My Google Hub Time Was Off Yesterday
I haven't done much with my Google Hub, which is more like a video variation of a smartspeaker (using Google Assistant vs Amazon Alexa) For the most part it'll show a screensaver with a 12-hour clock and local temperature. You can get a summary of news headlines by touching a screen, and it's fairly easy to pull up music hits on Youtube or Google Play Music ("Hey Google, show me some Beatles hits", I swipe to "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and select). Actually you can play almost every song without Alexa's annoying "That song'is only available on Amazon Music Unlimited; would you like to learn more?" I peppered Home Hub with a long string of hits with only 1 miss (BBmak's "The Ghost of You and Me"), although I found a cover. Occasionally you'll get live versus the original, and occasionally you'll get a short commercial start. There's still a teenage dream of being an amateur DJ because a lot of people like my taste in music, but navigating through music copyrights makes a music podcast, even a free one, all but impossible.It's also sort of a canary in a coal mine--i.e., trouble with my WIFI connection. (My router seems to reboot multiple times per week.)
But I noticed a weird anomaly this week that had to be a recent event: the clock was behind an hour. It wasn't clear how this happened; the temperature was correct for my north Maryland location, so you might think it might simply dovetail EDT settings with my local Internet connection. A Google search didn't yield anything usable. I checked my Google account settings, the Google Home app for my Android cellphone: well, I found a setting for full-screen time display, use a 24- vs. 12-hour setting, etc., but nothing comparable say to related PC settings. Somehow in checking out the apps' settings my cellphone flashed the location mode on the phone was turned off. More from curiosity, I toggled the setting on--and the time on the hub instantly corrected. Not exactly intuitive or obvious. I often explore similar software usability issues in this companion blog.
BEB's Recovery From Stroke
For unfamiliar readers, my former UH office mate Bruce Breeding a few weeks back ;suffered a couple of strokes, the second in the hospital a major one that left him in a coma for several days. I've mostly been summarizing updates from the family's (mostly wife Susan) daily blog posts, which are available here. Bruce and Susan are religious Protestants, and Susan usually quotes from hymns or Biblical verses at the end of posts, including a request for prayers for Bruce's current issues.Probably the biggest progress was removal of Bruce's tracheostomy tube; he has been mostly breathing on his own. His left side is weaker; his right side is still weak, but Susan notes some progress in terms of being able to navigate a spoon of flavored ice and rough character writing. They are working on his swallowing reflects, and the removal of tubes, etc., mentioned above, is a precondition for feeding himself and oral communication. Occasionally I learn some things about Bruce I didn't know--for example, pop music. It turns out he's also a Beatles fan. I can't believe in the time we shared an office, we never never discussed music. I know when he invited me to family dinner, he played Christian pop music in his car. But Susan mentioned he physically responds to familiar music and considers it part of her contributions to his recovery.
Bruce still has a long road ahead; he is still experiencing digestion issues and healing from throat and other surgeries.; I appreciate thoughts and prayers for my friend.
HMM's Christmas in July is Now On
This is Hallmark Channel's Movies & Mysteries sibling. network; I think Hallmark Channel has its own 2 week or so break later. I've mentioned in past posts Hallmark allocates its Christmas movies roughly between romantic comedies (HC) and the rest to HMM. It can be arbitrary because even in the fantasies (like "Christmas Magic") there are romantic elements.I generally like the angel fantasies (in the spirit of "It's a Wonderful Life" or family deceased visits (like 'A Christmas Visitor' or 'Angel in the Family') There are dramas like "Farewell, Mr. Kringle" (about a retiring town Santa who has been widowed for decades and his life has been a tribute to his late wife's love of Christmas) and 'Christmas with Holly' (a recently orphaned niece has refused to speak since her mother's tragic death, with her 3 maternal uncles, one her legal guardian, are trying to get her out of her shell). These generally run on HMM; I see the Holly film is scheduled for 5AM so I may rearrange my sleep schedule. I have licensed 'Angels and Ornaments'. I think it's been a couple of years since I've seen 'Farewell', which I don't think Hallmark has released for license or purchase for God knows what reason.
I have some pet peeves: I generally loathe royal romance comedies (which for some reason Hallmark loves) and most Santa movies (except for a couple focused on his female elf and his daughter). I still wish Hallmark would license some classic Christmas flicks.
And in the event you still can't wait for Countdown to Christmas in late October, HMM usually runs one on Thursday nights, and HC on Friday nights.
