The Blog of Michael Lee Mitchell

This will be my last entry for 2019, my 50th year on this Earth. This year has been a much better year than the last few in many ways and worse in some ways. Overall, I will say I did not mind this year. Not sure how 2020 will turn out for me, but I am hoping it will build on the positive things from this last year. My 50th year overall was positive and hoping 2020 will continue. I am praying that if Jesus does not come back that my family and myself have a great and blessed year (2020) along with every one of my friends. See you in the New Year. 2020 here I come!

Google Thank you for completing RCS! You did it. Now just add encryption, but thank you!!!!

I watched Season 2 of the New Lost in Space from Netflix. This is the greatest show Netflix has. It was outstanding. I can't wait for Season 3 and hope I don't have to wait another year. Netflix get to work or sell it to Disney Plus.

Google should shun the Carriers and just build or turn on their own RCS services and make a bold announcement about it. Then bypass the Carriers and bake in encryption and just make a true competitor and Android version of iMessages. It is time Google.  OK, Google are you listening! Do it and show the Carriers if you want to you can beat them at their own game.

Google now is the time to go full speed ahead and take RCS into your own hands and out of the carriers. You want to be Apple-like when it comes to phones well that includes RCS messaging. Bypass the Carriers and do it yourself like Apple does. This way it is own your own Phones by default and probably get other phone makers (except Samsung) to make Andriod Messages the default.

Google the Pixel 4 disappoints. Please listen for the survival of the Pixel line. No, I don't have the Pixel 4 nor do I want one. Why?  No fingerprint reader. Face unlock/ID might be just as secure, but it is not 100 percent reliable.  No FM chip. I know that streaming is your bread and butter but it would bring in more people to the Pixel ecosystem and it does have National Security/Emergency implications. No Headphone-jack. Think of it you would trump Apple and shame Apple at the same time.  Minimum 128GB and 256GB for memory instead of 64GB and 128GB.  Bringing back the 2 front cameras and keeping the soli chip.  Improve video recording quality to beat Apple like the superior still shots. This is a big one lower the price by 200 to 250. I believe you will still make a profit.  Optional adding to 2TB SD card support\, but I could live without this one.  Bring it out in July instead of October. Beating Apple by 2 months and being able to u...

My permanent retirement is still a little ways off. Just wondering where I should retire. I have pluses and minuses for each one. Thinking of the list below. Does anyone have any thoughts and suggestions? My retirement will be mostly Social Security and will need my money to last, high-speed internet and good medical facilities (which includes doctors). Paris, Tennessee Logan, WV Lewisburg, WV Chattanooga, TN Inverness, FL The home city where I am now. St Ives UK Corfu, Greece  The last two are foreign yes I know, but I have done a lot of research on them and like them for their visual appeal. Corfu Greece is probably the most affordable of the two foreign choices. 

The highlight of this week was watching the Microsoft Surface Event. I liked and wanting everything they announced. My wallet says no and that is the final word. My head says get get get! I plan on waiting to see the reviews and hope that next year will be a better year financially so that I can maybe get one of the new devices. I am really looking forward to the Surface Neo. Google's event I am kind of not looking forward too. I like the camera advancements I have been hearing about. Google why can't you leave the fingerprint reader, add a headphone jack and an FM tuner that would make it a big BUY for me. I know Google is planning to announce other things, but I have several Google devices and like every one of them. I wish the would simplify the privacy options by having one setting choice so that I could saw delete all my maps, history and other information collected after 18 months. Instead, you have to set each feature separately.

Please, Netflix you don't have to add sex to every episode of TV Series. The storyline is strong enough without it and I personally don't want to see it. Respect the storyline and people's modesty.

Everywhere I go lately service is terrible. I went to CVS today to pick up my prescription which was only 7 pills for 15 dollars. I get home and look in the bottle and I have only 6 pills. So I called CVS they will have the other one ready for me. I am not making an extra trip until Monday after work. Everywhere I go nowadays something is always messed up because places are short staff or just pressured to perform. We all need to slow down just a touch. The only thing that should be lightning fast is our internet.

Saw the Apple keynote yesterday. Was not impressed with anything except the new Apple Watch Series 5. I did like the new colors for the phone especially that midnight green. However, the new phones are not that inspiring. I like my Google Pixel 3. Let's see what Google comes up with as I have come to love Google Products. My tech rankings 1. Microsoft 2. Google 3. Apple's iPad and iPod (but that is it). I will say Google needs to trim their software offerings and then stick by what the have and stop killing things. Microsoft is also bad about that. Google example the Pixel Slate. They gave up to early on it. Also the numerous messaging apps. Android Messages seems like the clear choice and PLEASE GOOGLE keep GOOGLE VOICE.

Went to my Primary Care doctor. Have a lot of medical issues trying to work through them one at a time. But doesn't help when a staff member sends you home with somebody else's paperwork. Now, who has mine if anyone. Been a long week glad it is almost over. I need about a month off.

Do you remember where you were when 9/11 attacks occurred? I do. I was in traffic court in Plant City, Florida.I had just left when my mother called me to tell me about the first plane and then while I was on the phone with her she watched the second plane fly into the Tower. That whole day was a long day for me and I remember almost everything about that day.  Hopefully, nothing like it will happen again. Be safe and be careful every day.  

Back to work tomorrow. It was a relaxing weekend, except for the leg cramps I had every night that I was sleeping. I played video games but not as much as I hoped. I was tired and decided to just relax. I did finally get to start Season 7 of The Walton's. This month and next month will be a big challenge in many ways. Hope everyone else had a great Labor Day 2019.

Praying for all the people in the path of Dorian. Cat 5 Hurricane.

I have a head full of ideas but not enough time to accomplish them or the strength. Wishing everyone a great Labor Day.

I think weathermen need to stop relying on computers so much. They have no idea what Dorian is going to do except the next few hours.

Labor Day weekend 2019 is off to a good start. Got my oil change on my car and got most of my electronics updated and charged. Hurricane Dorian is going to miss us and I won't have to use extra vacation time next week. I am in season 6 out of 9 of the Walton's. The only bad news is I have had a sinus headache for 2 days.

Happening now, stress and tension. Just when I thought everything was going great. The economy wants to tank. I am planning to be debt-free in just six more years if the economy holds it together. On a happier note, I finished The Durrell's of Corfu and loved it. I am still watching The Waltons and loving that series. I just started 6 season and sorry to see Richard Thomas gone on the show. PC Gaming is becoming my favorite thing to do. I have a few games I love playing right now. A few more I want to become better in. One last thing computer wise. Glad I have not switched back to Frontier as the lost service again and this time it has been like for a day and a half. Spectrum has been great and that has really surprised me. If they would only raise the upload speed.

I really would like to visit Corfu Greece. I think I am going to start a Visit Corfu Savings Fund should be full in about 10 years 😀.  I am hoping it turns out I really like the place as it may be a contender for retirement. 

Lately, I have been just thinking about moving out of the City the more and more I watch the Waltons. High-Speed internet for rural America, PLEASE!

I find myself watching more old TV shows lately. I have recently started to watch The Waltons. I remember them when I was growing up, but it was not the main show. I have really enjoyed watching Season 1 on Amazon Prime. I have been enjoying watching old shows on Over the Air TV shows like All in the Family and Frasier. Sometimes I think that the old shows are better than most TV shows they come out with today and when I do get invested in one of the new shows the cancel it.

 have been thinking a lot lately about how everything is or wants to go to the cloud. I think the only thing that should be in the cloud for sure is back up. Otherwise, I prefer to have everything locally. I know that companies are pushing us to the cloud/remote storage for subscription fees and never-ending revenue for them. The internet situation in this Country is not very good. I am lucky to live in an area that has broadband (although both the companies that can service us are not the greatest). I could also settle with music in the cloud and streaming it (as this is not bandwidth intensive). Watching the Microsoft E3 Xbox Presentation today, I did realize something that might be worth thinking about in the future. With as powerful as the next generation Xbox will be next year on its release and keyboard and mouse support added (not a big controller fan). People can own a cheap to moderately priced PC/Laptop and the next-gen Xbox and come out cheaper than having a full-blown...

April is coming to a close and this has been one of the better ones for me. I turned 50 and they had a surprise party for me at work. The only thing that has not changed and makes me sad is my finances. Gratefully, I only have 3 more years until this new car is paid off and my money problems should be behind me. Well, hope everyone is doing great. April went by fast. I am hoping May and June does too.

April is my favorite month, but for the last few years it has been my worst as far as life itself. I have been sick the last few April’s in the beginning. Just want this year to be better and so far it is ok as I am not sick. I used to be able to take the whole month off and would. For the last 10 years that has not happened 😩. I also need a haircut going to try and go get one tomorrow.

I watched Google Stadia announcement today. I think this is a great idea but it suffers from one major drawback. Internet connections. A lot of people do not have high-speed internet and it is getting worse. If you do have high-speed internet, some people have data caps (which is ridiculous for a broadband connection or really any connection). The third and final issue is reliability. No matter what your ISP/Broadband connection is going to go down from something at some time. For the first two items, I think Google, Apple, Amazon, Disney, CBS, Netflix, and Microsoft should make a separate entity sort of Hulu like for wired fiber. Wired fiber is the best option in the long run low maintenance cost and will last decades. Or they could split up grants like the various City, County, State, and Federal Government agencies do to expand broadband from electric coops and telephone coops. All I know unless broadband expands to all corners of this Country these services are not going to work....

Don’t know what all the fuss is about. I got back about 150 dollars less than less year, but have made more than that with the small increase in bi-weekly pay check. Taxes are taxes. I probably should make sure I zero out each year, but I use it as an emergency fund. I have also been sick. Sickest I have been since 2017. I am finally on the mend. On another note this is my 10th year at Moffitt. 10 years. Second longest job. First job still longest for career.

Hello All, I am trying to blog more, but I just don’t have it in me lately. I have been so tired. I think it is my medication for my heart. There is nothing I can do though. I want to learn WordPress to update and move my website to that. I am also trying to get a loyalty discount from my webhost. I mainly use it for the email anyways. Well, tonight is the is the Superbowl and frankly I just don’t care. I am not a football fan. Take care all. Hope everyone is doing great.

Bye 2018 you were not that great. I lost my best friend Bella (my cat). Hopefully, 2019 will be better all around. This is will be my 50th year on this Earth and my 10th year at Moffitt. Hoping and Praying everyone else 2019 is 2 steps forward and no steps back. Cheers!