Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, and Learning – Blackbirch 3, Crash Course World History, and MS Excel

Tags

BlackBirch 3, Cliffhanger, Crash Course World History, Curiosity Stream, K.M. Allan, Kyle Pew, MS Excel, Office Newb, YouTube

Well, folks, I finished Blackbirch 3 yesterday. Wow is all I can say. The book ended with a cliffhanger of sorts, and man, I can’t wait for book 4. Well done, K.M. Allan!

I also finished Crash Course World History. I have now moved onto Crash Course World History 2. John Green is still the narrator, and he is very entertaining. You can find these courses on YouTube or Curiosity Stream.

I’m still taking the MS Excel course on Udemy. We are learning some neat tricks with VBA, the recorder, and various things that are related to macros. This is a really great course and will be over very soon. I’m on the final project of the course. What a great ride!

I started a new book, called A Deadly Influence. It falls in the thriller/action genre. It’s about a cop who is trying to locate a kidnapped boy. The story takes right off and boy, is it good so far.

As mentioned, I’m starting Crash Course World History 2 today. My next course will be with the same instructor, Kyle Pew. I’m going to take his MS Word course, next. I really enjoy how he puts courses together and shows you all the neat shortcuts that are available to us and also how to apply what we learn to real-world projects.

This is all about reading and learning for me. These both fall into Covey’s Mental realm. I always want to be learning something new, whether it is about a topic I am interested in, or something that can improve my game play in Call of Duty or other games.

Well, folks. I hope you have a great Thursday. We got a bunch of snow yesterday and are scheduled to get more. I love waking up to white! It’s so beautiful to see the trees coated with snow! Well, I’m off to my first cup of coffee of the day and will watch the sunrise.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, Learning – Deep Time, Crash Course World History, Udemy Excel, Canva, and Discord

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Canva, Crash Course, Curiosity Stream, Deep Time, Discord, Excel, Learning, Reading, Udemy, Writing

So, it’s been a busy week. I took advantage of the holiday to do some research on some courses I need to take and found a great Canva course and Discord course on Udemy. There was a sale, so they only cost me $12 a piece. I just started Discord a bit ago and will start the Canva course today as well.

I’m still watching the Crash Course World History course. It is really great. The host, Tom Green, is hilarious, and the format for these videos is about 10 minutes, so it’s an easy watch and doesn’t eat up much of the day. It is part of Curiosity Stream so if you want to watch it, you’ll have to pay your $19 for the year, which to me is an absolute steal.

I’m still in the Deep Time book. Currently the Marines are storming the Glothr orbiting space station to rescue some humans that were captured. On the surface of Invectus, one of the pilots is being rescued after being downed. Admiral Gray is still in charge and running the show from the space carrier America.

Oh! This weekend, I’ll be watching the second Venom movie called Carnage. It should be a great flick. My sister bought it and we’ll be watching it as part of my birthday weekend. I’ll be 59.

Well, that’s it for now, folks. Have a great Thursday!!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, and Learning – Deep Time, MS Excel, and Crash Course

Tags

Crash Course, Curiosity Stream, Deep Time, Glothr, Invectus, MS Excel, Office Newb, Udemy, World History

Well, folks. Here we are. It is Thursday. The first Thursday of October. Wow! Hasn’t this year, just flown by?

I’m finally at the climax in Deep Time. What a story so far. America is still fighting the Glothr, with USNA Marines assaulting a ring outside Invectus, the Glothr planet. Who knows what will happen?

MS Excel is getting really good. Visual Basic for Excel is an outstanding section in this course. If you’re wondering why, it is taking me so long to complete this one, it is due to the length of the course itself. It has over 200 modules. It has been one terrific course. My hat is off for the instructor and this course.

Crash Course is the series I’m watching on Curiosity Stream. It is terrific. The episodes are about 10-11 minutes long, and the host is terrific. We just finished the fall of the Roman Empire. I really enjoy this one.

Well, that’s it for this week. I didn’t get much watch time in. I’m contemplating he Jeffery Dahmer series on Netflix, but still debating that one. I don’t know if I’m up to watch one more show on a serial killer, particularly one as disturbed as this guy was. I’ll keep you posted.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, Learning: Deep Time, Crash Course World History, Excel VBA

Tags

Crash Course, Curiosity Stream, Deep Time, Kyle Pew, MS Excel, VB Editor, VBA, Visual Basic

Ok folks! It’s Thursday and I am still reading Deep Time. I am getting close to finishing it, and the story is terrific. I don’t want to spoil anything, but the aliens in this part of the series can warp time. Initially, this thwarted the America and its fighting force, because the aliens could slow the weapons down so that they could easily fly by it without anything hitting them.

I’m watching Crash Course World History on Curiosity Stream. For those of you who are interested in a “Netflix for documentaries” covering nature, outer space, physics, history, and all the rest, you can find it in the Google Play store and the App Store for Apple. It runs 19.99 a year. Netflix runs $19 dollars US a month, if you are price shopping. It is a terrific value if you like documentaries. Anyway, Crash Course is a short 10-minute video that encompasses a period of history. I’ve watched the Babylonians, Egyptians, Chinese Dynasties, and going to continue this until I’m finished. It’s just a terrific and entertaining series.

Part of my MS Excel course on Udemy covers Excel Macros and VBA. Now I am in the VBA portion of the course. Today, I learned how to set up the VB editor and learned how to write some simple code in the immediate window.

That’s my update for the week, folks. Have a great Thursday! OH! By the way, I just hit my annual goal of 1,300 readers. Thanks so much for following my blog!!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, and Learning – Deep Time, House of the Dragon, The Rings of Power, MS Excel, and Crash Course World History

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Crash Course, Curiosity Stream, Deep Time, House of the Dragon, Learning, MS Excel, Reading, The Rings of Power, Udemy, Watching

Well, folks. Here we are on Thursday, the 15th of September 2022. The year is moving along quickly isn’t it? We are experiencing some cooler temperatures and the trees are releasing their leaves.

So, I’m still reading Deep Time, Book 6 of the Star Carrier series. The America is currently in a huge space battle. It’s pretty exciting. Ships are exploding, they are currently searching for “streamers”. Streamers are fighters that have been crippled and toppling through space. To gather them up, the America has to send out tug boats designed to get these fighters.

House of the Dragon is another installment of the Game of Thrones series. This story happens 200 years before Game of Thrones. It is really good so far. The Rings of Power are a take off of the Lord of the Rings. It is on Amazon Prime. Both are terrific shows.

I’m learning Visual Basic for Applications in my MS Excel course. It’s pretty cool. There is so much to learn. It is really fun to learn the intricate details of MS Excel. I really enjoy this stuff, because I work a lot in Excel and it will help me in my position.

Crash Course World History is on Curiosity Stream. This is a service I pay for. It is a terrific service. If you are interested, it is in the Apple Store and Google play. It is literally the Netflix of Documentaries. For the $19 annual feel, it is an absolute steal. I am a huge fan of Documentaries and this is a daily experience for me, because I really love learning new things, while being entertained. I am not an affiliate, it’s just that good!

Well, folks, that’s it for this week. I hope you check out what I’m watching. If you are a GoT fan, House of the Dragon will not disappoint. The same goes for The Rings of Power for those of you who are Lord of the Rings fans. You may also want to check out Curiosity Stream for the hundreds of Documentaries that cover every topic you could imagine. Environmental documentaries, Science Documentaries, Historical Documentaries, and Biographical Documentaries. It’s all there and more.

Have a great Thursday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, and Learning – Deep Time, House of the Dragon, The Rings of Power, MS Excel Course, and Crash Course

Tags

Crash Course, Curiosity Stream, Deep Time, House of the Dragon, Learning, The Rings of Power, Udemy

Lots going on currently. I’m still reading Deep Time. My apologies for the wrong title. For the longest I’ve been calling this book Dark Time, but it is Deep Time. Oh, well!

If you haven’t started watching it yet, I’ve started two new series: House of the Dragon and The Rings of Power. House of the Dragon is the new Game of Thrones. It’s on HBO Max. Boy is it good. They bring a new episode each Friday. The Rings of Power is a new story in the Lord of the Rings saga. It is on Amazon Prime. Both are great so far, if you are into the fantasy genre.

I’m still plugging through the MS Excel course on Udemy. I’m learning MS Excel macros and Visual Basic for applications (VBA). I’ve just learned the Macro recorder, which will be a fantastic addition to my tool box. I get one report every month that I can use this to automate setting up my Excel worksheet for reporting purposes. I’ve also discovered a section of Curiosity Stream. It’s called Crash Course. I’m taking the World History course. It is very entertaining!

Well, folks that what I’ve been up to. I hope you have a great Thursday.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, and Learning – Dark Time, The West Wing, and Anne Boleyn

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Anne Boleyn, Curiosity Stream, Dark Time, Learning, MS Excel, Reading, The West Wing, Udemy, Watching

I’m still enjoying Dark Time. The crew of America has just sent three ships through a wormhole with the alien ship to their home world. Admiral Gray (the main character) is waiting to here back from them to make sure this was not an ambush by the aliens. It’s getting exciting!

The West Wing has the President delivering his third State of the Union. The conflict is between President Bartlett and his wife over reelection. The staff is also reeling from the news that the President has MS and has begun working on how to overcome this problem as they work on the reelection campaign.

Anne Boleyn was the second wife of King Henry the VIII. The documentary explains in detail how King Henry the VIII got rid of his 2nd wife because she could not produce a male heir. The intrigue and how things were in that time period is absolutely chilling. The series is presented on Curiosity Stream and is in three parts. I just started the 2nd part which details her trial.

I’m also plugging through the MS Excel course. I just started learning about Macros. From what I’ve seen so far, this is going to be really powerful. There is also a part about Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). I love learning this stuff!

Well, that’s it for now. Have a great Thursday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Hobbies, Games, Books, and Movies – CODM, Better Call Saul, Secret Societies, and Bay City Blast

Tags

Better Call Saul, Call of Duty, CODM, Curiosity Stream, Remo Williams, Secret Societies, The Destroyer Series

Well, here we are, folks! I changed my title to include books in the description, since I give you an update on my reading of the Remo Williams series I’ve been captivated with. Bay City Blast is the latest title, and again, a funny, exciting, and engrossing story. These books are relatively short, but always provide an entertaining read.

We started Better Call Saul and we both love it. The backstories of the original Breaking Bad crew is awesome. That’s all I’ll say, because I don’t want to ruin it for anyone. If you liked Breaking Bad, you’ll like this. It has a different flavor, but is funny, sad, and all the rest.

I’m a little disappointed with Call of Duty. The stage 3 tournament will probably not happen for me. The key is to know people and build a team before the event. There is still time available to do that, but the mechanism they are using in-game and on their Discord channel is not very intuitive. So, lesson learned. It’s time to build some relationships so next year I can compete as far as I want, without going through this turmoil. That being said, it is a great season so far, with a new character–an Egyptian! The theme is in the desert and there is an actual sand storm on the Battle Royal map. Wow! They’ve also started a tournament game, which commences each weekend Friday – Sunday, so those that are still working can jump in and compete. This was WAY COOL. They introduced a new sniper rifle, a new melee weapon called Kali Sticks (see Rambo movie where he begins in Thailand).

I’m watching the third part of a three-part series on Curiosity Stream. It is called Secret Societies. Watching this show, prompted me to find a cool video I posted on Tuesday about the Illuminati. Anyway, the third part is about conspiracy theories. They disbanded the “Jesus married to Mary” theory, and just began looking at the conspiracy theory spurred by HItler during the 1930s to focus public opinion on something other than the outrageous inflation rates, unemployment, and everything else Germany was going through at the time. It’s a great documentary so far.

Well, that’s it for now, folks!

I hope you have a great Thursday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thinking/Thankful Thursdays – Dr. Maurice Hilleman

Tags

Childhood Diseases, Covid, Curiosity Stream, Disease, Hero, Hilleman, Medicine, Vaccines, Vaccinology

Have you ever heard of Dr. Maurice Hilleman? I didn’t until my brother recommended the film Hilleman: A Perilous Quest to Save the World’s Children. It’s a good film and explains a great deal about the many challenges surrounding the creation of vaccines. Since all the talk in the news, social media, and everything else is about President Biden, President Trump, or Corona virus, I figured this would be a good way to get off of politics and really see what creating a vaccine is all about.

Here are a few links if you’d like to learn more about Dr. Maurice Hilleman. If you want to watch the film, I believe it is only being offered on Curiosity Stream, but you may be able to find it elsewhere. If you want to watch it on Curiosity Stream, the annual membership is 20 USD. I don’t know if Curiosity Stream is offered in other countries. You’ll have to check.

Links:

https://app.curiositystream.com/video/3928 (Curiosity Stream, Hilleman Movie)

https://app.curiositystream.com/ (Curiosity Stream’s home page if you’d like to get a year’s subscription)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC557162/ (Article about Dr. Hilleman on the National Institute of Health’s website)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Hilleman (Wikipedia Page)

It’s amazing how many people do not know who this guy is. He is the 20th Century’s most influential vaccinologist, creating over 40 vaccines that are responsible for saving 8 million lives a year, particularly the lives of children. He created vaccines for the Mumps, Measles, Hepatitis A and B, chickenpox, meningitis, pneumonia, and influenza.

I enjoy watching documentaries, particularly those about science and history. If you like these too, Curiosity Stream is a real bargain. I am not an affiliate and get nothing if you join up. My whole family watches this channel, and we find it a real treat.

Happy Thursday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Thank God for Netflix

Tags

Amazon, Curiosity Stream, Disney+, Documentaries, Entertainment, Netflix, Shows, TV Series

All of us are on lockdown, so I wanted to take a few moments to share some TV series I stream, in case you haven’t seen them. Here’s my list:

Netflix:

• West Wing
• Ozark

Amazon:

• The Man in the High Castle
• Anything James Cagney

Disney+:

• The Mandalorian
• Anything Star Wars

Curiosity Stream:

• Everything!

I hope you enjoy these. If you love documentaries, I cannot recommend Curiosity Stream enough. It only costs about $20 bucks a year, and there are enough topics on outer space, undersea exploration, animals, and tons of history. I am a huge documentary fan, so this is my bread and butter.

I’m thankful for these services and don’t regret one penny that I spend on them. It is terrific to have so many things to watch, pending my mood.

Well, that’s all I got today. I continue to hope all of you and loved ones are still safe.

Until next time…

Dave