Category: Daily Blog

This is my Daily Blog category.

Duolingo’s Dramatic Update

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

I have been using Duolingo for almost 4 years. My current streak is 1416. I’ve been doing this for a while.

I don’t remember if it was last year or if it was the year before, but they did an update and they completely changed my entire lesson plan. They added things that I’d never done before and gave me the gold and the purple icons as if I had finished the lessons and mastered them when in fact I had never even started learning those lessons. I felt like I had to start learning all over again.

So more than a week ago, they updated their app again to this new layout which pissed a lot of people off, so much so that there is a petition to change it back. People hate this new update. I am kind of one of them, but, and hear me out, I am doing something to help myself learn.

This new update does not allow you to go back to previous lessons, so that’s why it didn’t work for me because they pushed me so far ahead of the lesson plans that they thought that I had already mastered before, when in fact I still haven’t even gotten to those lessons. So I was supposed to be on unit six, and they ended up bringing me all the way to unit 24. I tried doing the lessons in unit 24, but they were so far out there that I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t go back and I couldn’t go forward. I was pretty much screwed.

So I thought okay, I’m going to click on that broken heart at the bottom of the screen that has the number 48 in the screenshot and practice all of the mistakes that I had already made prior to the update and see what happens after that. So after I did that it said keep going and it kept allowing me to practice mistakes that I had made in the past and it was actually helping me go back to the old old lessons that I had made mistakes on prior to the previous update that changed everything for me. I thought, this is great, I’m able to go way back and keep learning those old lessons that I wanted to go back to learning. But, what is that going to accomplish? I need to go back to learning the regular way.

Since I am a Duolingo plus member, I have the ability to delete a language lesson plan so I can start over, and that’s what I did. But that’s nice for me because I am a plus member, there are people out there who aren’t paying for Duolingo, so they don’t have that ability. They have no choice.

Okay, so since I deleted all of my German lessons and started over at unit 1 in the very beginning with basics one, it has taken me a week and I’m just now in unit 5. I’m kind of glad that I’m able to go at this pace with this new Duolingo because since I cannot go back, I can only go forward and I can actually continue learning where I refused to continue learning before. Because for the last couple of years, all I’ve been doing is my lessons that I’ve already known and not going forward. I’m doing that because I have a learning disability and it’s hard to learn new words and also with German it’s hard sometimes because they switch the words around and I’m already dyslexic and it just makes my brain hurt lol.

So, I have no option other than to keep going forward and hopefully I will continue learning and maybe I will actually be fluent in German one of these days. I’ve been doing this so lazily all this time for the last couple of years by refusing to go forward and now I’m being forced to go forward. This is probably a good thing for learning this language. And maybe that’s the reason Duolingo did that, because they want to force me to keep moving forward.

The website on my browser is still the old website. Someone on Twitter who responded to me about the new update said that the update on their browser is the new update. So they don’t really have a choice, but I still have a choice with my browser. So if I start to get frustrated with the new lessons, I can just go on the computer and do the lessons for as long as I need to because I can go back on the browser. So I’ll just keep going forward in the app on my phone, but I can continue going back on the browser on my computer.

I need to be able to keep doing the same lessons repeatedly to allow my brain to let the words sink in. That’s why I have not gone forward in these lessons because I don’t feel like I’m ready to go forward. But at some point, I have to, otherwise what’s the point of learning a language if I’m not learning all of the language?

So I think that if someone is learning with Duolingo and this same thing happened to them that happened to me and you’re stuck in a situation that you cannot control, you know, just pay for one month and that way you can delete all of your lessons and start over from the very beginning like I did. It’s just one month and you can cancel before your month is over. There might even be a free trial, I don’t know. But don’t give up.

And also, don’t worry about losing all of your old progress because it’s all in your mind, right? All that German that I learned before is still in my head, and since I couldn’t go forward in the app because they pushed me too far ahead, then what’s the point if I can’t just start over? I don’t have that hang up of needing to keep everything that I had worked hard for because I can continue working hard and go forward instead of quitting. And also, it still says that I have learned the same amount of words that I had learned before I deleted my lesson. So all of that is still there, I’m just learning from the very beginning all over again and I’m getting now to the point where I’m starting to get into the lessons that I refused to go forward with.

So just pay for a month, delete the lesson, start over and continue working to learn the language that you’re learning and don’t be so frustrated with everything. It’s not going to work if it’s not fun, and it’s not fun if it’s work.

Laminating Pathfinder Character Sheets

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

Laminated Pathfinder Character Sheets

I am geeking out right now with my new AmazonBasics Thermal Laminator that I bought from Amazon. I was watching my shows and out of the blue I thought to myself, “I wonder if laminating sheets can be written on with a grease pencil and erased.” I have this white grease pencil that I’ve literally had for decades that I don’t remember where it came from, I just know I have it. It’s white, so I don’t know what I can do with it. I used it on a business card that I laminated and it writes great. I rubbed it off with my finger and it comes off without any trace.

So I was thinking if this grease pencil works on these laminating sheets, then perhaps it would be a good idea if I laminated the Pathfinder character sheets so that they can be written on with a grease pencil, and when someone is using them and something changes, they can easily remove what they wrote and write a new number, or whatever. When they are finished and they don’t need to keep that information, they can erase the entire character sheet.

My partner joked today that I’ll never use these full page sheets, and that I’ll be buried with them, but I’ve laminated 4 character sheets tonight and 4 pages with bread machine recipes. I’m sure I’ll probably find many other things to laminate without being too wasteful.

Halloween Whopper Discontinued???

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

bk-halloween-whopper5b25dWe went to Burger King a few days ago and they had a sign on the door saying they were out of the black buns for the Halloween Whopper. They told us they would get more buns that evening, but of course we didn’t go back. Today we went back to the doctor’s office to get my blood drawn, and decided we’d try again for the Halloween Whopper. They had a new sign on the same door saying the Halloween Whopper was discontinued.

WHAT? DISCONTINUED? Ok, that’s a bit dramatic lol.

We went in and I asked the woman at the register what the delio was. She told me that they only allowed 1 pallet of buns per delivery, and they only get their delivery twice a week. How can they possibly expect to sell any Halloween Whoppers with only 2 pallet of buns per week? I would imagine that if Burger King spent, and this is just a wild guess, millions of dollars in advertising, that they would have enough black buns for every Burger King per delivery. How is it possible that they could run a million dollar promotion, and not have enough product? It just seems like a bad business practice.

I heard about the buns causing people to have green poop anyway. Just think of it as green slime, like you know, from Ghostbusters. Slimer has invaded your stomach and is causing you to poop green lol. I’m sure it’s from whatever dye they put in the buns. I’m not sure the A1 would cause green poop, but then again I hardly ever eat A1. I haven’t actually had it since I was a child because it’s nasty.

My partner decided since they didn’t have the Halloween Whopper that he would have a Big Fish sandwich. I decided that I wanted a Whopper since the Big Fish from the other day left a brick in my stomach. The regular Whopper was awesome, so I didn’t really miss the black bun aka green poop.

After that I went straight to the gym. If I’m going to eat unhealthy food, I have to burn off the calories.

Xanapus on WordPress

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

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It’s official! If you type my domain http://www.xanapus.com, my WordPress.com blog will load. I had my website hosted with the same company, although they went through many name changes, for 13 years. I have been blogging with WordPress for 8 years on my hosted website. Thanks to the help from the awesome people at WordPress, all of my blog posts over the last 8 years are on my WordPress.com blog and you can now come here using my domain name.

My blog will have more of an audience since people who blog using WordPress.com can see other blogs as they are published. My blog on my self hosted website barely had any visitors unless they came from Google or Bing. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s also not a good thing.

My worst fear was that if my self hosted blog disappeared, all those search engine results, Facebook and Twitter links and links on other blogs would result in a dead link, but, I am so happy to say that is not the case. If you click any old link, it will automatically load those articles here. So that sure is a relief.

The best thing about this move is that I can blog directly from my cell phone when I’m not home. If I have to get something off my chest and 140 characters just won’t do, I can get on the WordPress Android app and just vent to my hearts content. I can even take a picture and add it to the blog post.

I’ve been working on the design of my blog and I’m not quite sure I have it, but I will look at some other themes and maybe something will catch my eye. Let me know what you think in the comments and perhaps if you have some advice, I’m open to anything.

Anyway, I don’t want to talk your ear (or eye?) off. I’m just excited that I am finally saving some money lol.

Cutting Back on Services

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

I’ve decided to cut back on a few things. I’m not broke, but I’m not exactly rolling in dough. I just think that there are a few things that I need to cut back on a few services that I don’t use as much as I used to.

Hulu Plus is one thing that is nice to have, but I don’t have that much time to watch it anymore. I started going to the gym, so that takes up my afternoons, and I haven’t been watching Hulu Plus as much as I would like, so that has to go. I didn’t exactly cancel my subscription, I postponed it for 12 weeks. My next billing date will be December 26th. I’m not sure I will have enough time to watch Hulu then, so if I still don’t have any plans to watch then I will just cancel my membership until further notice. I was going to cancel Netflix, but my partner says he watches Netflix, so that stays.

My website, this website, is one thing that I don’t use that often. When you have to force yourself to post something just to get your moneys worth, then is it really worth the money? I think not. No one ever visits my website anyway, so I really don’t see the point in keeping it. I don’t want to lose all my blog posts, so I’m going to copy and paste every blog post I’ve written here onto my xanapus.wordpress.com blog. I plan on keeping my domain, and it’s only $13 a year to have my WordPress blog redirect to xanapus.com. I think $13 a year is better than $144 a year. If I were still getting paid to blog then that would be one thing, but I’m not, so I have to make a change.

One more thing I am going to do is to stop paying games for in game money. Like The Sims FreePlay for example. This month I bought $20 worth of Life Points, then ran out and needed more to complete a quest, so I bought $10 more worth of Life Points and STILL didn’t finish the quest in time. That is $30 more that I could have used for groceries. So screw that noise. I’ve decided that when you have to buy life points to be able to finish a quest, then perhaps it’s time to throw in the towel on that game. I’m just not going to play that one anymore for awhile.

I’ve stopped playing with my PlayStation for several months actually. I’ll get on it every now and then, like I’ll get on it the first Tuesday of every month to see what games are free for PlayStation Plus subscribers. Since I haven’t been playing, I haven’t felt the need to buy new games or new add-on’s for the games I currently have or like to play.

I am still interested in reading more of the Pathfinder Tales books, but I will wait to buy any new books. I have a lot of eBooks that I haven’t even read yet, so I should probably focus my energy on reading those. To my defense, most of those eBooks were free, so I didn’t have to spend any money on those. A ton of them were Nook Free Fridays eBooks from when I first got my Nook, which was a long time ago lol.

I also bought the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set and the Pathfinder Beginner Box, but haven’t had too much time to learn since I’ve been going to the gym. I will get to them, I promise. I just haven’t had the chance. I also don’t have a group of people willing to teach me or willing to learn with me. Hopefully that chance will come soon.

So there are a lot of things I am ready and willing to give up just because it’s unnecessary to have them. It’s nice to have them, but what good are they if I can’t enjoy them?

This is my notice that I am going to transfer all of my blog posts from here to WordPress and then cancel my hosting and redirect my WordPress blog to my domain. Let’s hope the transfer process is quick and easy.

Copper Hands

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

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Carpal tunnel syndrome sucks, I know, I’ve had it for a decade. I got it from crocheting for more than 20 years and doing other crafts. When I found out that I had carpal tunnel syndrome, I was told by the doctor to just stop doing crafts, which was actually harder than you think. Crafting for some people is an addiction, and as far as I know, there are no rehab centers or crafters anonymous meetings in my town. I did manage to stay away from crafting for about 7 or 8 years. I got the bug back a couple of years ago with keychains and opened a Etsy store so I could sell a keychain or a pair of earrings here and there, but it was never meant to be anything big.

Recently there have been people asking for bulk orders. One company asked me to make tassels for their Ensenada bags, and that was an interesting experience. When their bags sold out, they came back for another order, then another, and that was fine because they didn’t order a lot, but it was still painful after so many tassels.

Someone asked me last month if I would be willing to make 100 mini DNA keychains, and I said I could do it, and I don’t mind making 100, but then he raised it to 150, then when he placed his order it was for 200. My hands are in agony, and I’ve only made 80.

Today I called Michael’s craft store and asked them if they had compression gloves for people with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, and they told me they have the “As Seen On TV” gloves called “Copper Hands.” I saw those at Walgreens, but I didn’t buy them because it says on the back that they are NOT for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Another guy was at Michael’s buying the same exact thing this morning. He told me that he has Carpal Tunnel from crocheting.

When I came home and tried the first glove on, it was so tight that I thought for sure I got the wrong size. I bought L/XL which was the highest size they had. I checked the size chart on the side of the box and my hand was the perfect fit for L/XL, so I knew I had the correct size. I finally got the glove on and put the other glove on. They were very tight, but that’s what compression implies, right?

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They are so tight that the seams are splitting, literally. I’ve only had them one day and I’m already seeing wear and tear. I’m pretty sure this isn’t supposed to happen.

I am so disappointed in these gloves. Not just because they are splitting at the seams, but because they don’t help me at all. I know, they’re not for carpal tunnel syndrome, but aren’t they supposed to help stop pain? They are so tight that they actually cause pain and my hands go numb. And what the hell is the copper for? Or is that just a gimmick?

I’m just in so much agony and I almost feel defeated. I have 80 out of 200 keychains made. How am I ever going to make 120 more keychains with this much pain? Why the hell did I agree to this?

Planet Fitness Day 1

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

Screenshot_2015-09-13-16-29-18Today was my very first day at Planet Fitness. I rode my bicycle and it took me 25 minutes to get there and I logged it into the Planet Fitness app manually and that was 275 calories burned.

When I signed in, I bought a gym bag because I needed something with a zipper. I saw they were only $10 on the PF Store in the app. I also asked for a pair of earbuds and a neoprene armband to hold my Dell DJ, but they didn’t have that. Instead, they showed me that they had a sale going on the gym bag with a pair of earbuds, a sports bottle, a combination lock, a hand towel and a rubber band bracelet with Planet Fitness written on it. Well, I had already bought a combination lock from Albertson’s and a sports bottle that was actually better than what came with this special, but I went ahead and bought it anyway. You can never have too many locks. The sports bottle would have been okay if it were better than what I already had, but it was worse, WAY WORSE!

The hand towel that came with it was a white towel with the logo printed on it. Well, you know what happens when something white with something inky gets wet? Just imagine putting in a red shirt in a load filled with white socks and white underwear. The ink runs all over the towel. Well, when you are wiping it all over your sweaty head for an hour, guess what happens. You get the ink all over your skin. My forehead looked like I had a major sunburn.

After I bought the bag with all the stuff I really didn’t need, besides the earbuds of course, I used the Total Body Enhancement chamber. Oh, I had to go back to buy a pair of “Peepers” to protect my eyes from the bright red light. They would’ve given me a pair to use, but I figured if I’m going to be using this machine every day, and possibly the tanning bed, I might as well own a pair and not use something someone else has used. The Total Body Enhancement was pretty cool. It vibrated my whole body. I honestly don’t know if it did anything, but I liked it and I’m going to do it before every workout. I asked if it’s before or after and the guy said you can use it either before or after, it doesn’t matter.

After that I went to the treadmills and got on one and did 30 minutes. It did a 5 minute cool down which is why it logged as 35 minutes in the Planet Fitness app. I plugged my earbuds in the machine and was able to watch I Am Cait on the E! channel. It ended in the middle of my workout, so I switched it to Naked and Afraid lol. When my workout was complete, I used the PF app to log my exercise and the app has this feature that all you do is tap Snap a Workout and you choose your machine then take a picture of the summary on the screen. It processes and eventually posts your workout in the app. Pretty cool eh? I didn’t have to enter anything manually into the app.

I didn’t stay to do anything else because my back was really hurting halfway through my Treadmill workout and it was agony when I finished. I went to the desk to sign in to use the massage chair and the guy gave me 2 tokens and that gave me about 5 minutes in the chair. It was a heck of a lot better than the Shiatsu massager that I have for my desk chair. It does a lot more than even the massage chairs at the mall. It helped a lot. I forgot to bring ibuprofen with me, so while I’m thinking about it, I better put the bottle in the gym bag now. I’m in absolute agony so I’m going to take some now as well.

I considered taking a shower before I left, but I figured I’m going to ride my bike home, why would I take a shower when I’m just going to have to take another one when I get home. I bought a bottle of water on my way out and rode the same distance, only it says 4.03 miles and I rode for 29 minutes this time. The reason is because my legs were so exhausted from riding the bike, then walking on the treadmill, then riding the bike again. I was really dragging ass on the way home, but it will all be worth it when it conditions my legs to allow me to do more at the gym in the future.

Tomorrow instead of using the treadmill, I think I will use the elliptical machine. It’s too soon for me to even think about the stair machine. There’s really no point in using the bicycle machine since I ride one to and from. It’s a bit redundant to ride the bike, then hop on a machine that rides like a bike, then ride my bike home. It would be like walking there, then getting on the treadmill and then walking home.

Anyway, I had a fun time and tomorrow I plan on tanning and using the hydromassage bed instead of the massage chair at the end of my workout. I hope to burn many calories and lose a lot of weight so I can be a skinny bitch again.

Planet Fitness Membership

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

20150912_195052What has 2 thumbs and a Planet Fitness Black Card membership? This guy!

Yes, I finally went to Planet Fitness and bought a membership. My partner and I both walked around the gym to see what machines they had and what the massage chairs and hydromassage beds and tanning bed look like. We also saw the Total Body Enhancement “chamber” as I like to call it. I asked what that was and the guy said everyone asks the same question. Well I mean, it begs to be answered. He said it vibrates your body, increases blood flow, opens your pores and does something with the red light to help burn fat. I don’t know exactly what he said, but I certainly want to know more about this machine.

Now when he mentioned the red light, of course what came to mind was watching the Real Housewives of Atlanta when Kim rented some machines with a red light, and oddly enough an attendant who rubbed this lotion on its skin… oh sorry, had a flashback from the Silence of the Lambs. Anyway, it rubs the lotion on its skin or it gets the hose again. Ugh darn it, I’m sorry, it’s a jerk reaction. Anyway, the red light was a totally different light from what I saw in the Total Body Enhancement chamber in Planet Fitness. Theirs is just a thing you stand in and it has red lamps and from the video I saw on YouTube you have to stand there for 12 minutes or so depending on the level you are on. I honestly don’t know how to work the machine because I haven’t been there yet, but a woman on a video shows you how to work the control panel and it was so fast I had to watch the video 3 times and I’m still not sure how to use it, but all I know is with the pain I feel in my back, standing there for 12 minutes is going to be torture. Another woman said she does it before she does her workouts.

The guy at Planet Fitness who registered me today told me that I have unlimited guest privileges and I pointed to my partner, and he mentioned that as a guest he can use the facilities with the exception of the massage chair, hydromassage bed, tanning bed and torture chamber, er um I mean Total Body Enhancement torture chamber. He didn’t care, but I kind of felt bad because how awful would it be if he were sitting there waiting for me to finish my massages while he’s sitting there like gee thanks for nothing. I mean, I wouldn’t be too happy, but then again he doesn’t really care to go to any gym at all. We are polar opposites. I like exercise, he doesn’t. I like science fiction, he prefers documentaries. I like Facebook, he likes Fox News.

He told me that he would not mind going if the doctor told him it was ok, and naturally when we went to the doctor on Friday, he “forgot” to mention going to the gym, so of course I mentioned it to the doctor and he said that he is 100% in favor of both of us going to the gym. So there you go, the doctor said do it, but start out slow for the both of us and work our way up to whatever you are comfortable with.

Anyway, I am totally excited. I made a new keychain (image above) that is purple and yellow to match the colors and I went to the store and bought some empty shampoo and body wash containers so we can shower after our workouts. I also bought 2 new puffy thingamabobs. That’s the technical term. They’re both purple for Planet Fitness’ colors lol. I also bought a brand new combination lock for $5 and 2 sports bottles so we can drink some water during our workouts. Oh and I also bought new purple shoe laces lol. My old red ones from Bank of America were worn out and I needed a change anyway.

Tomorrow when I go to the gym, and I am going to the gym tomorrow even if I have to ride my bicycle in the heat, I want to go to the cashier to buy a new gym bag with the Planet Fitness logo because they are $10 on the website. I’m assuming they are $10 there too. At least I am hoping. They have a neoprene armband for your phone, which I’m going to use because I don’t want to keep my phone in my pocket during my workouts. I have a new pair of headphones from the Sears outlet right next door to the Planet Fitness with a cool flat wire and a volume control on the wire along with a on/off mute button. It has a mic, so maybe it’s a mute for when I’m on the phone, but when I’m just listening to music maybe it turns the volume on/off. I really dig that flat cable though lol. The headphones are also for listening to the TV while I’m doing cardio.

I’m excited to go to the gym and I plan on taking a buttload of pain meds just in case. Right now I’m in absolute agony. No, seriously, it’s torture. I used the shiatsu massager that I have that sits in my desk chair 3 times today and I’m still in pain. I can’t wait to use the hydromassage bed and the massage chairs. I really do need those and I am really glad I got the black card membership instead of just a regular membership.

Windows 10 for FREE

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

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It took me 15 years to decide to upgrade from Windows XP, and I only made the decision because I was forced by Microsoft to buy the latest operating system, or allow my computer to be infected with thousands of parasitic viruses that would probably eat away at every microscopic section of my motherboard and all my other hardware which would then force me to have to buy a new computer. I decided I was due for a new operating system anyway, so I figured what the hell, I’ll buy Windows 8.1 full install. I didn’t buy the upgrade because I didn’t want to have to install Windows XP then upgrade to 8.1 every time I reformatted or had to buy a new hard drive.  I figure if I’m going to install an operating system, I’d rather install the one I’m going to use immediately and for a long time instead of having to go through 2 installations, which could take an hour each.

The start window for 8.1 looks awesome to me. Everyone said I would hate it, because they assumed I refused to upgrade because I hated the 8.1 start window, but that simply isn’t true. I’m cheap as hell. No seriously, I’m living on a low income disabled budget, which has absolutely no budget for a new $100 operating system. It just so happened that I had a bulk sale for tassels, and that was what helped me buy Windows. See, that’s why I have a Etsy shop. If I need to buy something, I can count on people to buy keychains or earrings if I beg them to lol. My sales are usually nothing every month, so those occasional sales are awesome.

The Start window for Windows 10 looks a lot smaller, to say the least lol. I quite enjoy the 8.1 Start window because when I’m watching TV, it is a dark enough screen that it doesn’t bother me when I’m watching my shows. If the screen is bright from Facebook or if I have a bright desktop image, then it hurts my eyes to look at the TV and have the bright computer screen in the corner of my eye. I hope they have given us an option to choose this smaller window, or a full screen start window. If the image above is our only option, well, then I guess I’ll have to just deal with it.

As with all new operating systems you want to give it a few months before installing just because you may have to live without your printer or your webcam or any other external hardware you might have if they were sitting on their thumbs when they should’ve been making new drivers. There is also a chance that your favorite MMORPG isn’t compatible. You might have to miss raiding for quite a while. Of course I would find out if they have support for Windows 10 before installing it because they may have a version specifically for Windows 10 all ready to go.

I love new things only because I get bored easily, but I’m quite content with what I have for now. I say I will wait to make sure everything works, but I’m sure there won’t be too many issues. I have a Microsoft webcam and a Kodak Printer, which I’m sure will be ready long before Windows 10 is downloaded. I’m sure my keyboard and mouse work since I trust Logitec will have it ready to go. I don’t usually have to worry since they are plug and play.

So if you are one of those people who panic at the thought of something new, take a chill pill and give it time, but don’t miss out on reserving your FREE copy of Windows 10. They are giving you something for free, so take advantage of it while you can. You don’t have to install it immediately, I’m sure you can burn the installation files onto a cd or dvd and install it when you are ready. If you have panic attacks at the thought of issues, then just check to see how other people are dealing with them before you take the leap.

I actually look forward to the new Windows 10 that I just may buy a bigger hard drive and start over from scratch so I have a FAST new experience. We will see in another 7 weeks.

Induction Cookware ORDEAL

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

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OMG Is it really that difficult for a sales person to sell cookware? Why don’t they have a section SPECIFICALLY for induction cookware? Why do we have to go through the whole magnet test with every pot and pan they sell before we can decide that a set works instead of just saying hey look, it’s the Induction section?

Okay so this is what happened. My partner told me that he spoke with someone at Macy’s who said a full set of pots and pans from T-fal were $99. It comes with a bunch of things including the utensils. But, he decided that he wanted to go to Sears first. He doesn’t want me to cook with regular stainless steel because he’s afraid the food will stick to the pot or pan and I’ll do nothing but bitch about having to clean stuck food. Um… not once has this conversation ever happened in the 21 years we’ve been together lol. We have pots that aren’t non stick that I’ve never had an issue with and never bitched about cleaning, so I honestly don’t know where that is coming from. But I digress. Sears wasn’t really sure which ones would work, so I said why don’t we go to Macy’s and see what their T-fal set looks like.

carols-cookie-boy-part-2-walking-deadWe went over to Macy’s and had to basically power walk over there because the mall seemed like they were closing every store, and it was only 6pm. We got there, went up to the 3rd floor and the lady there didn’t seem to know what she was doing. Oh and by the way, if you are a Walking Dead fan you will appreciate this. The woman in the cookware section looked almost identical to Carol. All I was thinking was no Carol, I won’t tell anyone. Can I have a cookie now? Anyway, she went to the computer and said they didn’t have anything for induction that was non stick and that she would have to order it.

We went back to Sears and bought the one set that the woman recommended to us (below) only because a magnet stuck to the bottom of 1 of the pans they had on display that she tested. However, when we came home I opened the box and pulled 1 pan out and tested it and it did not work. Dammit! I really wanted this one particular set because look what you get. You get a black ceramic cup that holds the utensils, and you get like 7 utensils too. It also comes with 5 glass bowls with plastic lids and a random cookie sheet lol. The 25 piece mega cookware set was $89 and so was the 7 piece NuWave set, but at least the NuWave set works.

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20150601_030646So if you are in the market for induction cookware, make sure it has this logo on the box. If you don’t see that logo, chances are it’s not going to work. Don’t waste your time running around from store to store looking for something and buying it only to come home and find out that it doesn’t work. We ended up buying the NuWave at Walmart. I hate going there, but it was literally our last choice. They were the only place out of all the places we looked that had it. Although, we didn’t go to Target, but I also didn’t see it on their website.