August 25th Entry

GuuzakaTube                                                                                                  2017-08-25

August 25th Entry

Heh... Heh.... It's a sunny Friday evening at the moment I typed this. 🌞 But due to time contsraints and other things that need to be done, I won't get this uploaded today. 😅 But that's ok ugh... Not gonna end up doing this week's "homework" for next week like how I've already done earlier this week, so I'll just proofread this sometime over the weekend to avoid the painful dilemma ➡ Nope! Ended up having to do this on Monday. 😏 Anyways! So what's going on for this entry? Well, I've got three outdoor locations to discuss and some other topics like usual, so let's explore that!

École Secondaire Catholique St-Charles-Garnier

So this is the 1st outdoors location that I've tested with the new smartphone. So how was the experience with the Lumia and location? Great! I was a little bit concerned about how the optical image stabilization would work, and how well the 20 megapixel camera would fare, but it did not bring disappointment for the most part. What I don't like is how noisy low-light photos and videos come out. I suspect that it may be due to the light scratches the lens has on it, but oddly enough, well-lit areas and photos used with flash on come out great. Either way, I do plan to hopefully get the camera module swapped hopefully soon. Now for school itself! Walking around Charles-Garnier was an average experience: nothing super cool, but not boring either. With it being located at Baldwin Street and Broadleaf Avenue, there were tons of surrounding shopping outlets and restaurants, and lots of cars zipping by. I singled Swiss Chalet out as one of the places that most notably caught my eye, as well as Walmart. I also made it clear that I wasn't hear to dine or shop, but to film and photograph!😁📸 Oh, and here's a fun fact: at the beginning of the video, there was supposed to be a segment in the beginning with me showcasing the Nokia Lumia 1520, and how I was excited to put this big, bad boy to the test. But it did not happen. Why? Because I forgot to include it, and now it looks like I deleted it. Joy. 😒 Not that a big a deal, but would have been great to get it included.

Robert Munsch Public School

Ohhhhhh, Robert Munsch! I'm sure much of you read, or had your teacher or parents read at least one of his books to you while you were younger! Smelly Socks, Murmel, Murmel, Murmel, Millicent and the Wind, Makeup Mess, Mmm, Cookies!, and so many more! Of course, with his popularity, fame and vivid stories over the decades, a lot of people will have their opinions on him. Some good, some not so good. One common accusation I hear about him, is how he'd allegedly write his books while he was high or drunk or something. I've commentated on that during my video, so shortly, but I'm not exactly sure when, I decided to actually look up this guy. For the first time after all the these years! What did I learn? Well, a lot of things... No, he does not smoke weed before writing his books, but has a rather interesting past. Not going to discuss more on that, as I'd like to now take the time to discuss the namesake school. Robert Munsch Public School was a fairly small, but fun place to explore. I don't recall seeing any playgrounds or other bells and whistles that some of the other elementary schools I've visited in the past had. What it did have, was clean, presentable grounds, and a nice front area with "kindness rocks" and gorgeous plants. You can check them out below!😄

Audi (Immaturity)

Ah, yet another Whitbian automobile video. This time, it's Audi time! You know? I remember the days when I used to pronounce it as "Aw-dee" only to learn that it's "Ow-dee". 😵 Wow, those days. Unlike Mazda which I don't have a great interest in, Audi is a brand that I have great interest in. In fact, they are my favourite German automobile manufacturer, with Porsche following a close second. Why? Because they look so damn good, luxurious, sporty, cool and confident. That's why. In the poll which appears in the call-to-action around the 7:27 mark, I ask you about which Audi model is your favourite. For me, that would be the Audi E-Tron Quattro. "What?! But that isn't even on the roads yet!" You might say. Well yeah, it isn't. But that doesn't mean that I can't say that I love the looks and the fact that it's going to be an all-electric SUV!😛🤑🤑😛 Y'all know by know that I'm big fan of SUVS and pickup trucks, and that I'm an even bigger fan of all-electric powertrains! To see one of my favourite brands make a proper sized SUV powered by electricity is something very exciting! I do wish that it would be as large or even larger than the Audi Q7, but whatever. It'll be decent-sized, and has great ground clearance, so I can't complain too much about it. As for this dealership, it's not the biggest Audi dealership around as it's also shared by Volkswagens, which they have much more of. For that reason, we can say that they focus more on Volkswagens, but that doesn't mean that don't they have a decent selection of Audi models for you to shop around for.

What's Next & Other Ramblings

Yo! Cell Cases USA! Where my cases at?! I ordered 2 cases on Monday, August 14, and still haven't seen them yet! They say that shipping into Canada is supposed to  take 6-10 business days, so they should have been at my house by Friday, August 25! What is going on here? If Monday passes and I still don't see them or any updates on the tracking, I'll have to send them a complaint about this situation, because they shouldn't be taking this long. Anyways, case business aside, you can expect to see an unboxing video of the 3-Pack iLLumiShield - Screen Protectors, and several outdoor videos. Speaking of outdoor videos, I should talk more about how I'm getting along with the new Nokia Lumia 1520 camera. For the most part, I'm loving it! The only thing I don't like is the indoor photo quality and lowlight settings. In those environments, it produces images and videos with too much noise. I don't know if it's because of the light scratches across the lens, but if that were the case, how does it manage to take such beautiful photos outdoors? Either I'm not using correctly, or -- wait! I already mentioned my camera experience above under the Charles Garnier section, so I won't bore you with that. I'll just say that having optical image stabilization is my favourite part! Seeing how much of a joy and a blessing it is, I won't buy another phone without it!

Up until the 3rd weekend of August 2017, this has been the thing I've been using to shoot my outdoor videos.🤦🏾😬😱😵😳 I know. An ancient, dual core, 2013-released, 8 megapixel, non-optically stabilized BlackBerry Q10.

Now, I've got my hands on this 20 megapixel, optically stabilized beast!🏆📷📷🏆

Salesmen Section

Alright now it's time for a special moment where I get to be a sketchy salesmen and sell you some narcotics! Totally kidding! 🤣 As you may or may not know, this blog is supposed to be monetized with VigLink. As a result, the VigLink Publisher Development sent me the following message on August 22, 2017:

Seize your summer with the hottest products! Incorporate these top-selling products into your content and take advantage of VigLink-exclusive deals. And remember — gift guides are always a great way to engage your audience. For more tips on how to create a successful gift guide, see our past post, “How to Create a Successful Gift Guide for your Blog.”

So! Rather than bombard you with a whole bunch of garbage, I'm only going to mention 3 products that I'd actually buy, and why you might like them too.

Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG

These do also come in black, so if you're not a fan of white shoes (who isn't?) or just simply have a preference for black, then you need not worry. I personally prefer white shoes given a choice between the two shades, but that's just me. So why would I recommend the Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG? Because they look very cool IMO, and have that Nike logo loud and proud.😤

LG V20 US996 64GB Unlocked Smartphone (Unlocked, Titan) 

The LG V20 is no stranger to me. A little back, I actually briefly played around with this smartphone. The photo above was taken during my time with it. I loved the large screen and high quality metal body. What makes the LG V20 so special is that it looks like it's the last Android flagship to ship with a removable battery. That's right; the upcoming LG V30 will not have a removable battery! Many of you probably don't give two rats about that, but just saying. 😐 The removable battery has gone R.I.P. for 98% of smartphones relased in 2017. The US996 is the US Cellular variant, so don't buy this thing if you're on a CDMA network like Verizon or Sprint. For GSM carriers you should be fine. Always do your research and check compatible bands though, just in case. Never hurts to be extra sure!

Galaxy S8 Screen Protector [2-Pack], iTURBOS Full Screen 

Because I've seen it, I can tell you that the screen on the Samsung Galaxy S8 is gorgeous. That's why it would also be a good idea to protect with it a good screen protector! Some people apparently like to use their smartphones "naked" meaning that they do not use a case or screen protector on their gadgets! 🤦🏾 When I look back at the scratches and damage my screen protectors took over the years, I can tell you that it's not a good idea to leave your phone's screen exposed to all the potential dangers of scratching, scraping and falling. At the end of the day, it's your choice how you choose to dress your smartphone, but if you want it to last, you might want to give it some clothes if you know what I mean.

August 21st Entry

GuuzakaTube                                                                                                   2017-08-21

August 21st Entry

This is entry is late. 😖 It should have been done by the 18th at latest, but here I am getting it done now, when I should by editing this weekend's videos. Joy. Rather than rambling on about that or go into the details, let's just dive right into this and discuss the 5 videos that were uploaded between August 16-20. 

Gadget Unboxing Video

Should I just mention what it is at this point, or give it another day to let more people see the video? I mean, it currently has 6 views (LOL!🤣), but should I wait till after I post it to social media to let more people see it? Yeah, I think I will go with that. I seriously don't expect it to get to like 20 or something, but considering that the entry and social media postings for this video should have been done last week, it makes sense that I hold off until I do that. So what will I discuss for this segment? My experience and how it went with the vendor. I bought this device off of the famous eBay, when I saw the 32GB capacity listed at $168 CAD. I thought "Wow, that's a good price! I better hop on this before it disappears!" And surely I did, because the three items did disappear shortly. I obviously checked the seller's credentials before making the move, just to make sure that I wouldn't regret purchasing from a shoddy seller. They had a very high rating, and stated that they respond to questions quickly. So I decided to test the latter by asking them to confirm that this gadget is indeed 32GB, and free of digitizer problems. What do you know? They actually responded within 1 business day! 😃 All too often, you hear about eBay vendors who don't respond and leave their customers hanging, but these guys didn't. So I was told that it was indeed 32GB and was tested to guarantee functionality. Excellent! So I waited for it to come. I was still concerned about the quality of the used device and whether or not the capacity was really 32GB, as it's really rare to find this thing in 32GB, especially at a price like that. I ordered it on July 27, and it came August 11. Kind of long, considering that the shipping cost me $27.65. It was done through the Global Shipping Program which some Canadians have criticized in the past for being an expensive, circuitous way of shipping things to Canada. Expensive? Yes. Circuitous? I didn't find it overly circuitous in my opinion, but it would have been better for them to just send it directly to me with a faster more straightforward route. Or would that have resulted in import fees? Luckily, I didn't have to pay for that, so I'm thankful for that! Anyways, when it arrived, I was anxious and excited for it. I went ahead to clear a table to film myself unboxing the device. I wasn't pleased with how half of the video turned out, so I left that out after briefly showcasing the device, and made up for it with several quick photos in the video. After dealing with the video, I later went to look into the storage area and found out that it was not the 32GB variant that they listed, but was 16GB!😨 I then took the screenshot and sent the vendor a message asking them why this was so. Their response:

We are sorry for any inconvenience, Unfortunately one of our associates accidentally mixed one Nokia of 16GB with the 32GB lot, We had 3 units available for sale but one of the units was 16GB, please send it back for a Full refund, we will pay for return shipping cost.

Please, let us know if there is any other questions or if you need any assistance.

Ok, great to see that they responded quickly and were willing to give me a full refund, but all 3 were listed under 32GB, so how did they manage to mix 32 with 16? Considering that these phones were tested and have already been used before, they should have known what the internal capacities were. Or maybe it was just a genuine mistake? Who knows for sure. They were responsive and willing to refund, so I do not consider them to be a bad vendor. Even though the device had the wrong capacity, it was in really good condition and did not suffer from the touch issues that many have complained about. This means that it was truly well taken care of for a used device, and was tested well. So because of that, I asked them if I had the option to keep the phone and be refunded half of my money since the device only had half the capacity. They responded shortly saying that they could only refund $20 USD. I then had to decide if I wanted to go with that, or send it back altogether for a full refund. I suspect that many would have just sent it back altogether at this point, but for some reason, I just decided to take the partial compensation. I guess it's boils down to the fact that everything else about the device was fine, so I didn't want to bother with the circuitous return process unless I really had to. Oh, and then there's the fact that they had no more 32GB devices of the same kind to exchange for. Therefore, if I decided to return it and get my full $198 CAD back, I wouldn't have been able to find another 32GB device of its kind at that price, unless I wanted to shell out anywhere between $300 - $500! 😱 For a 4-year-old device, a price like that is not worth it! For most, seeing 16GB instead of the 32GB would be an absolute turnoff, and make them want to return and get their money back immediately, regardless of how well the device otherwise turned out to be. So tell me now: What would you have done in this particular situation?

How much do you know about pickup trucks?

Think you know a lot? Think you know a little? The link to this quiz can be found in the video description, and hopefully you won't suffer from the same problem I had with one of the questions throwing me back to the beginning! It may have just been a mobile browsing issue, but I haven't tested it on my desktop to confirm that. Don't let this discourage you, but just saying this as a potential warning. How well did I do? Fairly well for the most part, but with this being multiple choice as opposed to fill-in-the-blanks, how much you truly know can't be executed. What do I mean? Somebody can guess the whole quiz and get everything right, when they didn't actually know a darn thing. It's the same issue a professor of mine argued back when I was in high school. He said that multiple choice is just guessing, and doesn't truly show how much you know, unless you genuinely knew the answer. Pure truth. I'm not saying that we should go ahead and abolish multiple choice on everything, but just saying: it's either you know your stuff for real or you don't. There's only so much paper or online tests can do to measure your knowledge. Applying what you know in the real world is where others will see your intelligence.📚

What Jamaicans Hate About Jamaica: Reading, Commentary and Discussion

Alright, so what was it that really drove me to make a commentary video about this? I'll tell you: it was a conversation I had with my father about Jamaica. That's what it was. And of course, one of the things that I couldn't help, but mention is the crime rate down there. I later decided to Google "Jamaican Crime Rate" or something along the lines of that. Next thing you know, I see a recent article from the famous Jamaica Gleaner discussing this very thing. "How interesting and coincidental I thought" I took a look at it, found it very interesting, and decided that I had to do a commentary on this matter. You see, Jamaica isn't a horrible place to live or visit, but it does have some nagging issues that need to resolved if it wishes to become on par with places like say Canada. May sound like a bit of a stretch, but it can happen if the bad Jamaicans would just lay off the violence and bad-mindedness, and when the government starts to do more to noticeably improve country. Of course, there's more to this complex situation, but those are two things that I'm sure any Jamaican person would agree with, right? 🏝

Cubix

What's this? Another game with a pink cube? Yes, yes it is. This time it's Cubix! The game involves a pink cube sliding through four levels, while you must avoid hitting certain shapes or falling, till you make it to the end. The music is loud, and the game is flashy. In fact, the game even warns people that suffer from photosensitive epilepsy to refrain from playing it. Nice. Not something you see too often. What I don't like about this game is how you have to pay for pack #2 for more levels. That would have been fine if only pack #3 and #4 were there too, but they aren't, and I feel as though they will never come because the developer, like many others, probably left the BlackBerry 10 platform a thousand years ago. 😒 It's fine to have a level that lets people test the game, but don't ask them to pay for an incomplete game. Not worth it, if you ask me. Still, you can enjoy the 1st pack with its four levels, but just don't be dumb or desperate enough to buy pack #2, until this developer can confirm whether or not they have intentions to release #3 and #4.

Flappy Nyan Cat

Yes, I've played another Flappy spin-off. Not just any random spin-off, but one involving the ever so adorable (or annoying?) Nyan Cat! Yes you can argue that there's too many cat memes on the Internet, and that me playing this game only adds to the problem, but so what? There's a reason why cats are so popular, and that's because they're so commonly kept and their facial expressions for an animal creates so much amusement to us humans. I guess you can say the same for dogs, which also have their fair bit of Internet presence. This Flappy variant is a very colourful, vibrant game that allows you to play as the namesake Nyan Cat or his arch nemesis, Tac Nyan. Wait, is the Nyan Cat supposed to be a boy or girl? I never looked into it, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯!  The version I played was 1.0.0.9 and the reason I'm mentioning this is because I made speculations about the newer versions probably having more features. I've never actually looked into that, so I can't confirm that, unless I watch videos of the alleged newer updates or look it up in Google Play. So aside from playing as memetic Internet cats, what else makes this game so good? The backgrounds! Check them about below. These are screenshots from my session with this game.

What's Next & Other Ramblings

So because this entry is late, much of my focus for this week will be revolved around getting back on track. Not just for YouTube and Blogger, but for other things as well. Once I'm finished dealing with last week's work, you'll see three outdoor videos this week. No games or commentaries unfortunately(?), but you might see those categories next week, as well as some unboxing videos once some goods arrive. Now this is where things are going to get rather random, but do you like tea? 🍵 Not something I usually drink unless I'm under the weather, but I've been drinking it lately. Particularly, Celestial Organics Ginger & Turmeric Herbal Tea and Traditional Medicinals Organic Nettle Leaf Tea. The ginger and turmeric tea has a very powerful, rich, kind of spicy, earthy taste thanks to the fusion of the ginger, cinnamon and turmeric going on there. It doesn't taste bad, so you don't have to sweeten it with honey, unless you want to or can't stand the potency of these ingredients. I was kind of concerned about trying the nettle tea, thanks to all the reviews and warnings saying that it might taste like grass clippings, but guess what? It doesn't. However, that's not to say that it tastes great, but what I'm saying is that sometimes you really have to try something for yourself to know what it tastes like, rather than trusting the tongues of others. To me, nettle tastes like mint without the mintyness if that makes sense. In other words, it tastes like leaf. Not bitter leaf, but an herbal sort of leaf. "So will I like it or what?" You might ask. The answer? I don't know. If you're used to nicer flavours like mint, ginger, raspberry or vanilla or something, then no. You're going to end up sweetening it. Anyways, let's get this post up and get going!

August 10 Entry: West Lynde & Mazda Quests!

GuuzakaTube                                                                                                  2017-08-10

August 10 Entry: West Lynde & Mazda Quests!

Sure sounds like quite the adventure eh? Well yeah, exploring those places was a lot of fun, but what wasn't fun, were the difficulties I had with uploading these flipping videos! Henry Street High School, Saint Marguerite d'Youville Catholic School, and West Lynde Public School all uploaded fine. The latter three, Central Park (Whitby), Hopkins Street and Whitby Mazda (Immaturity) did not! They kept getting stuck in the upload buffer and just wouldn't progress for the life of it! 🔥😡🔥 I had to cancel and try again a few times yesterday, but no avail. Today, I just had to resort to uploading them one by one, and that seemed to have done the trick.🙄 Thing is, it should not and is not supposed to be that way! There's been times where I've uploaded as many as 10 or 8 videos worth several gigabytes of space, and there wasn't an issue! Why this time? Anyways, not going to ramble more about this because the videos are all uploaded now, so let's just go ahead and discuss them.

Henry Street High School

So all 6 of these recent uploads take place in Whitby. This was the first place I visited. How did I find it? Unexpectedly interesting. I kind of thought that it would have been one of those generic, stale-looking buildings for some reason, but when I actually arrived there, boy was I wrong! There were two giant, Canada-themed, wooden chairs in front of the school, and a Henry Hawks chair not too far from them. Never quite seen anything like this on a school's property to date. And while the building itself isn't overly fancy, posh or fresh-looking, it's large size, hills, many corners, and the giant back field made Henry Street a very interesting place to film and photograph. And the good weather was another bonus. 🌞

Saint Marguerite d'Youville Catholic School

After exploring Henry Street, the next school I went to film was Marguerite. I should have learned to pronounce this name before saying it on camera, but oh well, I didn't. Turns out that it was supposed to be pronounced as "Mar-guh-reet" which is pretty close to Margaret, but still; I can imagine calling someone named Marguerite, Maragaret, will result in them giving you a frown, or maybe they'll politely correct you. Maybe they wouldn't care at all? Who knows! Let's just discuss this school itself and what I thought of it. It's a fairly small place, but was ok to explore. It falls short, especially when compared to West Lynde right next to it. It just doesn't have as much to see as its secular counterpart. That said, photography was pretty good, but would have been worse if it were winter!

West Lynde Public School

This school. The front area of it was very interesting to explore, and had many nice things here and there to photograph. Not only that, but the back of it had a playground and a cryptic text on the wall that read "Ice in my veins"! Let me quickly look that up now to see what the meaning of this could be. *Looks up meaning of that phrase* Ahhhh, so that's what it means! Should have been obvious given that it was written close to the basketball hoops. So basically, it's a phrase used in sports when someone kicks it up a notch to crush the enemy and win the game. Who would have thought?! Then again, I am not into sports at all, so go figure. 😅 West Lynde looks quite small from the outside, but it was plenty of fun to explore.

Central Park (Whitby)

This place was right in front of Margaret Marguerite and West Lynde, so I decided to go ahead and explore it. Was it interesting? No. Kind of boring actually. It's not awful, but don't expect it to be anything like the Central Park of New York City. Then again, I've never been to the Central Park of New York City, so how can I truly compare the two? Well, if anyone had to take a look at photos from the two places, and then be asked which of the two's more interesting, they're going to say New York City's Central Park. If you say Whitby, you're either abnormal or extremely biased! 🤣 Well, here's some photos of the place below.

Looks terribly exciting doesn't it? Not! 😆

Hopkins Street

A low quality, wobbly video of me walking down Hopkins Street. 😖 Sheesh, why did the video have to turn out so like that? I mean the shakiness is one thing, but why the less than stellar resolution? Is it because I left HDR off in a sunny environment with lots of cars or something? I don't know, but thank goodness this wasn't meant to be a "serious" video. I still would have much appreciated the full 1080p sharpness, but it's too bad it decided to come out looking more like 480p or something. Or am I just being overly fussy about the sharpness? Who knows. The video greets you with a warning slide and "triumphant" synth music to let you know what to expect. Video quality aside, it was a nice, warm, sunny day, and it was fun to visit an area I haven't explored in quite a while. Truth be told, the video isn't entirely Hopkins, as part of it does cover Consumers until when I reach the Mazda dealership and terminate the video there. Speaking of it, let's go right ahead and discuss that! 

I'll fess up and admit that these are screencaps of the video, hence why they look so grainy. Let me show you a picture from Consumers to show you the contrast in quality.

See? Much sharper!

Whitby Mazda (Immaturity)

Oh, at last! It feels like it's been forever since I've done one of these ridiculously goofy dealership videos! The last video like this was Ontario Hyundai Whitby [Immaturity] uploaded on June 17, 2017, so it's only been almost two months. Wait, 2 months?! No wonder it feels like forever! Anyways, so let's go ahead and discuss this place: how did I find it? Quite alright. Mazda isn't a brand that I'm too into, so I wasn't overly excited. That's why I couldn't recite the names of the cars because I only know the Mazda Miata. Still, like what I said from Hyundai at the time, the fact that I don't know them is what actually makes this tour mysterious: wandering among unfamiliar cars. And when I had to look up the names to make the poll question, I was just like "Whoa! I don't know any of these!" Most of their cars seem to be pretty small in nature. There are some medium-sized cars, but nothing full-sized. Toyota, Nissan, Honda and I think Mitsubishi offer full-sized vehicles, and they're Japanese, so I'm not sure why Mazda doesn't. Could we see a full-sized electric pickup truck from them in the future? Doubt it! Anyways, this was a fun car dealership to tour, despite being a bit smaller than some of the others I've visited. 

Other Ramblings & What's Next

Still waiting on that thing to come! Apparently, I'm told that it's supposed to arrive tomorrow, so I'll be on the lookout for that! 👀 With the 6 recent videos on the channel being outdoor videos, you can certainly say that I got a lot of exercise, sunshine and fresh air that weekend. Next month will bring in autumn for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, so you have to enjoy the warmth while you can. That's if you live in a cold country of course. For those of you with dry and wet seasons, I don't know what to really say about that! 😅 Don't really have anything else I want to say, so I'll conclude this entry. Guess I can tell you to leave a comment telling me which of the videos you liked most out of this batch, or what you thought of this entry in general.