Test Two is Done in Beginning Piano and Still Feeling Test Anxiety... Have a good feeling though

Going into the test tonight, I did not feel good about how I was going to do. For once, though, coming out of a test, I feel like I did really good. Not sure if that is good or bad. We get the results back on Wednesday night.

This was a test in my beginning music class over chapter two. Starting to get deep into reading notes and then also needing to be able to know where the notes are on the staff. The test tonight was a combination of needing to be able to recognize whole, half, and quarter notes. But it was also again doing a test with the instructor and having to know where the note on the second line of bass clef is located on the keyboard.

The weekend was spent trying to memorize and prepare for test two. However, it was really spent procrastinating by working on updating the web site, watching basketball, and basically doing anything but trying to study. Thus, I went into the test tonight not thinking I was going to do very well. That "good feeling" was not there and did not have high hopes for doing well in the test.

Instead, I came out of the test feeling good and looking forward to Wednesday when we get the results. Now, it could be a different story once I get the score back on Wednesday and find out how I did. Wondering what I forgot or did not notate correctly on the staff. Oh, so many things that could have gone wrong, but I feel so good about the test.

After I finished the test and headed to the parking lot to meet Carrie, I realized I was sweating like a pig. My shirt was actually damp from where I had been sweating... for a test in piano. Memories of how anxious I would get when taking tests all comes back each time we do a test in the class.

Still having a lot of fun in the class and looking forward to see the results Wednesday.

Have a great week!

Updated Web Site for The Dog House with new Design for Blog

Following discussions last week in the weekly #blogchat via Twitter, change have been made to the look and feel of The Dog House. Still working with different ideas, but so far the changes seem to make the site easier to read and navigate.

The site still uses Blogger, however, it is no longer using my custom template. Instead, the site is using a template provided by Blogger that I can change at anytime. Google Analytics has also been updated and tweaked to get a better sense of the traffic visiting the web site as visitors per day continues to increase.

Let me know your thoughts by posting to the comments or send me a tweet.

Connected to Companies via Social Media and Those That Never Respond

So many examples of companies being connected on social media. A few that show up in my timeline are mentioned here. These are only recent replies as there are many other companies that have responded to various tweets throughout the years.

Social Media Examples of Interactions with Companies

@havertyj Nice! Thanks for stopping by!

— Taco Bueno (@tacobueno) February 24, 2016

It is always fun when a company responds to a posted tweet about their business... good or bad! It helps to make connections. This post was tweeted on February 24 on my way back from Tulsa, Oklahoma when I stopped in Bartlesville, Oklahoma at Taco Bueno. Using Swarm to track locations I visit, usually when traveling, this has happened in the past too with a company companies responding or commenting thanking me for stopping by their establishment.

It is almost so common these days with companies watching FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. traffic, that it is almost shocking if a post is directed at a company and they do not respond. I have gotten to the point where if I am unhappy with a company, I will often times go to Twitter to send them a tweet about my problem. The majority of the time, I get a response from them within a matter of minutes apologizing, asking more information, or thanking me for the comment/visit. Again, if I do not get a response, that is almost never happens. Even with small store fronts, it seems like even they have some type of social media presence.

Many companies have employees hired just to watch for social media comments. Some use automated responses to thank people for their comments. The great sites have real people following and tracking comments and responding to those comments. Both have been experienced and obviously the real person on the other end with answers to questions or comments works best!

Other well connected companies include Dish and Cox Communications both of which are extremely fast at not only responding, but often times resolving issues directly through a tweet or a direct message if needed.

@havertyj Please follow and DM us with your account/phone # and your 4 digit PIN. *AE

— DISH Answers (@dish_answers) August 6, 2015

Company is Not Connected

Having a company that is not connected can be frustrating for a customer. Especially if they give the impression of being connected. Send them a message (FaceBook, tweet, etc.) and get no response back at all. Check their history and see that no one has responded to anything that has been sent to them. Very frustrating! Luckily, this has not been a problem I have encountered too often. Or, when it has happened, it has been a local establishment that has a Twitter presence, but has stopped updating/responding to tweets. Might as well delete the account and not entice posts to the account.

Options of course then fall to calling or sending a letter. Yeah, who sends letters any more? So, basically if the company does not have a web presence of some kind and linked to social media, there will likely be no follow up with that company again. If it was something that was perplexing enough to cause me to want to contact them, then maybe their not having a presence will be enough to not want to visit their establishment or use their service again.

The Trend for Social

The pulse for what is the hot item for social connections is constantly discussed on various blogs and articles. There is information that younger adults have moved away from FaceBook and Twitter going to other social mediums that is connected directly with others their age such as SnapChat. It is obvious that for the past few years, companies have focused their social communication to FaceBook or Twitter. Just about every major company has some type of social media presence and usually it is either FaceBook or Twitter. With the younger generation not focusing, or using, these services as much, it will be interesting to see where companies go to get and receive that connection with their customers in the future.

Comments

Share your comments about companies you enjoy communicating with or connecting with on-line. Share frustrations that you have had when trying to connect with a company and what did you do to get your frustration heard by that company? Feel free to send me a tweet with your question or comment too.

Brief Update on Royals World Series Trophy Tour at Washburn University #Royals #ForeverRoyal

The Kansas City Royals had their World Series Tour and Washburn University was one of the stops, so we had to show up to get pictures. It looked like a good turnout as the line was fairly long when I got there at 5. Took us about an hour to get through to see the trophy and when we left, there was still a long line of people waiting to get into see the hardware.

No mascot or players, but the trophy there allowing fans to take pictures with it and of it. It was fun and glad I attended.  Unfortunately, Carrie has been sick since Sunday and she was unable to attend. I am sure she will see it this year at one of our visits to Kauffman Stadium as it will be displayed in the Hall of Fame.

Congrats to the Royals and thank you for sharing the hardware from the World Series Championship!

Flickr album of all my Royals pictures is below... Spans a couple different seasons.  Looking forward to another fun season!

Switching from FaceBook App to Web Site Only for Updates and Other Thoughts

I made the switch about two weeks ago away from the FaceBook app to only using the Safari shortcut on my phone per the article on 9TO5Mac: PSA: Switching from the Facebook app to Safari can boost iPhone battery life by up to 15%.  

I have an old iPhone 5 where the battery can barely last to 5 pm during the day.  So, I decided to give this a try. Granted, I did see improvement in the battery, but I think it is more to the point that I am not grabbing my phone each time FaceBook lights up with a notification.  Now, it is only when Twitter or email show there is a notification.  With most of my friends and family using FaceBook, that tends to be the one that lights up the most and has notifications.

I have noticed that my phone battery lasts longer into the evening, but as I mentioned, I do not believe it is simply because the FaceBook app is no longer on my phone. Instead, it seems to be because I am not constantly checking FaceBook throughout the day. This prompted me to do the same with LinkedIn and I removed that app from my phone too.  I set shortcuts for FaceBook and LinkedIn on my home screen and have been using those to get to those pages to check notifications.

Obviously by not having those apps installed on my phone, I miss notifications from those sites where normally I would have received the notifications immediately gone out to view the update shortly after it was posted.  This morning when I went to FaceBook, there were ten notifications going back to yesterday.  I made some changes to have those notifications that use to pop up on my phone to instead send me email for FaceBook notifications.

One bonus, as someone pointed out in the comments section of the 9TO5Mac post, is that now I do not need to have the FaceBook Messenger app on my phone.  I just removed that before posting this update.  I had completely forgotten about that app until now. I did not like having a separate app to chat with people on FaceBook in the first place. So, happy to remove that app from my iPhone.

After two weeks of this change with only using the FaceBook web site from my phone, I have not noticed huge improvements with battery life. It does have me questioning all the apps that I have on my phone and what I could remove and never miss. I do not have any games on my phone as I use to go through periods where I would play a game on my phone for a week or two, get tired of it, and then remove it. 

So, now I do not have any games on my phone. A quick count of apps and I have 53 apps on my phone.  Of those 53 apps, I check maybe 5 - 10 on a regular basis. Sure, I have those iOS apps that cannot be removed too which are not included in that count of 53 apps. Still, of those 53 apps and my only using really 5 - 10 of them, I do not want to remove the other apps in case I might need them at some point. 

In another few months, I will have the new iPhone 7 and then I will decide whether I will keep this app removal process going or give in and install the apps on the new phone.  For now, I am happy to run this way and not stay as connected.

Another Test Coming and Trying to Remember Bass Clef

Not a bad week of class this past week.  We are deep into the second chapter and really focusing on reading music on the pages.  This is where it starts getting a bit confusing as we focus on the notes.  The right hand is not bad for me as at least I can find my way through figuring out the notes.  The left hand though still needs a lot of work!

We have our second test coming up a week from Monday.  I will miss class Monday as I will be out of town, but I worked it out with our teacher.  We are reviewing on Wednesday night when I am back at class for our test the following Monday.  I imagine we will have to play something again for our test and then of course memorization and demonstrating that on the test will be required.  

Before now and the test, I need to focus on memory skills for the left hand or bass clef. I have not problem remembering treble clef with "Every Good Boy Does Fine" and FACE. For some reason, the bass clef is not coming as easy with "Good Boys Do Fine Always" or "All Cars Eat Gas".  Again, I know it is time that I need and simply memorization of those sayings and as we continue to work on the treble and bass clef I will start to recognize the lines and spaces as notes.  I have started to do so on the treble and will continue to work on the bass clef.

Overall, I am happy with how the class is progressing.  I am learning  lot and simply need to put more time into the memorization process.  It is crazy to think that in a few short weeks it will be spring break and we will have a week off of class.

Happy music playing and have a great week!

Freakout Control Diminishes As I Get Older... My Experience on a Swing

Following a nice lunch at Cafe Holiday in Topeka with Carrie, brother-in-law Greg, Erin, and then new friends Francie and Jamie, we all decided to head over to the park across the street to get on the swings. Well, a few of us decided to do so anyway....

I am not sure I remember the last time I got on a swing and actually went all out on the swing.  Although the picture to the left does not show it, I was going very high.  It was only a reminder that I am getting older because I was kind of freaked out as I was swinging and not sure how to stop.

I have heard from others that use to love roller coasters that now they cannot go on roller coasters when they are older because of the changes that happen in "older" people.  Yes, I am older at 43 years old.  This was the first time I have felt that feeling... a feeling I really cannot describe... but it felt as though I was out of control and going to get hurt.  I had the feeling I could not stop the swing or control what I was doing.

Now, maybe it is because I am older I do not recall feeling this on a swing when I was young, but this felt like a brand new experience for me.  An experience I did not like too much, so I did some searches and found that it was likely a form of motion sickness.  Or, at least the start of motion sickness anyway.

When I was young, I loved roller coasters, riding anything at the amusement park whether it was a roller coaster or not.  I still think that I would like roller coasters, but this certainly had me wondering if I would be able to handle the roller coasters if I ever make it to an amusement park again.  The feeling I had on the swing was not something I want to have happen again.  Sure, it was fun to start on the swing, but once I got going, I was freaking out inside.  Look at my face in the picture and you can see that there is a little bit of freaking out on my face!

All this makes me wonder if maybe I had the feeling on the swing simply because it had been so long since I had been on a swing.  If I start swinging daily, would I eventually get use to that sensation or would I always feel freaked out about feeling out of control, flying off of the swing, etc.  It makes me wonder about if I am ever on a roller coaster in the future... Could I ever get use to the the thrills, movement, and fast motion of a roller coaster?  It makes me want to at least go out and try a roller coaster this summer.  If it makes me feel like I did on the swing, then I doubt I will ride the coaster more than once.

So, along with needing reading glasses (or bifocals), I also get to experience freaking out on swings, amusement park rides, and unknown future experiences that happen as I age.  Fun!