US election and the need for process improvement

The US election. I like watching election results because I'm a numbers person.

After all these years, I don't fully comprehend the electoral system. I find that the entire voting process drags on and could be scaled down to be more efficient.

That's just me, though. I look at inefficiencies with whatever I see and do. I do that at work, and make suggestions and proposals to make things better.

Luckily, I'm not tasked with making the US voting process simpler and easier. I applaud the record turnout. However, it seems ridiculous to spend eight hours lining up at a polling station to cast your important vote.

Anyway, I am still watching the election programming. I like that I can watch Global TV on Amazon Prime. It's cool and convenient.

Trying out streaming music services

I love music. For a while, I have been using Amazon Music. Almost a year ago, I bought an Amazon Echo speaker (the U.S. version, as Canada didn't have it available until now).

I decided to cancel my Amazon Music subscription. For some reason, I spent last month trying to get the app to work on my phone and nothing loaded. It worked just fine until recently. As much as I love telling Alexa to play music from my library, there were limitations. I didn't get the entire set of songs from some bands or artists.

These days, I am doing three-month trials with Spotify Premium (99 cents for three months) and Google Play Music (free for three months). So far, I am pretty happy with both. The tough part is deciding which one I will ultimately be going with.

Both have a ton of music. I love the variety.

Google bought Songza years back. I loved Songza because it had playlists based on your mood or what you felt like listening to. Google has incorporated that aspect of Songza, which makes me happy.

Spotify is popular. It even works with my Waze GPS app.

The good news is that I have roughly three months before making a decision. For now, it has been fun testing and listening to fabulous music.

Noticing details about data plans, travel, and jet lag

I feel like I have been living in some secluded area for ages. I have noticed details that I have never really paid close attention to.

Let's take my Internet plan at home. For years, I was on a monthly plan that gave me 300 GB of data. The nice, crazy part of this story is that my Internet service provider dropped the price that I was paying each month. I recently noticed on my bill that it also gave me unlimited data and I have been paying the same price. Where have I been?

It comes in handy. I stream a lot of programs these days. I cut my cable cord well over a year ago. Netflix and a bunch of programming on my Roku have filled in the void nicely. 

These days, I am in travel-planning mode. I am bringing two suitcases with me to Shanghai, simply because I can without paying extra. I have three sets of travel adapters. I actually appreciate the fact that I am that prepared.

Naturally, my guy is so used to travel that it's second nature to him. The only exception is jet lag. He is horrible at flipping over.

The last and only time that I was in Asia was Hong Kong. It took me a couple of days to flip over. We'll see how I do this time around. Here's to melatonin to help make the transition easier!

Fixing more issues with my cell phone plan and having my photos credited on Facebook by one of my favourite music bands

A follow-up post about ironing out my cell phone plan issues. My sales rep wrote an e-mail on Thursday night, claiming that she had fixed everything. It appeared that way until I analyzed my plan's details carefully.

I was supposed to get a $10 per month discount on my plan. She managed to reimburse me for the last two months and add it to my plan going forward. However, to get this discount required moving my account from a business one to a residential one. Okay, no big deal.

What she did instead was create two accounts for me. One was a temporary one (why, I haven't got a clue) and the other was my new one. I get a corporate discount. Apparently, she applied this discount to the temporary one and not my actual account. I didn't figure this detail out until I spoke with a representative over the phone.

She also failed to give me Canada-wide long-distance calls on my plan yet again. So, this issue alone prompted me to call to have it slapped on. 

The service representative did a fantastic job fixing everything. I was impressed. I am a happy camper. My cell phone provider also increased my data limit each month. I have a ridiculous 7 GB each month. I don't know what I am going to stream away from home now!

On a wonderful note, one of my favourite music duos included two of my photos taken at their show in Toronto on the band's Facebook page. I am over the moon and about to faint!

Cutting the cable cord and streaming content on TV

For a while, I have been leaning towards getting rid of my cable service and streaming shows that I want to see online. It took a while doing research to see what type of television streaming device that I should get.

It has been at least half a year since I watched any cable programming at home. I only watched TV in my hotel room when I was on the road.

I own a lot of Apple products, simply because they are reliable and work. Although its products are user-friendly, they are restrictive. I need software that allows me to install all sorts of cable applications as if I had all cable channels.

I decided that I wanted an Android TV box and did more research. The problem is buying one. Either I'd have to go on Kijiji and find someone who is selling such a device, or find a store that sells one, which isn't as convenient as going to any Best Buy store.

On Friday night, I was looking at flyers and found the Android TV device that I wanted from a store that I frequent once a month. On Saturday, I went in and bought the device, which was on sale.

I asked the guy at the store what the box's performance was like. When streaming programs, were they choppy? He replied that the store has been using this same model for nearly a year. He pointed to the TV a few steps away that was streaming content. I was impressed. I had no idea that all that content was being streamed all day.

Tonight, I installed my new TV device (it's pretty straightforward) and downloaded add-ons for the channels that I wanted. I have been happy watching programs that I haven't seen in ages. It's all free. The quality is excellent in high definition. So far, so great!

I'm still learning, but I am enjoying this new device. I am indeed geeky gadget girl.

My guy likes that I have such an interest for technology. He's relieved that he doesn't have to go through this exercise because he has admitted that he dislikes technology. It's funny considering that he works in a high-tech job. He tends to let me help him understand how such things work when it's time for him to go through the same thing. He's funny that way.