7 Quick Takes about Taking a Moment to Thank the Envelope People, Shortcomings of Artifical Intelligence, and DIY Car Detailing

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If it would really upset you if I earned a commission of several cents on something you purchased, then I advise you not to click on anything here! 

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week? 

—1—

There are two student pickup areas at my son's school, so when I'm on my way I text to let him know which spot I'm in. Except the day I forgot my phone.

I went to one pickup area and then when no more students were coming out, I went to the other one, but I didn't see him at either place. I started to wonder if maybe he'd had to stay after school to talk to a teacher or make up a test (he'd just been out sick for a few days) and I just didn't see the text because my phone was sitting at home.

So I drove home, where I checked my phone and had a bunch of texts from my son asking where I was. Apparently he'd gone to the second area first, waited for me, and then went around to the first area while I traded places with him. It was like when you get stuck in a hallway doing a stupid dance trying to get past someone, but this time one of the dance steps was me making an additional 15-minute round trip home and back to school.

I was pretty annoyed, but I cheered up a little when I got home and saw the Christmas cards that had come in the mail that day. Especially when I turned this one over to open it:

Giving credit where credit is due.

—2—

I did it! I took my high school senior's graduation photos myself. I didn't use any equipment beyond my smartphone and whatever light was available to us at the time. But with Google Photo's editing tools, they actually turned out pretty good!

On my favorite picture, taken at the head of a hiking trail, there was unfortunately a bright red sign in the background saying 'PICK UP AFTER YOUR DOG.' 

Phillip advised me to remove it with AI (Google Gemini) so I gave it a try. It did such a seamless job that I also asked it to remove a weird-looking weed in the foreground. It erased the weed and even added some leaves scattered on the ground in its place to match the rest of the grass. I was impressed.

—3—

I didn't stay impressed for too long, though. A few days later I was trying to remove a timestamp on the corner of a photo of my daughter from her mission so I tried Gemini again.

In fairness, AI did remove the timestamp. But it also messed up the letters on her missionary name tag at the same time, even though the two things were nowhere near each other.

I tried asking again: "Remove only the timestamp." It still turned her name tag into gobbledy gook. 

I tried being indirect to avoid bringing attention to her nametag: "Remove the timestamp but leave everything about the subject of the picture unchanged." 

I tried being direct: "Remove the timestamp but do not alter the subject's nametag in any way." I think you can guess what happened.

No matter what I did, her nametag would come out looking like: 

SŒSTER EVAƞS

ǁ||E CʜǙʕCㅞ OH

Jレ⥌Uζ  CHƦÆǤT 

O₣ LƋTTEƍ-ƕAY ŞȺIךTƼ

AI tries hard, it really does. But it's got a long way to go.

—4—

A friend told us about a local church that does a massive Nativity set showcase for the weekend. I only wish that my college daughter (an amateur artist) had been with us to see and appreciate them with us.

We walked in to a large room that was positively filled with nativity sets of all shapes, sizes, and materials. Most were labeled with the country they came from. 

This one was made with painted shells.

Oil drums beat into shapes with a hammer and chisel.

Made from recycled bike and auto parts. I spy a spark plug baby Jesus and a bicycle chain mane for the horse.

When a woman with a name tag who looked like she was in charge came by, I had one burning question for her: "Are these sets loaned by members of the congregation? Where do they all come from?"

"My garage!" she answered.

You guys, this was her personal collection. She'd been collecting for 32 years, and of course all her friends and family were also keeping their eyes peeled for interesting Nativity sets for her whenever they traveled.

My kids got bored quickly, but this trip did inspire the 11-year-old to make a Nativity in Minecraft so I guess that's something.

—5—

I drove behind this truck for a while and could not stop thinking of it as a face.

Two eyes and a cute little mouth.

Is it just me or do you see it, too?

—6—

Overheard the kids snapping at each other one grumpy afternoon.

14yo: Why is your underwear on the floor?! *stomping upstairs*

9yo: Are you bringing it up here?

14yo: Ew, why would I be bringing your underwear upstairs?

9yo: Because... I thought you were a good person.

First of all, way to deflect that burn. That is "I'm rubber, you're glue" level stuff. 

Second of all, if this is a preview of what Christmas break is going to be like, I think I have a pre-headache. An anticipatory headache.

—7—

We're doing a major cleanout of my teenager's new/used car. There is a faint cigarette smoke smell from the previous owners, so we rolled up our sleeves, did some research, and made a plan.

I bought (and probably overpaid for) a professional grade upholstery cleaner, a drill brush set (actually, I already had this, I use it to get the scuff marks out of my white dishes a few times a year), and extractor attachments for our Shop-Vac (oh my gosh, SO FUN to use these). We used this method to clean the seats, floor, and headliner (the ceiling of the car):

My son changed the cabin air filter and we hit the interior with an ozone machine I borrowed from my friend Melanie. After we were done, we put an activated charcoal bag in the car (I bought a 6-pack so we could use the other ones in the house) and I think we'll run a HEPA filter in there overnight just to be extra. 

If this doesn't work, I've got nothing. Actually, that's not true, I've got an extractor now and that thing is freaking fun to use.

Click to Share: