The fanboys rule again!

Well; I had an interesting morning!

One of the events that I had to set up for, and ultimately break down, was a "tech talk". I don't know what specifics were gone over during the hour and some change lecture, but I know the woman who gave the presentation was working on an iPad. With a lightning to HDMI adapter so she could project onto the big screen.

After the event was over, some of the attendees walked up to her, their iPads in hand, and asked specific questions. All answered with ease and grace, by this woman.

Except when it came down to the Apple TV app that is on some of the home screens right now.  Some one questioned why do they need it? What does it do? The woman answered by saying it allows the user to watch shows on their Apple product. But you do have to pay for it, as it is subscription based. Someone piped in saying they are using their son's Netflix. The woman said that's great, so Apple TV might not be worth it for that person. The lecturer also said that she and her husband have the physical Apple TV box, so they are able to stream shows on their television. "It's about yay big and very slim" she says.

She was trying to sell the Apple products but not sell the whole shebang to these older fruit users. Meaning, when one person asked if the app is worth getting, the woman said "only if you plan on watching shows with the Apple TV box, or if you have a smart TV, you can just mirror from your iPad". She thought it pointless that you should watch solely on your traveling screen - that if you're going to get the app and start watching stuff, get the box or mirror... relax a little and not squint. Hear a little better as well.

When these people were asking in more depth about the app and the woman was telling them how not to use it, I interjected by saying "I have a Roku and I've been able to download the app to that device. I have been watching some of the shows Apple offers".

Man, did she glare at me like I was saying lies...

Shy of saying it's impossible, she quickly started to change the subject to make the group forget I said you don't need any Apple device to download the app.... that you're able to acquire it in another streaming device.

She shut me up real quick, even though I said I can prove it works.

Some people just don't want to hear it. Whatever. Her loss for hearing someone else was able to try something different.

I'd love to know if she hands out a business card with a commission link, as her (husband / partner / man friend) is the same way. He has given me quite the few strong opinions when I've asked him simple questions. The kind of thing that makes you feel downright stupid and dirty once you get finished with them. Like his fandom runs so deep, you don't stand an iota of an ounce in a pit of quicksand, if you don't know what you're talking about.

It's like, "listen; I may have an iPhone but I'm in no way a fan of the company. I don't base my entire life on owning every single piece of machine with that brand logo on it. Yes - I've always owned Microsoft Personal Computers, all the way back when IBM was top dog and you ran everything in DOS. WordPerfect had a blue screen and you best not lose the key lock! I've owned LG, Motorola, Nokia, Qualcomm cellular phones when I was able to have a personal phone (1999). It just so happens my first smart phone was an iPhone 4S (2012). I don't like it but I don't hate it. I'm indifferent. Just don't force your blighted opinion on me and I won't force my distaste on you".

Yes, I'm totally arguing against my point because I can be seen as a Microsoft fan kid, but it's all I know. Sure, ok, I used a Macintosh way back in elementary school when we got to play Oregon Trail, but that was the only time I used the damn product before I got to college. When I had to use both an iMac G3 and a Macintosh G4 to edit videos on for my class projects. So I'm not completely immune to staying away from Apple; I've had my experiences and find it awkward to navigate. Just as I try to use my Apple Magic Keyboard for the various incarnations of smart phones. I still haven't gotten used to the key functions. Big deal.


Ok; I'm done vocalizing. I need to go do something else productive.



Until next time...



Cheers;



See also (aka products mentioned):

• Apple iPad (10.2-Inch, Wi-Fi + Cellular, 32GB) - Silver
• Apple Lightning to Digital AV Adapter (aka Lightning to HDMI)
• Apple TV (app)
• Apple TV (streaming box)
• Roku
• Keyword: Oregon Trail
• Apple Wireless Keyboard with Bluetooth - Silver (Renewed)

"You're Celtic, United, but baby I've decided"

"You're the best team I've ever seen"

So I'm sitting here making labels for a couple blank CDs and I'm listening to Rod the Mod. I know I talked the other day about him, but I ended up getting the album "You're In My Heart: Rod Stewart (with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra)", which came out in November. And truth be told, it's really well put together. 

It's one of those things where I know I said I'm not a fan, but I know the singles. This album is basically that, and it was so hard not to sing a long with the opening track of Maggie May, all the way through to Stop Loving Her Today. 

The problem was.... when nerve was hit ... the album's title, You're In My Heart was playing.

It was one of those "Stop what you're doing. Wait, what? No; stop it. You're being a dumbass" moments. Here I am, trying to have some background music while I focus on designing some labels (did I mention I got a printer that prints on blank discs?). But yet I got thrown back a decade... to some craziness I was involved in.... much of my own doing, truth be told. 

It's all good; things happen. I just have trigger songs... random lyrics and chords that just stop me in my tracks for a minute or two. I guess I'm not over the situation like I think I am. I mean, I am, but there are just certain songs that jolt a memory - good, bad and indifferent - from the section of my brain that I've just shut things off from. A place where I don't want to go back to... under any circumstance. But then comes a wave of emotion, rushing back like a fast moving mudslide, all from hearing something trivially silly. 


We have have those problems... right?






Right??







Seriously... right???





I know I tend to think outside the box sometimes, but I certainly am not alone in this....? 

Come on.. someone in this group has to agree.....?



?



Okay, fine. Don't pipe in. I'll just go back to my graphics and think about paint and glue. "What a jolly boring thing to do"......





Oh... and I got a new bumper sticker: Attitudes are The Real Disability. The one I have is from a different group, but shhhh... it's hiding a big repaint job.....

Happy Sunday.


Cheers;

"Nothing remains...."

"[...]

Everything has changed

For in truth, it's the beginning of nothing

And nothing has changed

Everything has changed

For in truth, it's the beginning of an end

And nothing has changed

And everything has changed"

David Bowie. Sunday. Heathen. 2002

Truth | Changes | Everything.

Not to be confused with Pontypool changing everything.

So I did a thing today.

I tried my hand on making my own version of a layered dip that I had previously bought in a local grocery store. The purchased dip was: guacamole, refried beans, salsa, shredded cheese. No where on the package did it say to heat and eat. Just enjoy with whatever dipping utensil of your choosing.

Well.... instead of buying it again, today, I tried to make a variant of it.

I bought "Good Foods | Plant Based Avocado Pesto Dip". With 35 calories per 2 tbsp, it had some really good ingredients... which I had to stop myself from eating the whole container. Cauliflower, Avocado, Almonds, Basil, Chia Protein... basic stuff to make a damn good sauce.

I knew I had refried beans (Old El Paso Fat Free Refried Beans) in my house, so the next step was to buy generic scoops chips.

Once I got home, I cut up some blocked cheese (Cabot Vermont Sharp & Cabot Havarti) as the beans heated on the stove. Add a smashed piece of garlic to that cheese for extra kick and once the beans were heated, mix the thing together in a bowl.

The cheese got ooey gooey warm and jived well with the garlic and beans. Mix in a little of the pesto (or just spoon it on top of the beans... like I did... use a scoop chip and scoop the beans mix and then spoon a bit of the pesto on top) and dude... you got yourself a party in your mouth. Boom. For real.

I don't have pictures of the whole thing mixed together, but I do have pictures of what the pesto looks like because I wanted to tell my healthy living friends. One of them said they were going to look for the dip after work today... I explained what I did, so I think I might have just turned some one on to trying something new... and I used to never eat avocados! 

So... I made it through the week. We all know what happened yesterday, in 2016. I wore a shirt a day for 6 days, starting with the Smoking Ziggy long sleeved shirt on Sunday and ended with the heathen Tour shirt yesterday. Which coincidentally, I had to wear yesterday, as it was Friday and we were working at the church. Now that I am currently working at a place that has a church on property, I do try to plan the birthday week around being a bit naughty by wearing a "heathen" outfit, on a Friday, in a church. I think it's funny as hell and a couple other people do too. It's just one of those things where "simple minds" outwits us all.

What is the breakdown of what I wore this week under my blue polo shirt?
Sunday: Smoking Ziggy (This is the motion picture smoker but it's not available on Amazon)
Monday: Ziggy Stardust album cover (the back has the track listing. Again, not available on Amazon)
Tuesday: Aladdin Sane album cover
Wednesday: ChangesOneBowie album cover (sadly, not available in men's sizes on Amazon)
Thursday:  A Reality Tour tour shirt (this specific shirt is a tour shirt. Not the DVD image shirt)
Friday: heathen Tour shirt (there is no Heathen shirt on Amazon. But it's the Heathen album image on the front and the tour dates on the back).


So I kept my yearly promise and actually had some fun with a couple friends I had worked with the last 2 years, but they got texts from me instead of actually seeing me (Hi Erica and Emily). Not gonna ruin it for people because only these two know the joke. :)


That's about it for now because I want to end here as I need to quickly do some things around the house before people arrive...


Take care, be safe and happy eating!



Cheers;





See Also (aka change isn't always in coins):

• Pontypool Changes Everything.

It's not winter...

... in Florida, but we made a winter soup last night.

Since my mom has been loving her Nuwave pressure cooker, we decided to make French Onion Soup in it, but used the Instant Pot cookbook instructions (something similar to this book.. although there's another one here). 

The recipe was rather easy to follow and made enough soup (we ended up adding 5 onions, a stick of butter and 2 containers of broth... because we were having guests) and in the end, we had enough left over I got 3 bowls of it today. That's on top of serving 5 bowls last night. So it's pretty good.

But like I said, it may be snow and winter every where else, however, the sun is out and it's 70 degrees here. Although it got a little cold over night and into this morning, the soup was a good thing to have because we haven't had it in years.

My mom used to always make this up north, and would vocalize how hard it was because it took time to prepare and then ultimately make / finish. All for a few minutes enjoyment and warmth in our bellies. In the Nuwave, it's on pot stop shopping. All said and done, the whole thing took 35 minutes in the pot, give or take. Then a quick 4 minutes in the oven under the broiler to put the cheese on, and we were eating in less than an hour. Can't get more simple. Clean up is a breeze since it really was all done in one machine... sans slicing and dicing the onions. That's always going to be extra.

Pictures shot on an iPhone 11. WYSIWYG for fixings. Video shot on iPhone 11 as well, made in Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 18... added to Youtube to link back here.

Yes, I know the beginning of the video is the wrong way. I wasn't about to reshoot or edit it.

Stay hungry.


Cheers;

I got an ear worm

And it's Rod Stewart. For the past hour... and it's not even 9 o'clock yet... as of when I started this post.

What's the song that found its way into my head and won't go back out the way it came? (Find A) Reason To Believe. Crazy thing is Amazon's sample has the exact spot in the music where I've got lyrics floating around my brain.

To think I never really liked Rod the Mod. He's tolerable, but I just found something inexplicably not attractive about him. I can never explain it because I can't put my finger on it... there's just something about Sir Roderick Stewart that rubs me the wrong way. I've always heard his music - it's been around my house at random times, I had a guidance counselor in high school that was infatuated with him (along with Andy Garcia... to the point both men adorned a wall in the office of the woman).. I just never felt this crooner was one of those "fuck me running... I must find all his hits!" people. Just because I know most of the hits (but not a lot, if anything, from The Faces days) doesn't really make me a fan. He's a throwaway for me. Love it or hate it, he doesn't render me useless. He has some catchy lyrics, but I can't say that I'd seek out the new compilation or find him in concert. If I won't spend $150+ for Bob Dylan to perform at a local performance hall, I won't pay $75 for this dude.

Then again, I've paid close to $90 to see a 3.5 hour Elton John concert in Boston. And about the same, twice, to see Bowie. So it's not like I'm not willing to shell out cash, time and energy on men with good or decent taste (I've seen Mr. Zimmerman perform with America's favorite country pot smoker, Willie Nelson before, so Bobby D has been seen), it's just that everyone has their battles to choose and Rod isn't an artist I fight for on a regular basis.

If times or things were different, maybe I'd be sitting here saying I want to know why he is in Florida accosting people (web search it... apparently it made news this morning. I only saw the headline). But he's not my bag, lady, and your gladrag isn't something I'm gonna ride the same bus with.

Good luck getting other tunes outta your head. You're welcome.


Cheers;

"And I'm gone...."

"...gone gone

Now I'm older than movies

  Let me dance away

  Now I'm wiser than dreams

  Let me fly fly fly

  While I'm touching tomorrow

  And I know who's there

  When silhouettes fall..."

David Bowie. | Dead Man Walking | Earthling. | 1997

Jesus feck... the vinyl is $150???????? And "omglmfao" the audio cassette is "from $24.99". 😄😂

Okay... so I got in my head for about 45 minutes or so tonight. 

Not a good thing because I said something to someone in text that I probably shouldn't have... because I know it has the potential to be used against me in the coming weeks. It was to someone I've know for a little over a decade now, and we basically have been talking on an app a lot for the better part of 6 months, after not having talked much in the past few years (the person takes random powders... or used to). 

What's between us, is nothing more than commonalities. A friendship spawned from working together... what feels like eons ago. 

But I know that what I've texted this dude will be eventually used against me, because he likes to randomly pop in (his version of) jokes and reminders of things I've said... even if it's days, weeks or years later. There have been conversations, especially lately, where he just randomly says "don't you remember? Back when you were in Brockton...." and goes on to some random time in 2005 when something happened and it got embedded in his memory. Or... "It's like that time...." and he's telling me about an incident from 2010. I can barely remember last week, and he's spouting out things we did together...on a July afternoon... during a rainstorm. I can't believe how much he remembers and how much I've forgotten. I'm constantly amazed by the things he says, even if it's got nothing to do with a past event in our shared history. 

While I've been trying to write this post, I've gotten lost on YouTube. My friend sent me the video for Firehouse because I sent him a Robbie Williams song I have been trying to learn on guitar for the past decade (I suck). But then I got lost even further and found a Richard Thompson acoustic album that was uploaded to the video site. Thompson allegedly has three acoustic albums... and they're on Amazon... together they're $38.34 and it seems relatively cheap! I'm tempted to buy them, now that I've seen them.... it's a hell of a lot less than that Earthling vinyl... even though I want that too...

Damnit. I need more money in my Amazon gift card balance. Or a really nice friend to buy me what I want. Maybe I need a rich friend who doesn't care and will look the other way as I get some stuff I want.....

I need to go... I'm thinking too much about spending too much online....

Happy New Year...

Cheers;

Is a friend in need, really a friend indeed?

I asked Alexa to play Placebo's "Without You I'm Nothing" and then "Pure Morning" because, let's face it, random songs pop in my head at the most random times.

That, and I was making a cup of coffee.

As I sat waiting for my java to brew, I listened to having strange infatuations with friends with weed. But now I sit and type this, I think Coldplay had some good points too; when they sang
"Confusion that never stops
The closing walls and the ticking clocks
[...]
Cursed missed opportunities am I
A part of the cure
Or am I part of the disease
[...]
Home, home, where I wanted to go
Home, home, where I wanted to go
Home, home, where I wanted to go (You are)
Home, home, where I wanted to go (You are)". [Clocks 2002. A Rush of Blood to the Head]

(Speed of Sound has some good points too).

All because it's New Years Day 2020 and I'm off work for the day, having spent the morning running errands. First Big Lots for not that big of a sale, then to CVS for even less of a bagful, and finally to Walmart for $35 minus a $10 gift card (making total bill of sale $25) and I walked out with 4 bags of seemingly useless used stuff. Well, not "useless" since I'll be using it all. Sneakers, cold medicine, soup (extra salty ramen. #goingtohell), juice. It all adds up quickly and you don't realize what you've got until your wallet is short.

I basically wanted to redeem a couple Emergen-C coupons, because Swagbucks has updated coupons this week (for the cold stuff) and another coupon site has the possibility of giving me up to $6 bucks back in my bank account if I submit the receipt for it. Fingers crossed, because I've not been let down in a few years.

New Year New You usually means I stay in my head for a few days and end up shaking the life out of it, and have it come back half a year later. It's like needing a (paid) six month vacation, twice a year. Things happen.

First post of the new year and I'm already getting knee deep into craziness that seems all over the place and is not making sense. Maybe the cold I had last week messed with my head. Or, I'm over tired even though I was asleep before 10 last night.

I'm weird, it's weird. I know. Ain't got no great life; what can I say?

Except, it's like John Lennon sang - "what have you done / Another year over / And a new one just begun".


Happy New Year!



Cheers;