Missed pickup points makes getting Lyft ride an adventure
The Lyft app often gets my pickup point wrong. Sometimes, I have to walk to a popular restaurant in order to be found. I had an awful time at the airport recently.
When I put in the name, O’Hare International, the app should have prompted me to choose a specific pickup zone. It didn’t do that, so I typed in O’Hare’s address. What a mistake. The driver never came near to where I was standing. In the cold frosty air, I twiddled my frozen thumbs.
I texted him repeatedly to say I was in “Green Zone D.” I also left a voicemail. When he called me back, I shouted “Green Zone D” over and over. The connection was faulty but I heard him say: “I don’t care where you are.” My first rude driver! And on top of a three-hour flight delay too. I was instantly reduced to my 3-year-old self. “I hate you,” I said. I hope he didn’t hear me. Then I canceled the ride.
Fortunately, Lyft waived the usual $5 cancellation fee. Even better, when I started the app again, it let me choose my zone. So I still love ride sharing. Uber and Lyft track drivers in real time, and their cars are cleaner and newer than taxis.
EBAY TIPS
I recently sold nearly-new men’s sunglasses on eBay to a guy who said he was sharing the cost with his sister as a Christmas present for their dad.
The list of things you can sell on eBay is amazing. They include empty perfume bottles, broken jewelry and watches (people want the parts), empty printer cartridges and even pantyhose (used for craft projects). We all have too much stuff. Why not sell some of it?
No need to worry about privacy. You won’t be sharing any financial details with buyers or potential buyers,
except the price of your item. They needn’t even know your name. To get your money, you tell eBay the routing and account number of your checking account. The buyer pays eBay and eBay deposits the money in your account.
The buyer does not get your contact info either. If they want to send a message to you, eBay acts as a middleman, placing your reply on their site. My potential buyers sent messages about what they were willing to pay. When I didn’t respond, they upped their bid until it was just $15 lower than my original price. As for writing a description of your item, you can usually find one online if you need to. There’s a form to fill out, but eBay will nudge you in the right direction.
MAKE YOUR OWN DRONE
You can build your own drone for under $20, complete with camera. It would be great for taking pictures at birthday parties.
The Circuit Scribe Drone Builder Kit for Kids includes a drone with cardboard arms. It can stay aloft for three minutes at a time, but if the arms get crunched in a crash, you can draw new ones on any old piece of cardboard. After you cut them out, you fill them in using a conductive silver ink pen, which is included. Then you attach the hub and motors, download the free app, and you’re ready to fly, using your phone as a controller.
According to Engadget.com, the drone is easy to maneuver with the free app and will stay connected to WiFi over a 150 foot-range. See it in action by going to YouTube.com and searching on “Unboxing Circuit Scribe Drone Building Kit.”
YOUR TEXTS GO HERE
My text messages are dull. They’re usually things like: “Ready?” But if yours are worth saving, and you use an iPhone, try the Keepster app. It turns texts and photos into a small book.
Start by downloading the free app to a Mac or Windows computer. Next, connect your phone by cable and choose texts and photos from your iPhone iMessage app, WhatsApp or other texting service. You can discard texts you don’t want and edit the rest. For more information, watch the video tutorials at Keepster.co.
Keepster books start at $13 for up to 30 pages on up to $275 for 800 pages. For a romantic book, they suggest a title like “How We Met.”
GOOGLE DOCS GO ‘POOF’
“I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train,” said Gwendolen in Oscar Wilde’s play, “The Importance of Being Earnest.” Good thing she wasn’t using Google Docs.
I wrote a rough draft of a personal essay for my writers’ group while in the airport, then spent three hours on the plane reworking it. I used the free Google Docs app on my phone, but forgot to switch to offline mode. Poof! There went three hours worth of revisions.
A good alternative is the free WPS Office, which has more than 100 million downloads. It lets you save a document by tapping the icon for a floppy disk (looks like a square). The default storage location is in the cloud but you can easily change that to local storage by choosing it from the drop-down menu.
Unfortunately, when you install the app from the app store, WPS Office will try to get you to go for the premium version. Tap outside the offer to get back to the freebie. Alternatively, go to wps.com and install a version for your computer.