Hulu. It was my first foray into online movies and TV shows and I was into it way before any of my friends. I loved in the beginning. The ads were short and ad blockers worked. Over the years things changed little by little and while it is not the best choice for online streaming, if suffices...mostly.
At work I used Windows because,well it is corporate America and that is what most companies use, unless you are a Linux company, like Red Hat. At home however, I use Linux mostly (I have a Windows box, a fairly new one at that, I use just for a couple of programs) because I like it. It is secure and almost immune to viruses (or virii as I like to call them). I am not a guru, just a geek who likes to tweak and experiment. So much so that I downloaded and installed "CloudReady" on my old HP 6930b laptop. CloudReady is a wrapper to make Chrome OS work on almost any laptop and it is pretty darn cool. Running on an old laptop, it is not as fast booting as it would be on a real Chromebook but it is fast everyplace else. I liked it so much I had given a lot of thought to possibly buying a $250-ish CHromebook the next time one went on sale. Well, that was until yesterday.
I remembered I had a lot of things bookmarked in Hulu and decided to watch a few of them on my CloudReady Chrome OS loaded laptop, which is essentially a Chromebook (albeit heavier and slower than a regular Chromebook). I booted it up, launched the browser (Chrome) and then logged on to Hulu. I clicked on my queue and selected "iZombie" (guilty pleasure...sue me) and the obligatory ads began playing. Then nothing. I cleared my cache, turned off uBlock, reloaded the window. No change.
I repeated the process but this time rebooted. No change. I was perplexed. I know that before I put CLoudReady on this thing, Hulu worked (most of the time), but the major difference was in Linux I tend to use Firefox, something you cannot load in Chrome OS. So I went online and guess what? This has been an issue for at least three months now, with no solution in site. Someone wrote a JS hack to make it work but my guess Hulu found out about it and broke the hack.
That bums me out. I was thinking a Chromebook might be something I could use to stream videos but I guess I will just continue to look at getting a better tablet to replace the Asus TF201 I use. Oddly, it is back to being slow slab of attractive metal and glass.
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 03, 2015
Friday, September 11, 2015
Look! A post that is not dedicated to Ingress (well, much anyway)
Work.
At the time of writing this (Sept 11, 2015) I am 50 years old (as of last month) and officially have been in the workforce for a little over 32 years. The first 10 or so I was a blue collar worker and it agreed with me for a time. But eventually I snagged a white collar job working for a regional cellular provider in a shirt and tie (!) environment and have been white collar ever since (with the exception of some white collar side jobs taken to make additional money).
After 32 years of working 40+ hours per week, I have really started to think what retirement might look like. I have colleagues who are retiring (some by choice, others not so much) and seeing people I care about moving on is somewhat sad.
Now to be honest, the odds of me being able to retire are not all that great. Regular readers/stalkers are aware I have been diagnosed with ALS (I am not going to rehash a previous post...you can look it up and educate yourself if you are unfamiliar with ALS), and barring a few exceptions, my chances of living another 12 years (age of early retirement) are pretty slim. Statistically, I should not expect to see my 55th birthday, which is far below retirement age. No, I am not dwelling on the thought of dying, nor am I seeking to garner sympathy. I am just stating a fact.
The fact is I will collect disability far before I can retire. Disability will not be fun as it pays ~70% of what I earn now and my retirement funds are not stellar (although I am ahead of many I personally know). My quality of life (and that of my wife, who is 3 years my elder) will change as the money flow slows down and the expenses increase. Thankfully we are debt free with the exception of the house.
The current work situation has made me question the timing of my taking disability. Work is stressful (I am pulling double duty right now with job roles) with ongoing projects that constantly clutch at me. If not for Ingress to help me blow off some steam, I might go mad.
Contract issues, employee issues, contractor issues, PO issues...the list goes on. Most of it was caused due to a desire to cut costs but the repercussions have been greater than expected. Since the man who was dealing with a large part of this has taken another role within the company, not on this account, I was asked to fill it on an interim basis. That was supposed to be a 30 day window but it is looking more and more like 90 days. I turned down the role because I am formally in a global process related role and dislike the regional politics the role I am filling in for seems to be stuck in. I have been asked by at least two managers to reconsider but I am just not sure I need the added stress. My neuro certainly does not think I need to add to my plate. He feels I should be cutting back some. While I am still very physically active biking (yes Hockey Family, that was me the other night :-) ), walking and using an elliptical machine at work, added work stress will not help me any as I manage to live with the early (slowly progressing) onset of ALS.
On to other subjects. I like TV. I like discovering new shows. I usually take recommendations from colleagues and friends but somehow I seemed to miss "Mr. Robot" on USA. DAY-UMMM, that is an awesome show (well at least episode one was. I hope to see more soon)! I was bored and came across the on demand listing for it and gave it a shot. I was not disappointed. Christian Slater is not all that great but the lead character is. Interesting story line!
Well, now that Hockey Family has found my blog, I guess I will no longer be discussing Ingress strategies here. I can tell from the past few nights that the family has changed their tactics some by seeking out high point link anchors. Good job on making the switch. Smart move. I will need to adjust mine strategy as well but Wayne, the guy I geocache and sometimes Ingress with will not change his style, so he is on his own,
At the time of writing this (Sept 11, 2015) I am 50 years old (as of last month) and officially have been in the workforce for a little over 32 years. The first 10 or so I was a blue collar worker and it agreed with me for a time. But eventually I snagged a white collar job working for a regional cellular provider in a shirt and tie (!) environment and have been white collar ever since (with the exception of some white collar side jobs taken to make additional money).
After 32 years of working 40+ hours per week, I have really started to think what retirement might look like. I have colleagues who are retiring (some by choice, others not so much) and seeing people I care about moving on is somewhat sad.
Now to be honest, the odds of me being able to retire are not all that great. Regular readers/stalkers are aware I have been diagnosed with ALS (I am not going to rehash a previous post...you can look it up and educate yourself if you are unfamiliar with ALS), and barring a few exceptions, my chances of living another 12 years (age of early retirement) are pretty slim. Statistically, I should not expect to see my 55th birthday, which is far below retirement age. No, I am not dwelling on the thought of dying, nor am I seeking to garner sympathy. I am just stating a fact.
The fact is I will collect disability far before I can retire. Disability will not be fun as it pays ~70% of what I earn now and my retirement funds are not stellar (although I am ahead of many I personally know). My quality of life (and that of my wife, who is 3 years my elder) will change as the money flow slows down and the expenses increase. Thankfully we are debt free with the exception of the house.
The current work situation has made me question the timing of my taking disability. Work is stressful (I am pulling double duty right now with job roles) with ongoing projects that constantly clutch at me. If not for Ingress to help me blow off some steam, I might go mad.
Contract issues, employee issues, contractor issues, PO issues...the list goes on. Most of it was caused due to a desire to cut costs but the repercussions have been greater than expected. Since the man who was dealing with a large part of this has taken another role within the company, not on this account, I was asked to fill it on an interim basis. That was supposed to be a 30 day window but it is looking more and more like 90 days. I turned down the role because I am formally in a global process related role and dislike the regional politics the role I am filling in for seems to be stuck in. I have been asked by at least two managers to reconsider but I am just not sure I need the added stress. My neuro certainly does not think I need to add to my plate. He feels I should be cutting back some. While I am still very physically active biking (yes Hockey Family, that was me the other night :-) ), walking and using an elliptical machine at work, added work stress will not help me any as I manage to live with the early (slowly progressing) onset of ALS.
On to other subjects. I like TV. I like discovering new shows. I usually take recommendations from colleagues and friends but somehow I seemed to miss "Mr. Robot" on USA. DAY-UMMM, that is an awesome show (well at least episode one was. I hope to see more soon)! I was bored and came across the on demand listing for it and gave it a shot. I was not disappointed. Christian Slater is not all that great but the lead character is. Interesting story line!
Well, now that Hockey Family has found my blog, I guess I will no longer be discussing Ingress strategies here. I can tell from the past few nights that the family has changed their tactics some by seeking out high point link anchors. Good job on making the switch. Smart move. I will need to adjust mine strategy as well but Wayne, the guy I geocache and sometimes Ingress with will not change his style, so he is on his own,
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Labcorp, Where for Art Though/Here Comes the Rain Again...
After and insanely wet (and record setting) spring here in North Texas (NTX), Tropical Storm "Bill" will be making landfall shortly and is expected to drench us with 2-5 inches of rain. If it was going to happen I wish it would have happened last week. I need to get my neighbor's grass cut before I hit the road on Saturday and from the looks of things it might be too wet to cut before I leave and that will be bad. All that water and the heat we have already been seeing (mid 90's each day) will create a humid environment just perfect for the grass to take off. Good news for the grass seed we just put down but bad news for my grass cutting.
My wife did some pet sitting last week. The three legged monster known as "Spunky" spent a week at our place and for the most part was very well behaved. He is an attention fiend and since he did not get as much from us as he normally gets from his owners, he began to act up the last three days he was with us. He began to whine at night when we put him in his cage (he was fine the first few nights) and then began getting into the potted plants my wife has in the open dining area. Spunky is now home with his people and our house is back to normal.
As previously posted, I need to go to Labcorp each month to have blood tests performed to make sure the Riluzole I am taking does not destroy my liver. Each month a couple of days after the blood is drawn, the results are posted online. Last month the results never made it online but were sent to my doc so at least he knew what the results were. After opening a case with Labcorp the results were posted and due to the way the e-mail was phrased I don't think they ever would have shown up had I not contacted them. Oh, my liver function is still within the normal range, although it did go up a few points. Nothing to fear. I can still continue to take my meds.
I also now have my meds send directly from my Insurance company to me every three months. It is $10 less than the cost of going to the local pharmacy (I use Walmart normally because they are close) and they are shipped free. The drawback is someone needs to be here to sign for them. Normally that is not an issue because my wife is home but sometimes that is not always the case.
My wife did some pet sitting last week. The three legged monster known as "Spunky" spent a week at our place and for the most part was very well behaved. He is an attention fiend and since he did not get as much from us as he normally gets from his owners, he began to act up the last three days he was with us. He began to whine at night when we put him in his cage (he was fine the first few nights) and then began getting into the potted plants my wife has in the open dining area. Spunky is now home with his people and our house is back to normal.
Saturday I start my road trip to visit family and friends on/near the east coast. It is an aggressive itinerary, with stops in 4 states over a 2 week period. I am staying about a week in WV with mom, visiting family and childhood friends. Then the following week I am driving to VA to spend a few nights with one of the first people I ever met when I moved to NC. He and I have been friends as long as we have known each other, which is over 20 years. I don't get to see him very often but since I have been diagnosed with ALS and he is a good friend I wanted to do everything in my power to stop by and see him at least one more time.
After a short stay in VA, I will cruise down to NC and try to meet up with another friends and former roommate if time permits. Then I am off to GA to visit a former classmate and coworker whom I have not seen in at least 20 years. He too, has graciously opened up his home to allow me a good night's sleep while on the road. Not only is this a money saver, but it is safer and more comfortable. It will be so nice to see everyone again.
My TV watching has tapered off quite a bit with my DVR almost empty with sole exception of the year+ backlog of Cutthroat Kitchen episodes my wife has not watched yet. I recently started recording "Texas Rising" and a new mini-series on AMC about the American Mob. It started last night and runs for 8 episodes.
I am quickly losing my love for the Game Of Thrones TV series. maybe I am just too much of a book purest but the show just does not do anything for me anymore. I tore through the books at a frenetic pace, much like I enjoyed the first 2-3 seasons of the TV show but now my desire for the show has waned greatly. It still is visually stunning but the story arcs are not what I want to see.
Friday, February 29, 2008
It Must Be "That Special Time"
2:00 AM must be a special time. Twice this week I have been woken up at 2 AM to deal with something that either is not mine to deal with or has been fully documented (making the phone call unnecessary). Needless to say that 4 hours sleep, getting woken up then 3 more hours sleep is not optimal. I am so bloody tired.
It has been a slow week, all things considered. It is month end close for our customer and many of the reports have already been ran. There have not been as many high severity calls as there usually is at this time of the month. I am just glad it is Friday. If today goes well, the odds of the weekend being quiet are much greater.
We have three open cases right now...two of which have been open for quite some time. All three cases are sitting with external vendors and to be honest this is the longest I have seen cases for our region open in quite some time.
"Lost" while always a strange show, has taken a turn for the more bizarre. I used to be super confused by all the flash forwards AND flash backs, I am really getting weirded out by the whole time travle theme thing. IIRC there are about 8-10 more episodes left fo this season, thanx to the writers strike. Jericho has 4-5 left. At least Jericho is easier to follow, though I love both shows.
It has been a slow week, all things considered. It is month end close for our customer and many of the reports have already been ran. There have not been as many high severity calls as there usually is at this time of the month. I am just glad it is Friday. If today goes well, the odds of the weekend being quiet are much greater.
We have three open cases right now...two of which have been open for quite some time. All three cases are sitting with external vendors and to be honest this is the longest I have seen cases for our region open in quite some time.
"Lost" while always a strange show, has taken a turn for the more bizarre. I used to be super confused by all the flash forwards AND flash backs, I am really getting weirded out by the whole time travle theme thing. IIRC there are about 8-10 more episodes left fo this season, thanx to the writers strike. Jericho has 4-5 left. At least Jericho is easier to follow, though I love both shows.
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