Christmas in July

 "You only have power over people so long as you don't take everything away from them.  But when you've robbed a man of everything, he's no longer in your power - he's free again." - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

At Christmastime, I received several hundred dollars' worth of Amazon Gift Cards - both from work and from family.  There was no immediate need to purchase anything, because... well I have pretty much everything that I need or want.   Correction: I want the Mercedes to stop misfiring on the #1 cylinder, and for the TPMS system to work, but an Amazon Gift Card balance isn't going to be helpful for that issue.

So anyway... the Amazon Prime Days recently arrived, and I thought: "Why not spend all that money when stuff will be on sale?".  So yeah, I got a few knick-knacks of loot.  It was Christmas gifts in July.

I ordered a real-time Radon monitor for the basement.  After turning it on, it took several days to begin displaying data, because background radiation levels from Radon are very minute - which does not minimize the lung hazard.  The monitor is working well and providing both short and long-term readings.  

 For the record, the EPA states that the action level is 2-4 pCi/L, and the average home is Radon concentration is 1.3 pCi/L.  We had pretty nasty Radon levels of 215 pCi/L (about 53 times the upper limit set by the EPA) before having the basement floors sealed and a ventilation fan installed.  This is just a little reassurance that everything is still OK downstairs.

I picked up a box of multi-colored LED bulbs.  Don't have a use in mind for them at the moment, but they will be there when the need arises now.  Nothing too exciting here, but it's cool and free.

There was also kind of a cool thing that I will not have time to assemble until after retirement - a small Balsa wood Radio Controlled airplane with an electric motor and Lithium Ion battery.  This box will very likely be covered with dust before I ever get around to opening it, but it's a hobby that I'll take up when there's more time for it.

You only have power over people so long as you don't take everything away from them. But when you've robbed a man of everything, he's no longer in your power - he's free again.
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There's one other thing that hasn't yet arrived, and that's my very first Smart Watch.  When I first saw the Samsung S3 several years ago, I really liked the vintage chronograph look, and they seemed very cool, with the rotating bezel to change apps.  At the time they were going for over $300.  I ain't paying that much for *any*watch.  Sorry.  In the meantime, I consoled myself with a cheap Timex Indiglo Expedition that I picked up from an online auction for $10.  I simply had to replace the lens for another $5.

Now that the Samsung S3 smart watches are several generations old, they can be had in refurbished condition for under $70 - a price much more to my liking.  I'm not entirely sold on the smart watch thing yet.  They probably want to send all your biometric data to Big Brother, and I've no idea whether this data sharing can be prevented once you link the watch to your smartphone.  I'll find out and report back.  In any event, the watch looks nice in online pictures!