Last night I checked the weekend weather forecast and it was showing rain for today so I thought we might as well get my vehicle emissions test done first thing in the morning. They opened a few minutes early so by the time we were done it had just turned 7:30 am.
On the way home we decided to stop at Tony’s Fresh Market which replaced the Valli Produce we used to shop at years ago. It looked much nicer inside even though the basic layout was nearly identical. Testament to what a little updated flooring and lighting can do. We ended up getting $50 worth of food there which included some fresh salsa and deli items.
When we got home Joe checked one of my tires that was making a noise from what he thought might be a rock (I heard it recently as well). Turns out it was a nail, so off to Discount Tire we went, hoping it wouldn’t be busy since they had just opened a half hour early. Wrong! We were told the wait time was 2+ hours so Joe made an appointment to bring it back in a few days to have it patched. The guy noted the tires could use replacing too which we already knew.
We stopped at the library and then decided since we were out we might as well head over to Target so Joe could pick up a prescription.
At the store I was telling him about this Newsweek article – Foreign hackers are actively targeting critical U.S. infrastructure, including water and wastewater systems, using artificial intelligence-powered tools to identify vulnerabilities and gain access to industrial control systems.
I wanted to buy some bottled water (which we haven’t done in several years) just to be on the safe side in case something does happen. He said Costco would have the best price, so we decided we would go on Monday. Well, that is, until we were leaving Target and saw someone with a lot of water in their cart. Was this the universe telling us to get the water now? We thought so, and Costco had just opened a few minutes before, so we headed over.
Before we went inside we decided to check out their Tire Center since Joe had been planning to replace both my battery and tires soon. Neither have ever been replaced and I’ve had my Crosstrek since October 2017. We ended up getting a battery right then and there since they carry a better brand (Interstate) than the Everstart he had been eying at Walmart, and it was cheaper to boot!
Once we got inside the warehouse I bee-lined over to the AT&T kiosk with the iPhones to get a feel for what the new one will look like. If the predictions are true, the iPhone 18, which comes out next month, is going to be the same size as the iPhone 17. The AT&T rep was really nice and showed me how his personal iPhone 17 Pro compared in size to the iPhone 17 Pro Max by placing it on top of it. There is a very slight difference in width, but the majority of the difference is in how tall the Max is. I personally find no benefit to that, so unless the iPhone 18 Pros differ, I plan to get the base Pro but not the Max version. They both should have the same exact cameras (of which there are three).
Oh and let me talk about that for a bit. I have an iPhone 11 which is going on seven years old. It has two cameras and only has a 2x digital zoom. The iPhone 17 Pro by comparison has a 4x optical zoom. The rep showed me how he could zoom in on a shopper very far away with clarity. I was wowed. Not to mention the latest iPhone camera has 48 megapixels compared to my phone’s measly 12MP. I’m definitely going to be spending money on storage in the new phone with that photo size, but it would be worth it if I could take more nature photos than I do now. I would still need my SLR for birding treks, but I bet the phone would do pretty well for everything else.
I’m getting very excited at the idea of getting a new phone soon. As much as I love my current phone, Apple is dropping support on it with iOS 26 and the battery is to the point it needs replacing, so now is the best time to upgrade even though it’s going to hurt to drop what I’m guessing will be $1500 thanks to the chip shortage. Hopefully I can get another 7 years out of the new phone to make it a more digestible $225 per year. But I digress….
Costco had more water out than usual which made us feel like something might be going on, so we grabbed 3 cases (40 bottles in each) instead of just 1 or 2. I really hope we won’t actually NEED it!
When we got home Joe started working on a late breakfast while I did a little research to find the best place to get new tires of my car. Costco is cheaper than Discount Tire (our usual go-to), especially when you factor in Costco’s free installation. Furthering my research, I learned that Costco rotates their tire sales by brand every 2-3 months, and was able to confirm the Michelin tires we want go on sale this Monday. Therefore, waiting just a few days to place the order will save us another $80. Gotta like that!
Speaking of money saving and stuff, we got a check from State Farm for $105 as part of some cash-back dividend they received.
I’m also getting a credit to my CC for an overpayment on a medical procedure.
Money in. Money out. Repeat until you die.
Update: Leaked information for the iPhone 18 series points to a major main camera upgrade featuring a variable aperture (ranging from f/1.4 to f/2.8) that physically adjusts using moving blades. Reports suggest this advanced hardware might be exclusive to the larger iPhone 18 Pro Max.
Ugh, I hope that’s incorrect because I don’t want the taller phone.