here we go....
a nice modest picture of her....
geez though...Her whole family never smile during photos...
always so serious!
Told her to throw one or two now and then for the camera...
it won't shatter the lens.
Got a beautiful smile...and a huge heart.

Great have a nice time!

And regarding Spain and english. Visiting the capital and with my bad English...I'm probobly still the best english speaker in the city, if not the country

Endormeans. You need a Note 8 with SPen translation
Check out 0:30 https://www.cnet.com/videos/cool-new...note-8-stylus/

I am sure she will have a great time...
Its been a bit since we had time together...so it will be nice.

I must admit for the artistic application ...4000 lvls of sensitivity ...not bad...
I could actually do graphic work on it .
I may be a little hard on the screen consequently...
the translate ability isn't bad either...

Just a shame it's android that it runs on.
also...the price and short life planned obsolescence is a deterrent....
next years or the year after flagship from someone else will offer ...all that and more.
and in 4 years this fabulous offering now from Smashsome will be old in android years and ready for the junk heap.

That.... is downright criminal.
That ...I do not care for.

speaking of Smashsome ...
while they launch the hateful 8 (borrowed that from some obscure film guy)
it appears there are issues on another front...
with the heir to Smashsome...
and with their tv's
https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...-sets-unusable

Fantastic! How about a countdown for your wedding! Just kidding. Sincerely happy for you!

oh yes...
I must admit...
after (let me take a moment to count..) 4...long term relationships that spanned most of my life...and a couple short term ones as a young fella...
and after the last break up...(and strangely they always come back to un-break what they broke...)
I have had more than a full lifetime of North American women.
I got quite fed up with the concept they have of disposable partners.

Determined that if I fell for anyone it was going to be a good and proper catholic girl (well "good" IS after all a relative term) who has her head screwed on right...
from ANYWHERE...
but bloody North America.

Met her in Veracruz when I was crazy enough to go walking about ...in a city that... it is quite foolish even for the locals to go walking about in...
She is downright a marvel frankly...
on one of our dates...we were both robbed by a gang with machetes ...once they got that I was canadian...they at least didn't maim, bruise , break anything or kill me...
Quite polite bunch.
Though I kept telling her to just keep calm and don't upset the gentlemen...she chased them off which I find remarkably fearless...
later she told me she was filling her underwear she was so scared...
But I saw none of that...none of that showed...
I know precious few people... who have that much guts..
and for a girl 5'8" and a 100lbs ....
yelling down and chasing off a bunch of guys much larger ...armed with machetes...
incredibly impressed ...

Frankly ...she amazes me..

Great family
Spent a lot of time with them
...and her mom and aunt both remind me of my grandma...
love 'em to bits.

yup proposed already...
It may be a while before the wedding though...
Hell..I need to pay down debts...and bills from buying a house....
before I can go affording weddings..

Congrats dude. So the new countdown begins... wedding day version.