Erin's Blog

Where Erin posts whatever she likes, whenever she likes.

[dudethatserin5]

I will survive!

Hello everyone!

I know it has been a long time since I reliably blogged but I am going to get back into it. I know, that’s what they all say, but really, I am going to get back into it. I need a new outlet and something to fill my free time and decided this would be the thing I would do. Things have settled down since my move from Florida to Arizona so now is a better time than never. :)

I have gotten back into The Sims 4 recently and decided I would do my own save file which I would share with everyone. I got this idea from Kayla (Tumblr | YouTube). She has her own save file called ‘lilsimsie’s save’ where she remade the entire Sims 4 world with mostly remodels, some homes are remade from scratch but most are just upgrades to the existing Sims 4 builds.

I am mostly a builder in the sims and I have a lot to learn so I figured this would be the best way for me to improve my skills and grow as a Sims builder. Plus, it lets out my creativity which builds up inside. :)

I am going to only use items from each pack that the world is from. For example, if a world is from base game, then I will only use base game items. If it is from Pets, then base game + pets, etc. This way no matter who you are you can play the game.

I also decided to go through my mods and remove build & buy mode CC. I will only have CC for CAS or gameplay CC like MC Command Center. I am going to link all of my custom content on a separate page on my tumblr to give credit where credit is due and to make it so that you and I can find the mods I use for easy access. This page is under construction but will be listed in the sidebar when done.

Well, that’s all I have going on for now. Life settled with my husband has been great, if you were curious. :) I look forward to sharing all of my Sims 4 creations with you guys!

[dudethatserin5]

PSA: Avoid VANLINES USA!

Hey guys!

I recently completed a move from Jacksonville, FL to Sierra Vista, AZ to move with my husband who is stationed out here at Fort Huachuca. I want to put out a PSA on the movers I used because they were horrible from the start. I wanted to wait until I had my stuff safely with me before putting this out as I wanted to make sure they didn’t steal it.

So, I have been putting together this move since the end of May. My mom helped me find movers while I found a place to live and my husband worked his butt off during basic training earning money for us to be able to move to his new duty location.

We found VanLines USA and they quoted me $1287 to move me from Jacksonville, FL to Sierra Vista, AZ. It is about 23 hours or 2k miles. Other movers were quoting upwards of $2-4k to move so we accepted this offer as doing it ourselves would not only mean renting a UHUAL for 1k but paying for the gas (about another $500) and moving the stuff from our home into the UHUAL and then out of the UHUAL into my 2nd floor apartment. That is a lot of work and we were up to the task but VanLines USA ended up being a bit cheaper and they would do all of that for us. We read several of the horrible reviews: here, here, and here but in the end decided to take our chances due to the price. Boy, was that a mistake.

Let me set the scene. My move-in date for Sierra Vista Apartment Complex (not naming it) was July 15th. When we found these movers it was around June 20th, so a little more than a month before the move-in date. I had not seen the apartment complex but I read TONS of the glorious reviews and people on Facebook seemed to say good things so I was optimistic. I was taking chances everywhere.

As a note, when I say “we” throughout this, I’m referring to my mom and I. She has helped me out through so much of this process from start to finish. I love her so much!

Louis from VanLines USA calls us to set up a quote. Here is a picture of said quote with the private details removed:

This is one of the 4-5 quotes we were given. You can see the move-in date is different than what I needed (I needed Monday, 07/15/2019) and you can also see the amount we were quoted and the pick-up date which was Monday, 07/01/2019. Not bad right now.

The first thing they did was not explicitly state that there was a 2-3 week clock from the “Move Day” listed on the quote. Meaning they can deliver it starting on the “Move Day” but more than likely it will take an additional 2-3 weeks for me to get my stuff. Louis did not explain this to me, no one did until I got here and was going to move in on the 15th and I call to see where it is and that’s when I get the news.

The next thing they did was when we were quoted, we explicitly asked Louis if I had less stuff than was quoted if the quote would lower. He said “yes”. I was quoted for 10 Large boxes, that ended up being 6-7 varying in sizes from Small to Large. Which is why we explicitly asked this question. Come to find out, that is untrue and their minimum for this distance is $1300 so we were already getting a discount on that price. I didn’t find this out until July 1 when they came to pick up my stuff. I had the movers waiting outside my house while I called VanLines USA and spoke to the rudest individual on the phone. Customer Service is definitely far down on their list of what they care about, if they care about it after the sale at all.

Anyway, that made moving day stressful. Here is a list of all the stuff they moved:

Dresser

Bedframe

Queen Matress and Box Spring

End Table

65″ Samsung TV

55″ Sony TV

6-7 Boxes varying in size

Included in the quote was packing the 2 TVs. Now, they had to take the feet off the TVs to move them so they disassembled the TVs. This is important for later in the story.

As you can see, I don’t have very much stuff. The rest of my stuff (about half of it) I moved myself between my mom’s SUV and my car (Kia Forte). So, this is why we were so concerned on the quote and being able to lower it.

Moving on...When the movers were here packing the TVs one guy was newer and younger than the other. The young, new, guy was packing the 55″ Sony TV while I was watching the older guy pack the 65″ Samsung. He did a really good job and I was confident that the TV was going to be OK. He even went as far as to tell me that the screws are attached to the feet when the movers delivered my TV so I could tell them.

After he finished with the Samsung the young, new, guy had just started packing the 55″ Sony and the older guy went to check on him in the bedroom (that’s where the TV was). I heard him explain how to pack it correctly like the guy hadn’t done it before so I was scared something would happen to that TV. Spoiler: Nothing did, luckily, though I did have trouble finding the screws for the feet as it wasn’t explained to me where they were.

Everything else went smoothly. I packed the box spring and mattress in mattress bags we picked up from UHUAL. I had them taped pretty tight and I was confident that they wouldn’t get damaged.

So, moving day comes and they make me pay half up-front. Since it was $1287 total, I paid about $600 up-front and the rest I paid when they brought my stuff. I had the money in cash so everything was fine. They made me sign about 7 different papers worth of stuff and explained everything when signing but the older guy did it so fast that I barely remember everything I initialed and signed. Plus, I didn’t get a copy of everything. I only got a copy of the receipt and the list of items they are moving.

Now, I’m getting everything in order in my car and I start driving on July 10th to Sierra Vista. I head to my parent’s home in Montgomery, AL first and spend a few days there and we leave Friday, July 12th to make the ~20 hour drive. We split it up so I was able to get to Sierra Vista and see my husband on Sunday at about noon, which wasn’t bad at all.

Now we are at Monday, July 15th and I had just called to see where my stuff was and was told that it could be another 2-3 weeks before I get the stuff. I am annoyed but my parents are here so they are helping as much as possible. I get all the stuff we brought between our two cars moved in and they decide to go to big lots to buy a new queen bed set so they can stay the night in my apartment as they were going to the Grand Canyon after a day or so. We also do a wal-mart trip and I pick up a twin sized air mattress and pump and sleep on that while my parents are here. It takes about a week (my parents are home in Montgomery, AL by this point) and I get a call saying my stuff is going to arrive. This was this past Monday, July 22. He said he will be here around 3-4pm. It is sooner than I thought so I give him the benefit of the doubt and tell him to take his time and if he has to come Tuesday, that is fine, too.

Sunday night I came home from visiting my husband on base and meet my downstairs neighbor. He is a big guy (one of those guys you see on the Planet Fitness commercials that they don’t allow in) with a big 4x4 truck. He is super nice and I thank god I met him now.

Anyway, Monday rolls around and it is about 3pm when the mover knocks on my door and tells me he sees a sign that says 53ft trucks are not allowed. So, I go with him to talk to my office manager. She confirms. I then walk around trying to see if there is someone’s truck I can borrow because there is no way in hell I am going to be able to fit that stuff in my car and the guy stated that there is this surprise $250 charge to move it to a smaller truck for redelivery. I don’t have $250 because the move has been expensive already so I try to find any help I can. The mover also stated that he will move it into the person’s truck (or my car) but there is an extra charge for him to move it from there into my apartment.

Not knowing any better, no red flags go off for me there. Not that they would have helped if they did.

Anyway, I talk to my downstairs neighbor and he tells me I have balls asking and he likes that and he agreed to help me. As we are unloading everything off the truck one of Arizona’s famous “Monsoons” comes in and drenches the mattress and box spring and gets everything wet except what I could load in my car. The rainstorm lasts about 30 minutes and when it lets up we start moving everything in.

My neighbor is the most amazing person I could have ever met. He moved 90% of it in. I did most of my boxes and some of the bed frame but by the time we got to anything else I was so exhausted I couldn’t do much more. I was almost to the point of throwing up several times through this process but kept pushing through and he moved 90% of my stuff by hand. The only thing he used a dolly on was the dresser. I am so impressed and I hope I can get to this point anytime in the future.

If you are keeping count here are the things that VanLines USA screwed me over for thus far:

Misquoted the “Move Day”

Incorrect information on quote price and ability for it to be lowered

Uninforming me of $250 redelivery fee

Uninforming me of additional fee for extra work for movers (from my car to apartment)

This all doesn’t include the next HORRIBLE things they did. I finally get everything in and call my mom. She goes off on them. Come to find out I did sign a paper that explained all of this when the movers took my stuff and I agreed to everything above. There are a few problems with that though:

I didn’t understand that a 53ft truck was a semi. I just didn’t put 2 and 2 together. Plus, having never visited my apartment complex, how was I supposed to know this?

I signed and initialed so much, how was I supposed to remember these small details?

I wasn’t given a copy of this paper until Tuesday, July 23rd, when I specifically requested it. So, how was I supposed to remember?

I am a 26 year old female whom they took advantage of because they knew they could. My mattress was almost ruined because when they moved it holes ripped in the plastic all around it and it got drenched from the rain. My TVs could have been ruined from the rain.

I ended up having to put together my TVs myself. The bed frame wasn’t together in FL so I expected to have to do that myself (not a big deal) but everything should have been moved into the apartment by VanLines USA. That is what I paid $1300 for and I didn’t get what I paid for. They deliberately choose a huge semi to deliver several days worth of deliveries to get out of doing work. When they showed up here in Arizona, it was only ONE GUY in the truck. Now there could have been one in the bed that never came out but ONE GUY (and my neighbor and myself) did all of the moving from the truck, to my neighbor’s 4x4 and my car. Then my neighbor did most of the moving for me because I am a 26-YEAR OLD FEMALE. I COULDN’T POSSIBLY MOVE A DRESSER BY MYSELF. What the hell?!

I am saying all of this to warn people to AVOID VanLines USA at all costs. The managers there don’t care and neither do the drivers. Yes, they are cheap but unless you want to do 90% of the moving by yourself and are a strong MALE or have a strong male friend/family member that could help you, AVOID THEM. They will do their best to screw you over and out of more and more money every single turn.

[dudethatserin5]

Welcome back to Tumblr!

Hello everyone!

I haven’t posted in a while due to the lack of motivation and lack of knowing what to write about but I figured this change was a good thing to write about.

I have canceled my wordpress hosting with my previous provider and I have moved my blog back over to Tumblr. This is to save money. My domain “erinnicole.nu” will move over sometime this week. I just have to give the nameservers time to propagate so that it is pointing to Tumblr. Right now it is just the waiting game.

I am moving to Arizona on July 15th (well a few days before because I have to drive from Florida to Arizona) so I can live with my husband as he is stationed there with the Army. Due to this and due to the fact that my hosting is due to renew on July 13th, I have decided to cancel the hosting and go back to the days when I could blog for free.

It has been years since I’ve been on Tumblr. I knew it was acquired by Yahoo! but it doesn’t look like much, if anything, has changed. I believe this to be a good thing.

Other than the move and hiring movers, not much has been happening since my last blog. My life has been dull which is okay. All I need is my husband in my life and my life is full of weird surprises, especially with him and all of his weird new friends. Hahaha.

What has been going on with you guys? I’d love to hear in the comments below!

[dudethatserin5]

Welcome to the Family “Worker Bee”: My HP 15T Review

Hello everyone! How are you guys doing today? How have you been?

This is another pre-typed blog that I am doing as today I am traveling up to Ohio after seeing my husband for 2 days. I have a family reunion tomorrow and after that I am seeing my extended family up there for the third time in so many months. Like I said in my previous blogs, I am officially a huge travel bug.

Due to being a travel bug now, I had to invest in something I could use to travel around but still work. So, I had to invest in a laptop. I have always gone with HPs as they have been reliable for me and my whole family. I had a hard time finding one until my Grandmother found the HP 15T on sale for Memorial Day weekend. It was $750 so I got this laptop for $630 with tax and shipping included. Here are the specifications for those spec nerds out there:

15 inch Full HD Screen (1080p)

Number Pad on keyboard (most underrated feature ever)

Intel Core i7 8th Generation

Intel Graphics

upgraded from 1TB HDD to 2TB HDD

upgraded from 8GB RAM to 12GB RAM

Windows 10 Operating System

Ports:

Ethernet

HDMI

3 USB 2.0 Ports

SDHC Port

Headphone Jack (I’m sure there is a joke here somewhere…)

As you can see it is a fully loaded laptop. On the HP Website it is listed for $1,300 minimum for this laptop which I find ridiculous. I bought this laptop for work so these gripes, while they annoy me, are not going to make me return this device. If it was for pleasure, sure, I would return it but for work, nah.

So, what are my gripes? Well, I love lists so let’s make another!

Screen color recreation is horrible. I have a purple flower as my desktop and it comes out looking like a pink flower.

Screen resolution is horrible. Yes, it is 1080p but it isn’t even a good 1080p. Definitely not a 1080p I would pay $1,300+ for.

All of the letters/numbers/symbols on the keys are raised. This is a weird one.

Speakers are just a joke. My $1k phone has better speakers than this $1,300 laptop, what is up with that?

Internet card on it is subpar. I can be right next to my phone and right on top of the router and my laptop always gets 100mbps MAX on my internet speeds while my phone can get 400mbps or more.

This doesn’t feel like a $1,300 laptop. It feels like the $630 laptop I paid for.

Those are just the most important horrible flaws of the HP 15T that I could think of. I can say that if I had paid more for it, I probably would have returned the laptop as it wouldn’t be worth the money I paid. Now, I feel like I am being overly critical but my sister is using a $1k+ HP 15inch laptop (HP Spectre) that feels like the money and runs like the money I spent on it. I got it open boxed (also know as used) from Best Buy over 2 years ago and it still runs like new. It has an older i7 processor and a 1TB HDD vs my 2TB HDD and it has the same 12GB RAM that mine has. Yet, my newer computer runs slower than her older computer. I will get more into the speed later, though.

For now I want to focus on the specifics I labeled above. Starting with the screen as it is the first thing you notice. As soon as I unboxed this and turned it on, I knew something was off as it didn’t look as clear as my sister’s laptop which used to be my own. I didn’t think anything of it until my wallpaper (shown to the right) came up on the screen. If you are looking at that picture with a relatively high resolution and color accurate screen, you should see that the petals start off as a really deep purple and end up in a lighter shade of purple.

On my screen, however, it starts off as a deep purple and turns to pink shortly after with the lightest petals being a light pink. When I first saw this distortion, I was immediately put off by the screen and that alone determined that this computer is NOT worth the $1,300+ asking price they have on normal occasions. It is worth the $630 I paid though, just barely. I don’t understand how HP got this so wrong. The screen is what you look at all day every day. Why would they sacrifice money on something that is so important in day-to-day use. It isn’t even enjoyable for me to watch YouTube on here as the display is so bad on the colors.

The next flaw I found was a really weird one. When you first use the keyboard you notice it immediately. All of the letters/symbols/numbers on the keyboard are slightly raised. I have no idea why they chose to do this but this goes hand-in-hand with the last thing I listed on my list above which is the cheap feeling of this laptop. The keys, screen, trackpad, and whole device is made of plastic and cheap plastic at that. The screen is not touch screen (I prefer it that way anyway) and it is a matte screen instead of a “glass-like” screen. That put on top of the fact that all of the keys feel like cheap plastic and so does the trackpad just helps solidify that the $1,300 asking price is notworth it. If you pay, $1,300+ for this laptop or even $750 for this laptop, you are getting ripped off by HP. Honestly, if this laptop was any more than $600 with the customizations I got, I would not have gotten it, even with the $750 off.

There is a reason why they are able to offer this laptop for $750 off and shows how much of a markup they have on this device. It feels like they spent $300 max to produce this laptop and listed it for $1k+ more. I have never felt so ripped off by a company even when I got such a good discount.

I’m not even going to continue with my list as the internet card is fully explained in the list. With that all out in the open, is there anything I do like about this laptop? Well, sure.

First, the keys are clicky. Unlike the Macbook keys or other higher-end laptop keys, these keys are clicky and it makes it very comfortable to type on which is important for my blog. I can sit and type for hours on these blogs and my hands don’t get tired whatsoever. This is refreshing as even my desktop (using an HP keyboard) has those barely clicky keys that tire out your fingers faster than you would think. So, it is nice that the laptop I am going to use for work, can actually be used for work.

Second, the size of this laptop is small enough that I don’t have issues carrying it in my oversized purse. While it is a cheaper laptop, it is still fairly thin and light so it is easy for me to carry in my oversized purse. That isn’t the most ideal way to carry it but it is useful.

Lastly, because the screen, keys, speakers, internals, etc. all suck, the battery life on this thing is phenomenal. I don’t think I have ever had a laptop last me more than a day until this one. This laptop can last incredibly long on a single charge whether I am using it or not and the battery also charges super quick on the included charger.

All-in-All, while I am super disappointed and upset with HP regarding the price, I believe this laptop is worth it for the $630 that I paid with taxes and expedited shipping included. It feels like a laptop made in that price range versus one made in the $1,300 price range. You know you have a horrible laptop when a $1k phone has better speakers than a more expensive laptop. It is just super sad and upset and I need to get the word out about this laptop. I will be posting reviews on the HP website, Google website, and anywhere else I can find to try and stop people from purchasing this except on a sale.

What do you guys think? Do you agree? Am I being too harsh?

I look forward to hearing from you! Until the next one, cheers!

[dudethatserin5]

Simple, Pretty, and Useful: My Galaxy Watch Review

Hello! How is everyone doing? I am typing this up early as the day this posts I am actually with my husband for one of two days that I get to see him before he goes to Arizona for work. So, I hope you like this and I can’t wait to be back and posting again soon!

As you can tell from the title this is going to be my review on my Galaxy Watch 42mm. I have owned both the black and the rose gold versions. The one I currently own is the rose gold version which I didn’t think I would like but I actually love. The rose gold is more of a gold color. You can see from my pictures on Reddit how the device looks but I believe the following picture does the watch justice.

You can clearly see how it looks more gold than Rose Gold in that picture. The band is pinker than the watch itself.

The only downfall I have found with the Rose Gold version (for those that like it) is the fact that it is hard to find bands that look good. Out of the 6 or so I had for my Black version, I only have the stock one (in the picture) and a Black Milanese Loop band. I tend to just use the stock one as it feels great on my wrist and it looks the best out of the two of them. By the way, I am giving away my other watch bands if you would like them!

Speaking of the band feeling great on my wrist, the Galaxy Watch itself feels good on my wrist. This is coming from someone who has owned the following watches, in this order:

Motorola Moto 360 v1

Motorola Moto 360 v2

Fitbit Alta

Samsung Gear S2 Classic

Apple Watch Series 3

Apple Watch Series 4

Fitbit Versa

Galaxy Watch 42mm LTE

So, as you can see, I’ve felt a number of different watches on my wrist. The latest one I’ve owned and sold was the Fitbit Versa. I barely knew that thing was on my wrist and I don’t like that. I would forget it was there and it would almost go dead on me because I forgot about it. I like knowing that I am wearing a watch but also knowing it isn’t the biggest thing in the world.

There are other reasons I didn’t like the Versa besides the feel. The Versa also made it very difficult to change bands. They tucked in the part where you have to stick your fingernail in to take off the band to make it “nicer looking” but that made it so you had to have long nails or hurt your hand in order to change the band. Also, with the iPhone the Versa only syncs while you have the application open and running due to the limitations of iPhones and background syncing. Lastly, I like to have as much information in one app as possible and the period tracking (yes, I am a female) is awful on the app. I would rather sacrifice using it all on one app and use a good one (Mia! I highly recommend it!) than have the accuracy of the notifications be off. This is highly important to me for personal reasons so this is a big thing for Fitbit to get wrong especially when they were initially selling the Versa towards females as it was the first watch with built-in menstrual tracking.

Besides those reasons, I like how the Galaxy Watch has a circular face rather than the square face of the Apple Watch or the Fitbit. It looks more like a classical watch and that on its own makes the watch higher quality. Unlike the other watches and unlike the Black version of the Galaxy Watch, with the Rose Gold version, I feel like I am wearing a $400 watch rather than something that was $200 but feels like it was $50. It doesn’t feel or look plasticy or boring like the other watches. The rotating bezel on the top is a nice touch and a very useful feature.

Lastly, I want to talk about the battery life on this watch. Afterall, it is a mini-computer on your wrist so you do have to charge it every once in a while. Now, I just created my own watch face in Galaxy Watch Designer which is a developer app for Samsung Galaxy Watches.

As you can see, it includes the time zone for Arizona, where my husband will be, the current battery life of the watch, current weather, and day of the week and date. Each of those sections are pressable. The Always on Display looks very similar with the exception of the seconds. They are not shown on the Always on Display.

I created this as the built-in “Dashboard” watch face came in the yellow/orange color (pictured to the right) but would not update the time zone so that it would show Arizona instead of London. It includes 99% of the same features with the exception of the steps and day of the week. My watch face doesn’t show the steps but the “Dashboard” watch face can and the day of the week is missing from the “Dashboard” watch face (definite oversight).

The ability to go through and create your own watch face or install millions of other watch faces via Galaxy Watch Designer, Facer, Watchmaster, or Watchmaker is another good reason to keep/get the Galaxy Watch, regardless of the size you get.

Back to the battery life, that watch face (both of them above) use so little battery even with the Always on Display being enabled on the watch that I can (and do) leave the Always on Display enabled during the day and turn it off at night, without worry. I easily get 36+ hours on this watch though I charge it about every 24 hours. By that time the watch gets down to about 40% so I leave it on the charger until it is fully charged. That takes up to 2 hours depending on whether I am getting a lot of notifications at the time.

Moving on, the buttons on the right side are very clicky and easy to push and the speaker on the device can get very loud. I have been told that people can’t tell that I am talking through my watch in the past. They can hear me clear as day, just like they would if I were on speaker. I even tested it outside on a windy day and I could be heard fine.

Overall, out of any watch I’ve owned in the past the Galaxy Watch is my favorite of them all. Not only does it work extremely well and the operating system on it runs pretty fast but it is a nice looking watch and the LTE capabilities make it useful if I lose/forget my phone. I don’t have to worry about not having it as everything would come to the watch as long as I have service.

What do you guys think? Do you agree with my assessment?

I look forward to hearing from all of you! Until the next one, cheers!

[dudethatserin5]

Hello, New Friend!

What’s up with everyone? How has everyone been? Since my last blog, not much has happened with me. I have decided since my last blog to not move with my husband to Arizona while he is there for work. Since that is the case I am going to be traveling a lot more so I will keep you all updated on my travels back and forth from there.

Today, I wanted to officially post my review of my Galaxy Note 9. I have owned this phone since November 11th. It is now June 14th. That makes June the 7th month I’ve owned the device. In the past, I only owned devices for 2 months maximum before I would get bored and upgrade. I haven’t done that with this phone for a multitude of reasons some having to do with the phone and others not. I am going to go over all of those reasons today. Without further ado, let’s get into it!

Reasons I kept the phone that don’t have to do with the phone

I decided to keep this phone because of money. I am trying to cut down my debt and the first step was to stop getting new phones as that was causing 99% of the debt I had. So, I had to stop and I did with the help of my husband.

I also realized how crazy it was that I was getting a new phone so often and some of those times I was going back and forth between iOS (iPhones) and Android (Samsungs, primarily). Each time I would also buy the Samsung or iPhone watch and pair it to a data plan so that would cause lines to be added, then deleted, then added, and it was a mess. I knew it was crazy for a while but I stopped.

The reason why I couldn’t stop earlier is because I was addicted. I was addicted to buying the latest and greatest and chasing that high you get when you buy something new. I still do get those urges and they will never go away but I have since learned how to manage and control those urges so I don’t go crazy and get myself into debt like I did before.

Now, that I have gone over those simple reasons why I kept the phone that don’t have to do with the phone, let me go over the reasons I kept the phone that do have to do with the phone.

Reasons I kept the phone that have to do with the phone

First, let me make a list:

The SPen

The Screen

Good Lock 2018 also known as the extra customization features built-in to the phone

Galaxy Watch + how well it works with the watch

Battery

Those are the top 5 reasons I kept the phone. I could probably come up with other smaller reasons but those go over the main reasons why I kept it. Now let me explain.

The SPen is the little pen that comes with all of the Samsung Note devices. From the Galaxy Note 1 to the Note 9 all Samsung Note devices have included the SPen and it has gotten better and better over the years plateauing at the Note 7 [disaster]. This little pen is very useful to sign important documents, play games that require precision, or take a partial page screenshot. Those are the main reasons why I love the SPen and what I use it for. The only annoying part is when you drop your Note it is almost guaranteed to fall out of your phone.

Next, I want to go over the screen. I’m not going to post this like every other reviewer online. All I am going to say is, the edges are annoying that they are rounded but you get used to it pretty fast. What I do like about the screen, however, is the brightness outdoors, size, and the resolution. I keep my Note9 on HD+ which is the lowest setting you can put it on and I don’t notice a difference between that and FHD+ (the highest setting). So, I get the beautiful screen and get to save a bit of battery.

Speaking of the battery, this phone can last me 2 days on a charge depending on what I am using it for. If I am exclusively using the built-in Night Mode and have all of my apps set with black backgrounds and don’t play very many games, I can easily get 8-9 hours of Screen On Time over 24+ hours if I am browsing Reddit, for example. Now, I live by chargers as I stay at home so this doesn’t do me much good at home but it is nice to know that when I travel (as I’m going to be traveling a lot more in the coming months) I don’t have to worry about my phone dying randomly or being forced to bring a battery charger, though I do anyway. Even when this phone is connected to my Galaxy Watch 42mm Rose Gold via bluetooth, I don’t notice any battery drain.

Speaking of that watch, I will go over it in a separate review but the fact that there is a watch that works so well with the phone is amazing. While it is missing some of the features that the Apple Watches have like ECG and fall detection, it still has everything I need when connected to LTE. Also, when paired to a Samsung device and using the stock Email and Messages apps, you can get all of your texts from anywhere while you have LTE service. That is one of the best features. I don’t have to worry about calls, emails, or texts because the reliability between the Samsung device and the watch is amazing. For example, my husband called me today (out of the blue, might I add) and my watch vibrated before my phone did to notify me about the call. I was able to seamlessly answer it from my phone and take the call. It has been an overall great experience that I will talk more about in my next blog.

The last thing I wanted to go over is how Good Lock 2018 influenced my decision to keep the Note9. This has, honestly, been one of the most important reasons why I kept the device. I love the ability to customize every single part of the watch and the fact that it is built-in to the operating system with a simple app (or set of apps) rather than having to root your phone and install customizations that you may or may not have to redo anytime you want to get the latest update on your device. Good Lock and its set of apps and the fact that they are built-in are the biggest reason why, when I looked at the OnePlus 7 Pro the other day, I was not and am not influenced to get any other phone besides a Samsung device. The reasons above are the other reasons why I don’t want any other Samsung device but as far as a Pixel 3a/4 or OnePlus 7 Pro, I don’t want them because they don’t have anywhere near the customization options that the Note9 does, out of the box. That’s saying something, too, because of all of the customizations that OnePlus has baked into all of their devices from the get-go. I will post my thoughts on that device in a future blog as well.

So, those are the main reasons why I have kept and will continue keeping the Samsung Galaxy Note9. I hope you liked this review. If you want more, let me know! Until the next one, cheers!

[dudethatserin5]

They lived happily ever after…

Welcome!

Today I wanted to post about how I met Josh in more detail than what is on DudeThatsErin.site. To do that we have to go back in time…

We are going back to August. I was still in my depression though it was VERY minor compared to how it used to be. I needed to leave retail and get a job in my degree field so I applied several places and I got a call up by SNI which is a local staffing company. I went in for an interview with them a few times and then they told me that Availity was hiring and I interviewed with them next. I got the job.

Now let’s pause. What is Availty? They are a medical IT company also known as a clearinghouse. Google defines the word “Clearinghouse” as the following:

a bankers’ establishment where checks and bills from member banks are exchanged, so that only the balances need be paid in cash.

an agency or organization which collects and distributes something, especially information.

In laymen’s terms, that means that Availity collects information and distributes it to another entity. In their case, they work with doctor’s offices and insurance companies. Doctors can do the following on their portal:

Submit claims to insurance companies and get responses (sometimes immediate ones) back from the insurance companies

Check patient’s eligibility & benefits (what the patient is and is not covered for)

Submit referral & authorization requests and receive responses (sometimes immediate ones) back from the insurance companies

Update their contact information with us and the insurance companies

Those are the most common things I would help out with. Now, I worked in a call center which means I wasn’t face-to-face with these doctors and some of them didn’t even know how to left or right click on a computer let alone fill out a form online so some of these calls lasted upwards of 2 to 3 hours. I believe the longest one I was on while I was there was 2.5 hours. I was walking the doctor through how to submit a claim directly on the Availity Portal and how to check the status of said claim after submitting it.

I also worked with the insurance companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield (of all 50 states), Humana (they can die in a fiery hell), AETNA, CIGNA, Sunshine Healthplan, and more. Availity has close to 5k or more insurance companies (or what they call ‘payers’) on their portal that we would work with.

Going back to the story, I started working here and I was in training for the first month to month and a half. During that time I tried to work with Best Buy part time (weekends only) but I am not the type of person that can be working that much. I am either full time, part time, or neither. I can’t do both full time and part time. So after about a month I quit Best Buy. My last day was September 23rd, 2018. I remember that date because it was the date I met Josh.

Now, I had the choice of not going to work that day because, ultimately, what were they going to do? So, I contemplated it hard the night before and day of. I only worked either 1-8pm or 4-8pm. I don’t remember, either way it was a short shift on a Sunday. Sundays are notoriously slow in the call center at Best Buy, especially Sunday nights. I decided to go in and immediately when I get to the call center, no one else is there working the phones. I think I was like 5 or 10 min late and the previous agent is a stickler for leaving on time. The only one who is in this room is this guy sitting in the middle computer (we had 3) taking his eLearnings (or Best Buy Trainings).

I remember Josh being really timid but easy to talk to. I remember thinking to myself “I wonder if he is available.” and then “No, Erin! You have crushed and asked out too many of the Best Buy folks. You need to stop!” while we were talking. We ended up talking about Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds which is a rare game that almost no one knows about so I instantly was blown away by this random guy whom I met at my last day of work that knew about this random game that I used to play all of the time with my cousin. He was doing his trainings and we would both pause talking whenever I would get a phone call and needed to, you know, do my job. Hahaha. Overall, we talked for a good 3-4 hours about video games, ourselves, and everything. He was really easy to talk to and I thought (still do!) he was cute. He had to leave because he finished his eLearnings first but before he did I added him on Facebook. When he left I vividly remember saying “text me!” Guess what he never did? Text me. Guess who messaged him first on Thanksgiving 2018? Me. Hahaha

So fast forward, I was taking a week off from Availity to visit my extended family for Thanksgiving. Something I haven’t done in YEARS. When we do go up there it is usually during the summer but prior to this Thanksgiving trip I hadn’t been there in close to (or more than) 2 years. So, it was much needed as we are very family oriented. I was laying in my grandmother’s bed (as we stay with her when we go up to Ohio) on Thanksgiving morning and I’m not sure what or who told me to message Josh but I did.

I just texted him a simple “How was your weekend?” and we got to talking. We sent several memes back and forth. The following one is a running joke between us:

We sent that one MANY times back and forth to each other. While talking I got cold feet (because I knew this would be something real) and said no to the date but then regretted it and a day later asked him back out. Originally he asked me out to the Nordstrom eBar which I had never been to and was really out of my element. I heard that it was a really upscale Starbucks and was put off by it so that’s another reason why I said no. When I asked him back out we went to go see the cartoon version of “The Grinch” but prior to both of us watched the live action version at the same time but at our separate homes.

Our first date went well. We kissed and it was slobbery (on his side) hahaha It took him until the movie was almost over to put his arm around me.

Now the rest is history. We got married on March 29, 2019 and he proposed to me at the Nordstrom eBar (or near it, I should say) and we had a date that should have been our first date.

I will post about our wedding in the future. For now, here is a mandatory picture of him & another one with us together. Spoiler. These are my favorite pictures of him and us.

That’s all I have to write for this one. If you want to know anything about us, ask them in the comments below! I’ll be sure to respond when I can. Either that or follow me on Twitter and I will talk to you there!

Before I end this, here is an obligatory picture of us:

I will talk to you guys in the next one! BYE!

[dudethatserin5]

Hello Summer 2019!

Hello Everyone!

I have been going back and forth lately about whether I wanted to start my YouTube Channel back up or my blog and I decided I would start my blog back up. I did attempt a few videos on my channel but I ultimately don’t have the courage or drive to get in front of a camera every day and record myself talking. Plus, I couldn’t get passed how weird I felt doing it. Some people can post videos, I cannot.

I’m not out for the count though. I have my blog and I’m going to make it better than ever. Ultimately, I’m not blogging for the views, popularity or anything like that. I’m doing this for me. It is something I have always liked doing and it has become a part of me at this point. I’m glad to have this part of me back.

Now, if you have visited my other website, DudeThatsErin.site, anytime in the last hour or so (as I just updated it prior to posting this blog) or if you do visit it anytime in the future. You will see I updated the Resume, Portfolio, and Online Biography pages. The biggest change is, I GOT MARRIED! EEEP! I am so incredibly happy. I will post a few blogs in the future about how I met Josh, how our wedding was, and all that jazz (cause who doesn’t like reading the lovey dovey stuff sometimes?!) but for now just know that we are happily married and loving our lives together. <3 If you visit DudeThatsErin.site you can see a picture of us together. It is small but does us justice.

I have been procrastinating working on my sites for a while because I was waiting for my HP Laptop that I”m going to be using for work to come in. Well, it has. It is the HP 15T with a 2TB HDD, 12GB RAM, i7 8th Gen Processor, and a really crappy screen. I will talk more about it in a future blog but take a look at these tweets if you want to see the gist of what I think about it:

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My laptop came in the mail while I was at Josh's grandmother's house yesterday. :D I got this one: https://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/hp-laptop-15t-touch-with-intel-i7-4hl43av-1 … The memorial day sale brought it down from ~$1350 to $630 with taxes and shipping and everything. It was $750 off. Damn!

Overall, I will talk more about it on my blog but the screen SUCKS for the ~$1350 price (same with the trackpad) but for the $630 I paid, it isn't a bad laptop. Desktop is [finally] faster (now that I moved the O/S to the SSD on the desktop).

I got it for work because I'm going to start working for #Arise again and needed portability since Josh is in the Army. It is perfect for work and using it to do modest work for my websites. I wouldn't recommend this laptop UNLESS it is for work or light use though.

Again, I will talk more about it in a future blog but besides that laptop, I got a Galaxy Watch 42mm LTE for $150 off of eBay. It has a scratch on the bezel and the screen but otherwise it is a great device. I do not have the LTE activated yet (but should on Saturday!) but overall the battery life has been amazing on it and I am loving it. I will be posting a comparison between it and my Fitbit Versa in the near future and why I chose the Galaxy Watch over the Versa.

Well, that’s all I really had to talk about now! I am glad to be back blogging and I can’t wait to get in the rhythm of posting! I plan to do posts 2-3 times a week at first and then go from there as far as if I feel like posting more often, I will.

Talk to y’all in the next one! BYE!

[dudethatserin5]

My second child: Olivia!

My second child: Olivia!

Hey!

Remember when I was telling you about my ASUS Laptop? Well, I have finally resolved that whole issue. How? Well, I paid down my Walmart credit card (by $1.4K) and I purchased another $1k of an HP Laptop. I got a $30 printer with it as well. I got this laptop.It is a beast! I’m using it right now to play the sims 4 and I have typed up 3 blog posts, done school, and browsed reddit and YouTube…

View On WordPress

[dudethatserin5]

My new baby: Matt.

My new baby: Matt.

Hey guys and girls!

Like I said in my last blog, this is a pre-typed post. I typed it up on Sunday and will have edited it if there was anything I wanted to add that wasn’t in this blog. I also stated that I sold my Nexus 6P and was using my LG G3 for about a week. I used it for about a week because I pre-ordered and received the NOTE 7!!!

Pre-ordering was a hassle. Originally, I called T-Mobile…

View On WordPress

[dudethatserin5]

Updates

Hello,

A lot has happened since my last blog post. I mean A LOT. To start off I’m going to make a list out of everything I am going to talk about:

I got my ASUS Laptop back.

I sold my Nexus 6P.

Started Fall Classes and finished Summer classes for my new degree.

Closed Hostwish & all of my other sites for good.

There are a few other things that I am going to blog about in 2 or 3 other blog posts…

View On WordPress

[dudethatserin5]

Lost a fish. :(

I’m really sad right now guys. I wanted to clean my tank so my 5 female bettas could be swimming in a healthy tank and in the process of taking out the water using an old empty (washed out really well) gallon of milk container, I sucked up and poured down the drain one of my betta fish. She was a beautiful white one. She was about 3 months old and perfectly healthy... unlike some of them. When I saw her go down the drain I was shocked. All I saw was something red going into the sink and down the drain and it took all of less than a second to see and realize what I had done. I ran back to my tank and looked to see which fish it was and it was her. :’( She was a special one to me. Not as special as Jill (the first one I got) but she was just under that.

I want to start crying right now I’m so upset. :( I literally want to go to Petsmart right now simply to purchase another white one exactly like her so I can have all 5 of my fish back together but I know that won’t fill the whole I have.

I guess I’m just really attached to animals. I know I am more-so than I am to humans (as pets usually don’t try and betray you; unlike humans). She was so pretty. RIP Albino Girl. You are missed and were the moment I saw you in the sink!

[dudethatserin5]

Back to Tumblr again...

I decided to move back to tumblr cause I didn’t want to have the hassle of paying a hosting payment anymore because my hosting website was not going very well. Probably because I keep doing this. LOL

I’m happy with streaming and blogging here from now on. So, I’m not worried about it. My domain erinnicole.nu should be showing up here within a matter of hours.

I’ve decided not to re-import my blogs like I used to do. I’m just going to start blogging from ‘scratch’, I guess. My old blogs will stay here but I’m just not adding the blogs that I did in-between cause, I don’t care. LOL

Anyway, I’m back to using Disqus and everything and I’m happy not having that payment. Maybe I’ll use it for a T-Mobile bill and pay for my own service? Or for my future bills? We will see!

[dudethatserin5]

Moved back to Tumblr...

I decided to move my blog back to tumblr and keep it here cause I hate decisions and I also scrapped all of my other websites because I didn't have the time/money to spend on the sites anymore. School and work is more important to me now that I am in Kappa Alpha Theta.

I'll still blog here though so I'm not gone for good. :)

[dudethatserin5]

Why I hate dorm life... why it is good for me...

I've talked about this several times with my family and friends and I've finally come up with the conclusion that while I absolutely hate the dorm life, it is good for me at the same time and that makes me hate it even more.

Here are the reasons why I hate dorm life-

AC only has cold air. No heat. Says "Key is Locked" when you try to change it aka THIS IS NOT ALLOWED WE ARE TOO CHEAP TO DO THAT!

Fighting over how cold it is in the dorm.

Roommate and her boyfriend have sex all day every day. In the shower, in her room, doesn't matter. Constant slapping or shower noises. (yes, I am a bit jealous but that is besides the point)

Walls are paper thin so I can't play my music loud without someone yelling at me.

Random dorm searches where they lock your door after they leave so if you don't have your key when you get home and you work in like 5 minutes you are shitting out of luck. Made me 15 minutes late for work cause of this.

All of the floors are tile and cold so not only is there only cold air but all of the tiles are cold as well and it is just awful. "Invest in a rug" That will only help a TINY bit so why waste my money? There are still loud roommates (yes the one that has sex all of the time) that slam doors that will still be loud no matter what I do. Ear Plugs don't even work. I've tried.

Tiny room = No storage. I hate how tiny the room is.

Bed isn't even a real bed. It is material with springs inside of it that is uncomfortable as all living hell. Might as well sleep on the tile floor.

We face the east. Yes, that means HERE COMES THE SUNSHINE AT OMG IT IS TOO EARLY O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING.

Roommates in general. They suck. I hate roommates.

Price. Like you get all of this STUPID STUFF for $10k :/

rules on parking & parking lot being (what feels like) a mile away from your dorm room so when you have groceries, you are dying. :/

Is that enough reasons to hate dorm life or do I need to state more? Because I have at least 5-10 more I could state....

The dorm life is good for me though for these reasons-

teaches me how to deal with life and situations that I absolutely hate

teaches me how to deal with people I don't care to be around (my roommate) and how to be more personable around them.

teaches me how to deal with mornings when the sun freaking hates you.

teaches you how to deal with a small storage area

teaches you more maturity that comes with being on your own.

So, while I absolutely hate dorm life and can't wait to either go home or move out (move out preferably) I know how much it is teaching me and I appreciate that.

Just something for those of you that are thinking about moving out for you to read so you can decide. :)

[dudethatserin5]

Why I need to move out...

I'm fed up. Just about to explode. Yeah, it's Merry Fucking Christmas Eve but it doesn't feel like it in my household because of all of the tiny picking everyone does at each other. These past few weeks my family has focused on the way I treat my younger sister, Meagan. She just turned 13 in November. I have heard nothing but "you treat her horribly" "you are very critical" "you could say nice things every once in a while" and the first comment and last comment came from my mom who was never really very critical of me so I apologized to my sister because I have been noticing the negative things and not commenting on the good things. What you have to understand is that the "you are very critical" comment came today, sorta.

My sister got her hair cut today. She kept saying how she wasn't going to get it like our mother's (cause she just got her hair cut and colored yesterday) but she wanted a short bob cut. That's what my mom has. Then she comes home and I was just like "I thought you said you didn't want it like mommy's?!" & have her a silly :P face. and she was like "I didn't know it was going to be like that!" Then I told her I liked it and then I noticed that the right side is shorter than the left and I yelled to my dad (I'm in my room and he was in the kitchen which is only a few footsteps away) asking him "Did they do that on purpose?" Then all of a sudden he was like "ERIN!" I was shocked at the response and was like "What?" He replied "If you could just spend one day not being critical..." (that was all) Now, I'm pissed, fed up, etc. and that's why I typed this up and posted this. I needed to rant.

I was just asking one simple question. I didn't care either way. He must not have heard me tell her I like it but that doesn't matter. He just automatically ASSUMED I said nothing to her about liking her hair cut. He didn't even (and hasn't yet and never will) answer my question.

I realize I am harder on her than I should be and I'm learning how to not be so hard on my future kids like I am with her. It is a learning experience that I appreciate. What I don't appreciate is the way they criticize me. It is never polite or nicely worded or anything like that. They laugh at me for bringing in the bar of soap home from Florida because I didn't want it to sit there and disintegrate when I'm not even using it. It would have been a waste of a bar. They laughed at me, not with me. They do this all of the time. My family bullies me and belittles me and I'm tired of it to the point where I'm about to burst into tears right now.

My mom wonders why I want to move out so badly at the end of this semester and I feel like I can't even tell her because she will get seriously offended and may even start crying. I talk to my mom about everything so not being able to tell her something kills me. I hate it but sometimes there are things you just can't talk to your parents about.

My mom is paying the rent for the apartment I'd be moving to (at least until I start working as a Teacher in 2016). So, she calls the shots as to when I move out and when we sign the papers and rent the truck and get everything moved down there from here in Alabama. (I'm moving to Jacksonville, Florida. So about 6-6.5 hr drive) Which really puts me in a big hole.

I want to sign the leasing agreements in April and move out, literally, as soon as school ends in May (first week of May I believe) but she doesn't want to pay the extra months of rent (May, June & July) if she doesn't have to. I have a few summer classes I have to take. The majority of them are online (THANK THE LORD, I HATE GOING TO CLASS) but there is 1 (possibly two if I don't get into the class I'm still waitlisted for this semester) that I have to take during the summer where I actually have to go to class. Which is where the if she doesn't have to comes into play. She is trying to work out my schedule so that she pays for my dorm during the beginning of summer and then I come home after classes are over and then I move out a week or two before I have to go back to school in the fall next year (early August).

I can't wait that long. I need to get out of here otherwise I am going to lose my freaking mind. She doesn't understand that and can't understand that because I can't freaking tell her without her crying about it.

I have no idea what to do. I just know that if my schedule works out to where I'm in the dorm for even 8 more weeks, I'm going to scream. I cannot and will not live in the dorms any longer than I have to. I only did it in the first place because everyone around me was saying "It would be good for you" "You will meet new people". That hasn't happened and didn't even happen with Kaitlyn. As my friend I met randomly in the hallway said "College kids are too mean and busy." It is so true. I have a total of 2 friends that I met outside of Kaitlyn. TWO. They said I would meet people. Fuck that shit.

TL;DR

Reasons why I need to move out- (**s indicate the more important ones; more stars the more importance)

constant picking at and bickering between everyone in my family.**********************************

my sister is a teenager now and is getting an attitude and that is bringing out the worst in me. *****

my family bullies me. Mainly my parents and now they are teaching bullying to my sister. **************

the dorms are shit. I hated them even before I moved in there. I only did it because of my sister not wanting to move out (which she still doesn't) and everyone talking me into it. **************

I need independence. I still feel dependent on them and that is driving me crazy. ****

No privacy. Even if I did have a boyfriend, which I don't, I don't have any privacy to do anything I want to do.

I have no idea what to do. Any advice is greatly appreciated. I can't go to my parents... or at least I don't feel like I can. If I can, I don't know how to word going to them so they don't get offended and or start crying (mother would cry) or yell at me.

[dudethatserin5]

PICTURE HEAVY: Just Stuff...

Hey guys!

So, my first semester at college was okay. Nothing great happened. In fact, my pal, pillow, sister, puppy, and just an amazing friend, Tessie died from a bone eating Cancer in September. :( It sucked but life goes on...

Below I have other things that aren't so depressing. LOL Trust me, I know how depressing this sounds. You can skip past this section. Each section is going to be labeled below.

In memorial, here are a few pictures of her...

She looks so happy doesn't she?

Such a good dog...

This is my favorite picture of her. It was after we got her shaved at petsmart. She looks so happy. <3

Those of you that don't have pets will not understand how hard it was and I don't blame you, you've never made that connection with animals so you wouldn't know any different. It felt like I lost a sister rather than a dog. Sometimes I still cry. She was the first animal my family ever owned and she helped my mom get "over" her fear of dogs. She was amazing. RIP Tessie Monster!

PUPPY!

On a happier note, we got a PUPPY!

Not sure on a name yet. I'll update this post when we have one... Her name is Bella! :) I call her BellaBella or BellaBoo or BeddaBedda or just Bedda LOL i'm such a goof! 

Puppy! She is a black lab/golden retriever mutt. :)

My mom happened to find someone online that was looking to adopt them out for free. So we picked her up yesterday. No, we are not trying to replace Tessie. Tessie will always be in our hearts. <3 We need to move on and what better way to do it than get our first PUPPY as a family! All of the dogs we have ever owned (Tessie (above if you have been oblivious) & Lane (below)) were both 2 years old (or 1 1/2 years old, not sure) when we adopted them... both for free. So, this should be interesting. Yes, she has been peeing and pooping all over the house. LOL You have no idea how much cleaning you need to do for a puppy until you get one! LOL

This is the best picture I have of Lane right now. He is an Australian Shepherd (we believe).

Nikki is not happy with the puppy, at all. I know she will get over it but I'm nervous for when we get our Kitten when my sister and I (and possible a sorority sister) move out... Hopefully since we are going to do it almost immediately after we move out (or at least that is the plan) it won't be as bad...

That's about it for now. :) Talk to y'all later!

UPDATE:  Decided to post some updated pictures since I was moving this from my WordPress blog to Tumblr.

Here is the most recent picture I have of Bella! :)

(yes that is lane's butt back there LOL)

Here is one more picture of her...

She is so big, right? LOL She can jump onto the furniture now! SO CUTE! <3

Here is a better picture of lane with more than just his butt...