it's about time

These last two weeks have been a bit of whirlwind. It went from the dull drab day to day life I've been experiencing to my sudden decision to return to CA to be with my family for the summer. I was offered a rare opportunity to continue my employ while there, but on a very very limited basis. After sleeping on it for a night I decided to opt out and rip the band aid off by tendering my resignation. Friday the 31st of May 2013 is my last day at work and the first leg of this journey I've been preparing for. I took today off originally to go camping because it's a four day weekend, but am packing instead. More to follow ...

portable power solutions

Thought I'd share something I recently discovered with you today. Since I began playing Ingress a few weeks ago, I've seen and learned a great deal about the local history where I live. I've also learned what a power hog this game can be and how to overcome the issue from the players. When they turned me onto it I immediately recognized how much of a godsend this will be for the full timing crowd.

The first item is the car charger. This one has a micro USB port like the last one and also includes a full size USB port so you can charge something else simultaneously. This has been designed to work with Android or Apple products, but an adapter is required for the latter one. The power output is high which means you'll recharge faster, and there's also circuit protection built in which means it stops charging your device when the battery is full. Anyone who has ever purchased one of the cheap rechargers can tell you how it has damaged their phones. I've made the pics clickable links to the mfg website for those of you wanting to read up on or see what else they sell.

This next item is for those times when I'm not driving around. For the game this allows me to wander freely for the day without having to stop and recharge once every few hours. In terms of full timing this can carry you through the night if you need to power a tablet, phone, or any other USB powered tech. I can conserve laptop battery power by not having to power the phone from it when being used as a portable wifi hotspot. 

In addition to the first hand recommendations I got from the Ingress players, there is an overwhelming amount of customer kudos on Amazon to back them up. There are a few instances where something didn't work, but Anker customer service was very quick to respond and rectify matters. They went as far as contacting unhappy customers who wrote bad reviews to make it right. The prices are very reasonable and I highly recommend their products for their quality and excellent customer support they offer. All in all I'm very happy with them and recommend them highly.

ding, you are now debt free

I made the final payment today and officially have zero balances across the board. I meant to do it last month but decided to spread out the payments to last Friday. With all the uncertainty going on at work I decided it would be prudent to keep my savings above a certain dollar amount lest I not have and need it later.

So, this is what freedom feels like. Not bad, not bad at all!