So I cracked a hubcap
Yes, I know the proper name for these things are wheel covers, but I still call them hubcaps. Amazon agrees with me on this one.
The current car I drive is over 10 years old. I bought it used and it came with a set of cheap hubcaps. Some months back, one of them developed a crack. When I spotted this, I thought okay, this will probably last maybe six more months and then the thing is going to break apart.
Recently, I had to pull off the hubcaps so I could adjust tire pressure, which went okay. But when putting the hubcaps back on, -CRACK-, that's when that one hubcap gave up the ghost. One of the tabs broke right off and there was no saving it.
Hubcap sets are fortunately cheap, but what a needless expense it is. The only reason I don't drive with just steel wheels showing is because they have surface rust. That rust is totally normal and doesn't hurt anything, but it looks bad, so yeah I will pony up the cash to buy a new set of 4.
Things I've learned from driving a car that has hubcaps
I've owned my fair share of cars, but what I'm driving now is only the third car to ever have hubcaps on it. The first one was a crappy '87 Chevy S-10 pickup, and the second the terrible Versa. My current car is a similar size to what the Versa was (meaning small).
The best bit of information I can give you is that if you have a car with hubcaps on it, ALWAYS take them off before having any tire service performed. Put the hubcaps in the trunk or leave them at home, because if you don't, they will be damaged.
Here are two small stories of what can happen if you leave your hubcaps on when you bring in your car for tire service. One involves me directly and the other is something I witnessed.
When I had the Versa, I brought it into a shop for new tires. The tires were installed and everything seemed to be fine. When I drove the car home, there were no problems... until I looked at one of the rear wheels. A nice big fresh scrape was on the hubcap. I didn't hit anything on the way home, so right then and there I knew the mechanic did that. I also knew there was nothing I could do about it. The damage was there, I couldn't prove the garage did it even though I knew they did, and that's when I learned always to remove hubcaps before going to get tire service.
Fast-forward some time later to the car I have now. Every single time I've ever gone in for tire service, those hubcaps come off first. The time comes due for tire rotation, so I make an appointment at the garage. The day of the appointment, the hubcaps come off and I go to get the service done. This particular garage is the type that only does tires and nothing else. In the waiting area are big windows where you can see all the garage bays with employees working on the cars.
I saw something that just floored me.
A Honda sedan is pulled in. Newer one. The type with hubcaps that will cost you a bare minimum of $80 or even $150+ to replace. Maybe even more. The owner obviously took care of his car because it looked really nice. Well, one part wasn't so nice when the mechanic was done with it. The car is lifted, he yanks off the first hubcap and then proceeds to toss it on the ground face DOWN right on the concrete, scratching it all up. He did this in plain sight and didn't even care.
I want to make it very clear: He did not properly place the hubcap down. Oh, no. He just tossed it.
My hubcaps are cheap crap, but if I saw a mechanic do that to my car, let's just say some yelling would be involved.
When I saw that happen, I just sat in silence, thinking "Yep. That right there is why I take the hubcaps off my car before any mechanic touches my tires."
If a hubcap is going to break, it's better if YOU break it
I broke my hubcap. My fault. The one I expected to break did break, I knew it was coming, so it didn't upset me when it finally broke.
The fact I broke the hubcap actually feels much better than having a mechanic break it. You pay the mechanic to fix things and not break them. Having a mechanic damage or outright break a hubcap is really insulting, especially since that type of damage can be avoided so easily.
When you damage or break a hubcap, at least it's "free damage". That may not sound like it makes sense, but believe me, it does.
Later this week I'll be buying new cheap hubcaps for my small car.
This stupid manual pencil sharpener
It's things like this that make you question whether buying more expensive "quality" items are even worth the bother.
As I've said before, I use pencils (Ticonderoga, specifically). Why? They don't splotch, they don't blotch, they never run out of ink, and compared to pens they never have to be "encouraged" to start writing properly by shaking them. Press to paper and go.
I had a battery operated electric pencil sharpener, but I did something stupid with it. I left the batteries in it too long, they leaked, and ruined the sharpener. Yes, I tried cleaning the contacts, but that didn't work, so I tossed it in the trash.
In the house was an older pencil sharpener. I tried it.
Immediately, I noticed it sharpened better and faster than the electric one ever did. The pencil tip was sharper and shaved wood on the sides smoother.
There are no shortage of electric sharpeners. But as I've found out, the cheap-as-chips 2 hole manual sharpeners actually do a better job.
If you're not familiar with the two hole sizes, typically that means one is for pencils and the other for crayons. If you need more pencil sizes, manual wall mount sharpeners still exist. If you're old enough to remember, it's the same kind used in elementary schools of the '70s and '80s. Chances are if you actually need one of these, it would be for jumbo pencils (specifically RevMark jumbo) used by guys for drawing on wood and walls and other construction type work.
I may never buy another electric pencil sharpener again. Why bother when the seriously cheap one works so well, and does a better job?
Minecraft Interactive Watch (this could have been better)
This watch is significant downgrade compared to the PlayZoom.
I recently tried out the PlayZoom smartwatch. That one is loaded with features and other good stuff.
But this, the Minecraft Interactive Watch... not-so good.
Does it even work? Yes. There's a big red sticker under the case that says it has to be charged for at least 30 minutes (better if you charge it for 90) before it will get enough charge to function. Once charged, it works like it's supposed to.
The strap is pliable, soft and comfortable.
The screen has enough brightness to it to be read, and touch response works.
The pinhole camera is one of those "selfie only" things since it's fixed in place. Yes, it will take very low quality photos and record very low quality video.
Yes, it will operate with no need to connect it to a phone or computer. Just charge it and go.
For a kid's watch, sure, this will pass. But you could get so much more from a PlayZoom. Namely, many more wallpapers, more games, more little apps and just a whole bunch more stuff to keep a kid entertained. And heck, the pinhole camera even swivels on the PlayZoom, meaning it can do more than just selfie photos.
To note, I believe this is the same watch you get with any Accutime Kids model. Minecraft is the one I tried out, but you'll also see this same watch themed as Disney's Frozen, Spider-Man, Marvel Avengers, Sonic The Hedgehog, Harry Potter, Pokemon and Star Wars to name a few. These all have the same lackluster set of features.
In comparison, the PlayZoom is just so much better in pretty much every way. However, I have to bear in mind the audience for this timepiece.
The ultimate question is this: Is it good enough for a kid? Yes, good enough - as long as it doesn't get wet. This watch, just like the PlayZoom, has no water resistance whatsoever. If it gets wet, that will damage the electronics permanently.
To see it in action, I made a video about this watch.
Review and tutorial of the PlayZoom kids smartwatch
This thing is surprisingly really loaded with features.
The PlayZoom smartwatch is a kids watch. Although this smartwatch is very inexpensive, I was interested to see how far along smartwatch tech has come on the low end of the price spectrum.
(If you want to skip my short review of this and just get to how to set this thing, see my video below.)
There are two things about this smartwatch I am absolutely certain will annoy many parents.
First, although it comes with the provided USB cable to charge it, it's a USB micro connector and not USB-C. One side is the bigger USB A type and the other USB micro. The thing should have just been USB-C end-to-end.
Second, when you plug this thing in to charge it, nothing happens on the screen until it's about halfway charged. This can lead somebody to believe the watch is totally dead when in fact it isn't. To get a full charge out of it, you have to leave it plugged in to USB for a solid 2 hours, and then you're good.
PlayZoom vs. PlayZoom2
You'll see some of these labeled as PlayZoom and others PlayZoom2. Is there a difference between the two? Yes. Big differences? No. There are some minor menu changes and not much else. However, as I note in the video below, I actually liked the PlayZoom better than the PlayZoom2, as the menus seemed faster and the screen easier to read.
Something I didn't mention in the video that I noticed afterward is that the PlayZoom2 has a quick-release style strap whereas they PlayZoom doesn't. Does that matter? Probably not, because I don't even know where you could get a replacement strap for one of these.
Surprisingly feature-packed
In addition to the PlayZoom and PlayZoom2, I also checked out the Minecraft Interactive Watch that I'll be posting another article on soon. The Minecraft watch is really basic and somewhat disappointing, whereas the PlayZoom/PlayZoom2 is absolutely stuffed with so much more.
In the PlayZoom you get lots of wallpapers, the ability to switch between digital and analog time, more games, more activities, more everything. The tiny pinhole camera even swivels, allowing to take more types of photos and videos.
Potato quality camera, but that's okay
The camera, as expected, is terrible. Photo resolution is 128x128 pixels. I'm not kidding. The frame rate you get from video is really low. I would guess 6fps if not lower.
But as I said, that's okay because at least it has a camera that can actually be used, and yes the photos and videos can be transferred from watch to computer using the provided cable.
Does NOT need an app just to use it
I was fearful that you needed some dumb app just to get the watch working, but was happy to learn that no app is required. The PlayZoom can operate completely out-of-the-box without ever connecting to anything other than its provided cord just to charge the battery. No account to set up, no wireless nonsense, none of that. Take it out of the box, set the time and date if you want, and that's all there is to it.
Some parts are still computery
The camera portion in particular is something I'm certain a kid would never truly figure out how to use because it's not exactly kid-friendly designed. But that doesn't really matter, because what matters more are the little games and activities which are kid-friendly designed.
For the price, you get a lot
I was expecting the PlayZoom to be total crap. It's not. The touchscreen actually works and is responsive, the menu is definitely good enough for little child hands and fingers, and it just works.
What's the biggest drawback? Absolutely not waterproof in the slightest. If the PlayZoom gets wet, I seriously doubt it would survive. If you have a kid who wants a watch really bad that, and you know the watch will get wet, just get a plain Casio F-91W wristwatch. It's not a smartwatch, but it never needs charging (the battery lasts about 7 years), tells the time and most importantly can survive a bath easily.
I made a video showing everything you need to know about setting up a PlayZoom smartwatch. It's long, but as I said, it does have a lot of genuinely good features to it.
Christmas lights laws (and how to stay legal)
Christmas light laws are weird, but they exist. You can stay legal with your outdoor lights as long as you use common sense.
Homeowners get upset when they find out there are actual laws that ban certain types of outdoor Christmas lights. Older folks particularly get mad at this for the reasoning of, "It wasn't a problem before, so why is it a problem now?!"
Good question. I have answers.
Two things that exist today that didn't before
Two very specific light technologies are the reason why certain Christmas lights are banned. Complex animations and LED.
Originally, Christmas lights just lit up and didn't do anything else. Then the blinking Christmas light was introduced. After that, the "chase" animation, either with fixed speed or variable that you could set. After that came everything else with the complex animations. Animations in different directions, color changing, fading, programmable animations and so on.
Complex animations in Christmas lights started appearing like crazy once LED lighting became cheap to manufacture. LED strips are very easy to attach to a programming module, so of course you can go completely nuts with custom animations...
...but LED introduced a new problem. They are much brighter. Combine strings of LED lights together, and the overall light produced by them can actually be a safety hazard when used close to a public street.
Light Trespass
Okay, now we get into the legal stuff.
If you get busted for illegal Christmas lights, the law used will state you committed a light trespass. What that basically means if that if the lights you're using cross beyond the border of your property - especially if they shine on to the street and/or a neighbor's property - that's where the trespass occurs.
Before continuing, keep in mind older outdoor incandescent Christmas lights never had this problem. The lights had a dim but pleasant glow and never shined beyond a few feet of where they were. As for the LED, you can see even the smallest one at night from a significantly greater distance.
Yes, it's true that even tiny LEDs on a lighting strip can cause distracting reflections on the car windshield of somebody driving by your house. That's how bright LEDs are, even in tiny form.
How to stay legal with your outdoor Christmas lights
I'll present this question/answer style to make this as easy as possible.
Do your lights shine beyond the border of your property?
If the answer is yes, you can get busted for light trespass if your neighbor(s) or somebody driving by decides to report you. This is true whether there's a law written for light trespass where you live or not. Should somebody get a bug up their butt and call the cops, you will receive a visit and told to take your lights down.
Do your lights animate in any way?
If your outdoor lights "move" or even just blink, that can serve as a distraction to people driving by your property.
As crazy as this sounds, if for example you have red and blue lights that animate, some people are in fact stupid enough to mistake that as an emergency vehicle, even though your lights are in a tree.
Are your lights any color other than white?
Non-animated white outdoor lights that do not shine beyond your property border are permitted in all 50 US states as far as I know. Using this type of outdoor light (again, provided there are no light trespass issues) is truly the only way to stay 100% legal with your outdoor lighting.
Workarounds?
Again, using some common sense can save you from legal troubles with your outdoor Christmas lights.
Option 1. Don't use LED
Yes, incandescent does use more electricity than LED and there's no denying that. But it goes without saying that the slight extra you pay for the electric bill will be far cheaper than paying a fine for breaking a light trespass law.
Option 2. Use nature to dim the lights (if available)
What this means is that if you have trees and/or shrubs, they can act as natural barriers for light dimming. If for example you place LED string lights into a shrub, the leaves absorb most of the light. When installed that way, you can still see the lights at night easily without any light trespass issues.
Option 3. Install lights low to the ground
This basically means "not at car windshield height" (to be clear: car and not truck). The likelihood of someone reporting you for light trespass decreases if your lights are installed lower to the ground.
Option 4. Redirect the lights
Use fences, gutters, gates, awnings, posts or whatever you have for this lighting strategy. Placing lights so that the light is directed back towards your house instead of outward to the street or a neighbor's property always helps here. You'll still be able to see the lights from the road, but not so much that it would be a light trespass issue.
Option 5. Dimmable LED lights
White dimmable LED outdoor Christmas lights do exist. If you get string lights like this, set them to solid (meaning no animations and no blinking), then set to the lowest illumination setting and you're good to go.
Believe me when I say that even at the lowest illumination setting, you'll still be able to see these things at night very easily.
The easiest option is #1 noted above
Use non-animated incandescent plain white Christmas lights - which by the way do look nice because they look like little stars at night - and you're legal and good.