This evening I ventured into that part of YouTube that features food preparation. In the video above, a meal is prepared teppanyaki style. To fully appreciate this video it must be heard just as much as it is seen. The sounds of the grill and the sizzle of the food really make this video.
It’s really a shame I have no food in my place tonight.
At least for now, I believe I have chosen my replacement for my phone. Over the weekend, I discovered the Nokia 8 more or less fits the requirements I have for a new phone: a nearly stock Android experience, will run the latest version of Android, a better camera than my Nexus 5, near field communication functionality, and a price that I can live with. On the price point, there is a complication in that the Nokia technically isn’t available in Canada. The phone can be bought on Ebay but is subject to whatever price the seller wants to list it at. So far, I’ve seen it sold for just under $700. That’s about double what I paid for my Nexus 5 but $200 less than the Pixel 2, which would have been my choice had it not been for the $900 price tag.
It’s possible the price of the Nokia 8 might drop if I wait a few months. I wonder if it’ll be cheaper after Christmas. It seems to be a great phone and I hope it will last as long as my Nexus 5.
Until I can figure out what new phone to buy I may revert back to my old phone, the Galaxy Nexus. Before the Nexus 5 showed up, this was the best phone I’d ever had.
The Galaxy Nexus is now nearly six year old, which is ancient for smartphones. My Galaxy Nexus, however, is still working fine, which can’t be said about my Nexus 5. I gave my GN to my Mom and even she has moved onto a new phone. I’ll need to pick it up from my parents on the weekend.
For a phone this old, I’ll have to stick to the basics for apps and functionality. I’ll probably limit myself to the Lite version of Facebook, the Gmail app, and perhaps one of the Reddit apps. I’ll try to use the browser for everything else.
What an annoying first-world problem this is!
So I’ve made no progress on that new YouTube channel I was going make. Also, since my phone busted, there’s been no clear cut choice on what its replacement is going to be. I keep doing research and there’s always at least one thing from every model that makes me hesitate about buying it. Sometimes it’s the price, other times it’ll be a missing feature. Buying a new phone sucks.
Ok, have a good night.
I was able to successfully reboot my phone last night after some more tweaking. It seems pretty stable today. Of course there was still no wifi functionality.
I suppose I could continue to only use cell data as I get 6 Gb of data allotted to me per month. Since my download speeds over cell connection are much slower than through wifi, I probably won’t be able to even use that much data in a month. It does, however, suck to be stuck at a lower download speed. I believe I’m getting like 3 Mbps over my cell connection. It’s not terrible but it’s not great either.
I could continue to limp along with decreased functionality but it’s just not the most optimal experience. Perhaps after four years of admirable performance and service, it’s time to get to a new phone.
With my phone somewhat stabilized now, I can take time to find a decent phone without having to make a snap decision right away. Maybe I should go back to a flip phone?
My phone randomly rebooted this morning while I was looking at it. I hadn’t even got out of bed and it was acting up. The wifi on my phone has been wonky for the last several weeks, randomly dropping connections and then re-connecting again. It was annoying but I got used to it.
This was an entirely new problem however. It took forever to boot up for some reason. When it finally finished starting up, the wifi wouldn’t even work. It couldn’t even scan for available networks. I was stuck on cellular data. This was not good.
I went the entire day on just cell data, no wifi whatsoever. When I got home from work, I started researching the problem. Fortunately or unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one with this problem. I found this rather ghetto solution on YouTube that applied to a different phone model but could also work for mine. I did my best not to break anything as I tried it on my own phone. To my surprise, I got wifi back for about ten minutes before it stopped working again. Boo!
It seemed like I’d be stuck with just using cell data from now on but I just rebooted my phone again about five minutes ago and it’s stuck on a screen with just the word “Google” on it. My phone won’t even start now!
I’m afraid this isn’t looking good for my beloved Nexus 5.
Over the last week or so I’ve been working on this idea for a new YouTube channel. Will it be a unique channel? Sadly, it will not. There are already two or three channels like it. So why do it? It will be incredibly easy for me to make videos. The source content for the channel will be readily available. I easily could put out like five videos a week if I wanted to.
Once I have it up and running, I’ll let everyone know what it is.
The mayor of the municipality I live in tweeted a picture of a nearby intersection that was taken in 1932. The street is quite familiar to me since it’s only one block over from where I live. The picture shows a very different street. Only two buildings have retained their general condition and shape since that time. There are streetcars running down the middle of road. Those have been long gone. The storefronts are different. The few people on the street are wearing formal (compared to today) clothes. The cars parked on the side of road would be considered classics now.
It’s amazing snapshot in history and I wonder what this street will look like 85 years from. I bet it’s all AI hover cars and robots!
Last week I randomly decided to check how much my apartment is selling for on the market these days. With three nearly identical buildings on my street with identical layouts in each building, it’s easy to see how much your place might go for. During the summer, my apartment was already way overpriced but I was in for a shock. The latest asking price someone had posted was $100k higher than the summer asking price. If this is indeed the new norm for my apartment layout then it’s clear the local real estate market is continuing to be out of control.
At that price, it’s about $200k over what I paid for my apartment. While some might relish in the incredible investment this has turned out to be, it’s indicative of a much larger problem in this city. This is a potential gain, so I get nothing at this point, other than worry for where the market is headed even just six months from now.
It’s a great week for talk shows as just after Conan appeared on Colbert, David Letterman was a guest on Jimmy Kimmel’s show in New York. The now-retired Letterman showed up with his signature “vagrant” beard. This must have been such a treat for Kimmel, since Dave was and continues to be his showbiz idol. I’m looking forward to his Netflix show.