Podcasts

My trial of using my commute time for enhanced learning has been a success.  While it likely would've been better to read the book, the audio version of 7 Habits was absorbable in audio format and it allowed me to use otherwise wasted time efficiently.  While I find Audible to be a bit pricey, I will likely continue to use my local library for audio books.

I have since transitioned to Podcasts for my commute.  I've been interested in Podcasts for awhile but with so many to chose from I could never figure out where to start.  Additionally, a lot of them are lengthy and so finding the time to actually listen to them was challenging.  My brother introduced me to the Podcast Dinner With Racers which I have found to be quite interesting.  The commute provides an excellent opportunity to listen to the interviews and this has been my routine for the past couple of months.  I can't believe I didn't think of this years ago.

Informative Commute

I spend over an hour per day in the car.  I used to listen to MP3s from a flash drive on my commute.  This has become less useful as time has passed partly due to the inconvenience of keeping the flash drive up to date, and mostly due to the fact that I don't listen to MP3 files anymore.  Everything is streaming.  In the past few years I've listened to a lot of radio.  I like the radio because it's an opportunity to hear new music and get some news.  The commercials are insufferable, however.

A book was recently recommended to me to read for work and I decided to listen to it in audiobook format instead of reading the book.  I have limited time in the evenings like most and thought listening to the book would be a good use of otherwise wasted time in the car.  This is the first time I've listened to a book and I think it went mostly well.  There were times where I would be distracted beyond listening while driving and other times where it would be nice to have some visuals, but generally speaking I think listening to the audio version of the book went well.  I plan on taking advantage of this format in the future to increase my productivity while driving.

My next audio adventure for the commute to work is podcasts.  While there are a handful of podcasts I think I'd be interested in, I was never sure when I would take the time to listen to them.  The work commute is the perfect time to listen to them I believe.

Plus?

Let's say there is a website that offers high quality pictures and high definition video as it's only content.  The site requires a subscription but you're OK with that because of the high quality content mentioned.  Then let's say one day, out of nowhere, you can access the content with your subscription but in order to access the high quality and high definition content you have to pay extra for a "VIP" account to do so.  Otherwise, your "standard" account only allows access to standard quality. I'd love to know who came up with this idea, especially when high definition has been the standard video quality for a decade now, so long that we've moved beyond this into 4K and other mediums.  It's infuriating.  

Don't even get me started on the decision to remove it's most well-known content (moving forward, at least not retrospectively) two years ago and first placing it on another site, then charging a seperate membership fee to access. 

Soccer's Got It Figured Out

I'm not going to pretend to be a huge soccer fan just because of the World Cup.  I appreciate soccer and the World Cup as a sports fan and loosely follow the sport.  It's readily available these days on American television and since Europe is hours ahead of us its live coverage fits nicely into my weekend sports viewing as it is featured in the AM before American sports start.  I pay some attention to the Premiere League, but that is mostly because I have a friend from Manchester.  With that being said, there are a few things soccer does that I really, really like.  I think American sports, especially the NFL, could learn a thing or two from soccer.

The biggest and best thing soccer does well is the lack of TV timeouts.  The game starts, the entire half is played without interruption.  Halftime occurs with some commercials, then the second half starts and finishes without interruption.  Save for halftime, there is no break in the action.  It is amazing.  Forty-five minutes of straight action, followed by a short halftime, followed by 45 additional minutes of straight action.  I think the average NFL game has about 15 minutes of total action in 3 hours.

Lack of replay review is the second thing soccer does right.  American sports are polluted with replay review.  The NFL and NBA are the worse.  From reviewing catches in football to reviewing fouls that occur right in front of the referees in basketball, the breaks in action are insufferable.

Lack of timeouts is the third thing soccer does right.  I'm bringing this up specifically for basketball, where the last 90 seconds of a game can take 20-30 minutes of real time to complete.

Relegation to the minors is the fourth thing soccer does right.  It would be great to send perennial bottom feeders to the minors.  This concept would likely work best in baseball since it has the most structured minor league system.  It would be tough to send the Browns down to the NCAA.

One thing soccer gets wrong - flops.  Enjoy the World Cup finale!

My State Of Gaming 2018

I'm a sucker for Nintendo games.  I'm specifically a sucker for Zelda games.  That's what started this movement for me.  When Breath of the Wild was released last year to critical acclaim, I was skeptical.  One because they changed the proven formula that had dominated Zelda games over the past 20 years.  Two because the previous game Skyward Sword was critically acclaimed as well and I didn't like it at all.  After playing the game once I went out and bought a Switch, I was that impressed.  Breath of the Wild is fantastic, no doubt about it, but has stuck with me more than the game is the Switch system itself.

Despite Nintendo's rich history of success with mobile systems and considering my love of Zelda, I've never been into mobile gaming.  I never understood the appeal.  Why play on an under-powered system with a tiny screen when I could use a more powerful console? Plus, if I'm away from home I'm either busy or would rather be doing something other than playing games.  The Switch changed my viewpoint. 

Maybe it's because I'm older or lazier or more busy.  I'm not really sure the exact cause, but for whatever reason I enjoy mobile games.  I found that I was much more likely to pick up the Switch and sit on the couch and play than go downstairs and turn on the PS4.  I think it makes it easier to sit with Sarah while she reads and we can still watch TV.  My only complaint with the Switch isn't the lack of games, but the lack of games I'm interested in.  After Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey, my interest has dwindled. This is where the 3DS comes into the picture (seen above, actually it's a 2DS, Hyrule Edition obviously).

Growing bored of the games on the Switch (and honestly of the games on the PS4 as well until Red Dead Redemption 2 is released), I saw a story where the Hyrule edition of the new 2DS was coming out and I decided to pull the trigger.  This is the first true Nintendo handheld I've owned.  It comes pre-loaded with A Link Between Worlds, a sort of successor to A Link To The Past, one of my favorite Zelda games.  Many Zelda games came out on Nintendo's handheld systems only, and since I've never owned one until now, I've never had access to many of them.  A Link Between Worlds is a pretty great game thus far, definitely worthy of a play.  Not only does owning the 2DS open up a lot of Zelda games I've never had access to, it also opens up a pretty fantastic non-Zelda gaming library.  I'm sure it will keep me busy for months.  I'm happy with the purchase, but this is a bit of an odd environment Nintendo has created.

The Hyrule Edition of the New 2DS was released just last week.  The original New 2DS was released in 2017.  Despite being a relatively new system, it seems to essentially be a 3DS which came out in 2011.  The games all say 3DS.  Heck, even the system screen says 3DS when it initially boots.  A Link Between Worlds was released in 2013.  So in gaming in 2018, I'm most excited about portable gaming and playing on a system that is essentially 7 years old.  You can tell too - the graphics are not in high def, the transition between programs is sluggish, etc. This thing definitely isn't packing a lot of horse power.  I'm also not sure how much longer this system will be supported.  With the Switch being both portable and a console, does a 2DS/3DS make sense in 2018? 

Despite its limitations, I'm really excited about the idea of portable gaming, both on the 3DS and Switch.  It opens up an avenue of convenience to gaming in a busy day and age.  If I have 15 or 20 minutes to spare, I'll pick up one of the systems and play.  I would never do that on a traditional console.  Now, off to save Hyrule again!

All Devices Should Be This Smart

I've never wanted a smart speaker.  Never had use for one.  Last week we stayed in a cabin that an Amazon Echo and for the first time ever I interacted with a smart speaker (save for Siri).  As usual, I'm behind the times.  Also for the first time ever, I had a use for a smart speaker.

After playing with the Echo at the cabin and seeing how responsive it was to playing music, I thought it would pair perfectly with my bluetooth speaker to play music.  This is especially true since signing up for Amazon's Music Unlimited earlier this year.  Since I already had speakers to use I bought a couple of Echo Dot's. 

I definitely went down the smart speaker rabbit hole a couple of times this past week.  The speaker is great for playing playlists and random songs that get stuck in your head.  I already knew this.  In addition, its connectivity to numerous other devices is amazing.  I quickly was able to get it to connect to my Dish to control my TV.  I don't own any (or many) smart devices, but quickly was interested in smart homes - the possibilities seem endless.  Though to be honest, controlling lights in your home with your voice, while cool, has questionable usefulness when you can easily flip a switch to do the same thing.  But I can certainly see where setting up a series of commands (saying "Alexa, I'm home" and having the lights, TV, and fireplace, for instance) could be cool.  At the very least I think I'm going to set up my Christmas tree to be voice activated next December.

This smart speaker is one of the coolest devices I've owned.  To be able to play songs, get sports scores, get commute times, turn on lights, etc., etc. with only using your voice is super cool.  And I feel like the possibilities are just getting started.  Welcome to the future.

You Should Probably Subscribe To A Streaming Music Service

I passed on paying for music streaming services initially.  There are numerous free streaming services and I couldn't get my head around paying for something but not having anything to represent your purchase.  Interestingly, growing up in the peer-2-peer file sharing explosion of the early 2000s, I had no trouble accepting the opposite.  As time progressed, listening to music became increasingly complex despite having access to millions of free songs.  If I wanted to listen to an album, I'd use Spotify.  If I wanted to listen to a playlist, I'd switch over to Pandora because I liked their playlists better.  If I wanted to listen to one of my own MP3s, I'd use iTunes at home and Amazon Music on the road.  You get the point.

Earlier this year I was introduced to Amazon Unlimited and was intrigued by the music selection and sound quality.  However, what excited me the most was the ease of use.  I did some research on the streaming music services and decided to go with Amazon Unlimited.  From what I could tell, most of the services seemed pretty similar, generally speaking.  Plus I had already been using Amazon Music as a cloud service for my MP3s and am already invested with Amazon Prime, providing me a discount on the service. 

I have not regretted this decision for a second.  Not only does it provide me access to millions and millions of songs in one location, I can get my playlists and albums in the same place.  I never access my MP3s anymore - there's no need to with this large of a library.  Plus "my music" is now with me everywhere.  Possibly the biggest advantage of all is that it introduces me to new music - both new artists and new albums from my favorite artists.  It's a decision I should've made years ago.