Patti O'Shea's Blog, page 87
September 12, 2017
Claustrophobic Introvert
Recently at my day job, my entire department was moved to the new standard remodeled area. This includes brand new cubes. I'd like to share with you a claustrophobic introvert's living hell.
Yes, that's all the personal space I'm allowed and when I turn around in my chair, I frequently bang into the wall or the bookcase. Notice how at least a quarter of the bookcase is basically unusable because of the desk. I keep my gym bag down on the bottom shelf in the back because I can grab the strap and pull it out. If not for that, that space would be sitting empty because of accessibility.
The upper left hand side of the bookcase originally had yet another shelf, making that space virtually unusable as well, but I took out one of the three (!!!) shelves jammed in that quadrant to allow taller items to be placed there. And the drawer space? Horrifyingly tight. Maybe it works for the men in the office since they don't have purses, but for women, it's grossly less that what's needed.
Also when we moved into the cubes, we were given new chairs. Chairs with only two controls to adjust it for ergonomic comfort. My back aches after sitting there for a while.
Let me also complain about the short cube walls--the better to spread germs with during flu season--and the complete lack of privacy. Awesome! There's supposed to be some noise cancelling system in there, but apparently it's not activated yet because I can hear a lot of conversations.
I didn't want this entire post to be a bitch session--I'd hoped to inject some humor--but sadly, there's nothing funny about this new corporate standard. Let me close out with the one cool thing (absolutely the only thing I like about this new arrangement). That shiny white surface on the right-hand side? It's a white board! OMG, do I love this! If I ever get my office at home usable again, I might have to do a white board in there. It seems like it would be super awesome for laying out characters/plot points and other story things.
Yes, that's all the personal space I'm allowed and when I turn around in my chair, I frequently bang into the wall or the bookcase. Notice how at least a quarter of the bookcase is basically unusable because of the desk. I keep my gym bag down on the bottom shelf in the back because I can grab the strap and pull it out. If not for that, that space would be sitting empty because of accessibility.
The upper left hand side of the bookcase originally had yet another shelf, making that space virtually unusable as well, but I took out one of the three (!!!) shelves jammed in that quadrant to allow taller items to be placed there. And the drawer space? Horrifyingly tight. Maybe it works for the men in the office since they don't have purses, but for women, it's grossly less that what's needed.
Also when we moved into the cubes, we were given new chairs. Chairs with only two controls to adjust it for ergonomic comfort. My back aches after sitting there for a while.
Let me also complain about the short cube walls--the better to spread germs with during flu season--and the complete lack of privacy. Awesome! There's supposed to be some noise cancelling system in there, but apparently it's not activated yet because I can hear a lot of conversations.
I didn't want this entire post to be a bitch session--I'd hoped to inject some humor--but sadly, there's nothing funny about this new corporate standard. Let me close out with the one cool thing (absolutely the only thing I like about this new arrangement). That shiny white surface on the right-hand side? It's a white board! OMG, do I love this! If I ever get my office at home usable again, I might have to do a white board in there. It seems like it would be super awesome for laying out characters/plot points and other story things.
September 7, 2017
What I Learned From Having a Smart Phone
About a year ago, I got my first smart phone. It was a company iPhone so that I could be reached when needed. Before this, I had my simple pay-as-you-go slider phone because the wireless companies were charging ridiculous amounts of money each month. I was too cheap to pay that kind of money for a phone.
Well, as it turns out, I love my iPhone. It's connected to my iPad and my MacBook and that rocks, too. I can answer texts on my laptop. With a full keyboard! I'm sorry, but I just don't have the patience to type on that tiny phone keyboard. I'm used to speed, not hunt and peck. :-)
I have found apps that I can't live without, and yeah, I had them on my iPad, but it's not half as convenient as the phone. There's Facebook, of course, and email, but I also have MLB At Bat and Michaels, Joann, and my Stand Up app to get me out of my chair when I've been sitting for too long. I can listen to music or podcast or audio books. I can check on my doctor appointments, see how much my health insurance covered, and ask my doctor a question. All from the phone.
Sadly, my work phone is the smallest about of memory Apple sold which I think is 16GB. I'm constantly struggling with space. For this reason and because this is a work phone, I don't have any ebooks loaded. Those stay on my iPad. I also only keep a few audio books on it.
Before my iPhone, I didn't get why people freaked when they forgot their cell phones. So what? Now? I understand it much better.
Bottom line? I learned that if my company ever decided I didn't need a cell phone and took it away from me, I'd be going out and getting my own plan because honestly it's life changing. Mostly in a positive way, although not completely. I think I'll save the challenges it creates for some later blog post, but OMG, I love the iPhone.
Well, as it turns out, I love my iPhone. It's connected to my iPad and my MacBook and that rocks, too. I can answer texts on my laptop. With a full keyboard! I'm sorry, but I just don't have the patience to type on that tiny phone keyboard. I'm used to speed, not hunt and peck. :-)
I have found apps that I can't live without, and yeah, I had them on my iPad, but it's not half as convenient as the phone. There's Facebook, of course, and email, but I also have MLB At Bat and Michaels, Joann, and my Stand Up app to get me out of my chair when I've been sitting for too long. I can listen to music or podcast or audio books. I can check on my doctor appointments, see how much my health insurance covered, and ask my doctor a question. All from the phone.
Sadly, my work phone is the smallest about of memory Apple sold which I think is 16GB. I'm constantly struggling with space. For this reason and because this is a work phone, I don't have any ebooks loaded. Those stay on my iPad. I also only keep a few audio books on it.
Before my iPhone, I didn't get why people freaked when they forgot their cell phones. So what? Now? I understand it much better.
Bottom line? I learned that if my company ever decided I didn't need a cell phone and took it away from me, I'd be going out and getting my own plan because honestly it's life changing. Mostly in a positive way, although not completely. I think I'll save the challenges it creates for some later blog post, but OMG, I love the iPhone.
September 5, 2017
The Years Are Short
I watched a TED talk recently that was amusing and fun and then the speaker put up on the screen the most terrifying graphic I've seen in a long while. It was a white screen filled with boxes. One box equaled one week. In your life if you lived to be 90 years old.
There weren't that many boxes.
If you want to share my fear, you can visit Tim Urban's website and read his blog post about it. Complete with graphics and not just the scary one from his TED talk. He made other, even more terrifying graphics to really hammer the point home.
Before my mom died, my dad said that she told him she'd had a good life. I guess that means that she colored in her life boxes with good things, productive things, things that brought her satisfaction. I want to be able to say the same thing she did when it's my time to go and that means reassessing life, I guess. Making decisions on how I want to color in my boxes.
Even with the fear of wasting life, this isn't an easy thing to do. Gretchen Rubin has a quote that's appropriate here: "The days are long, but the years are short."
It's too easy to think I'll do it tomorrow. I'm already doing this in a way, blogging about it instead of mulling. When I was a teenager, I mulled over life a lot. I read philosophy and I subscribed to Socrates' theory The unexamined life is not worth living. As an adult, with so many different demands on my time, it's harder to do this.
Much harder.
There weren't that many boxes.
If you want to share my fear, you can visit Tim Urban's website and read his blog post about it. Complete with graphics and not just the scary one from his TED talk. He made other, even more terrifying graphics to really hammer the point home.
Before my mom died, my dad said that she told him she'd had a good life. I guess that means that she colored in her life boxes with good things, productive things, things that brought her satisfaction. I want to be able to say the same thing she did when it's my time to go and that means reassessing life, I guess. Making decisions on how I want to color in my boxes.
Even with the fear of wasting life, this isn't an easy thing to do. Gretchen Rubin has a quote that's appropriate here: "The days are long, but the years are short."
It's too easy to think I'll do it tomorrow. I'm already doing this in a way, blogging about it instead of mulling. When I was a teenager, I mulled over life a lot. I read philosophy and I subscribed to Socrates' theory The unexamined life is not worth living. As an adult, with so many different demands on my time, it's harder to do this.
Much harder.
August 31, 2017
Review: Rogue One
***WARNING: There might be spoilers ahead. I'm going to try to avoid them, but I can't promise. Proceed at your own risk.***
Rogue One is the latest installment to the Star Wars universe and one about which I'd been hearing a lot of good things, so I was eager to watch it. To recap the plot, the events in this movie take place before the original Star Wars movie, A New Hope. If you remember, that entire movie revolved around a droid with the plans to the Death Star and how there was a hole in the security that allowed Luke to blow it up at the end.
Rogue One shows how the rebels got hold of the plans to begin with and the movie explains why there was such a blatant flaw in the design of the Death Star. Our heroine is Jyn Erso (played by Felicity Jones). Her mother was murdered by the empire and her father forcibly impressed to design the Death Star. She's pushed the by the rebels to help them. Her partner is Cassian Andor (played by Diego Luna).
The movie is very dark and very gritty from the start. We get to see the empire kill Jyn's mother and force her father to work for them. We see the little girl hiding after watching her mother die and the empire is looking for her because they want her as leverage. The movie never lightens up from this beginning.
I'll admit that I thought the beginning was slow and I was disappointed at first, but somewhere along the way--I'm not sure when it happened--it became super good and full of tension. I was knitting while I was watching it and shortly after the halfway point, I had to put it aside because the movie had grabbed me and was riveting me, preventing my attention from wandering, even to my yarn.
The ending was every bit as dark as the beginning and was pretty much the only downtime from the tension was the last couple minutes of the film.
That said, I'd probably watch it one more time immediately after watching the original Star Wars: A New Hope. It's been years since I've seen the movie that kicked off the franchise and I've forgotten things that I think were referenced in Rogue One. But on its own, I don't think this is a movie I'll rewatch after this reminder run because it was grim.
I'm glad I saw it, I'm glad the flaw in the Death Star was explained. I liked the characters of Jyn and Cassian, and it's a shame that they didn't take a little time for a romance to develop between the two characters. I wanted one and it would have relieved some of the stress!
Overall, I recommend it if you don't mind dark, gritty, and grim. This is not a feel-good film, but it fits nicely in the Star Wars universe and I think it was necessary that it have the tone it had.
Recommended.
Rogue One is the latest installment to the Star Wars universe and one about which I'd been hearing a lot of good things, so I was eager to watch it. To recap the plot, the events in this movie take place before the original Star Wars movie, A New Hope. If you remember, that entire movie revolved around a droid with the plans to the Death Star and how there was a hole in the security that allowed Luke to blow it up at the end.
Rogue One shows how the rebels got hold of the plans to begin with and the movie explains why there was such a blatant flaw in the design of the Death Star. Our heroine is Jyn Erso (played by Felicity Jones). Her mother was murdered by the empire and her father forcibly impressed to design the Death Star. She's pushed the by the rebels to help them. Her partner is Cassian Andor (played by Diego Luna).
The movie is very dark and very gritty from the start. We get to see the empire kill Jyn's mother and force her father to work for them. We see the little girl hiding after watching her mother die and the empire is looking for her because they want her as leverage. The movie never lightens up from this beginning.
I'll admit that I thought the beginning was slow and I was disappointed at first, but somewhere along the way--I'm not sure when it happened--it became super good and full of tension. I was knitting while I was watching it and shortly after the halfway point, I had to put it aside because the movie had grabbed me and was riveting me, preventing my attention from wandering, even to my yarn.
The ending was every bit as dark as the beginning and was pretty much the only downtime from the tension was the last couple minutes of the film.
That said, I'd probably watch it one more time immediately after watching the original Star Wars: A New Hope. It's been years since I've seen the movie that kicked off the franchise and I've forgotten things that I think were referenced in Rogue One. But on its own, I don't think this is a movie I'll rewatch after this reminder run because it was grim.
I'm glad I saw it, I'm glad the flaw in the Death Star was explained. I liked the characters of Jyn and Cassian, and it's a shame that they didn't take a little time for a romance to develop between the two characters. I wanted one and it would have relieved some of the stress!
Overall, I recommend it if you don't mind dark, gritty, and grim. This is not a feel-good film, but it fits nicely in the Star Wars universe and I think it was necessary that it have the tone it had.
Recommended.
August 29, 2017
My TBK (To Be Knitted) Pile
I seem to collect knitting and crochet projects the same way I collect books. At least now I buy ebooks so I have no space issues to deal with, but it's a different story with my yarn stash. I was storing my yarn (and most of it is still there) in big, plastic zippered storage bags, but this created one huge problem for me. I'd buy yarn for a project I wanted to do in the future, but then I'd forget what I bought the yarn for.
The solution came with repurposed bags. My mom had bought bags in which to store her magazines. That's what they were designed for. When my dad and I cleaned out the house, we recycled all the magazines and brought the bags to Georgia. I don't collect magazines, but they were nice bags. And then one day, while dealing with my project dilemma, I had an epiphany.
Use the bags for my TBK projects!
And another view:
The clear plastic lets me see what's inside without opening the bag. I also printed out the pattern that goes with the yarn so that I don't forget what project the yarn belongs to. This bag has two projects in it, with both patterns stored with the various yarns.
This is working great and the bags stack fairly well even though they have soft stuff inside them. Now when I want to start a project, I can just go to the bag and grab everything without having to dig through the monster bags of yarn stashed in my closet. I just wish I'd thought of this before I forgot why the heck I'd bought some of the yarn I have.
The solution came with repurposed bags. My mom had bought bags in which to store her magazines. That's what they were designed for. When my dad and I cleaned out the house, we recycled all the magazines and brought the bags to Georgia. I don't collect magazines, but they were nice bags. And then one day, while dealing with my project dilemma, I had an epiphany.
Use the bags for my TBK projects!
And another view:
The clear plastic lets me see what's inside without opening the bag. I also printed out the pattern that goes with the yarn so that I don't forget what project the yarn belongs to. This bag has two projects in it, with both patterns stored with the various yarns.
This is working great and the bags stack fairly well even though they have soft stuff inside them. Now when I want to start a project, I can just go to the bag and grab everything without having to dig through the monster bags of yarn stashed in my closet. I just wish I'd thought of this before I forgot why the heck I'd bought some of the yarn I have.
August 24, 2017
95 is Not 100
By the time I realized that I wanted to see a total solar eclipse, everything was sold out. Even finding approved eclipse glasses turned out to be super difficult. Luckily, I got those in the nick of time. And I consoled myself by saying: It'll still be cool. Atlanta is going to have 95% eclipse. That's close enough to 100%.
I took eclipse day off from work, put an alarm on my phone for maximum eclipse time, and on the afternoon in question, I brought a card table, chair, and laptop onto the front porch. My plan was to keep an eye on the eclipse and write a little while I was waiting.
BTW, no writing was accomplished until after the eclipse.
I soon figured out that my camera was not going to handle the sun, so I taped an extra pair of eclipse glasses over the lens on the phone. This is what 20-25% eclipse looked like through the filter of the glasses.
The right hand side was where the eclipse was. I don't know what happened to the left side in the picture, but it was there to see with the naked eye.
Sadly, my glasses over the lens trick failed as we approached our maximum coverage. The camera just registered red from the glasses and no sun. Oh, well, I thought. At least at 95% I should get a halfway decent shot. I was thinking of all those partial pictures I'd been seeing and totally forgetting to factor in the special camera lenses those photographers had no doubt been using.
As my max coverage approached, I took my chair off the porch and onto the front sidewalk. And then I tried to take pictures again. Looking at the results, I can see why the experts had been warning people not to look at the sun without special glasses on. This picture (below) is 95%, and you'd never know it.
Looks like the full sun, doesn't it? You'd never know that only the tiniest of crescents was visible at this moment.
I'd expected twilight levels of light. Didn't happen. The crickets did come out for a while and start chirping away. The light was odd, not quiet what you'd see when it was cloudy, but impossible to describe in any other way. Maybe if you imagined the light traveling through an odd filter.
I'm not sure if you can see how odd the light is in this shot or not, but there we are.
The experience was way cool and I enjoyed the hell out of it, but ultimately it was disappointing. Do you think hotels are taking reservations yet for 2024?
I took eclipse day off from work, put an alarm on my phone for maximum eclipse time, and on the afternoon in question, I brought a card table, chair, and laptop onto the front porch. My plan was to keep an eye on the eclipse and write a little while I was waiting.
BTW, no writing was accomplished until after the eclipse.
I soon figured out that my camera was not going to handle the sun, so I taped an extra pair of eclipse glasses over the lens on the phone. This is what 20-25% eclipse looked like through the filter of the glasses.
The right hand side was where the eclipse was. I don't know what happened to the left side in the picture, but it was there to see with the naked eye.
Sadly, my glasses over the lens trick failed as we approached our maximum coverage. The camera just registered red from the glasses and no sun. Oh, well, I thought. At least at 95% I should get a halfway decent shot. I was thinking of all those partial pictures I'd been seeing and totally forgetting to factor in the special camera lenses those photographers had no doubt been using.
As my max coverage approached, I took my chair off the porch and onto the front sidewalk. And then I tried to take pictures again. Looking at the results, I can see why the experts had been warning people not to look at the sun without special glasses on. This picture (below) is 95%, and you'd never know it.
Looks like the full sun, doesn't it? You'd never know that only the tiniest of crescents was visible at this moment.
I'd expected twilight levels of light. Didn't happen. The crickets did come out for a while and start chirping away. The light was odd, not quiet what you'd see when it was cloudy, but impossible to describe in any other way. Maybe if you imagined the light traveling through an odd filter.
I'm not sure if you can see how odd the light is in this shot or not, but there we are.
The experience was way cool and I enjoyed the hell out of it, but ultimately it was disappointing. Do you think hotels are taking reservations yet for 2024?
August 22, 2017
Take My Money, Please
A few Saturdays ago, I received an email from a retailer telling me that that was the last day to use the promo code they had for 15% off. Since they were selling one of the items that I had specially budgeted for, I eagerly headed to their website.
I put that item in my cart, browsed a bit, and found another item to add to my cart. I clicked to check out, put in the promo code, and received a message that the promotion had expired.
Fearing I'd remembered the code wrong, I double checked the email and retyped the code in. I received the same message. I tried all capital letters. I tried changing the SUMMER15 code to SUMMER17, thinking that maybe there'd been a typo. Nothing worked.
I went to the contact page for customer service and sent them an email. I picked the option for problems with the shopping cart. That seemed accurate and I was sure that a customer who was trying to spend money in their store was having a problem doing would receive a very quick reply to their query. I was wrong.
After a few hours of waiting, I tried to put the code in again. My theory was that others must have had issues with it too and that certainly the site would have had it fixed by then.
Nope. Still didn't work.
It boggles my mind that an online retailer wouldn't be monitoring their customer service emails under topics that impact sales. I could see leaving the regular queries for the weekdays, but if someone is trying to spend money and can't, shouldn't they address that immediately? I don't get it. I also didn't get my item that I wanted to buy. Retailer snoozes, retailer loses.
I put that item in my cart, browsed a bit, and found another item to add to my cart. I clicked to check out, put in the promo code, and received a message that the promotion had expired.
Fearing I'd remembered the code wrong, I double checked the email and retyped the code in. I received the same message. I tried all capital letters. I tried changing the SUMMER15 code to SUMMER17, thinking that maybe there'd been a typo. Nothing worked.
I went to the contact page for customer service and sent them an email. I picked the option for problems with the shopping cart. That seemed accurate and I was sure that a customer who was trying to spend money in their store was having a problem doing would receive a very quick reply to their query. I was wrong.
After a few hours of waiting, I tried to put the code in again. My theory was that others must have had issues with it too and that certainly the site would have had it fixed by then.
Nope. Still didn't work.
It boggles my mind that an online retailer wouldn't be monitoring their customer service emails under topics that impact sales. I could see leaving the regular queries for the weekdays, but if someone is trying to spend money and can't, shouldn't they address that immediately? I don't get it. I also didn't get my item that I wanted to buy. Retailer snoozes, retailer loses.
August 17, 2017
Closet Cleanup
There are a few things that are really hard for me to get rid of including books, shoes, and clothes. When I moved from Minnesota, I did donate a ton of books--over 2500--and a pretty good amount of clothes, although not too many shoes. I didn't donate enough clothes, however, and my closet here in Georgia was bursting at the seams.
Oh, I meant to get rid of clothes. I have stuff that's frayed, stuff that has holes in it, stuff I bought and ended up never liking enough to wear. I even had clothes with tags still on them that I'd never worn and the odds were I was never going to wear them.
Clearly, it was time to tackle the closet and part with some clothes.
The items that had holes or were worn were easy to discard. Barely a hesitation. You're probably wondering why I didn't get rid of them immediately. Four of the shirts were total favorites of mine back before they'd become frayed. I wore them constantly and I'd developed an attachment to them. I kept them with the thought that I could wear them around the house on the weekends. I never did. The ones with the holes? I have no clue.
With the easy choices finished, I moved into trying things on. Did I like the color? Did I like the style? Would I ever wear it? If the answer to any of those questions was no, it went in the donation pile. Right now I have two of the super large black trash bags full of clothes to go to charity.
I'm embarrassed to admit that I discovered clothes I'd forgotten I owned and that I found new things I could wear. It was almost like buying new stuff. ;-) It's also embarrassing to admit that even with the large amount of clothes I got rid of, my closet is still full. I didn't quite get through everything, though. I basically did one half of my closet plus a little on the other side. I need to go back in on some other weekend and tackle the other side.
Also in the future is pruning the clothes out of my dressers and getting rid of some of the shoe collection, although I will admit that very few shoes will be leaving my house. :-) And with the new clothes I've discovered, I need to rearrange my closet. Sigh. That doesn't sound even remotely fun.
I think I'll bask in my accomplishment a little longer and ignore the future projects for now.
Oh, I meant to get rid of clothes. I have stuff that's frayed, stuff that has holes in it, stuff I bought and ended up never liking enough to wear. I even had clothes with tags still on them that I'd never worn and the odds were I was never going to wear them.
Clearly, it was time to tackle the closet and part with some clothes.
The items that had holes or were worn were easy to discard. Barely a hesitation. You're probably wondering why I didn't get rid of them immediately. Four of the shirts were total favorites of mine back before they'd become frayed. I wore them constantly and I'd developed an attachment to them. I kept them with the thought that I could wear them around the house on the weekends. I never did. The ones with the holes? I have no clue.
With the easy choices finished, I moved into trying things on. Did I like the color? Did I like the style? Would I ever wear it? If the answer to any of those questions was no, it went in the donation pile. Right now I have two of the super large black trash bags full of clothes to go to charity.
I'm embarrassed to admit that I discovered clothes I'd forgotten I owned and that I found new things I could wear. It was almost like buying new stuff. ;-) It's also embarrassing to admit that even with the large amount of clothes I got rid of, my closet is still full. I didn't quite get through everything, though. I basically did one half of my closet plus a little on the other side. I need to go back in on some other weekend and tackle the other side.
Also in the future is pruning the clothes out of my dressers and getting rid of some of the shoe collection, although I will admit that very few shoes will be leaving my house. :-) And with the new clothes I've discovered, I need to rearrange my closet. Sigh. That doesn't sound even remotely fun.
I think I'll bask in my accomplishment a little longer and ignore the future projects for now.
August 15, 2017
Review: The Imitation Game
***WARNING: There will probably be spoilers ahead, so if you don't want to hear anything about this movie, stop reading now.***
I was looking for a movie to watch and did some searching online for what was showing on Netflix or Amazon Prime. Trying to browse through either site is frustrating for me, especially Netflix, so I appreciate that there are websites that list the movies available. It came down to two, one on Netflix and the other on Prime. I chose poorly.
The Imitation Game stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing, a real-life mathematician who helped crack the German's enigma code during World War 2. The website that had the brief summary of each movie on Netflix made it sound like a suspense story and I was like, cool! I knew Turing had had some awful stuff done to him because he was gay and I really didn't want to see anything that grim, but a WW 2 thriller? Bring it on.
The website summary was extremely misguided. It did largely focus on the WW 2 years and breaking the Nazis' enigma machine, but it was not a thriller. Although in defense of this website, IMDB calls it nail-biting. I missed that part. I found it rather plodding, although not unwatchable.
Part of my problem with the film was the fact that I missed the beginning and didn't realize there were flashbacks going on. This left me confused a few times, especially when they were discussing Turing's military service in the past tense. I was like, do they mean World War 1? Was he old enough to have fought in WW 1? Who are these men and why are they asking these questions about Turing? I assume that if I'd seen the start, that I would have known that these scenes "present day" in the film and the WW 2 stuff was flashback.
I'm not sure how accurate the movie was in its portrayal of Turing of anyone else in the movie. I had the impression from the film that he was autistic, but had no clue if he was in real life. I also don't know how historically accurate the other plot points were either: Did he go to Churchill when the man in charge of the project wanted to scrap Turing's machine? Did he become engage briefly to a woman working on the project with him? Was there really a Russian spy on the project who was blackmailing Turing because he was gay? I have no idea. I suppose I could research it--probably it wouldn't take too much to learn the truth--but I don't care enough.
That was basically my problem with the entire movie--I just didn't care. It wasn't a bad movie. I wouldn't have sat through the whole thing if it had been. But at the end--which was as grim as I'd feared--I was meh about the film. I totally wished I'd chosen the other movie. Other reviewers have enjoyed it and it has a decent score at IMDB. My verdict? It's not the worst thing I've ever seen.
Two stars out of five.
I was looking for a movie to watch and did some searching online for what was showing on Netflix or Amazon Prime. Trying to browse through either site is frustrating for me, especially Netflix, so I appreciate that there are websites that list the movies available. It came down to two, one on Netflix and the other on Prime. I chose poorly.
The Imitation Game stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing, a real-life mathematician who helped crack the German's enigma code during World War 2. The website that had the brief summary of each movie on Netflix made it sound like a suspense story and I was like, cool! I knew Turing had had some awful stuff done to him because he was gay and I really didn't want to see anything that grim, but a WW 2 thriller? Bring it on.
The website summary was extremely misguided. It did largely focus on the WW 2 years and breaking the Nazis' enigma machine, but it was not a thriller. Although in defense of this website, IMDB calls it nail-biting. I missed that part. I found it rather plodding, although not unwatchable.
Part of my problem with the film was the fact that I missed the beginning and didn't realize there were flashbacks going on. This left me confused a few times, especially when they were discussing Turing's military service in the past tense. I was like, do they mean World War 1? Was he old enough to have fought in WW 1? Who are these men and why are they asking these questions about Turing? I assume that if I'd seen the start, that I would have known that these scenes "present day" in the film and the WW 2 stuff was flashback.
I'm not sure how accurate the movie was in its portrayal of Turing of anyone else in the movie. I had the impression from the film that he was autistic, but had no clue if he was in real life. I also don't know how historically accurate the other plot points were either: Did he go to Churchill when the man in charge of the project wanted to scrap Turing's machine? Did he become engage briefly to a woman working on the project with him? Was there really a Russian spy on the project who was blackmailing Turing because he was gay? I have no idea. I suppose I could research it--probably it wouldn't take too much to learn the truth--but I don't care enough.
That was basically my problem with the entire movie--I just didn't care. It wasn't a bad movie. I wouldn't have sat through the whole thing if it had been. But at the end--which was as grim as I'd feared--I was meh about the film. I totally wished I'd chosen the other movie. Other reviewers have enjoyed it and it has a decent score at IMDB. My verdict? It's not the worst thing I've ever seen.
Two stars out of five.
August 10, 2017
The Backup Pair
When I find a product I love, I always try to buy a backup. This is usually about shoes, so I frequently say backup pair. Shoe styles come and go, and when I find a pair that I love, I want to wear them forever.
I know a lot of people think this is crazy. When I mentioned it last, someone said to me that she'd just go find another pair of shoes she liked as well. :-/ Well, okay, but it takes a lot of work, a lot of trial and error to find the pair that meets my standards. They must be comfortable. They must be reasonably stylish, although I will sacrifice looks for comfort. They must be reasonably priced, although--again--I will pay more if they are super comfortable.
I've been burned every single time I haven't bought the backup pair. For example, I loved my Skechers GoWalk 2 shoes. I wore them to death, and when it was time to replace them, I had to buy the GoWalk 4. I did not love the 4. Instead of the soft, silky inside that felt so good against my foot, there is now a rougher, less silky interior. :-( They also changed the insole. It's okay, but it's not love.
I also found the perfect running shoe. Perfect! But my feet are already big and in most running shoes, I have to buy a size bigger. Do you think anyone had the super cute pink color in my size available when I realized I needed a backup pair? No, of course not. I did find it in a Navy.
One pair.
I even went to the manufacturer's site, but apparently this shoe is discontinued. I bought the navy, but now I literally can't find my size anywhere in this shoe style, not even on eBay.
So when I found another pair of shoes that I loved and met all my criteria, I immediately bought a backup pair. I also went to buy it in more colors. The hot pink pair were already unavailable on the manufacturer's website and all of the shoe websites, too. I found a pair on Amazon, but the price was high. Then I checked eBay and found it for $18 less! Win!
Of course, my dad (who's lived with me since my mom died) had to comment when the pink shoes arrived about why I bought another color of the same style. Just wait until my backup pair in black arrives. I know he's going to make a remark about that, too. :-(
That won't stop me because backup pairs are critical to my happiness. Backup pairs forever!
I know a lot of people think this is crazy. When I mentioned it last, someone said to me that she'd just go find another pair of shoes she liked as well. :-/ Well, okay, but it takes a lot of work, a lot of trial and error to find the pair that meets my standards. They must be comfortable. They must be reasonably stylish, although I will sacrifice looks for comfort. They must be reasonably priced, although--again--I will pay more if they are super comfortable.
I've been burned every single time I haven't bought the backup pair. For example, I loved my Skechers GoWalk 2 shoes. I wore them to death, and when it was time to replace them, I had to buy the GoWalk 4. I did not love the 4. Instead of the soft, silky inside that felt so good against my foot, there is now a rougher, less silky interior. :-( They also changed the insole. It's okay, but it's not love.
I also found the perfect running shoe. Perfect! But my feet are already big and in most running shoes, I have to buy a size bigger. Do you think anyone had the super cute pink color in my size available when I realized I needed a backup pair? No, of course not. I did find it in a Navy.
One pair.
I even went to the manufacturer's site, but apparently this shoe is discontinued. I bought the navy, but now I literally can't find my size anywhere in this shoe style, not even on eBay.
So when I found another pair of shoes that I loved and met all my criteria, I immediately bought a backup pair. I also went to buy it in more colors. The hot pink pair were already unavailable on the manufacturer's website and all of the shoe websites, too. I found a pair on Amazon, but the price was high. Then I checked eBay and found it for $18 less! Win!
Of course, my dad (who's lived with me since my mom died) had to comment when the pink shoes arrived about why I bought another color of the same style. Just wait until my backup pair in black arrives. I know he's going to make a remark about that, too. :-(
That won't stop me because backup pairs are critical to my happiness. Backup pairs forever!
