Alexa Voices And Speed

We noticed that Alexa had changed its voice recently when we bought a new Amazon Echo Dot Max, and not to our liking.  I found that the cause was the default Alexa+ Voice, called "Feminine 1, upbeat".  That was just too cheery for our liking, and we found seven other options, some of which you can see in the image on the right below.  I changed that to "Feminine 2, relaxed," and it is much nicer.  You can listen to all eight options at the YouTube link below, and per his suggestion, I'm trying "Feminine 4, grounded" to see if that's a better option.  You can also change how fast Alexa speaks, and I made mine a notch faster, another nice change.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsTop0BaN7w

Corner Counter Hanging

This is not a picture of me praying in the kitchen, nor did Gourmet Chef Elaine put me in timeout.  I use this hanging position to let my lower body relax and stretch out.  I use gravity to pull down my spine and hips by using my arms to support my whole body weight.  This simple maneuver readjusts me just enough that it can immediately alleviate my discomfort.  

Where Will AI Take Us

Mankind has evolved through a number of "ages," and each one began with terrifying screams about how people would be out of jobs and the world would surely end.  Well, the world has certainly changed dramatically in my lifetime.  I pay for services that my parents never had, such as streaming TV, streaming music (satellite and internet), internet connectivity, cell phones, cloud storage, and the domain name service for this blog.  All those industries employ people in jobs that didn't exist when I was a kid.  Old industries died as the new industries took off.  

Whether or not Artificial Intelligence is the next "age" that will eventually rearrange the world like the three pictured below is debatable, but whether it is or it will be something else is not important.  What is important to understand is why the previous changes did not result in the predicted doom and gloom.  It was the entrepreneurs who created the new industries in a free-market economy.  In my mind, there is no scenario where big government and onerous regulations can lead to future prosperity.  Certainly, the government has its role to play, but the more they stay out of the way, the faster and better the transition will be.  

Just the opinion of one guy, but we can all watch as it plays out in the real world.

Tuna Arepas

At a special Sunday noon fundraising event at Jorrge's in Kettering, Ohio, the menu included a selection of arepas, and Janet makes great arepas.  On her recommendation, I ordered the tuna with pico de gallo and queso fresco option shown below, and maybe tuna sounds like an odd choice, but it was absolutely delicious. It paired really well with a tall glass of George's Bloody Mary, perfect for a lunchtime treat.

https://www.facebook.com/jorrgescantina

Don Julio VIP Margarita

The Mad Mex North Hills is my favorite place for a margarita in Pittsburgh, and my go-to variety is the Don Julio VIP.  It comes with a floater served in an inside-out, used lime shell.  The margarita is made with Don Julio Blanco (Silver) Tequila, Cointreau, a premium orange liqueur, and Mad Mex’s signature sour mix/citrus blend.  I asked for the Tajín rim (a Mexican spice mix consisting predominantly of lime, chili peppers, and salt) for an extra kick.  A full menu and a list of their nine locations are at the link below.

https://www.madmex.com

Proxy Wedding

A neighbor of ours told us that her niece was wed to her husband in a "proxy wedding", a term I had never heard of before.  I looked it up and found, "A proxy wedding is a marriage ceremony where one or both individuals are not physically present and are represented by stand-ins, known as proxies."  The husband is in the military, and proxy weddings are often the quickest way to get married and afford the other spouse financial benefits like legal, financial, and healthcare protections.  

Proxy weddings are only legal in Montana, California, Colorado, New Jersey (active military only), and Texas, so one party must be physically in one of those states, and the other party is represented by a stand-in.  Montana allows a double-proxy wedding with neither party being physically present, but it is available only to military members and residents.

More information can be found at the following link.

https://www.boydlawlosangeles.com/what-is-a-proxy-marriage

You're Not Listening

While out on one of my frequent walks, I heard a mother telling her young daughter, "You're not listening to me."  I listened for a few moments to the exchange, and it was clear that the girl was listening to her mother; she just didn't want to do what she was asked.  That got me thinking more deeply about what was going on.  Sometimes the choice of words reveals an underlying motivation.

I concluded that the mother should have said, "You're not obeying me."  But that would put the resolution on the mother.  By saying you're not listening, she's trying to put the resolution on the young girl, and she wasn't going for it.  The mother is not accepting who's in charge, and she needs to figure out how best to get her daughter to comply.  

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see how this exchange ended.  Did she just give up or try a different approach?  I'll keep my opinion on that to myself.

Long-Handled Squeegee

Windshield bug splatter on a long interstate road trip is going to happen, particularly in summer.  I hadn't noticed before, but Love's has both short- and long-handled squeegees available in their suds-buckets.  Since we typically take longer trips in our larger SUV (Infiniti QX60), reaching the middle of the window usually requires opening the front doors and stepping up to reach.  The longer pole made this an easy, keep-my-feet-on-the-ground chore.  Thanks, Love's!

https://www.loves.com

Tortilla Pizza

This is probably better labeled as a "use the leftovers" pizza.  We started using a couple of flour tortillas that had been around for a while, cooked up what was left of a package of chorizo, some Cotija cheese that somehow hadn't gone bad yet, and some corn and sliced cherry tomatoes.  The only "fresh" ingredient was a few leaves of basil growing in a pot on our back deck.  A few minutes in the oven and it made a tasty lunch and made some space in the refrigerator.  

Fancy Bloody Mary

The wild Bloody Mary you see below comes from Luke Wholey's Wild Alaskan Grille on Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh.  It features a whole fried soft-shell crab that forms a body, arms, and legs, a pickle spear for a mouth, and pimento-stuffed green olives for eyeballs.   Add crispy bacon, jumbo shrimp, and a couple of celery stalks, and you have an afternoon cocktail, a delicious appetizer, and a sideshow for the thousands of people strolling down the street.

https://www.lukewholey.com