Category: Uncategorized

The temperatures dropped rapidly last week, down to the freezing level and below. With the temperature, the relative humidity also dropped. Last year I bought a hygrometer to measure the humidity. It showed that it went from about 50% to the low 30s. Accordingly, my skin got dry and uncomfortable.

I immediately went down to my storage locker and brought out the humidifier, which I also bought last year. This thing is now basically running the entire time I’m at home, while I’m sleeping as well. I’m currently keeping things at 45% relative humidity in my bedroom. Perhaps I’ll try to get it more moist in there. Heyo! I might push it to 50% as my hygrometer is still saying it’s too dry for how cold it is.

I recommended it last year and I’ll recommend it again, get a humidifier during the winter months, especially if you’re prone to sinus infections like I am. Your life will be much more comfortable.

Around 9pm I was at my parents’ place to pick up my car and drive it home. At the time, it was damn cold but the skies were clear and the ground was bare. I got home and watched a movie. After midnight I realized it had snowed while the movie was playing. It wasn’t just a light dusting either, it was enough to blanket the city as far as my eyes could see.

As Vancouver sucks when it snows, the possibility of a snow day tomorrow is quite real. Hold onto your butts Vancouverites!

Last week I was in the cafeteria at work to get my lunch. I passed by some dude with a visitor sticker on his shirt. We get a lot of visitors at work so seeing guests at lunch is fairly common. Visitor dude was with his host, someone at work who I don’t know. Anyways, as I pass by visitor dude, I hear him say, “hey, I know you from somewhere”. I wasn’t sure he was talking to me, so I turned to him and asked if he was talking to me (not Taxi Driver style).

He said yes, in fact, he was talking to me. So now this is where it gets awkward. I didn’t recognize this guy at all. So we just stood there wordless. I looked at his visitor sticker which had his name. I read his name aloud, hoping it would trigger something. Nope, I don’t know anyone by that name. I didn’t know what to say. That day was a super busy one and I really just wanted to get my lunch and head back to my desk. I suppose I could have just stayed there and discussed where he might know me from but he wasn’t exactly volunteering any details on his own. Instead, I quickly said his name didn’t ring a bell and I walked off to get my lunch.

Was that rude of me? He was the one who started the conversation. I think the onus is on him to tell me where he thought he knew me. Oh well, I hope he had a good lunch.

I dig some research tonight and the apartment that is four floors up, same layout as me, is listed at $528,000. As far as I can tell, the only enhancements that have been made to this unit compared to mine is some hardwood floors. Jeepers! Half a million dollars for pretty much the exact same condo as mine.

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.