March Stats for Working Out Have Gone Way Down Compared to January and February

With it being March Madness, it really disrupted my workout plans. As you can see during the month of March I had a week where I only worked out once and three weeks where I only worked out twice. It was a struggle! So, looking over the stats, you can see I was down four days from the previous month for working out. There were some days I could have worked out as I knew my schedule for the week, but the motivation was lacking in March and it continues to lack on this Sunday late afternoon as I write this update. In fact, today, April 10, I did not work out at all this past week. I had planned to ride today to get in something, but spent the morning and afternoon working on cutting up a tree. I am exhausted, so I sit here writing this watching the Master’s finish up and drinking a beer. I am spent! My back hurts and I could fall asleep. I did manage to get in a mediation to keep my weekly streak going on Peloton, but it really feels like cheating.

So, overall, I was down on everything from workouts, to calories burned, to miles. This month is not looking much better, so hoping it is a wake up call for me to get back at it again. After today, I plan to get on the bike again on Tuesday. 

Not a lot of updates on my exercise routine other than it is down considerably from previous months and not looking much better so far for April. I still have time though to improve April, so we will see how it goes. I do plan, as I mentioned a few months ago, to start running at least one day each week and now that the weather is warming up, I might start that this month. I do enjoy running and the routine of running. My knees do not like it much, but our dog Oliver loves it because it knows when I run we will go on a walk afterwards. 

I hope you are keeping up with your workout routine and I look forward to getting back on my three day a week routine this next week.

Final Results of the 2022 ESPN Tournament Challenge in the March Madness Hopefuls Group

What a March Madness we had! All kinds of fun games, late nights, and good memories. The final result helped a number of us in the end with Kansas Jayhawks winning. It will be one week on Monday that KU won the national championship. What a run and what a game! But this update is about the top winners in the March Madness Hopefuls group.

The group saw a number of people rise and fall from the top spot from game-to-game and week-to-week. In the end, we had four that finished in the top three spots. Uncle Charlie won our group with a total score of 1,180 points. Followed by yours truly with 1,140 points. Third place was locked in by Betsy Hoke and Shawn Geil with 1,130 points. 

Uncle Charlie had only one entry to the tournament and it ended up clinching the top spot in our group. Meanwhile, I had three entries in this group alone and a total of seven entries overall. Betsy had three entries in our group and Shawn had two entries. So, Uncle Charlie won our group with only one entry. Nice job!

I am sure we will hear from Uncle Charlie during the off season and into next year when the tournament starts how he won it all. Congrats!

It is so exciting to have people playing in our group and entering multiple entries. It makes the tournament fun as we watch the changing leaders following each upset or after each week ends. What a fun time! We had over 40 entries in the group and the average points scored for our group was 555 points.

Great year and looking forward to next year!

Picture-in-Picture Finally Arrived on YouTube TV Apple Devices App #YTTV #PIP #iOS

Finally! YouTube TV finally rolled out Picture-in-Picture (PIP) to iOS and iPad through their application (see article on 9to5Google). Prior to this past week the only way to watch a show on YouTube TV while doing something else on your Apple device was to use Safari or split screen with the application. Not ideal! It is good to be able to multitask and keep current on a game that is playing or a show from the DVR.

The ability to be able to use PIP on my iPhone while watching a show is the best improvement from this change. Prior to this week, it was not possible to use Safari on the iPhone to watch PIP or even to use the app and split screen as the iPhone does not allow this to work. Starting Thursday evening, I am now able to do PIP without any problem. The ability for Android customers on YouTube TV have been able to use PIP for a long time, so it is finally good to get the feature on Apple iOS devices.

I am still waiting for a new guide to show up on our Roku devices for YouTube TV (see article on 9to5Google). Having been with YouTube TV for over two years, the guide has been the same since we signed up. A new user interface was needed for the guide. The existing guide works, but it does lack in the ability to read about a show before tuning into the show or seeing which shows are selected to record. From what I have read, it sounds as though the option to read about a show before tuning in will be available as well as seeing on the guide which shows are set to record. The whole interface will be different, so I am excited to see how it looks and any other new features that are added.

A few new features rolling out from YouTube TV is good to see and I hope to see more features sooner rather than later. Having been with YouTube TV for two years with no changes, it feels good to see some improvements for the user interface being introduced. That is not to say that YouTube TV has not added other new features such as channels or features to add such as 4K or downloads, but having these features added to the base is a bonus. Once the new guide is available, I will post a follow up to post my review of the new user interface.

Follow Up to Oscar Nominations and Impressions… We Did Not Watch all of Best Picture Noms #Oscars #BestPicture

I had intentions of watching all of the best picture nominated movies as outlined in the post from February 27 posting, but that turned out to be a little difficult. Some of the movies were not available to watch via streaming until just recently. As tonight as Oscars night, we have four movies we did not watch. First time in a few years we have not watched all of the Oscar nominated best picture movies. We are still looking forward to tonight for the Oscars.

We were able to watch Westside Story a week or so ago. A lot of hype and of course I already knew the story. They did a nice job, but I am not sure it is best picture in my view. Entertaining, signing was good, acting was good, but some of the other movies I like better. We were also able to watch King Richard which we watched Saturday night. It was good and fun to watch the charger of Richard Williams throughout the movie. Good movie, but again, not what I see as best picture.

That leaves the following movies which we were not able to watch as we lead up to the awards this evening: Dune, Drive My Car, Belfast, and Licorice Pizza.We will watch these movies, but probably over the next few weeks. I heard that Dune was good and better than the original. I wanted to see Belfast as the story sounded interesting. So far at the top of my list for Best Picture remains CODA. I doubt it will be best picture, but I thought CODA was fantastic! Well done, great acting, and the story was inspiring. 

Before the Oscars tonight, we have some basketball to watch this afternoon, a baseball game or two, and then we will settle in for some awards. Looking forward to the day and see how everything turns out.

Decided to Add MLB.TV to YouTube TV Again for the Season #MLB #YTTV #YouTubeTV

I changed my mind from when I posted back on March 20 (see post) where I said I was not going to purchase MLB.TV this year. After hearing some updates from other YouTube TV subscribers to MLB.TV with the main change from last year being that you can now link your MLB account to your YTTV subscription. Game changer! This means I can log in and watch games through the MLB.TV app on my iOS devices, TV, or watch on the computer. Last year, the initial rollout of MLB.TV on YouTube TV, I could only watch games (out-of-market) through the YouTube TV site which also means I could record games too. While that was nice last year, it is also a perk to be able to access through the MLB.TV site for condensed games, highlights, etc. that were not available when doing the subscription last year.

It is still the case that while I subscribe to MLB.TV through YouTube TV, blackouts still exist or at least they will once the regular season starts. Yesterday, I watched the Royals through the app on my phone. Worked great! For the past week or so, MLB.TV has been offering free preview of many of the spring training games. That free preview ended yesterday, so that helped me in making my decision to proceed with the purchase again this year.

Who is ready for the season to start? I have two fantasy baseball leagues to draft before the season starts, so working to get things figured out on those leagues. Ready to have some fun and looking forward to a fun season. Enjoy the season!

Relaxed Workout Schedule, Lots of Basketball, Baseball, and YouTube TV Guide Changes Looming

I am a little late on posting my Sunday posting. I usually try to do so during the week, or Saturday, and have it post by midnight Saturday night. Well, this week, other than posting a St. Patrick’s Day post, I did not get it done. It was a short work week for me as I took off of work Thursday half-day and Friday all day to watch basketball. It has been a fun few days off and lots of basketball. Plus, I get to connect with my sister, Dina, to discuss various games. We usually discuss the upsets or of course KU games are discussed, so it has been fun to watch, discuss, and cheer for games this weekend.

My exercising routine did not go well this week. I had planned to work out my regular three times this week, but as it turned out, I only got one workout in today (Sunday). The two earlier in the week never happened. We ended up going out for impromptu dinner Tuesday night when I was planning to ride and when we got back home, I did not feel like riding the bike. I already knew that my Thursday workout was going to be another day to schedule as I was taking off Thursday afternoon and all day Friday. So, I changed and planned to work out Friday morning before the games started, but I could not get motivated to get on the bike. Instead, I stayed in my lounge chair where I would sit for most of the day watching games. So, not a good week for working out which is not good, but hopefully with an hour long bike ride this morning on Sunday, I will get back into the swing of riding again.

MLB spring training started this past week, so I have been tuning into their games. I listened to the Royals spring training game on Friday which was fun (ended in a tie 5-5), but it was good to hear baseball again and hear familiar names of the Royals players. I have also been tuning into every Washburn baseball game to watch it on the MIAA network. There have been some fun games for Washburn baseball. Washburn baseball is 17-7 on the season, so they have been fun. Planning to get out to watch some of their home games here soon too.

I decided that I would not be buying the MLB.TV package from YouTube TV this year. I did it last year as it was the first time they had it, but other than being fun to watch other teams, it does not do a whole lot for me. I already buy the subscription for radio broadcast, so I can tune into any radio broadcast for MLB. The hope of having Royals back on YouTube TV is about gone. I do not see anyway for Royals to be on YouTube TV again.

Related to YouTube TV, I read an article today that Google is testing a new guide for YouTube TV subscribers. We have not picked up the new update yet, but I am excited to see what they do with the changes. An article from 9to5Google shows what some users are seeing in the testing. Some of the mentioned changes are things I have wanted since joining YouTube TV with being able to see descriptions without going to the show. So, I look forward to the change to rollout to our Roku systems.

For me, back to watching March Madness, streaming Washburn baseball, and watching the Royals later through my Mom’s Bally Sports account. Enjoy your Sunday and talk to you next week.

St. Patrick's Day, March Madness Starts, and Luck of the Irish

 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! May you have a bit of the Irish in ya and have good luck toward your March Madness basketball picks. Be safe and lucky today! 

 

As I was getting ready for work this morning, I was thinking back to when I was a kid and had to make sure I was wearing green. Not so much anymore and truthfully, most years, St. Patrick’s Day goes by without so much as a celebratary drink. This year though, I took a half day from work, but not for St. Patrick’s Day. I took off work to watch college basketball. This is one of my favorite times of year to watch nothing but basketball all day long. So, I did a half day today and all day tomorrow. I cannot wait!

 

If you have not completed your bracket, do so now. Games start at 11 am CDT. You need to completed your bracket(s) now. If you need a group to join, March Madness Hopefuls on ESPN.

 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day and enjoy March Madness!