Battle For The Best: Windows Music Player Part 1

Back in the day, I had Winamp and used it a lot. And then Phones became a thing, and streaming, and I forgot about my vast collection of mp3 music on the computer. I used AIMP and Foobar previously. But... I got this new computer, so which player am I going to use to listen to my tunes on here? Stay tuned to find out. 

I turned to MusicBee first. It has a somewhat  Complicated layout, you have to figure out where your music is, and have it scan your library for new music. But once you get it working, it has potential to be really great. You can import skins rather easily which is good. I liked the different tabs at the top. You can go to Playlists, Podcasts, Music Explorer, and Now Playing which gives information about the artist and album which is pretty neat. It has a built-in equalizer but I haven't used it yet. 

 Next I decided to try Winamp again. It is in the works to revamp the whole thing, but in the meantime, it looks and acts the exact same as it did in 2001 for me. That just makes me not want to use it. I'd like to see it when they finish the new one though, it will probably be pretty nice. I've never figured out how their local library system works. It has a bunch of built-in windows but I don't understand them, so I have always just dragged and dropped a folder into the playlist section. It is easy to download and install skins.

 

 

So then I decided to try out my old friend AIMP. I could never figure out the library aspect of this program, but you can drag and drop a folder in to it and it will play that just nicely. It's got some really nice skins, so it looks nice and clean too.  

I would have tried Foobar2000, but the basic version is so incredibly boring looking, and does all the things these 3 programs can do, and on top of that, is very hard to skin, so I decided not to bother. When you CAN skin it properly it can look really cool. But otherwise you could fuck up the software if you do it wrong. Credibility: I did it wrong.

I think I will uninstall Winamp. It's just not what I am looking for right now. I like MusicBee, if I can figure out how the library works and all the unique features it has. I also like AiMP for just dragging & dropping a folder into the playlist - but still need to figure out the library part. I will play around with these two for a while and when I pick which one I like the most, I'll post a new entry about it.
 

Special Places

So my last entry was a little bitter sounding. At least, negative - as it should be. But I wanted to provide a little yin to that yang with a happy entry.

I am writing this about my special places. These places are sacred to me, private, and have sentimental value.

Happy Place #1. The first place we will talk about, is Saltar's Point, in Steilacoom, WA. It isn't easy to find. You have to go through the little downtown of Steilacoom to get to it. It's right on the water. You park and go over a walkway and take the stairs down over the railroad tracks. You're then walking on a beach, and there is a little covered picnic area, next to an old Marina. You look out across the water and see Anderson Island and McNeil Island (home to a correctional facility). 

If you go at night, the moon is out and it is beautiful. From a distance, you can see the Narrows Bridge. You close your eyes. You take in the salty air. It is quiet, and peaceful, save for the occasional foghorn from a passing boat. Suddenly, something interrupts your peace. It's the train! You race up the stairs and onto the fenced walkway, anticipating the hot burst of air from the train. You can hear the vibration humming along the tracks, closer and closer and then, Yes! The train comes around the corner and flies underneath you. Bam! You're hit with the hot air that nearly lifts you off your feet and you giggle with joy. Then you just stand, enjoying the train being 4 feet under you, imaging hopping down onto it. After the train leaves, so do you, and you pledge you will be back.

Sadly the marina burned down back a few years ago, and they took their sweet time re-opening it. I don't know if they have yet. So this might not be available to anyone.

 Happy place #2

The 2nd place is the beach at North Cove, down past Aberdeen, WA and past Grey's Harbor. The place I specifically liked to go, was a certain mile marker along the beach (I forgot which one it is now) But it was a beautiful beach, and one time I was delighted to attend a party called "Sea Swallow Me" at this location. They had a DJ booth set up on the beach with incense, fire twirlers, christmas lights illuminating a walkway, it was very nice. To me, this was the ultimate beach. It wasn't too rocky, lots of sand. And in the summer it was mild and so peaceful. 

There isn't a lot of photos that I could find of it, but I did find one of me from 2008 at the beach there:

Happy place #3. Imagine waking up at 4am, driving to Oak Harbor and hopping on  a ferry at 6 in the morning, before the sun had a chance to come up. Then when you arrive at your destination, Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, you are there before any of the shops open, and it is freezing cold. So you walk to the other side of the island, which is only about a mile or two away. You get to this beautiful beach, and build a fort out of all the multitudes of driftwood they have there. You sit huddled in your fort for an hour until the restaurants and stores open, having perhaps a beer or two. When things start to open up on the other side of the island you walk back and enjoy visiting the gift shops and boutiques, perhaps stopping for a lavender lemonade. Then you easily cross to a different side of the island where you can view a lighthouse. Such a nice little town, a cute island, and a pretty relaxing day out.

 Those are my 3 happy and special places.

2022 Blew Butt.

So the year will be over in a few short months... and I can't be any happier about that. This year has been the shittiest in quite a while.

It all started when our landlord in Arizona raised our rent way more than we could afford. 25%! And our job certainly wasn't interested in providing a cost of living wage. So we scurried around to move somewhere else. And then a few days after we started scurrying, I came down with a case of the COVID19 and just ended up sleeping for almost 2 weeks. 

Then it was hard finding a place to live in St. Louis (couldn't find one in Arizona because all the landlords had risen rent to California prices). We finally found a place, and began searching for movers. I was kind of desperate, as we were on a short time table, and I wound up being talked into "a good deal" by a smooth talking sales guy. 

This moving company, I will say their name because I'd like to drag them through the mud, 500 Move, was absolutely horrifyingly awful. They up-charged us because the first sales guy (turned out to be a broker) only put down that we had 27 boxes. 27 boxes?! We were coming from a 2 bed, 2 bath house with a yard! They broke a lot of our stuff, they stored our stuff for 2 weeks instead of taking it right on over, stuff was missing. The staff were incredibly rude. It was a nightmare.

And then the shooting occurred July 30th. Startled us out of bed, and had to dial 911 to report a group of people shooting at each other under my apartment window or thereabouts. And then, in early September, someone broke into our car, busting a window to do so. This is in a gated parking lot, too, by the way. It still isn't fixed because it happens so frequently here that Safelite is backed up. Then, to put a straw on it to break the camel's back, there was a rape/assault in the building. Now we have to go everywhere in two's. 

Just... seriously, fuck this year. Let's hurry and get it over with - hopefully safely - and start a new fresh year 2023. 

 

 

Job Search Blues

 Ever since inflation, all the employees (the little worker bees) at my company where I work have been asking for a cost of living increase. It kept being denied to us, with one unbelievable excuse after the other. 

So they came up with a plan. They would give us a cost of living raise... but take away our bonuses that we received on a quarterly basis. This means that some people actually got a pay cut.

That, on top of other work related nonsense, is why I am looking for something else. 

I decided to take my time and find the best fit for me, which would include remote/work from home ONLY, and pays better than what I currently make. 

In order to do this, I need to interview. Now, I absolutely hate interviews. You have to act like an extrovert, of which I am not. You have to act like the job itself is amazing and you can't wait to do this work. Smile. Ask questions. 

I am a quiet person. I don't like talking to strangers, even if I want something from them. I could give a shit about the job itself, I just need to pay the bills. I hate smiling all the time and can never think of questions to ask. (Of course I had a cheat sheet from youtube next to me). 

It's all so very fake. Let's cut the pleasantries. Why do I want to leave my current job? Because it sucks, next question. What skills do I have? Great let's cut to it shall we. How much salary am I expecting? Here is exactly how much I require to pay the bills and save a little extra. ..Now why can't it be like this? 

That taboo question. The one where they ask how much you want them to pay you? And you can't tell them? You have to play a little back and forth game until they tell you how much the job starts you at? No thank you! 

I have had 2 interviews and didn't get the job, but I am looking at them like they were practice. Like I am re-learning all over again how to do this.

Youtube has been a big help. I had not had an actual job interview since 2018, so all these new tips and tricks will come in handy. And what employers look for in a resume now, has changed since 2018 too. People seem to really like my resume. 

I wish they'd look at my resume, think "this person is right for the job!" and hire me. At the amount I wish.

This little eggshell thin ice tippy toe game gets really old. Let's just cut the crap.

 

And now I will leave you with a picture of a purple banana. You know, a direct visual interpretation of going on a job interview:

 

And The Winner Is...

 So we did our research and compiled all of it onto a power point presentation with slides. Each slide provided research to Cincinnati, OH or Indianapolis, IN based on our priorities on a scale of 1 - 11 (we had 11 priorities). Then we weighted the pros based on that priority # and added them all up. We had slides for Cost of Living, Rent prices, Utility prices, Sports, Walkability, Traffic and Infrastructure, etc. 

So our winner, and the city we will be moving to when our lease is up here next March, is..

 

Indianapolis, Indiana.

Making Peace and Doing Research

 So, the shooting occurred July 30th. For the following two weeks I went through a whirlwind of emotions and feelings about things. I was anxious, and paranoid. I thought for sure something was going to happen to me. That sparked off a manic episode that only lasted a short while because I suddenly crashed into depression. 

But yesterday as the mate and I got to talking, I noticed I was feeling much better. We went for a walk for the first time since the shooting happened. We'd been doing research, to see if there were any other cities we'd maybe like to move to, but we both agreed it wouldn't be until it was time for us to go somewhere because we wanted to, not because we were running from somewhere else.

The apartment manager evicted the person on our floor that had been involved, so I feel a lot less scared to go down to pick up a package or food delivery. And if you stay out of the bad areas, don't go out at night, and keep a watchful eye, you should be ok. My mate's mother got us some alarm key chains. When you're being accosted, you pull the pin and it emits a high pitch alarm that drives you crazy and alerts anyone who hadn't been looking before. And hopefully scares away the perpetrator.

We decided though, to keep on doing research.. St. Louis is definitely not going to be our life forever. But somewhere else will be and we'd like to plan it early and keep an eye on the cities we like. So far here are my top 3:

Cincinnati, OH : Great walk score, friendly people, lots to do, the biggest Oktoberfest outside of Munich, lots of breweries, bars, restaurants. The only downside, currently, is there is some crime happening there, not as bad as St. Louis (No one is as bad as STL) but something to keep an eye on.

 

Indianapolis, IN: Sports galore! WNBA, NBA, Football, NASCAR, and much more. Great place to go for concerts, and tons of fun things to do. A canal, lots of parks. Again crime is the reason we're putting this on hold.

Des Moines, IA: Smaller, quieter, reminds us of an up and coming Denver, huge State fair, nice people, bars, restaurants, breweries, great traffic. The downside is that it's not really close to anywhere else within driving range like the above two cities. Oh, and... tornadoes.

 

Some that we've looked at that had deal breakers were:

Pittsburgh, Jacksonville, Albany, Columbus, Spokane 

Some that we still need to research are:

Kansas City, and San Antonio. 

So I feel much better about things. I really was having a hard time. I felt like, also, looking for places in our price range was a big bummer because our company never gave us a cost of living increase. So the only places we can afford are in the crime-y areas. Which made me super sad and got me thinking I'd like to go to a 2-year school for something, that would help me get a job and make more money for us. But then I thought, god I am 43 I've peaked already and haven't done anything, it's too late for me, etc. And that was a very sad thought. But I think my mate has helped me to see it doesn't matter how old you are, you can still do whatever you want, and in the long run it may be a good idea for classes later on, but first to watch YouTube videos about it, and maybe take one introductory class for an hour to see if it is something I would really like to do, because I took 90% of a UX Design course from Google before decided it wasn't for me. I didn't really like it.

So I think I'll be ok here for a while. Wish me luck. 

UPDATE 9/24/22:

Ok, fuck this place. Someone busted the window of our car and went through all our crap. Didn't take anything because we had nothing in there.This was in a gated lot, by the way. And then of course there was a sexual assault in the building last week. So.. as soon as our lease is up here... we OUT.

Note Wars

 I like reviewing Android apps, as I have made perfectly clear.

Two apps I liked that I found very similar, were Notesnook and Upnote.

The first example here is Upnote, with unlimited notes, is free, syncs across multiple platforms, and has a premium that can be either a one-time purchase, or subscription.

This 2nd example is Notesnook, which is private, you can login using your fingerprint, has a free version with limited notebooks and features and only has 5 tags allowed in the free version.

They both are lovely apps but because Notesnook has most of their best features behind a paywall, I chose Upnote. The main thing I love about it, is that you can sync your notes almost immediately between your phone and your laptop.

Hit The Deck

 Picture it:

Saturday July 30. Morning. 1:57am to be exact. I awake to the sound of someone banging on the window behind my head. No, I think, that's not someone banging on the window... that is gunfire.

"Hit the deck" I don't remember saying, to my mate in bed next to me. What a silly thing to say.

We scrambled for the ground. I peeked out the window blinds. Two young black males with automatic weapons with their faces covered, were 10 feet from our window, shooting at someone running outside along the fence. We live in a gated building. The fence surrounds our parking lot. Whoever was running was also shooting, directly at the two men in front of me. I could see the flash of his gun as he fired toward us. All I could hear was extremely loud "pop! pop! pop! pop! pop!'s" in close succession.

I ducked down, grabbed my phone, and called 911. My mate did the same thing and went in another room. I was on hold for a few minutes waiting for an operator. When one finally answered, she said, "Saint Louis emergency, this is Renee." I paused, for a moment, because usually they say something like "What is the address of your location" etc. So I explained the situation to Renee, that there was a gun battle erupting outside our apartment, and no sooner did I explain to her what was happening that another barrage of gun fire exploded alongside the west facing window, down by the outside stairwell to the entrance of the building. I heard screaming.

"Get down!" I yelled for my mate, who was still on the phone waiting for 911 in the next room.

I peeked out the blinds again to answer Renee's questions, few and far between as they were. I saw a stream of young ladies wearing booty shorts and high heels following a group of men with their faces covered - with t-shirts, COVID masks, etc. One gal had a to-go box of food in her hand. No one appeared frantic or in distress. They all appeared non-chalant, as if this was a regular occurrence for a Saturday at 2:AM. You know, just your average morning of murder and mayhem.

The operator, Renee, said she would send the police right over.

My mate was also with 911, standing in the hallway by the front door to the apartment. We heard a gaggle of excited voices ruminating over what was happening. Whether these were concerned neighbors or those involved, I am still unsure.

20 minutes later...

Police lights. The two men who I saw originally, were accompanied by what I counted to be 5 other men (later this turned out to be a group of 9 but forgive me if my counting abilities were slightly stymied at the moment) slowly marched, with the women in tow, toward the pedestrian gate where the police were waiting (waiting? Not marching in dramatically with weapons in hand? No). Their weapons were gone, but a few of them still had their faces covered.

I do not understand what happened, why it happened, how it happened, or why they appeared to be turning themselves in. I also don't understand the complete lack of intensity to these perpetrator's behavior. No one was tense, everyone was completely calm.

Whenever anything happens that is insanely crazy to us, we can never - let me highlight that.. NEVER find anything about it in the news, social media, crime blotters, etc. I have no clue why not one single person from this apartment building posted anything about it on any of the outlets that we so often use to connect to one another.

My mate, however, did finally find a very bare bones version of an arrest report, indicating the ages of those involved, which was anywhere from 16 years of age to 40. 

This was all a crazy nightmare, and I can't believe it happened. Perhaps I am still in shock.

And now, for a picture of a bullet hole in a neighbor's car windshield:

So.. that was my weekend. How was yours?