Where will You Watch TV and Niue’s?

Now that the streaming wars are starting, where will you watch and how much are you willing to spend? One estimate that I read said that users will have to spend a minimum of $70/month to view what they see now.

It it worth it to you or should some other model be adopted? More on this later from me. What do you think?

The Buy Shit Channel

I like to look at news and social media in the morning. This take the place of reading the newspaper for me. But in doing so, I have come to the realization that many of the “channels” which purport to give you news on trends and technology are really “buy shit” channels.

They often just post PR from manufacturers and sellers without adding anything to them. I’m sure they are getting commissions for anything sold when you click on the links in the articles.

So, I’m wondering that they are really up to. Are they just trying to get us to buy more shit we don’t need in order to impress people we don’t really like? I think so.

Makes me want to just curl up on a corner and not look at anything at times. I think I’ll put down the tablet and go for a walk.

On-Call, something I will NOT miss in retirement

I'm sitting here listening to a network maintenance call after hours. Being on-call is DEFINITELY something I will not miss in retirement. After I retire, I look forward to being able to stay up late, get up late, and not be interrupted by a phone call in the middle of the night.

For the 22 years I have been at the California ISO, I have been on-call. Sometimes for weeks at a time. Luckily our on-call rotations are generally not a problem as we don't get calls. But, the very fact that we are on call causes some consternation as you are always expecting a call. And, while you are on call, there are things that you can't do and, you have to respond within an SLA to a call.

So, my personal on-call will start on 1-Jan-2020, but, hopefully, it will only be for fun.

Retirement: Where do I go online?

Retirement is coming:

• 45 calendar days
• 22 work days

and I'm looking at my online presence. I'm wondering where I should stay and where I should be after retirement and what sort of presence I should maintain.

It's interesting after nearly 56 years of employment what adjustments should be made. I have been several places because of my employment and other places because of my non-work life.

At a minimum, I will need to change my status from employed to retired. I imagine there are other things which will have to be changed, including things I am "following". Many of these are related with my job and will probably not be relevant to my retired life. I also imagine I will be adding things as I get involved in them.

Then there are places which I wonder if I should be involved at all. For example, LinkedIn which is concerned with getting a new job. I will not be looking for that, hopefully, unless something goes really wrong with our finances. I know, right now, that I am actively pruning things which seem irrelevant to my next phase and may even drop my membership completely.

More as I get further along in the process.

Hey, Google! Want me on a Chromebook?

Google,

If you want me on a Chromebook, provide an application like OneNote. It's as simple as that. Make the application as useful and easy to use and I might actually switch.

What do you have open?

It has been a while since I wrote anything here. Lately, I have been looking at my workstation and thinking about the programs I have open. Here's a look.

Every day, I open these four application:

• Outlook
• IE (our corporate browser standard)
• OneNote
• Skype (formerly Lync)

In addition, I might keep Chrome open periodically. Except for Chrome, I don't close these until I shutdown my workstation at the end of the business day.

Unlike some people, I don't keep a lot of windows and applications open, but I live in these applications. My workstation has to be able to handle all the development and office tools (e.g. Word, Excel) that I use throughout the day as well as these four applications which I use pretty much consistently.

Which applications do you live in?

 

Too many bowl games?

I like football as much as the next guy -- OK, maybe not as much as some guys, but I watch it -- but there seem to be an inordinate number of college bowl games during December. In fact, so many that I lose interest in watching them. What about you?