It’s funny that people today pay for something and don’t even know what they are really getting for their money. This is why I wanted to bring you a little insight into Amazon Prime. When I ask anyone if they have Amazon Prime they say, yes I love the free shipping. Then I tell them that they get more then just free shipping they always ask what? I have to admit when I first signed up for Amazon Prime I thought it was only free shipping also but then I did a little digging.
First is something I use every time I sit at a computer. Amazon streaming music service https://music.amazon.com/stations. What is the streaming music service? If you ever used Pandora and thought it would be better without all the commercials, you will love Amazon’s streaming music service. It is just song after song. You can still create your own stations and play lists. You can also choose from many stations already created. And best of all no commercials and it is included with your prime membership. There is an app for about every device you own.
Do you have a Nexflix account? If you are like many people today you would say yes. Well if you have Amazon Prime you also get their streaming movie service. https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Video. There is a lot of free movie content and some Amazon only features that you will find on their service. I have to admit it is not as good as Netflix. I think it is still very young and needs some work on the free content. There is however a lot of new movies available for rent on the service. One misconception with this service is that you need an Amazon Fire Stick to watch the content. You can watch on your computer, tablet or Apple TV and even Roku box.
The final information I want to give to you about Amazon Prime is not everything for sell on Amazon is included in the free shipping. Make sure you watch when you are buying anything that is says PRIME. If not you might be buying from someone who is going to charge you for shipping. And if you don’t have Prime you might want to wait until the Christmas season. It seems to me that they always have a special price to get you started.
Rounded the final turn. Now at 94,000 words and I can see the end of my story. Writing will allow you to clear you mind and get thought onto a blank canvas known as digital paper. Next step is the polishing of the book and then the feared friend readers. Of course my wife will be my first test of the novel. Can’t wait to share this one with the world. Sometimes writing horror can even scare the author a little. I hope it translates to the readers.
Who would have ever thought that a ground hog could predict weather? How could he know how many more weeks of winter we really have? And who was the first person that held this little guy up to see if there was a shadow?
My wife says it is a town that just wants to have a little fun. There is really no science that goes into Phil the ground hog. I have to agree with her. I see a town of people that had cabin fever for being indoors all winter and they wanted something fun to do. They went out and seen a ground hog, grabbed him and held him up and yelled “Ground Hog Day!”
In the end does it really matter? It is nice to see people get together in large groups and just have a good time.
I have been writing and writing and yes writing my new book. Writing a book is a much large task then most people could even wrap their head around.
My first book Computers For The Everyday Person did well not enough to make me a stay at home writer and I really don’t think I would want to do that. I truly enjoy doing what I do for a living.
I just think writing is a way to share your knowledge out to the World and to allow others to learn through your written words on the page. And I am sure the books I am producing will live on for many years after I am gone. Just look at Half Price Books and see how many past authors are still there.
Time to stop writing here and get to writing my thought into the book.
Well the Forth of July was a day to stay at home and have a cookout. My daughter invited her boy fried to the house to have a cookout with us. I first had to make sure he liked hot sausage. As you can see by the picture we had a fest!
We shall wait for the fireworks until tomorrow.
Here is the picture of our feat as it is cooking on the grill.
Today I spent the evening with my daughter. My wife was going out with her daughter to a concert; so I thought I would take my daughter to a movie and dinner.
We first went to see Monster University. I know this is geared more to kids, but we are all kids at heart. This is a real gem of a movie a real Pixar treat.
After the movie we went out to eat at Quaker Steak and Lube. It was wing night but we both know we could not eat enough wings to make that worth while. We both ordered regular orders, and both had the Louisiana Lickers. I thought they were a little spicy; but my daughter loves hot things so she thought they were great.
I did have to have a beer with dinner. I thought it was a sign of the times when my daughter said drink dad I can drive home. Funny how as we get older we have some benefits that we never thought we would have.
It just would not be a post by me without a picture. This is a pic of my beer.
Well as I stated yesterday I gave in on the cell Internet. I even told my wife that it just makes us more efficient to keep up on your emails when you are on the move all day as we are at work. There are days I don’t even see my desk for more then a few minutes in the mornings. I have curved my desires to pull my phone out every time I feel it vibrate or hear it ding. I can now talk with others face to face without worrying about a missed message.
On the social side I no longer feel the need to open up facebook or Google plus every time I sit down at a computer. I can now completely focus on my work and not become distracted with someones dog, kids or shopping news! I don’t worry about approving people within minutes so they can join my group.
SO we this test a success? YES I think only after a week I retrained my mind and reflexes to be mine again. I really wish others would try this also and maybe we could once again talk with one another face to face with NO DISTRACTIONS?
Today was when of those days that opened my eyes for not being on social media. One of my friends said that her summer will not be going to well because of what happened to her daughter I asked what happened? She said to me that I would not know because I am not on Face Book this week but her daughter broke a bone in her foot.
Just this little story shows how we are connected to our friends more then ever before.
Here is another thought. My daughter came home from graduation and said how much she cried because she has a lot of friends who were moving on and she will not see them next year. I told her in today’s world and time it is not like when we graduated from high school we never heard from most of our class again until a reunion? In these times all the kids are friends with all of the other students and they will follow them for years to come.
Back to my test week. Today I was working to connect this blog to my twitter account and in doing so I read the top few tweets. We were having a family dinner last night and I asked one of our daughters if she stayed up and watched the entire hockey game? My wife said how did you know that and I responded I saw it on twitter! They both told be I failed my own test? Not really I only saw the one post from her while checking my blog posting plugin. What I am proving here is that we are so interconnected that sometimes we don’t even think when we are connecting one media outlet to another.
So in conclusion for this forth day of my test I am still on track. My wife wanted me to call one of my Google friends and I told her I have to wait until Sat.
One more day and really at the end of this week I really do not feel I am missing anything. Sometimes missing something online make for a better conversation when you do talk face to face.
Well day three has been a little easier then the other two. I have not felt any withdraw or any other draw backs from not using social media. It does feel like I have more time at the computer because I am not reading Face Book, Google Plus or Twitter.
Now the down side I realized today is that Twitter is where I get most of my current news let me explain, My wife normally watches that local news every morning as well as I use to but along came Twitter. Now she will be watching the news and ask me if I have seen some story and my response is normally I read that on Twitter. I enjoy reading the news on Twitter because I avoid all the commercials which means my time is better spent.
Okay now for my confession! When I came home from work we found that there was a Internet outage. I called the ISP and they reported that there is a wire down and it is being corrected. So I decided I would mow the lawn. After cutting the grass I returned to the computer to find still no Internet. And I did it I broke my own rule for this week “No Cell Internet”. I pulled out my IPhone and checked my email using the 3G connection. So is Internet on a cell phone a absolute must? I can’t say that yet but did it pull me out in the time of need? Yes nice backup. I had one of my online students email me with some questions and without missing a beat I was able to help the student and get them back on track.
Well let’s move into day 4 more reporting coming tomorrow.
Well after day two I can say my arm already seems less tired at the end of the day from not picking up the phone and lifting it to see if I have any important messages.
Okay not so much true but I feel a little less stressed because I am not checking for urgent emails all day or looking at social media and worrying about what my friends are doing in their lives.
Have I missed any important emails or messages? NO! I am a technology director and I have access to a computer where ever I turn anyway so I just check my email where ever I may be at any given time.
Do I miss the social? Not as much as I thought I would. I miss seeing my friends and groups pictures they are taking but on a real note I don’t miss all the drama that everyone want to create on the social circuit. If my mom wants to talk to me she will just call like she use to.
I will report back tomorrow for day three of my week long test.
