YouTube Music Review (why I don’t like it)

YouTube Premium was included in my Google Fi account which made it nice to use. A combination of frequent drops in signal with Google Fi along with bundling internet with other cell phone service caused me to end Google Fi, but I decided to keep YouTube Premium to watch YouTube with no commercials and use YouTube Music. 

YouTube Music, like many other Google products, is a love hate relationship.

• When I ask Google to play a particular artist, half of the time it says “Playing ARTIST Radio” or it will say “Playing ARTIST Playlist.” It never gives me the option to choose. It just plays what it wants to play. I never tell it to play a Playlist BTW.

• Play stops at the end of the que or playlist. YouTube Music doesn’t automatically restarts the playlist or plays something similar. It just stops.

• When I get into my car, YouTube Music will start playing automatically from Android Auto, but many times it starts with “Your Mix” which sometimes sounds good, but most of the time is not what I was listening to the last time I was listening to music. And because I listen to Jazz, Hip Hop and R&B, the mix just doesn’t go together. 

• When I want to change what I am listening to, I have to scroll down the list to eventually get to “Artist.” This is not safe when driving and should not be this difficult. Sometimes I pick “songs like ARTIST” but get disappointed with many songs I don’t like. then you have to touch the Menu 3 dots to get Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down. Pandora has this readily available which makes the playlist more in tune with what I like faster.

• Waiting for WiFi to download music is annoying. I turn off Smart Downloads and keep getting a notification Waiting for WiFi like my WiFi is not connected. I don’t need anything downloaded. If it is happening for a reason, provide a More Info to explain that. Now it is just annoying.

• There are certain “artists” who I do not like and don’t want to hear their music. That is being nice, but I can’t stand Cardi B, but yet when I select Hip Hop, she plays which is overly vulgar and offensive. I am not against cursing in music but I have heard at least 3 different songs by different creators that I don’t like and wish you would use your AI or something to find what I like and what I don’t like. Or you could just ask me like other programs like Spotify does.

These reasons are only magnified by the increase in cost of YouTube Premium to the point that there is not enough value in YouTube Premium by itself to justify the higher cost from the last increase when I still would rather use Pandora for my music. I do like that my uploaded music is still there, but in the past I could not use YouTube Music with Android Auto without a subscription which is a fail.

LeBron and the Lakers: What's Wrong in 2022

I write this blog after watching the Lakers blow and should be win against the Rockets again. LeBron James is playing awesome, Russell Westbrook has been average which is actually good enough but the coaching is failing them. I don't even blame it on Anthony Davis being injured. That is what he does.

The problem is not Anthony Davis being injured, it is the lack of defense of this team. Carmelo Anthony is playing decent however decent is not good enough. I would imagine he's holding us chest out saying that he blocked someone thinking that he played defense. Playing defense would be keeping your person from scoring at all costs. It is not leaving your person wide open for 3-pointers on 10 shots of the game.

Carmelo Anthony is not the only person on the Lakers that leaves people open. The other problem is when a player double change the person with the ball they just pass it to the open person who shoots and makes open three. This is happening every single game. I don't know how they won any games this season doing the same wrong defense every game!

When you do the same defense and expect a different result that is the complete definition of insanity, the NBA version. From the Lakers to break out of this insanity defense they need to change who's in charge. Frank Vogel has no say so on the team and should be fired immediately. The next player that double teams and leaves his men wide open should be suspended for one game. The next player that leaves someone open for three consecutive open three point shots should be suspended for one game. Something has to change. Every single game the Lakers look like they know how to play for one quarter, but the problem is every game is based on four quarters. This is one of the most disappointing seasons in Laker history!

Charles Barkley is completely wrong stayed in the Lakers are losing because they're old fogies. The Lakers are losing because they turn the ball over for more times than the opponent per half and they allow too many wide open shots. The Lakers could be fixed but it is too late this season. You can't go losing games to the worst team in the league and expect to go anywhere in the playoffs.

I really want to leave YouTube TV

 I have tried a few different streaming services and Playstation Vue was my favorite but right around the same time I decided I wanted to leave they decided to shut down. I end up switching to YouTube TV and have been very happy with it. However with their rising fees, it makes me a little less happy.

There are some things that YouTube TV does that monopolizes ad revenue. YouTube TV removes Network ads to place their own ads or will place nothing playing because obviously they're not capitalizing on that channel's ad revenue. I don't quite understand how the networks stay in business selling ads when a company like Google can remove the ads from the television broadcast. I would imagine this has been happening for years with the local cable TV stations but was not noticeable until now when YouTube TV plus a big display showing that your channel is in a commercial. 

I guess I should just be thankful that they are not forcing me to watch ads like they do on YouTube where sometimes the ad is longer than the time I spend watching the YouTube video. So what else don't I like about YouTube TV?

YouTube TV is battling Fox Sports in different areas like Orlando Florida where I live and I cannot watch Orlando Magic games. Maybe that is more of a Disney thing since you can't watch the games on any of the other streaming services either. But that doesn't make sense since Disney owns Hulu which doesn't have Fox local sports channels on it like the Magic in Orlando.

And back to the price, as YouTube TV increase the rate to 74.95 a month which puts that closer to the expensive DirecTV promotional rate. But I love YouTube TV so much more for a number of reasons that I will list here: nearly unlimited DVR, ability to watch on multiple devices at the same time, almost every channel that I'd like to watch with the ability to add on premium channels, very rarely is there a bad signal, and their customer service actually seems to be in tune with their customers on the few occasions I've had to communicate with them.

https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/26/22403740/roku-youtube-tv-google-standoff-competition-negotiations-contract

I find it interesting that Roku is having problems with YouTube TV

contracting. Google TV has allowed Apple TV to be on it so it seems kind of funny that YouTube TV is having issues with Roku. Giving YouTubeTV's monopolizing ways, I guess I could understand that Roku wants to have their hand in the cookie jar too. Thankfully I don't watch YouTube TV on Roku TV as I have a Google Chromecast with Google TV on the Roku TV that I own.

Why I Went Vegan

Watch my video on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/HZM-fiyfXeY

I remember going to a Tony Robbins event about 19 years ago and the third day of the event was on nutrition and health. The theme was we don’t eat things with faces. That is 2 eyes and a mouth. I thought whatever at that time. That was around the same time that Dr Adkins died from heart disease obviously by his high intake of meat.

When I was trying to get healthy about 8 years ago, I watched the Netflix film Food Inc where they showed the different animals including chicken, cows and pigs that were fed corn and other items that were not in their natural diet to fatten them up. They also showed how the animals were killed and processed which soils the meat in adrenaline and feces. It grossed me out at the time, but I was not going to change my diet at that time. 

It was a Tuesday afternoon In May of 2019, I watched the Netflix film What the Health. It was very similar to Food Inc, but they focused on the health benefits of eliminating meat including losing weight, reduction of chance for stroke and heart attack. That hit home hard as I had introduced avocados to my diet to help my health, but my father died due to prostate cancer. He had a couple of strokes in 2009 and my mother had a stroke at the gym in 2016. I gained 40 pounds since my parents moved in with us in September of 2016 and never before saw my weight above 265. My back was hurting a couple of times a year. My feet were hurting a lot and I was tired of the pain that was enhanced by my heavier condition.

The most I weighed was 276 and I was going to the gym multiple times a week, but my weight was not going down. I knew that if I wanted my weight to go down, I would have to change my diet and this was the sign. I did not wait for a weekend or the next day. I made the decision on that day to stop eating meat and dairy. 

To cut out meat and dairy was a strong choice as I loved milk, chicken quesadillas from Taco Bell, and cheese on everything else. I cut it all out. I bought unsweetened Almond Milk. I decided that I was not going to eat cheese at all in hopes to eliminate my high cholesterol. I do not even want to try vegan cheese. And with this decision, my weight quickly came below 270 and by my birthday in August I was under 260. 

That doesn’t seem like a lot, but I was feeling the difference and the week before I watched What the Health on Netflix, I hurt my right knee pretty bad. I did not go to the gym much during that time. I had to quit paying basketball because my knee hurt so bad. By August, my knee was feeling much better and after working outside one weekend, I was dehydrated, but my weight came down to 244 which was the lowest in over 3 years. I knew this was water weight, so the next week my weight came back to 258 and is now down to 250 a week later.

I still don’t go to the gym more than 4 days a week with moderate workouts. I feel better about the direction my health is going. I keep saying that I will eat shrimp tacos one of these days. When I go for them, I end up passing that restaurant to go to Chili’s for a salad, chips and salsa with a margarita. I still go to Taco Bell often, but not to order from their vegetarian menu because everything on it has cheese and sour cream. I order a spicy potato soft taco and a bean and rice burrito with no cheese on either item. My cost per visit is either $3 or $4 depending on the time of day I go. I go to Chipotle more often now to have a vegetarian bowl and love the flavor. I appreciate rice and beans more. 

For the first time, I feel confident that my health is improving regardless of how much I workout. I can see my weight getting down below 200 pounds for the first time since college and I believe I have reduced my chance for cancer, stroke and heart attack tremendously. 

That is why I chose to go vegan. Watch Food Inc and What the Health on Netflix. There is plenty of flavor in the world that does not require eating meat. You also won’t feel bloated after eating and feel like you need a nap if you go vegan too. Now if I could stop drinking soda, I would really turbocharge my results. 

Alcohol is a Depressant? (Benefits of Alcohol)

I am not quite sure if the medical profession understand the effects of alcohol. Any drug class will list Alcohol as a depressant and I think it is wrong. When you are depressed, you might try to lighten your feelings with an alcoholic stimulant. As long as you are doing this without the need of using your motor skills for the next few hours (driving, speaking,... WTF.... Walking, LOL) you should be fine.

After getting a nice buzz (legally drunk), your mood changes, it is easier to laugh at the dumbest stuff (I am sure this is how someone though Dumb and Dumber made sense), and you genuinely feel better overall. As a matter of fact, one might feel fearless and willing to try harder to do something they have not been able to accomplish before. While you might have the courage, it is important to understand that you will have the impairment of the motor skills which will restrict your ability to accomplish tasks.

Not being able to accomplish tasks doesn't necessarily make you depressed, but being arrested for DUI, losing your driver's license and being forced to pay for higher auto insurance would definitely make you depressed. And if you don't drive, but you are an asshole to your beloved to the point you become violent, irresponsible and act a fool, you may find yourself in a depressed state. But that alcohol stimulant will always be there and is the reason why alcoholism is a problem. 

If you don't drive and don't create a problem with your significant other, then how could it be considered a depressant? If you drink past the level of "buzz" to the point of being borderline clinically close to death from alcohol, your body will reject it! Your body will try to expel the alcohol through sweat, urine and if it can't get it out of the body fast enough, it will force you to throw it up by vomit. If you reach that point, you will experience a hang over and be seriously depressed the next day until you flush the alcohol out of your body with the replacement of water. 

But if you plan to stop and actually make it to a stopping point that prevents you to being so drunk your body was rejecting the alcohol, can you still benefit by the stimulant qualities of alcohol? 

Yes and No. Yes, you hopefully will feel better during the moment of pain. The problem occurs when it is time to rest. You might feel as though you are experiencing a deeper sleep, but it actually is not the case as you are to be able to dream as part of your sleep. When you sleep during inebriation, you will wake not feeling rested and wanting to sleep more. Does the lack of sleep create a state of depression. It all depends on how much you value your sleep. When you are young, you might not value sleep, but as you get older, you will realize that sleep is essential to being able to function to your optimal abilities the next day. 

Overall, I would state alcohol is not a depressant if you can limit the effects by not driving and not interacting, but as it does affect judgement. Moreover if you can limit the intake of alcohol to the point that you can take it into moderation, you should feel better inside. However, if you don't know your limits, think they are higher than what others have told you, you may create a situation of  depression. Unfortunately, since it does affect your judgement, you may not know when to quit and may ultimately end of with a state of depression.

PS: I have wanted to write this blog for some time, but since I did make a margarita at home, I am relaxed, I feel much better, and I decided tonight was the night to write it. I hope you enjoyed.

Please Fix Chrome Remote Desktop

Many things work smoother and quicker in Chrome. This was true with Chrome Remote Desktop until recently. I do appreciate the Chrome team is transitioning more apps to be web based instead of requiring software to be downloaded. Chrome Remote Desktop is one of the recent apps making this transition.

This past week I have tried to work on my computer remotely because my knee hurt to sit at my desk. When day trading and remotely connection to my computer, I found that when I clicked, the computer was showing the click a few spaces lower than where the mouse was shown. I initially tried this with my Samsung Tab S4 using Dex on my TV screen. I figured it was a problem with Dex,so I was looking to replace my tablet and used this as an opportunity to try something new.

I tried a Pixel Slate to have the same results. I tried it on an HP Chromebook and had the same results. I was not aware that I wasn't running the latest version on my computer so I updated it. As you can see on the right.

Problem
What I have found is when moving the mouse near the bottom of the remote screen, the mouse lines up nearly perfect. As you move the mouse higher on the screen, the actual location of the mouse is lower than the displayed position of the mouse.

I hope this problem can be fixed quickly. It is annoying and I don't recall having this problem before they moved to the web based application of Chrome Remote Desktop. I have noticed this problem for the last 2 weeks which lines up with the most recent update to the Chrome Remote Desktop.

I am confident that the Chrome team at Google will get this fixed quickly.

Impossible to Fail

We gain experience with age. That experience is built on past success and mishaps. The mishaps are only failures in your mind if you have stopped looking for solutions to conquer. Never give up and you will not have failed.

#inspiration #motivation #quoteoftheday #MotivationalQuotes #inspirationalquotes