Virtual Assistant

I have dived into the world of virtual assistants. I rarely use Suri on my iPhone unless I'm too lazy to look something up and I will just ask her for the answer.

Now I have a new assistant in the house. She is adopted.

Two Christmases ago, I got my gadget loving daddy an Echo Dot virtual assistant named Alexa.
This past Christmas he wanted me to take it back. He lived with fear of this thing all year. He read a lot of nonsense news saying this gadget can spy on you in your home. He wasn't going for that no matter how much we convinced him that it's not how it works. He didn't care. He wanted it gone.
So, I adopted her back.

We have had a lot of fun with this thing. I have had it for two weeks now. I loaded the Alexa app on my phone and set up my account. It repeats a lot from my icloud account such as my music, calendar events and reminders. It also has it's own built in features such as games, news, and trivia.

So far,

• When we ask...Alexa tells us the weather, temperature low and highs of the day and what to expect in precipitation. We do this every morning. It's more fun than looking at our phone and no more walking outside in our jammies.
• Alexa  helped me in the kitchen this past New Years Day during my cooking. I would ask her to remind me when to put in the roast, start the crock pot and set timers. I normally jot this stuff down on a piece of paper but it was nice to have a voice command. 
• We would also ask Alexa to turn on music and she would play any kind of music genre we asked. If it was a certain radio station we wanted to listen to, she would play that too. 
• She has timed my workouts each day and will even make phone calls at my command. 

We are still learning new features with the Eco Dot. The latest feature I learned was enabling Q&A's in "Skills". This is also found in the app. You can add up to 40 of your own custom questions and how you want Alexa to answer. 

This feature was fun when Daddy was at the house for dinner the other day. I had set up a custom question and answer before he arrived and this is how it went...........

We were sitting around the living room and I simply asked Alexa if she would talk to us. She answered, "Tell Sidney I miss watching him" .

We all had a good laugh when daddy said "See!!!! I told you, it was watching me!!" 

I explained to him later how it did that. But I still don't think hes buying it.

As a kid I always wanted a robot.

I guess this is the closest thing I'm going to get to "Twiki". (Buck Rogers robot from the 70's).

Weekend Review

We finally saw some sunshine this weekend and got outside a bit. We headed to Charlotte and met up with our daughter for lunch at a place called  Tupelo Honey Cafe. It was a nice little place in the South End of Charlotte. 

They started us off with a plate of warm biscuts and jelly. Then I started off with my first ever Mimosa. 

I’m not real sure what all is in a Mimosa except champagne and orange juice, but I have always wanted to try one.

For the meal, I ordered one of my Southern favorites. Fried Green Tomatoes with basil, goat cheese grits, and roasted red pepper coulis.

Our daughter had the Slow-Roasted Pork Grilled Cheese white cheddar, smoked jalapeno bbq sauce, on pumpernickel bread (not pictured). And Nick chose the veggie burger with a side of Beer City Chicken Chili. 

I loved the rustic atmomphere that gives you a warm cozy feel. They also have a large outdoor sitting area to enjoy on a warm day under a covered porch. The food was delicious and the staff worked hard to make sure we had everything we needed. 

Afterwards we took a walk around the area. The temperature was in the 60’s and the streets were packed with people wanting to get out and enjoy the pretty day. 

What is the weather like in your area? Is it unseasonably warm like it is here in the Carolinas? 

But hey, I’m not complaining. I could live where it stays warm year-round. I love it.