Technology in disarray

I woke at 4am this morning to fix up my blog, get the apple photo streaming working, and make it to a nature walk with the local naturalist at 6am.  I rushed packing my things and showering at the last minute because I didn't want to be late.  But this is Africa and it's 615am and there is no one here.  The hotel is calling the naturalist at home so I can sit and have coffee and write a bit. 

My smart nephew Will convinced me to use Google's Blogger for my travel blog this year since my excellent HipGeo site went bankrupt.  It is easy and simple.  I like that I can edit and reedit posts from any device.  Though maybe it is not that simple or reliable..

I had entered my tome on the Serengeti with one finger in the iPhone across bumpy roads all day, and I noticed this morning it was stuck in publishing mode.  I figured that was because I posted so many big pics of animals.  But the incremental posts were not showing on the iPad.  Strange. I tried everything then stupidly I decided to cut and paste into a fresh post.  Oops.  My entire ten pages of text and pics pasted as the letter "z" and there was no going back to the old blog.  All of those thoughts, observations, experiences were gone into the vapour.  Or are they?

I do this trip every year and this loss of data happens to me at least once.  I generally find that my blog is more concise and meaningful when I go back and reconstruct it.  I rewrite each post many times as I go anyway to fix the grammar and make it more coherent. And after all, isn't this meant to be TBI cogntive therapy, what better than to have to remember recent events in detail and consolidate them?

So I soldier on.  I hurriedly picked fifteen or so thumbnails on my iPhone and copied then to a new Serengeti blog and they published within five minutes.  Of course.  Hmmm.  Something was wrong with that blog from yesterday.  Dusty, perhaps.

The other tech worry today was a black spot appearing on my iPhone screen.  Like an oil slick maybe 1cm across.  I think it was moving this morning.  I know it was not that way when I went to bed, but there was a watermark on the wood where my iPhone was so maybe I spilled water on it.  Ah, technology.  It's still pretty amazing I can type this on a cigarette box sized device for you to read back in Australia or America.  Since that morning, the black infection stopped moving and is burned onto the iPhone display.  I even removed the plastic screen guard to get the spot out and the spot is under the glass!

My TBI psych Dr. Bornhofen encouraged me to journal in a notebook, and one would think that would be more reliable, but then again I might spill coffee all over that and it would go into the vapour!

I am going to have to replace both Apple displays when I get to Australia.  The iPad crack started when sweet but flighty kiwi Chris sat on it a month ago, and I decided to let it go until after my trip which is hard on electronics.

(Add pic of iPhone)

I can't explain the black pock disease that infected my iPhone one night.