Change is Inevitable

My first mention of MS Teams here was in August 2021. The software plays an important part of their business or enterprise projects. It was pushed a bit more to the forefront with the release of Windows 11 as a consumer product.

   

Remember COVID and the big push to do business without contact?  Teams did work.  I got our closest friends to sign up.  It was a great opportunity to get rid of email for communications between us.  Teams introduced the group to a constant conversation with media and the ability to scroll up to see what one missed.  That now seems indispensable!

However, today marks the end of our use of it.  Everyone has moved on and loaded up Whatsapp.  This makes it easier for those of us who already use the platform.  It is common in Europe and Asia and we often  need it to communicate with Airbnb hosts and general business contacts during our winters away.  Jay uses it to stay in contact and speak with his sisters in Sri Lanka.

Now, our ongoing group chat has moved to Whatsapp too.

Goodbye, Microsoft Teams.  Thanks for the memories.

Our Second Sunday in May

It was Sunday.  It was another one of those mixed-bag weather days.  The sun and showers were spotty. We decided to head across the river.  

First, we stopped at the Home Depot.  We've been thinking about replacing the dishwasher.  A few years ago, we got a new refrigerator and stove but didn't bother to replace the dishwasher at that time.  Ours is still the original from when our building was built.  That makes it decades old.  We seldom use it, but perhaps if we get a newer, energy / water efficient model we'd let the appliance actually wash our daily dishes. We simply looked at what they had.

Following that, we drove up the hill to shop at the T&T Asian Supermarket.  Today, we were luckier and found the items that were missing last time.  The frozen blocks of lemongrass from Vietnam were available today.  As well, curry leaves were finally fresh and the price had dropped back to what we normally pay.  Of course, I encouraged Jay to buy some items from the prepared Chinese food area too.  We will eat the items with our usual lunches for a bit of variety.

Oh, and later in the afternoon, we saw a message from Tim on MS Teams as he was out exploring on his motorcycle.  He wondered if were home.  We were.  He came upstairs for a mini chat and then we saw him off.  It was our chance to see his exciting means of conveyance.

Sri Lankan Hoppers for Breakfast

Day 88 - Jay and I had an impromptu MS Teams video chat with some friends in Vancouver this morning. Actually, it was still last night there as we are 13 1⁄2 hours ahead of British Columbia. It was a rather choppy connection as all our Internet was going through 4G on Jay's phone but I was chatting on my tablet and Jay was on our travel Windows laptop. 

I mentioned that we had hoppers for breakfast. They thought I mean string hoppers as they'd eaten that type when Jay made dinner for the gang once. In fact, I have on occasion gone on and on about string hoppers in my blog.  

Regular hoppers and egg hoppers are just as an important part of Sri Lankan cuisine. I was sure had completed a dozen entries on this personal favourite.  They can be served as breakfast, lunch, dinner, or simply a snack. However, I could only find one reference published back on September 10, 2009! 

So, for today's blog post, I'll add the same three photos I sent via MS Teams and copy the same text sent.

 

"These are another type of hoppers. Jay served string hoppers in New West. Those are the extruded noodle -type made into little nest pads."   

"These are regular hoppers and several egg hoppers are shown too. They require a special pan. The outside should be paper thin and crispy. The middle is plump and soft. They are made from just rice flour and coconut milk (sometimes yeast) left out overnight to ferment. They can be eaten for any meal with bananas and spicy fried onion and chillies. Or can be eaten with anything. They are easier to eat than make. It's normal to eat about five."

 

Today's Shopping List Had Woodapple Jam

Day 43 - I wanted to go to town today.  There was really nothing we absolutely, positively needed but I enjoy seeing the activity near the Minuwangoda clock tower.  We went early so as to beat the heat.  I think the high temperature today got to 33C and that is with high humidity.  I'm more built for this than the cold weather I hear they're having at home in British Columbia now.

We stopped at a number of places. Jay wanted to mail a letter to a friend for whom he has no phone number. I stopped for a cash withdrawl at the People's Bank ATM. And we did some grocery shopping in the Co-Op Supermarket. I think I still prefer this place to the several other newer supermarkets in town.    

I did buy two, very small bottles of woodapple jam. I got them because I'd copied the following picture to some Vancouver friends in MS Teams. Of course, they'd not seen nor eaten a woodapple.  However, the fruit is something I make sure not to miss when in Sri Lanka.  I love the astringent, custardy flesh and the unique taste that can only be described as woodapple-like!  The manufactured jam bottles will let them have a sample of the flavour and the 200 ml jars should be easy to carry back to Canada.

Saturdays Mean Grocery Shopping

It was Saturday. Our routine is to go early to the Canadian Superstore in Coquitlam.  I thought when we retired we might choose to shop on another day of the week.  Some habits are hard to break, I guess.

   

We really didn't accomplish much this afternoon. 

Jay and I were happy to see our condo's hot tub was running again. The pump broke and had to be completely replaced as buying parts for the original was no longer an option. It must have been out of commission for at least a couple of months. As we've had a lot of hot weather, it probably would not have been used as much as usual. We used to sit in the swimming pool during our summer's hot spells. Today has been pretty cloudy with a bit of occasional drizzle. This made us feel comfortable trying out the new pump. 

Oh, I've convinced some friends to download Microsoft Teams.  We added them today.  Although we've never been big on video conferencing, I think we'll update our habits.  I really want to get away from Facebook messaging, so although I kept the standard Lite app on my phone, I deleted the FB Messenger app.

Call Me, Bubbles!

There's a comma in the title, so obviously I'd like Bubbles to contact me.  May I suggest contacting me via MS Teams?  I use the email address already known to friends.  Add me.

I retired well before this crippling COVID situation and I have been away from office productivity workflow for a long time.  Frankly, I've had a very hard time trying to get excited about Zoom or any type of video chatting. Of course, I've seen images of monitors showing all the little faces of online participants. I guess it gained importance due to an educational and governmental survival situation.  People could clearly see that we needed better ways to get stuff done during lockdowns and work-from-home. 

I have been a bit skeptical about how Microsoft seems to be putting MS Teams as a central point in the big Windows 11 update that'll be coming later this year.

   

Today, I critically examined how little Jay and I used messaging and video chats, even with close friends. Arranging a little, 6-person dinner party forces us to resort to thirty-year-old tools. I often forget to reply to all in the email app though.  We definitely could use something better. 

However, Shinji doesn't use WhatsApp. Ed, as well as Jiwan, are allergic to Facebook. Tim uses Facetime and a little Facebook but Jay uses primarily Facebook and a little WhatsApp.  You can see why our chat avenues for planning and coordination have been practically non-existent. 

A meeting-type video chat seems evermore unlikely; that is, until today.  I downloaded MS Teams on my Android devices and our Windows PC.   How neat that participants don't need to download anything special to take part in a group video meeting!   It's multiplatform, open-source, and will prove to be transformative. 

I think I will be able to host a video conference even if none of these folks download the actual Teams software.  I can send a link and they can participate on whatever device or operating system they're near.  Of course, getting them completely onboard the Team bandwagon with the iOS, Android, or Windows app would make chat much easier and planning one thousand times more productive.