Patti O'Shea's Blog, page 97
October 6, 2016
Review: Of Miracles and Men
I recently joined Netflix and was looking for things to add to my watch list. I wanted to add the movie Miracle, but (of course) it wasn't available to stream. Almost none of the movies I wanted to add on my watch list were available, which is another story. What I found instead, though, was a documentary about the 1980 Miracle on Ice titled, Of Miracles and Men.
When I started streaming it, I assumed it would focus on the US team like a few other documentaries I've seen have done. I was wrong. The documentary told about the Miracle on Ice from the point of view of the Soviet players who were on the ice that day.
It started out showing some history of Soviet hockey, which was actually interesting. Not as interesting as the main story, but still better than I expected.
The middle section was about that 1980 Olympic game and this part was riveting because it's the first time I've seen anything that talked about the Soviet side of the equation. Who these men were and what happened to them afterward. And one of the players we meet in our travel back to 1980 is Slava Fetisov who spoke excellent English and didn't require subtitles like the other former players did.
One thing to keep in mind is that while I was a huge hockey fan most of my life, I had a falling out with the sport because of my local NHL team and hadn't been following any NHL stuff by 1989 so I didn't know the names of any of the Soviet players that came over to play in the National Hockey League, not even the name of the first man who was ever released from the Red Army so that he could come over to play for the NHL. That man? Slava Fetisov.
His story is the focus of part three of the documentary. It did talk about the ramifications the loss caused inside the Soviet team, but it also was the story of how Fetisov was finally allowed to join the NHL. It wasn't quick or easy and it might have been a more interesting story than the Olympic miracle itself.
The documentary is nearly 2 hours long (1 hour and 42 minutes IIRC), but the time flew by and I enjoyed this story a lot. Definitely an interesting way to spend a couple of hours. Highly recommended to anyone who has an interest in the 1980 Miracle on Ice.
Two thumbs up. :-)
When I started streaming it, I assumed it would focus on the US team like a few other documentaries I've seen have done. I was wrong. The documentary told about the Miracle on Ice from the point of view of the Soviet players who were on the ice that day.
It started out showing some history of Soviet hockey, which was actually interesting. Not as interesting as the main story, but still better than I expected.
The middle section was about that 1980 Olympic game and this part was riveting because it's the first time I've seen anything that talked about the Soviet side of the equation. Who these men were and what happened to them afterward. And one of the players we meet in our travel back to 1980 is Slava Fetisov who spoke excellent English and didn't require subtitles like the other former players did.
One thing to keep in mind is that while I was a huge hockey fan most of my life, I had a falling out with the sport because of my local NHL team and hadn't been following any NHL stuff by 1989 so I didn't know the names of any of the Soviet players that came over to play in the National Hockey League, not even the name of the first man who was ever released from the Red Army so that he could come over to play for the NHL. That man? Slava Fetisov.
His story is the focus of part three of the documentary. It did talk about the ramifications the loss caused inside the Soviet team, but it also was the story of how Fetisov was finally allowed to join the NHL. It wasn't quick or easy and it might have been a more interesting story than the Olympic miracle itself.
The documentary is nearly 2 hours long (1 hour and 42 minutes IIRC), but the time flew by and I enjoyed this story a lot. Definitely an interesting way to spend a couple of hours. Highly recommended to anyone who has an interest in the 1980 Miracle on Ice.
Two thumbs up. :-)
October 4, 2016
Test Driving a Fountain Pen
This planner group I'm in on Facebook has a lot of people who use fountain pens. They made it sound so cool that I decided I had to try it myself, so I bought an inexpensive one to test drive. It arrived on a Saturday, and after loading the ink cartridge and letting the ink work its way to the nib, I started writing.
I have mixed feelings on it. On the one hand, it's actually kind of cool to write with it. On the other hand, I'd prefer darker ink. I'm using a purple that's a bit too light for me. The problem is that I don't have enough experience with fountain pens to know if the issue is the ink or the fact that I should have bought a medium nib instead of the fine. Should I be shopping for ink in a bottle instead of using the cartridges? I just don't know.
I also really like my favorite regular pens, the kind that are erasable. Not only is the purple ink nice and dark, but if I make a mistake, I just rub it away and try again.
That said, I'm tempted to order both a medium tip pen and a bottle of ink and see if I can't make this work for me. There's something so cool about writing with it. I honestly had never used a fountain pen before, so I haven't experienced anything like it before and, well, it's something I'd like to keep using--if I can get my writing to be darker.
***I received NO compensation for this post, which I figure you guys realized since I didn't name the pens I use, but just in case.***
I have mixed feelings on it. On the one hand, it's actually kind of cool to write with it. On the other hand, I'd prefer darker ink. I'm using a purple that's a bit too light for me. The problem is that I don't have enough experience with fountain pens to know if the issue is the ink or the fact that I should have bought a medium nib instead of the fine. Should I be shopping for ink in a bottle instead of using the cartridges? I just don't know.
I also really like my favorite regular pens, the kind that are erasable. Not only is the purple ink nice and dark, but if I make a mistake, I just rub it away and try again.
That said, I'm tempted to order both a medium tip pen and a bottle of ink and see if I can't make this work for me. There's something so cool about writing with it. I honestly had never used a fountain pen before, so I haven't experienced anything like it before and, well, it's something I'd like to keep using--if I can get my writing to be darker.
***I received NO compensation for this post, which I figure you guys realized since I didn't name the pens I use, but just in case.***
October 2, 2016
September 29, 2016
Online Shopping Pain
I've been dealing with a couple of online shopping irritations this week. Well, one of them has been going on for more than a week, but it reached the apex for me now.
Usually when I order online, I sign up for the emails because I want to know when there's a good sale. It's easy enough to delete the few emails that come from that one company every week if I'm not looking to buy anything. Well, I recently purchased from two reputable, brick-and-mortar companies that I hadn't purchased from before--online at least--and had two different issues.
I found a pair of tennis shoes that I really loved, but they ran small, and by the time I realized I wanted a second pair in a larger size, they were in end-of-season status. Meaning I could find them, but colors and sizes were limited. I finally located a pair in the size I wanted, and because they were a national name store that I recognized, I ordered. I received my confirmation email and waited.
Nothing.
When are they going to ship it? I wondered. I hadn't signed up for an account because I didn't think I'd buy from them in the future, so I wasn't sure if I could check my account. Finally, I decided to try and was able to do so with my order number. There was zero information about shipping there, just that the order was closed.
This frustration ended up being short lived because when I got home from work, my shoes were there. But really, send out an email with shipping and tracking information. How hard is that?
The other company is one where I did create an account because I knew I'd buy from them again and I also signed up for their emails. And received one every single solitary day. I hate that. Once or twice a week is enough, but still, I could have lived with that feeling minimal irritation except for one thing.
The title of their emails were misleading.
Every single title had me thinking that something was wrong with my recent order from them. I'd open the message, worrying about what the problem was only to discover the mail was promotional. WTF? And they never stopped doing this, even a couple of weeks after my order had arrived.
Okay, I get that they want people to open their emails, but tricking your customers only works so long. For me, it lasted maybe two, two and a half weeks and then I unsubscribed. I could tolerate the constant emails, but the titles irritated the heck out of me. File this one under how not to treat your customers.
At least the things I ordered were worth it. That's something, but what a pain.
Usually when I order online, I sign up for the emails because I want to know when there's a good sale. It's easy enough to delete the few emails that come from that one company every week if I'm not looking to buy anything. Well, I recently purchased from two reputable, brick-and-mortar companies that I hadn't purchased from before--online at least--and had two different issues.
I found a pair of tennis shoes that I really loved, but they ran small, and by the time I realized I wanted a second pair in a larger size, they were in end-of-season status. Meaning I could find them, but colors and sizes were limited. I finally located a pair in the size I wanted, and because they were a national name store that I recognized, I ordered. I received my confirmation email and waited.
Nothing.
When are they going to ship it? I wondered. I hadn't signed up for an account because I didn't think I'd buy from them in the future, so I wasn't sure if I could check my account. Finally, I decided to try and was able to do so with my order number. There was zero information about shipping there, just that the order was closed.
This frustration ended up being short lived because when I got home from work, my shoes were there. But really, send out an email with shipping and tracking information. How hard is that?
The other company is one where I did create an account because I knew I'd buy from them again and I also signed up for their emails. And received one every single solitary day. I hate that. Once or twice a week is enough, but still, I could have lived with that feeling minimal irritation except for one thing.
The title of their emails were misleading.
Every single title had me thinking that something was wrong with my recent order from them. I'd open the message, worrying about what the problem was only to discover the mail was promotional. WTF? And they never stopped doing this, even a couple of weeks after my order had arrived.
Okay, I get that they want people to open their emails, but tricking your customers only works so long. For me, it lasted maybe two, two and a half weeks and then I unsubscribed. I could tolerate the constant emails, but the titles irritated the heck out of me. File this one under how not to treat your customers.
At least the things I ordered were worth it. That's something, but what a pain.
September 27, 2016
Smart Phone Zink Printer
***I received NO compensation of any kind for this post.***
I'm on a Facebook group for people who use planners. I joined it after I tried to Bullet Journal and it's a fun place to hang out, but a little bit expensive because the others find the coolest stuff. One of the awesome finds was the Polaroid Zink printer. It basically hooks via Bluetooth to your smart phone and prints photos on special paper. The paper is 2 inches by 3 inches, and once you peel off the back, is adhesive. Yes, your own sticker!
Here's what it looks like. I took a picture of it on top of my Bullet Journal so you can see how small it is.
As you can imagine, it fits really well on a lot of different planners--not so much mine, but my current planner is a daily instead of a weekly. But if you're someone who keeps their planner as a diary/memory book, it's a nice way to keep a memory.
So a lot of the women in this FB group bought this printer when it was on sale, but I didn't. I really don't need it, I told myself and valiantly resisted buying it.
And then all the others received their printers and started using them in cool ways and I totally regretted not buying one. Sadly, they were back to full price, which was $50 more than what they'd been and there was no way I was paying that much more for the device. Then I found a return from that big sale and the price was good. I hurried up and bought it.
My plan is to take a picture of each pair of my shoes, print them out, and put the photo sticker on each shoe box so that I know which shoes are in there. Once upon a time, I used to have this information memorized, but I don't anymore and I waste a lot of time looking for a particular pair of shoes. Or I forget I have a pair of shoes until I'm looking for something else completely and then I'm like, hell, I could have been wearing those!
I think this will be a super cool idea and I can't wait to finish it so I can see if I'm right about that. And I'm sure that after this I'll find another use for the printer. Maybe I'll try to do pictures in my planner even if it doesn't fit as well as on a weekly planner.
I have printed out a few pictures on the new printer and the color is a little off even after editing the images. For example, my hot pink tennis shoes look like a muddy reddish color. I did print out one old black and white photo my dad found and that came out really well, but I'm not printing my shoe pictures in gray scale!
Despite this, I'm happy with my purchase overall, which is the important thing.
***I received NO compensation for this post. I bought my Zink printer as an open-box return.***
I'm on a Facebook group for people who use planners. I joined it after I tried to Bullet Journal and it's a fun place to hang out, but a little bit expensive because the others find the coolest stuff. One of the awesome finds was the Polaroid Zink printer. It basically hooks via Bluetooth to your smart phone and prints photos on special paper. The paper is 2 inches by 3 inches, and once you peel off the back, is adhesive. Yes, your own sticker!
Here's what it looks like. I took a picture of it on top of my Bullet Journal so you can see how small it is.
As you can imagine, it fits really well on a lot of different planners--not so much mine, but my current planner is a daily instead of a weekly. But if you're someone who keeps their planner as a diary/memory book, it's a nice way to keep a memory.
So a lot of the women in this FB group bought this printer when it was on sale, but I didn't. I really don't need it, I told myself and valiantly resisted buying it.
And then all the others received their printers and started using them in cool ways and I totally regretted not buying one. Sadly, they were back to full price, which was $50 more than what they'd been and there was no way I was paying that much more for the device. Then I found a return from that big sale and the price was good. I hurried up and bought it.
My plan is to take a picture of each pair of my shoes, print them out, and put the photo sticker on each shoe box so that I know which shoes are in there. Once upon a time, I used to have this information memorized, but I don't anymore and I waste a lot of time looking for a particular pair of shoes. Or I forget I have a pair of shoes until I'm looking for something else completely and then I'm like, hell, I could have been wearing those!
I think this will be a super cool idea and I can't wait to finish it so I can see if I'm right about that. And I'm sure that after this I'll find another use for the printer. Maybe I'll try to do pictures in my planner even if it doesn't fit as well as on a weekly planner.
I have printed out a few pictures on the new printer and the color is a little off even after editing the images. For example, my hot pink tennis shoes look like a muddy reddish color. I did print out one old black and white photo my dad found and that came out really well, but I'm not printing my shoe pictures in gray scale!
Despite this, I'm happy with my purchase overall, which is the important thing.
***I received NO compensation for this post. I bought my Zink printer as an open-box return.***
September 25, 2016
How Coffee Got Quicker
You know how I love my coffee. :-)
September 22, 2016
Review: Stranger Things
***WARNING: THERE MIGHT BE SPOILERS AHEAD. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.***
I kept hearing about a TV series called Stranger Things over and over. It seemed as if everyone was talking about it and the overwhelming majority didn't just like the show, they thought it was awesome! It also sounded like something right up my alley and I caved in and joined Netflix so I could see it.
Basically, it has a paranormal premise. A young boy goes missing and there are dark and scary things on the loose.
Episode one was...okay. Not good, not bad, just okay. IMO. But sometimes shows take a little while to get rolling. I'd give it another shot.
It took me a few weeks to carve out time to watch again. Unlike the first time, I wasn't feeling excited about it and I didn't make it a priority. Finally, though, I managed to watch episodes 2 and 3. And I am still feeling meh about the show. I had to think about why since this should be something I liked and I'm not sure I have all the answers, but I have some suspicions.
The big thing is that I don't feel really invested in any of the characters. I don't feel like I really know them. Sure, I have facts about them, but that's not the same thing. I feel very distant from them and that makes it difficult to care.
Of all the characters, the three boys who are looking for their friend are the most interesting and I didn't expect to relate to them. When they're on screen, it's more interesting to me, but they're not on screen often enough.
I also really like the sheriff--he's smart and suspicious--and I like the missing boy's older brother, although in episode one, I didn't because of his carelessness.
There are characters I don't much like, too. Most of the rest of the cast. Winona Ryder's character, the boy's mom, is weird. She believes her son is communicating with her through the lights. Okay, so he is, but she buys into it like immediately without any skepticism at all. WTF? No matter how distraught someone is, I find it difficult to believe they'd leap at blinking Christmas lights the way she did. I'd have no problem if it took her an episode or two to believe it, but immediately? No.
I also hate the teenage girl who's younger brother is one of the friends. She is totally TSTL (Too Stupid To Live) and the worst thing about her is her stupidity got her friend killed. I know teenagers are not known for their good judgment, but her actions are not motivated well enough to make me like her despite her idiocy. It's too bad the monster/alien/whatever didn't kill her instead.
To get away from the characters, the show's lighting is also dark. I know, it's a dark show and a lot of it happens at night. I also know that a lot of TV shows have dark lighting now, but honestly, I find it annoying. Brighten it up a little bit.
And I'm not sure why else I'm so meh on Stranger Things. It feels as if there should be more reasons than this, but I can't come up with them. Although--for me--the weak characterization alone is a big thing. I want to know and love the major characters.
What I liked about the show? The sheriff and the fact that he's not stupid. It's set in a small town, so it would have been easy to do that to him. I also like the music! Hey, 80s music is the best music. It was also kind of cool to see the old phones and period cars and stuff.
So I don't like the show, but I don't really dislike it either and that makes it hard to know what to do. Do I keep watching it, just to see if it improves? Or do I write it off and watch something else?
I guess I give this 2.5 stars which is exactly half of the 5 star scale and befitting a meh show.
I kept hearing about a TV series called Stranger Things over and over. It seemed as if everyone was talking about it and the overwhelming majority didn't just like the show, they thought it was awesome! It also sounded like something right up my alley and I caved in and joined Netflix so I could see it.
Basically, it has a paranormal premise. A young boy goes missing and there are dark and scary things on the loose.
Episode one was...okay. Not good, not bad, just okay. IMO. But sometimes shows take a little while to get rolling. I'd give it another shot.
It took me a few weeks to carve out time to watch again. Unlike the first time, I wasn't feeling excited about it and I didn't make it a priority. Finally, though, I managed to watch episodes 2 and 3. And I am still feeling meh about the show. I had to think about why since this should be something I liked and I'm not sure I have all the answers, but I have some suspicions.
The big thing is that I don't feel really invested in any of the characters. I don't feel like I really know them. Sure, I have facts about them, but that's not the same thing. I feel very distant from them and that makes it difficult to care.
Of all the characters, the three boys who are looking for their friend are the most interesting and I didn't expect to relate to them. When they're on screen, it's more interesting to me, but they're not on screen often enough.
I also really like the sheriff--he's smart and suspicious--and I like the missing boy's older brother, although in episode one, I didn't because of his carelessness.
There are characters I don't much like, too. Most of the rest of the cast. Winona Ryder's character, the boy's mom, is weird. She believes her son is communicating with her through the lights. Okay, so he is, but she buys into it like immediately without any skepticism at all. WTF? No matter how distraught someone is, I find it difficult to believe they'd leap at blinking Christmas lights the way she did. I'd have no problem if it took her an episode or two to believe it, but immediately? No.
I also hate the teenage girl who's younger brother is one of the friends. She is totally TSTL (Too Stupid To Live) and the worst thing about her is her stupidity got her friend killed. I know teenagers are not known for their good judgment, but her actions are not motivated well enough to make me like her despite her idiocy. It's too bad the monster/alien/whatever didn't kill her instead.
To get away from the characters, the show's lighting is also dark. I know, it's a dark show and a lot of it happens at night. I also know that a lot of TV shows have dark lighting now, but honestly, I find it annoying. Brighten it up a little bit.
And I'm not sure why else I'm so meh on Stranger Things. It feels as if there should be more reasons than this, but I can't come up with them. Although--for me--the weak characterization alone is a big thing. I want to know and love the major characters.
What I liked about the show? The sheriff and the fact that he's not stupid. It's set in a small town, so it would have been easy to do that to him. I also like the music! Hey, 80s music is the best music. It was also kind of cool to see the old phones and period cars and stuff.
So I don't like the show, but I don't really dislike it either and that makes it hard to know what to do. Do I keep watching it, just to see if it improves? Or do I write it off and watch something else?
I guess I give this 2.5 stars which is exactly half of the 5 star scale and befitting a meh show.
September 20, 2016
Local Booksellers
Once upon a time, there was an awesome bookstore called Waldenbooks. They had a small store in my mall and I would go there on the days books were released and buy everything I had written on my To Be Bought list. The manager and the clerks knew me by name and I would talk books with them.
Then my bookstore closed, but there was another Waldenbooks at another nearby mall. I started shopping there. This store was bigger, but it didn't take long before they knew my name there, too. In fact, if they didn't have a chance to unpack the new books yet when I showed up to buy them, they would let me go through the boxes to find the titles I wanted to buy. Like I said, they were awesome.
They would even save books for me that came in while I was on vacation so that I didn't miss out on my favorite authors. There might not be a discount, but there were benefits that outweighed the extra cost.
And then things began to change. They started hiring people who didn't know anything about books. They could be selling burgers or shoes or anything. There were no more conversations with salespeople who loved books as much as I did. The perks went away too, like saving books for me or letting me go through the boxes.
Then this bookstore closed too. My sadness would have been greater except I felt as if what I'd loved about the store had been dying for a while.
I tried other stores, but they were big and impersonal. I started buying books online and then I switched to ebooks after the Kindle came out. I never thought I'd rather read on screen, but I do now. I also like the instant gratification of having whatever I want to read in seconds.
But I miss Waldenbooks and I wish they were still around. That store and the people who worked there were special.
Then my bookstore closed, but there was another Waldenbooks at another nearby mall. I started shopping there. This store was bigger, but it didn't take long before they knew my name there, too. In fact, if they didn't have a chance to unpack the new books yet when I showed up to buy them, they would let me go through the boxes to find the titles I wanted to buy. Like I said, they were awesome.
They would even save books for me that came in while I was on vacation so that I didn't miss out on my favorite authors. There might not be a discount, but there were benefits that outweighed the extra cost.
And then things began to change. They started hiring people who didn't know anything about books. They could be selling burgers or shoes or anything. There were no more conversations with salespeople who loved books as much as I did. The perks went away too, like saving books for me or letting me go through the boxes.
Then this bookstore closed too. My sadness would have been greater except I felt as if what I'd loved about the store had been dying for a while.
I tried other stores, but they were big and impersonal. I started buying books online and then I switched to ebooks after the Kindle came out. I never thought I'd rather read on screen, but I do now. I also like the instant gratification of having whatever I want to read in seconds.
But I miss Waldenbooks and I wish they were still around. That store and the people who worked there were special.
September 18, 2016
September 15, 2016
Creativity Exercises
I've been listening to a lecture series on creativity. I'm not very far into it yet, but there's been one episode with an exercise in it and it was sort of interesting. Maybe not too helpful, though? I'm not sure about it.
The exercise was to use a random word generator and try to think on a different path, one guided by this unconnected word. The example the professor gave involved "Tadpole" and he showed how the person used that word to come up with a solution to a teacher shortage in a school system.
Okay, I can see how the solution this person came up with sort of fell into line with the word. Hmm, I thought. I found an online word generator and got my word. I did it again. And then a third time, this time requesting a word with more than one syllable.
Three times and I didn't find it particularly helpful, but I'm going to give it another shot. I was distracted while I was trying to use my words and that's not conducive to creativity.
Creativity is one of those skills that grows the more you use it and I think it stretches it further if you try to make your brain work in new ways. That's why I'm going to try that random word thing again and why I'll try any other exercises that come up in the lecture series because no matter how silly something might sound, you never know what paths it might open up. Brains can be strange things.
The exercise was to use a random word generator and try to think on a different path, one guided by this unconnected word. The example the professor gave involved "Tadpole" and he showed how the person used that word to come up with a solution to a teacher shortage in a school system.
Okay, I can see how the solution this person came up with sort of fell into line with the word. Hmm, I thought. I found an online word generator and got my word. I did it again. And then a third time, this time requesting a word with more than one syllable.
Three times and I didn't find it particularly helpful, but I'm going to give it another shot. I was distracted while I was trying to use my words and that's not conducive to creativity.
Creativity is one of those skills that grows the more you use it and I think it stretches it further if you try to make your brain work in new ways. That's why I'm going to try that random word thing again and why I'll try any other exercises that come up in the lecture series because no matter how silly something might sound, you never know what paths it might open up. Brains can be strange things.
