As moms we carry a lot on our plates and wear many hats to boot. One thing that I have found that helps take some of the stress of meal planning is Hello Fresh. No, they are not paying us to endorse them...but I seriously love them, like maybe more than Tyler some days. After wrangling Ellie to daycare, working a full day plus overtime most days, then breaking the kiddo free from daycare, we used to get home and open a cupboard to random pieces of a meal. A Pinterest wonder kin would be able to seamlessly throw together a perfect meal to please everyone in the family and in twenty minutes no less. I have already confessed my undying love for Pinterest, however post tiny human, our relationship is strained for time. I used to spend hours reading recipes, making a perfect shopping list, and cooking delicious meals for Tyler and I. Now days we get home, unpack lunch boxes and pull out our Hello Fresh meal for the day. No more pulling out my hair, peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, or staring into a cupboard wondering what in the hell I am suppose to make for dinner. Now we pull out our perfectly prepped meal, fresh veggies, meat, and directions. Best of all, I can order them straight from my phone! We have our account set up to deliver meals every Tuesday. Tyler and I typically go in a few weeks prior and pick meals in advance, which helps tremendously! We then get our package delivered and off we go! The app is extremely easy to use and has brought my excitement back to the kitchen. It’s often hard when you get bogged down when dealing with a fussy 1 year old who wants to snuggle and is hungry and you have to pee after a long day. Now some days this still happens. On more than one occasion Tyler has come home to find Ellie and I sitting on the kitchen floor, dinner half prepared and either one or both of us crying after a rough day. When this happens Tyler is able to take over without compliant. The directions are both printed with pictures for each step and they are available on the app as well. Tyler loves using the recipes off the app! He especially loves the idiot proof timers for each step built into the app recipe itself. While of course Tyler loves the tech part of it, I love the convenience and not having to spend my Sunday afternoons at the grocery store. Best of all I love not stressing out what to make for dinner. To add a bit more tech in our daily schedule I have created an iCal to share with Tyler, we he isn’t stuck eating similar things for lunch and dinner as he hates leftovers. This all started after I would make a dinner that would blow his funky patterned socks off only for him to come home and tell me that’s what he had for lunch that day, thus our shared dinner calendar was born. All in all Hello Fresh has been a wonderful experience and has introduced us to some amazing food and unique ingredients that we would not have picked out or tried for ourselves....and the tech aspect hasn’t hurt either. Logan
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As we discussed in the first blog post often early Millennials are considered the “Upgrade Generation.” Technology quickly advanced during our youth and young adult hood. It was and is still the case that new models of computers, tablets, and phones come out every year like clockwork. But despite that usually the tech we are replacing works fine. W are programmed to give into the hype and upgrade our devices every 18 to 24 months in the case of smart phones. So how often do we really need to upgrade to a newer computer? Moores Law states that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit will double every year, exponentially making computers faster indefinitely. However, it seems that this trend is starting to slow and level off. We are not seeing monumental leaps in technology from model year to model year. Rather we are getting more features added, better screens, better software, less headphone jacks and computer ports. We as consumers get caught up in this idea that we need the latest and greatest and that what we have just simply will not work for us any longer. I am guilty of it myself. The realization of the fallacy struck me a couple years ago. My sister in law needed a laptop for her final year of high school. Having no budget, going out and buying the newly introduced MacBook was not an option. Fortunately my wife still had her 2007 Core 2 Duo MacBook stashed away in a dusty cover of a closet. I plugged in the now 10 year old computer and it booted up perfectly fine. I checked the specs for max RAM capabilities with Apple and found I could double the RAM to a whopping 4GB (No thats not a lot by todays standard, more on that later). The battery was a bit tired but still held a charge. Plugged in, cleaned up, new RAM, and the most current operating system it could run the old MacBook was back in business. This old computer made for a great netbook. It would surf the web (limited number of tabs), write in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and even and most importantly play Netflix. I was pretty impressed. It served her though her final year of school and eventually she got the MacBook. I am writing this blog on my 2013 MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch. I have debated upgrading it every time a new model comes out but to what end. It does everything I ask of it and does it well despite being 5 years old which is like a million tech years to kids now. Like I said my computer does everything I need it to do and it can still receive crucial security updates. So when should you replace your computer if as you now know the older ones work just fine? You’re computer needs to efficiently run the applications and programs that you rely upon. If you are a video editor and render 4k video for example you will probably need a new computer every 2 years at the most. If you are a college student watching Netflix and typing in Word or Pages then you should be good for all 4-6 years of undergrad and maybe even grad school. Macs in particular have a program called Activity Monitor. You can use this program to gauge how well your computer is handling its tasks. Older MacBooks can be upgraded with new Ram and Solid State Hard Drives, newer models are stuck as you bought them. Probably more importantly you need to be running supported software, for both applications and your operating system. According to HIPAA guidelines for security reasons operating systems should be no older than two generations. Keeping your computer up to date with security firmware will help prevent unwanted access to your files and personal information. That 2007 MacBook would not be a good device to do banking on for example as it has no protection against newer security threats. To wrap this all up, at this point in time the only reason to upgrade to a newer model computer is if you want more performance, your machine is too old to do what you need it to, or if it is broken. Other than that its okay to use what you have. Computers are still relatively expensive. The longer you keep your computer the great your Return On Investment becomes. Thanks for sticking through another long winded blog. Let us know what you are using and how old it is? We’d love to hear from you. Hi everyone! As some of you may know, I’m Logan, Tyler’s better half and partner in crime. While Tyler and I both love technology, we had two very different introductions to technology. My first memory of using any type of computer was playing Math Blaster in elementary (which I will have you know is still around ) and did not get a personal computer until middle school. To continue that trend I did not have a cell phone until college and got my first smart phone just before we got married six years ago. My first “real” tech purchase was just after graduating with my teaching degree when I bought my first iPad, a second generation, which I still use on a daily basis. I’ve used it in many different ways from integrating it into my classroom, creating mobile websites, using it to apply for teaching jobs (yes I did take it to apply for teaching jobs on our honeymoon)…and of course Pinterest, Netflix and some photo editing, which is what it is mainly used for now. Changing career fields, I still use technology daily but now I have an IT department that has my work computer locked down like Fort Knox. Most days I don’t have many issues. Other days my lovely friends in IT hear from me constantly. Gotta love technology! In our home Tyler and I have a great balance when it comes to technology. He’s the true tech nerd and I am more of the creative cheap ass techie. Coming from my teaching background I was used to trying to make something from nothing and on a minimal budget. While Tyler on the other hand will spare no expense if it is something that he truly wants…and usually plots out weeks or months in advance. I now find myself becoming less picky about my technology, as long as it works I’m usually ok with it. However, I am very possessive of my iPhone. My prior phone took a swim in the potty thanks to our sour patch kid, Ellie. Basically everything is on my phone and I feel lost without it…but sometimes its nice to flip that do not disturb button and be off the “grid” for a while. As you may have read from Tyler’s post we have integrated many different types of technology into our home. Some of it I love, other pieces I have no clue how it works. I tend to learn the necessities to skate by, while Tyler studies the manuals, researches online, and obsesses constantly even after we have made a purchase. I use my techie-ness for more creative pursuits. In the last several years I have fell in love with fonts and how to download free ones for projects I may be working on. Photography is also a passion of mine but I usually don’t take the time to pursue it regularly. Again in my thrifty fashion, I use the standard photo editing on my computer and try to take an ordinary picture and spice it up a bit. Our main goal is to provide insights, new ideas, and meaningful discussions on how to use technology and give suggestions on how to do this affordably. We have found many resources that are either expensive or wordy and speak far above our knowledge base and are extremely hard to understand. So welcome! Make sure to follow our Facebook page and be sure to post any questions or topics you wish to explore further! |
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AuthorI am an everyday person who has a passion for technology. I am not a technology guru but rather a everyday user of technology. #techwithtyler is focused on technology that is used by everyday non tech people. I hope to pass along my knowledge to help you better live with and through todays technology. Archives
April 2020
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