spring 2019 TV season (Part 1)/ Grandmother, 89, had never seen mountains before, so her grandson took her to see them

Jul. 21, 2019 The Hot Zone: This is a 6 episode mini-series that I just finished watching.

"The frightening spread of the EBV (Ebolavirus)."

Pros:

1. The cast like Julianna Margulies as Dr. Nancy Jaxx.  (The Good Wife).

Noah Emmerich as Lt. Col. Jerry Jax.

Topher Grace as Peter.  (That 70s Show).

Paul James as Ben.

James D' Arcy as Rhodes.

Liam Cunningham as Carter.

Grace Gummer as Melinda.  (Extant).

Lenny Platt as Kyle.  (Quantico season 1).

The acting is very good.

2. Good writing.  There is lots of drama, conflict, and tension with this disease.  It's scary with the fear of infection and preventing widespread panic.  It's dangerous and intense.

There is a monkey attacking a human.

It is smart.

3. There is good production.

Cons: None.

Comparisons: It reminds me of TV shows like Containment (I saw the whole season) and Helix (I saw the first 2 eps.)


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4131818/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1

The Code: This show came out Apr. 2019.


"A look at the professional and personal lives of some of the military's brightest legal minds in the courtroom, where each attorney is trained as a prosecutor, a defense lawyer, an investigator - and a Marine."

Pros:  

1. The cast.  First and foremost, I'm watching this show for Luke Mitchell (Roman from Blindspot).  He plays Captain John "Abe" Abraham.

Dana Delaney is the Col.  (Desperate Housewives).

Ato Essandoh as Major Ferry.

Anna Wood as Capt. Maya Dobbins.

Phillapa Soo as Lt. Harper Li- and they make jokes about her name.

Raffi Barsoumian as Rami.

At first I thought all the characters were average, but after awhile, they grew on me.

2. The writing is good.  There is drama, conflict, and tension as they solve these cases.

3. It is kind of funny here and there.

There is a scene where the team flies to another country.  Rami doesn't come.

Later Abe wakes up and Rami is standing over him.
Abe: Rami?  Am I dreaming?

Cons: None.

My opinion: Overall, I thought the show was average.  I don't really like military drama or law drama.  If Luke Mitchell wasn't in it, I may still watch it.  It's mainly because it's a spring TV show, and there aren't many shows to watch during the summer.  That's why I record a lot of spring TV shows and average shows as back up, in case there's nothing to watch during the summer.


https://cancelrenewtv.com/the-code-cancelled-no-season-2-for-cbs-tv-show/

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8888168/?ref_=rvi_tt

Jul. 27, 2019: I wanted to add I saw the season finale.  It starred Steven Pasquale as a lawyer.  When I first saw him, I thought he looked familiar.  Then I was like: "He was the lead in Do No Harm.  The modern version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." 

He is married to the actress Phillapa Soo on The Code.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1018679/


In the Dark: 

"A young, blind woman tries to solve her friend's murder."

Pros:

1. Perry Matfield as Murphy is a good actress.  She carries the show.  She smokes, drinks, and has casual sex.  

Thamela Mpumlawana plays the friend Tyson who is murdered.

Brooke Markham as Murphy's friend Jess and a vet is good.

All the actors on this show are good.

2. The writing is good with Murphy who tries to solve her friend's murder even though she's blind, and doesn't have police training.  On Veronica Mars when Veronica tries to solve her friend's murder, she did have PI training with her dad.

Murphy and her friends do get into danger.  Tyson was a drug dealer, so it could be related to his job or not.  Tyson had saved Murphy's life when she was mugged, and that's how they became friends.

3. It's funny here and there.

Cons: None.

My opinion: I watched the whole season.  I recorded it and watched it in about a week.  It's average and a solid show.

It has been renewed for a 2nd season.

https://tvline.com/2019/04/24/all-american-renewed-season-2-the-cw/

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7772602/

Jul. 27, 2019 Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists:

"Everything about the town of Beacon Heights seems perfect, but in the aftermath of the town's first murder, behind every Perfectionist hides secrets, lies and much needed alibies." 

Pros:

1. The cast:

Sasha Pieterse- as Allison from the original show.  She is now an English professor.

Janel Parrish- as Mona from the original show.  She is a counselor at the university.

The 4 new characters:

Sofia Carson as Ava, the fashion student.

Eli Brown as Dylan the violinist.

Sydney Parker as Caitlin.

Chris Mason as Nolan.  The villian.

Kelly Rutherford- as Nolan and Taylor's mom/ dean of the school.  She was Serena's mom Lily Van Der Woodsen on Gossip Girl.)

2. There is a good opening where they set the atmosphere that this is a high pressure college.  There is a murder that happens on the show.

3. All the characters are introduced and what their interests are.

Nolan is shown how he blackmails characters like Caitlin: Your mom is cheating on your mom.   (Shows pictures).  She's going to run for President.  I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend so I won't tell.

Ava's dad embezzled money and went to jail.  The parents ran off without Ava.

Dylan cheated on his boyfriend with Nolan.

4. Good surprises.

Spoiler alert: Taylor is alive.  The school Beacon Heights University is spying on them and they have to bring them down.

5. There is violin music playing songs from Lady GaGa and the Weekend.

Cons:

1. It was kind of predictable.  About halfway in, I was able to predict who is going to get murdered.

Spoiler alert: It was Nolan, because everybody hates him since he was blackmailing all these characters.

2. The characters.  It's not that I dislike the characters, but I don't like them either.

Comparisons: 

A character that everybody hates gets murdered.  Everybody is a suspect: It's been done a lot like The Simpsons ep "Who shot Mr. Burns?"

My opinion: I watched the pilot and thought it was average.  I decided to watch the 2nd episode because I like the original.  Let's really give the show a chance.  I didn't like it.  I stopped after 2 episodes.


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7413448/

Sun. Aug. 5, 2019: I have been writing about TV and movies for the past week.  It feels like I have been watching all these even though I was only writing about it.

My week:

Sat. Aug. 3, 2019 Total Recall: I saw this movie that came out in 2012.  It was good.

Sun. Aug. 4, 2019 Centre of Spiritual Living: I went there and talked to Me and got to know her a bit more.  She has studied creative things like retail design and photography.  Now she works at an office job.

The teens then told us about their positive camp experience.

The Simpsons: Last week I was talking to this new cook K.  He is a white guy in his early 20s.  He was cooking fish.  I started singing "Na, na, na, fishing, fishing, fishing" to the Batman theme song.

Tracy: It was from The Simpsons.  Homer was singing that.  It was the episode where they joined the cult the Movementarians.
K: I don't think I saw that ep.

https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/Movementarianism

Then I told this to Ni at the 2nd restaurant job.  She's in her late 20s.

Ni: That's the old Batman theme song.
Tracy: Yeah, but it's from The Simpsons ep about the Movementarians.
Ni remembers the ep.

Mon. Aug. 5, 2019 Community library: It was a nice and sunny day where I sat outside and read a couple of books.  Have you seen those old newspaper boxes where it's painted as a "free library"?  You can take a book and donate one there.

I went out for a walk in the afternoon and decided to go to one.  There was a little bench by it, so I looked through the books.  I found this library a couple of months ago. 

Tues. Aug. 6, 2019 Job search complaint: I'm going to write about it, so I can deal with it and move on.  I got a call for an interview at a dental clinic.  The woman says she preferred someone with dental experience, but she read my resume and reference letter and wanted to set up an interview.  We set up the interview.  The next day, she emailed and said that she really did want someone with dental experience and cancelled the interview.

That's fine.  She can change her mind.  I'm a little disappointed.

Wed. Aug. 7, 2019 Edmonton Declutter and Organize Meetup: Last night I attended it.  These Meetups are once a month.  I met 3 new people:

M- an African woman.
J- the organizer's teen daughter
S- an Asian woman

They all know each other outside of the Meetup.  We talked about the topic Hygge:

Hygge (/ˈhjuːɡə/ HEW-gə or /ˈhuːɡə/ HOO-gə) is a Danish and Norwegian word for a mood of coziness and comfortable conviviality with feelings of wellness and contentment. As a cultural category with its sets of associated practices hygge has more or less the same meanings in Danish and Norwegian, but the notion is more central in Denmark than Norway.^[1] The emphasis on hygge as a part of Danish culture is a recent phenomenon, dating to the late 20th century. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygge

Thurs. Aug.8, 2019 Work: I've been working more at the 2nd restaurant job for the last month.  I am a PT casual worker there.  I like to work, and I like working there.

"Grandmother, 89, had never seen mountains before, so her grandson took her to see them":

When Brad Ryan found out his 89-year-old grandmother had never seen a mountain range, he decided to make her dream come true.

Since 2015, the grandmother-grandson duo have made it their mission to road trip across the entire country and visit 29 national parks to give her the "life of adventure she had never been able to fulfill," he told Fox KTVU 2.

The Ohio native and his grandmother — who he lovingly refers to as "Grandma Joy" — went on their first joint road trip four years ago to Great Smoky Mountain National Park, found on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee.

Most recently, they checked their 29th park, Acadia National Park, off their bucket list.

"When she says, 'I probably won't be back here again,' it always affirms that tomorrow is never guaranteed," he said. "We have an obligation to lean into joy with every spectacular sunrise and chorus of birds that greet the morning."

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/newsgoodnews/grandmother-89-had-never-seen-mountains-before-so-her-grandson-took-her-to-see-them/ar-AAFxhPU?ocid=spartanntp

Fri. Aug. 9, 2019 [MINDSET] Ep. 58: How to Get Out of Debt with Ashley Feinstein Gerstley: You Turn Podcast w/ Ashley Stahl

What do you feel when you hear the word “money”?

Sit down with Ash this week while she interviews Ashley Gerstley, a money coach and the author of The 30-Day Money Cleanse.  The two Ashley’s discuss tips on getting out of debt and how to improve your relationship with money.  Money is one taboo topic, leaving most of us in the dark with how to manage it.  Because of this, Ashley outlines her 4 key steps to take control of finances and spending patterns.  Did you know that there are three layers to debt?  Ashley breaks down what they are, and how best to recover from them.

Money can be an emotionally charging concept, Ashley invites you to let go of the shame you may feel around self-worth and build a healthy long lasting relationship with your finances.  Part of this is recognizing and releasing environmental toxins.  Listen in to learn what they are, and tips to improve them.  The post-episode notes are key to this episode, stay tuned in to learn how Ash recovered from debt and what she realized along the way!

 

In This Episode, Learn How To:

1. View money as accessible and fun.

2. Debunk the confusion with credit scores and interest rates.

3. Create and understand intentional spending.

4. Navigate relationships where money is viewed and valued differently.

 

Resources:

30 Day Money Cleanse by Ashley Gerstley

The Third Door by Alex Banayan

 

Where to Find Ashley Gerstley:

www.thefiscalfemme.com

Instagram: thefiscalfemme

 

Want to land the job you love?  Visit youturnpodcast.com/joboffer

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mindset-ep-58-how-to-get-out-debt-ashley-feinstein/id1382321276?i=1000436258050

My opinion: The tips are to look at how much you owe.  Pay off the card with the highest interest rate.  Call the credit card company to lower your interest rate.

Sat. Aug. 10, 2019: Yesterday and today was really busy at my 2nd restaurant job.

Birthday: Tomorrow is my birthday, so I will be working at my 2nd restaurant job in the day, and my 1st restaurant job at night.

If I have to work on my birthday, I will pick another day in Aug. and celebrate it.

"MBA and law graduate changes career gears to launch a bicycle company"

Aug. 17, 2018 "MBA and law graduate changes career gears to launch a bicycle company": Today I found this article by Curtis Gillespie in the Globe and Mail: 

This is the 17th story in our series looking at MBAs and other business-school graduates who are working in non-traditional fields.

Mike Smith, the co-founder of No. 22, a small but revered titanium bicycle brand, has always had bicycles in his blood, even when he had to curb the preoccupation through four years of the most intense education you could imagine.

He had saddled up regularly and passionately as a kid, and during his business undergrad at McMaster University in Hamilton, he worked at the city’s iconic Pieriks Cycle shop. 

But in the fall of 2007, Mr. Smith suddenly had less time for cycling when he dove into a sparsely populated pool, namely, the one in which people do their law degree and MBA at the same time. It’s a four-year program offered at York University in Toronto and its law school, Osgoode Hall.

You might think this was the sign of someone highly determined to succeed academically, but Mr. Smith offers a different take.

“The truth,” he says, laughing over the bustle of brunch at Carbon Bar on Queen Street East in Toronto on a bright Sunday, “is that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to go back to school after getting out. I mean, normally, people work a few years and then go back and do an MBA, but I figured it might be pretty hard for me to switch gears and leave a career once I’d gotten it started, so I thought I’d just barge right through and squeeze it all in.”

The fork in the road, or on the bike, perhaps, came when Mr. Smith finished his joint degree. He knew he had business DNA in him through his entrepreneurial parents, but, as with most law school grads, the courtship process with various firms began in earnest at the end of third year (although it was fourth year in the joint program).

What Mr. Smith found dizzying was the speed and frenzy of it all, the pace of speaking to 40 firms over two days, like speed dating on steroids, followed by wining and dining, offers, considerations and the hyper competitiveness of it all.

“You just feel like it’s your one and only shot and that all these people are the best, and this is what they all want, and so that must mean that you want it, too, and it’s what I’m supposed to do,” he says.

“But I guess what surprised me is that all the firms I talked to, and the one I ended up articling with, Stikeman [Elliott LLP], all said the same thing, which was that they were all attracted to someone with initiative and who was a self-starter. 

They all wanted to hire people with an entrepreneurial spirit. But that’s what is kind of ironic about it all, that the exact thing they wanted me for was exactly the reason I wouldn’t have lasted in a big firm, which is that I was really entrepreneurial.

Mr. Smith did his articling with Stikeman and it went well. They offered him a job, but after not all that much deliberation, he turned it down. He and Bryce Gracey, a cycling friend with whom he’d built titanium bikes of their own for a cross-country ride a few years before, had founded No. 22 by then, and it was then that Mr. Smith decided it was time to take the training wheels off their business.

I asked Mr. Smith how that conversation went with his parents, who’d watched their son devote four years of graduate education toward a legal and corporate career. I wondered out loud what their reaction was when he told them he’d turned down a job offer with Stikeman Elliott to start a bike company with no capital, no funding, no presales and which required significant startup investment in overhead and materials?

“I feel like I framed it differently,” Mr. Smith says, laughing. “No, actually, I loved working with Stikeman Elliott. They were great people and it was an amazing learning curve. But my parents were so supportive. They always have been. I mean … they probably would have preferred me to stay in law, but they were still behind me doing this.”

Mr. Smith’s parents probably also knew they only had themselves to blame for their son’s business bug (although Mr. Smith does maintain a bespoke one-person real estate law practice on the side). Both his parents are entrepreneurs who run their own businesses. Mr. Smith’s father operates a successful commercial printing business and his mother has her own interior design company.

I asked Mr. Smith what he thought his MBA gave him. “It’s funny,” Mr. Smith says. “I’m not sure I could have said exactly what my MBA did for me at the start. Some of those classes didn’t really land at the time, only because I had no experience. 

Things like hiring practices; I’d never hired anyone before. It felt very abstract. But now I look back and I see that it really gave me a lot of insight into certain things around running a business that I’ve now applied, things like organizational behaviour. It’s also been very valuable in planning processes, positioning the business, carving out a niche.”

Thinking about positioning the company has been taking on greater importance and complexity as No. 22 grows, given that the playing field of high-end cycling products is competitive at the international level and deep with multinationals spending freely in both research and marketing. The company and its nine employees make about 300 bikes a year.

Already, their bikes, which range in price from about $7,000 to $10,000, are viewed in a unique way by the cycling community — as objects of beauty that also happen to be beautiful to ride. This product differentiation is an achievement in its own right, but now that they have established the quality of their product, the question is how, or if, to scale up.

Their biggest transition to date came about four years ago, when they opened their own titanium-frame factory and, since then, the challenge has always been keeping up with demand. It’s a good problem to have, but addressing that problem might create others. 

Growing the business means hiring more people, buying more material, investing in more machinery, making more and bigger commitments. It also means moving into a stock bike program, instead of relying purely on orders for custom bikes. This means that if you make 100 extra bikes and no one buys them, the company is in trouble.

“2018 is a year of big change, no doubt,” Mr. Smith says. “It’s the classic chicken-and-egg thing. We’ve always tried to err on the side of setting ourselves up for growth. I’m sure we’ll continue that by maybe not paying ourselves as much now to make it easier to grow for tomorrow.”

As for where No. 22 goes from here, that’s hard for Mr. Smith to say. Certainly, he feels motivated to keep the wheels turning, as it were, given how sought-after the brand has become. “I don’t think I ever thought I’d own a bike company,” Mr. Smith says, “but for sure I always had the intention of starting a business. On the one hand, it’s great because it’s an area I’m really passionate about, and if I wasn’t doing No. 22, I’d probably spend the same amount of time thinking about bikes and obsessing over bikes. 

But on the other hand, it’s a challenging business because there is so much competition and so many passionate people. The bar is incredibly high. It’s hard to make it a profitable long-term business because so many other talented people are doing it.”

Mr. Smith knows No. 22 is something of a swing-for-the-fences business, in that it’s a passion project, but one with a strong product and a glittering brand. Sure, it might fizzle out one day, but it also has the potential to be a substantial market player at the level of an industry leader such as Moots Bicycles, out of Colorado. The reality, Mr. Smith says, is that although bicycles are a high-growth area, you can’t always be sure how good the pavement is going to be around the next corner, which is why he is staying focused on simply making one great bike after another.

The No. 22 brand is intimately tied to the quality of their bikes and “you can lose that in a month if you start to compromise quality for growth,” he says. No. 22 will never test that, Mr. Smith adds, because the quality of their name is ultimately all they have. And he knows life is a long ride. “I may not run No. 22 forever,” he says, “but I want to build it to last forever.”

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/careers/business-education/article-mba-and-law-graduate-changes-career-gears-to-launch-a-bicycle-company/