Previously, I have mentioned my growing fed-upness with Apple. They are becoming more intrusive in Apple devices and selling ads while still having the balls to charge a premium for their products. It is why Apple products have always been priced higher – private, secure, no bloatware and an ecosystem that works together in exchange for a higher price. Now, they STILL charge too much and are turning everything into overpriced subscriptions AND adding ads into Maps. I might as well buy an Android phone.

So, I did. I bought a Google Pixel 10 Pro XL.

I have been looking at the Pixels for a while. They have always had great reviews on the cameras…but it was Google – the privacy-devouring machine – that was always a no-go for me. Apple is nowhere near as private as they make themselves out as & it seems to be going the same way as Google so why not try the competition with at least some of my uses?

It was down to the last day of a really good sale so I made my mind up to go get one since they were $300 off – about 25%. Of course, I am always open for a better deal so I wanted to see an Open Box one they had that was another $150 off and it was rated in “Excellent Condition”. I waited for the guy to come back and he was able to find it – the last one. He said they list them in “Fair”, “Good”, or “Excellent”, all at varying prices by condition.

He looked up the prices again, did some mental figuring in the air with the sales quarter, and sold it to me for the “Fair” condition price to get it out of inventory…ANOTHER $150 off! I ended up getting this phone about half of the unopened box price and it looks brand new! What a screaming deal! This was far beyond a great deal.

Man, this Pixel phone is really nice but it will take some getting used to after being this long in the Apple egosystem (no…that is not a typo). I decided I wanted to see what was on the other side of the wall; I am really sick of the view on the Apple side of it. So far, I like what I see and it is everything everyone warned about; LOTS of settings, differences in the touchscreen gestures, and going from Mama Apple’s reassuring embrace to a free adult.

So for now I will have two phones while I figure out the Pixel. I already have two phone numbers in my iPhone – one is Verizon, one is AT&T – for various coverage areas while traveling so I always have signal. That way I always have service and I can easily switch lines over in my iPhone. I will transfer my second number to the Pixel and leave my personal number on the iPhone. My original thought is that (at least for now) I would use the Pixel for business calls, travel, reservations, info, a camera and boarding passes and the iPhone for personal business – keeping Google out of my private life.

There are a whole bunch of new things I need to get my brain around with this phone but I am actually not changing many settings since I want to try the real “Google experirence”. I will use the Brave browser and some Proton apps for mail, VPN, & passwords that offer some personal privacy away from Google. The Proton apps are cross-platform so I will use those on both phones and still have my privacy on the Pixel.

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I still have had too much going on to do as much exploring as I want; random things & weather keep popping up, still keeping me away from getting out as much as I want.

One thing was I had to go back to Deadwood, South Dakota to get my truck registered in person. I figured whole I was there I might as well bring back a load from storage in Spearfish. Of course, I can always find things of interest and to take pictures of, and this trip was no different:

I remember going to Deadwood before it turned into what it is now and it is heartbreaking. Much like what happened to Central City and Blackhawk, Colorado after gambling came in, Deadwood has also lost its authenticity.

Unfortunately, it was another driveathon. I had to dodge a little weather both directions so I drove straight through to get there and stayed the night. Next day I went to Deadwood to take care of business, went to the storage unit & loaded my truck and a 6×12 trailer, and hit the road. I left between 12 and 1 PM and drove to Bozeman, Montana to stay the night there. Next day, I finished the trip – tired and road-weary but I got a lot of stuff out of storage.

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Meghan, Addy & I got out for a really nice hike yesterday in West Shore Unit of Flathead Lake State Park. It is a really nice state park with nice campgrounds, boat launch, fishing and several miles of trails.

We did a loop of about 2 miles and it was so nice to be out in the forest on a beautiful day; it was badly needed and the bullshit in the world just faded into the background – albeit temporarily. But hey…it is some relief and anything helps.

It is a pain having to track my heartrate while hiking but my levels are getting better so I am adjusting to activity in the altitude. Luckily my watch alerts me when I get above the levels I set so I can stop and let it come back down. Yesterday I did not have to do that too much.

So that’s about it for this post. Thanks for checking out my blog.

Shawn