Buzy!

The wonderful women from the University of Washington Design group came by last night to enlist my help with their latest project. They wanted to set up sensors in my house for data collection and they have fascinating plans for the data. Lucky for them, I already had the sensors set up! So last night and this morning, I created a bunch of IF This Then That's to get the data into spreadsheets that I can then share with their group.

I love that we live in a world where, at 70 years old, I can be a part of this kind of thing and update a spreadsheet in the cloud just by turning the light next to my bed on or off. That just tickles my fancy.

Before that, I listed my Pixel 3 phone on Amazon and on Swappa. I didn't sweat the price because I still hadn't decided whether to keep the new phone. I was just really getting set up more than anything. Of course, then, it sold this morning. On Swappa which is really a better deal for me - I make more money and have more control plus can actually 'chat' with the buyer if I need to.

Over all I will have made out $250 better by buying the phone from Amazon rather than Google. Interesting.

I have a very loud purring Smalls on my arms as I type.

So I guess I'm keeping the new phone which is fine by me. I will be taking the old phone to the post office this morning.

The cats only slept with me a little last night. They were very busy elsewhere. No clue what they were doing and they aren't talking this morning. I am, however, sure, it involved Stickie. I think they may be having a threesome.

This was the picture of the threesome I got before I went to bed last night.

A pretty good day...

I got all of my IFTTT routines created and running and checked. Now it's just letting stuff happen. Google will collect all the data in the spreadsheets.

Amazon will not let you download your assistant history. You can see it on their website and on your phone but you can't have it. Google will let you download it any time you want in a nice comma separated value format for spreadsheets. But Google's assistant hates me. Really. I tell it to read me the news and it starts but will not stop. I tell it to stop and it pauses for 5 seconds. And, by the way, their news feed sucks. The only Seattle news you get is the Tacoma newspaper.

Amazon has a way superior news feed and it is read to you every single time you ask, not every once in a while. I spent all morning trying to make amends with the Google Assistant. Not happening. So then I spent some time page scraping the Alexa data and putting it into a spreadsheet. It's a PIA but it's doable and way better than fighting Google.

I got all my errands done. It took two trips because I forgot something on the first round but done now.

The cats have been quiet pretty much all day. Biggie is still sneezing and I had another round of vet/no vet. He just does not seem sick. Watch him spread whatever it is to The Smalls who will turn out to have a compromised immune system and my decisions will be all wrong.

We did have a nice Nursing Home Version of Chase Sticky in between naps. But, they are glued to the blue chair. The only thing that changes in this view is that Biggie's hair is growing back over his bald belly.