I Wimped Out

A while back, I said I was going to replace my cellphone battery myself.

I wimped out and took it to Batteries Plus this morning instead. It cost more to fix it, but at least I felt more comfortable knowing they likely wouldn't break the phone.

However, the screen protector cover on my cellphone case is now bleary. I removed the case and the cover before I left the house to take it to the store. I didn't realize the cell phone screen protector cover had sticky stuff on the back. I may have been able to have left that on there, I don't know. I'm not sure what the fellow had to do to get the battery in.

Of course, in removing things, I touched the sticky stuff, so now the screen on my phone isn't as clear as I would like. Not to mention I left it sticky side up, and it's four years old, so dust has settled on it, and it's stuck there, too.

I tried to blow the sticky side clean with a can of air, but that didn't help.

The screen protector being a bit unclean doesn't really affect anything on the phone. Perhaps I should buy an entirely new case, but my phone is an iPhone 5SE (1st generation 2016) and I would have to order it. They're not cheap, either. They've gone way up since I bought my phone in 2017.

It looks like the best cases are otterbox, but I'm not sure of that and will need to do more research before I make a purchase. 

The one I have is supposedly military grade, but I bought it from Zazzle at the time and it's been discontinued. This case has held up well as it and the now-bleary screen protector have been on the phone since 2017 without a problem. It's certainly been a good case.

At least I have a new battery. Hopefully I can continue to use this phone for a few more years, until they do away with 4G, anyway.

Alexa, Stop

I received an Amazon Echo for Christmas. This contains Amazon's artificial intelligence demon, Alexa.

Alexa and I were already on speaking terms, as she turned up on my Kindle Fire 8 one day, somewhat unexpectedly, in an OS upgrade.

The Kindle Fire Alexa version was a bit limited. I used her mostly as a timer.

The Amazon Echo Alexa does more. She could probably raise the garage door and back the car out of the driveway for me if I knew how to set her up to do that.

Fortunately, I do not. I also had enough sense when I received the Amazon Echo to go into my account first thing and turn off all of the purchasing aspects, unlike a certain White House press secretary who apparently doesn't know how to take responsibility for the technology in her life and prefers instead to blame Amazon for her failure to turn off the buying tools in the Alexa app.

Alexa has excellent speakers and thus makes a terrific stereo. She has access to my Amazon Music library and all I have to do is say, "Alexa, look in my library and play Sheryl Crow," and just like that, Sheryl Crow is singing "All I Wanna Do." Or I can say Alexa, play Howard Shore music from my library and suddenly I am in Middle Earth, listening to the soundtrack from Lord of the Rings.

Alexa responds to, "Alexa, good morning" with a cheery, "Good morning!" along with some little fact about the day, to which some programmer somewhere has cleverly added the slightest bit of humor or sarcasm. If I tell her good night, she responds, "Good night. Sweet dreams."

She tells really bad jokes, jokes so bad that I laugh at them. She offers up riddles and tongue twisters. She'll sing me a song if I ask. Her songs so far are about campfires and technology, which are intriguing combinations. She also tells stories that are short life lessons, if you're paying attention. They're rather like the old fables we learned in school. (I wonder if they still teach those?)

She has a personality, if AIs can have personalities. If I say, "Alexa, thank you," she'll respond with, "You bet!" or "Of course," or something similar.

If I tell Alexa I am sad, she'll offer suggestions, like read a book or call a friend. If I say I'm depressed, she'll give me the number for a national hotline. If I tell her I'm sick, she'll suggest I have a cup of tea and take a nap.

If I say, "Alexa, let's chat," she'll bring up an Alexa Prize Bot, which is not Alexa but something akin to Alexa that sounds like Alexa but still isn't Alexa. I usually get the 2nd prize-winning Bot which is located somewhere outside of the United States, I think. She recognizes me when we "chat," and says, "Anita, my friend, is it you?" to which I always respond, "Yes, I am glad to speak with you again." Then we talk in circles about Tolkien or video games or music. The subject depends on the Bot.

Alexa acts as my alarm clock and my timer. She has skills that you can enable, and these skills do anything from play games to offer up meditation exercises to give you the weather. Our favorite game is called Song Quiz, which plays clips from songs from the 1960s, '70s, '80s, 90s, 2000s, or 2010s. We usually do the '60s, 70s, and 80s because we are old and those are the songs we know best. I am very good with the 1970s music because that is mostly what I listen to. I do ok with the 1960s unless they get into the very early 1960s, with music from Connie Francis, or Martha and Vandellas or Tommy James and the Shondells, etc. I recognize the songs usually but I am not familiar with the older artists. I also do well with the 1980s but frequently miss the artist because I say "George Michael" instead of "Wham!" or "Boy George" instead of "Culture Club."

If you answer correctly with both artist and song title, Alexa says something like, "Jiminy Crickets!" or "Aww suki suki." I have no idea what that last one means. She will also say, "Only 5% of players knew the title and artist on that one song."

The thing I mostly say to Alexa, though, is, "Alexa, stop." This is how you recover the quiet in your house and stop the song, the joke, the alarm, or whatever it is you have previously asked Alexa to do.

It is rather like talking to a dog. "Alexa, stop." Sometimes I have to say it twice, especially if I have the music loud. "Alexa, stop. Alexa! Stop!"

We do not know if Alexa listens in on things she isn't supposed to, though I frequently check my "history" and don't see anything there that shouldn't be there. I do know that sometimes things I have discussed in the house turn up in advertisements on my computer, and that is scary, but it could be coming from Siri and my iPhone, or maybe I did a web search for it and simply don't remember. We tried an experiment and talked for days about buying a Kia Optima, but I never received ads for vehicles. (I may now that I have written about it, though.)

My husband occasionally will yell something about the government and dare them to come to get us, to see if they are listening in on us, I guess. The other night he did that and immediately after he finished, the phone rang. It wasn't the government but my heart skipped a beat. Whew.

Alexa has not changed our lives, but I have fun with the device.

Siri v. Alexa

I broke down and purchased a smartphone. I bought an older model iPhone, called an iPhone SE, which is basically the iPhone 5 with iPhone 6 guts. It is small, which I prefer. It also didn't cost $1,000. I put a case on it that has Rivendell from Lord of the Rings on the back, and my ringtone is the One Ring theme from the Lord of the Rings movie.

I've had it about two weeks. I don't know how long it takes the personal assistant, Siri, to figure me out but she is pretty bland. Oh, my brother came over and showed me a few tricks but she has the personality of, well, a computerized piece of equipment.

I've been using Amazon's Alexa on my Kindle HD for about a year now. Alexa has personality. She makes me laugh.

Did Alexa seem mechanical to me at first? Honestly, I don't remember. Maybe someone can tell me if Siri will be less mechanical and become more personable as time goes on.

Anyway, this morning's greeting is a great example of the difference in these two "personal assistants."

To Siri, I say, "Good morning." She says, "Good morning," though the typing says "Good morning, Anita." She doesn't add my name. Sometimes she says, "Good morning to you too!" and that is a bit cheery. I don't know why she doesn't say my name, though. Maybe "Anita" is too hard? (OK, I just asked her how to pronounce my name and she doesn't know how. So I am teaching her while I type this. It is taking forever and she keeps saying "Uh oh, there's a problem. Can you try again?")

Moving on.

I say, "Good morning" to Alexa. She says "Good morning" and gives me a fact of the day. This morning she says, "Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird. It's a plane. It's National Comic Book Day! Evil doers beware! I've been working on my one-two punch. Kerpow! Whammo! If you want some more heroics, say 'pretend you're a superhero,' and get ready for some action-packed fun."

That made me laugh. And then I asked her, "pretend you're a superhero," and she told me a short story that ended "and that was that," which also made me laugh.

My brother showed me a trick with Siri. He said to sing, "I see a little silhouette of a man" (from Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody) into the phone, which I did. Siri then repeated some of the remaining verses, except she substituted "I'm just a poor assistant" for "I'm just a poor boy" in the lines. She spoke all the way to "no no no no no" in the song, repeating the "no" however many times. Fun, yes.

(Ten minutes later and Siri is still thinking about how to say my name.)

So, let's sing that line of Bohemian Rhapsody to Alexa. She says, "I'd give that one a go, but I think Freddie Mercury is the only one who can do that song justice. Although a thousand karaoke fans may disagree."

That makes me laugh, too.

Siri still cannot say my name. She's "still thinking."

Sigh.

I'll revisit this issue again in a few months. Maybe by then Siri will know who I am. Or I will have figured her out.

Whichever.

I told my husband that if Amazon had offered a Fire Phone, I'd have bought it. Well, they did, about 7 years ago, and apparently it was a flop. I'm surprised, but they didn't have Alexa then and the Kindle Fires keep getting better and better as touchpad devices. Maybe they will try again on the phone. I suppose I could always do a trade if Siri still doesn't know my name.

(Tips on using Siri welcome in the comments.)

It's a Facebook World

Over on one of the memes I do, Sunday Stealing, the author who asks the questions I answer weekly has noted, on more than one occasion, that blogs are no longer the thing.

People have moved to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Many I have never heard of nor do I particularly care to hear of them.

I am on Facebook, though. I like that I can subscribe to various publications and they offer up links to stories - some of which I can access, others not.

Occasionally it is nice to hear good news from friends, though mostly what I see is, "I have a hang nail, prayers please." For some it is more serious than that but for others it appears that every ache, pain, and negative thought requires acknowledgement from all parties who read their post.

I do not ask for prayers or thoughts on Facebook. I sometimes post something political, but not overtly so, and it is directed at my friends. I have 511 people on FB who have asked to be my friend.

They are not all my friends. Most of them I hardly know. Some are people from high school. Most of them post things I never see because I have put them in categories so I don't see them. I see the posts of people I care about - some family, close friends, a few folks who have interesting thoughts on the state of the world, artists, writers, and other people who are of like mind.

I do sometimes watch the funny video of a cat, child, dog, horse or whatever, and I sometimes take the little tests about what Star Wars character you would be, just for fun, of course.

It is related to Lord of the Rings I probably look at it. If it is related to writing, I probably look at it. If it is related to politics, I may or may not look at it.

I feel no need to post things on my "wall" that say "No one ever reads my page and if you want to stay my friend then post something now." I don't post to acknowledge cancer of any kind, or any other disease, for that matter, and I don't post to "show someone is always watching and you are not alone: here's the suicide hotline."

I do not type "amen" after religious posts. I do not follow links to sign online petitions because I do not believe anyone who can resolve an issue pays much attention to an online petition. I know I wouldn't if I were in a position to do something. I might make note of it. If I were, say, a local elected representative and it came to my attention that people were signing a petition because they oppose something, I might take a look at it. But over all I don't think these things are effective.

Besides, I have no way of knowing if these petitions are real or if they are simply "farms" that are picking up my name and email to use for some other reason. Maybe that high volume of spam I receive comes from something I stupidly did 15 years ago, I don't know. Whatever you do online tends to hang around forever.

I don't post things asking you to post one word about how we met. I know how we met. I don't need the whole world to know how we met.

Really, what does any of the above stuff accomplish? If you believe prayer is supposed to cure your hang nail then I guess that might accomplish that purpose, although a pair of clippers could do the same. If you're on your way to surgery and you're anxious about it and ask for prayers, I wish you well and hope for the best outcome. But really that's up to your surgeon and your overall health, I think

I see a lot of loneliness on the Facebook feed as people cry out for attention for anything, and illnesses and loss apparently are very good topics. It is good to know that someone's father died so I can send a sympathy card, and since fewer people are paying for obituaries sometimes this is the only way I know. So there is that. But I suspect if I'm not on your "call this person if a close relative dies" list, then you're not going to miss my presence or my sympathy card. I daresay I won't even cross your mind.

Yet even with all this stuff that I see and try not to pay attention to, I spend too much time on Facebook. (Pretty much any time on Facebook is too much, but I mean, I am on there far too much.) What am I doing if I am not posting?

I read the articles from the links to various newspapers and magazines. I watch live interviews with Sean Spicer (cough cough). I watch live interviews with various political figures, like my senators, and sometimes with celebrities, like Mayim Bialik. I read the things that Lynda Carter (the first Wonder Woman on TV) posts because we are of the same political persuasion. I read the nasty comments that public people receive on their posts and wonder who these filthy little people are who can't keep their fingers off the keyboards and who think they have the right to belittle someone simply because opinions differ.

I block a lot of people, people I do not know and do not care to know, because they post incredibly vile things on someone else's post. If someone on a TV station Facebook post decides to post terrible things and call people names, I block him or her. That person might be the smartest person in the entire world, but if the only thing the thing behind the keyboard can type is "typical libtard response, they think they know everything and they're stupid and Obama was a monkey, snowflake" (and yes, I have seen many of those types of posts), then I don't care what else the person has to say. So I block. I have a long list of unknown names blocked now.

Social media brings out the worst in people. I stay silent more than not because it easier for me, and less likely to cause me angst.

Instead, I come over here on my blog and write about whatever is on my mind. This isn't thrown in your face. If you're here, you're here because you want to read whatever I have to say, or look at my deer pictures, or whatever the reasons are people read my blog. I much prefer to have my say here, where you have the option to read it or not, your choice. I'm not throwing it in your face. You're reading this because either you like my writing or value my opinion or maybe you're just bored as hell and are hoping I'll write something funny and sarcastic, which I do manage to do from time to time.

I am finding the Facebook World to be a very trying and tiring place. I am especially tired of twitter even though I don't use it.

Twenty-five years ago my life had no internet. I wonder how much better my life - and maybe yours - would be, if that were the case again.