Q4 – Year End

If you are one of American Express platinum members, then you know as of the first of October you can use more of those new benefits, such as a Lululemon treat for yourself or friend. Hey, there are a lot of products under that $75 threshold so go get another free gift. I got my first free bag and I love it.

In this day and age, everyone has stuff to carry around. Phones, tablets, keys, wallets. It’s just smart to have a good durable bag. And I don’t know about you but I always like free. I also used my Sax’s $50 credit to get some Skin111. I also have a $300 credit for a hotel night or two.

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The American Express Platinum charge card

I had some friends tell me my link for the AmEx platinum card referral wasn’t working. So here is an updated one. Click here. https://americanexpress.com/en-us/referral/platinum-card?ref=AaRONS4ZH8&xl=cp01

If you aren’t familiar with the card, probably the biggest perk is the membership rewards points. You get a point for every dollar you spend, sometimes more. You can then use those for plane tickets, hotel rooms or even Amazon purchases. There are already tons of reviews of the benefits and if it is worth it to you, then you should get the card. I have had it since 1994 and I love it. Membership has privileges.

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apple watch … dead

My apple watch is dead again. What? You’ve gotta be kidding me. No. I think it is a conspiracy. Batteries only have so many charges and then they hold the charge less and less. So needless to say, I can’t make it a day. So rather than upgrading to the latest model, I changed models all together.

Check out my new smartphone watch! The Alpha Gear Raptor Pro. Of course you can change faces. Answer calls. Get texts. Listen to music. What more do you need? Oh yes, it also does blood pressure and sleep, and is my pedometer. I charge it once a week. Yes, that was a major determining factor. Plus, the apple watch looks cheap when you are dressed up in a nice suit. This watch can look amazing and it has an amazing price. I linked it, but only if you want one. No referral bonuses or anything. I have used it for almost 2 months now and I just love it. Yes, it is definitely #AaronApproved. There are a plethora of different models, prices and specials going on their website. I don’t hate apple, but I’m not in the cult. Brand loyal, not brand obsessed.

So if you hadn’t heard, TikTok had a deal, and it wasn’t a very good one for independent or liberal creators. It is now owned by republican MAGA people. Yikes. No free speech. So that is also why I am on my site and now Substack, the newest blogging platform. I’m going to be doing some awesome help me find jobs and market myself to the world articles. I just posted a new one today. Check it out here.

Life is so much more pleasant when you stop doom scrolling. I play Angry Birds 2 in my free time. I forgot how relaxing it can be. Have a great weekend folks! I’m revisiting Pretty Little Liars. I’m only in the first season. Great show to be playing in the background as I go about my projects and chores.

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The Cult of Apple

Are you a member of this cult? This group has been around for decades and like all of their following, it doesn’t matter what apple puts out as new products, they are there standing in line waiting with fists full of cash and their like new last year model ready to trade in for a credit. As a wireless veteran I have seen all kinds of marketing gimmicks that lured customers into financing a phone. Sure there are a ton of YouTube videos outlining how you can get a new phone for basically free. You only have to commit to a 2 year plan that you will pay inflated prices for your cell phone service. It really hasn’t changed that much, other than you can’t get this special pricing every day. You can get on the apple lease program. They don’t call it that, but that is what it is. You are renting your iPhone forever, until you decide to pay it off, or wait for the lease/pay off to run out. If you are like me, I upgraded when the 16 came out, with the 15 Pro Max. Keep in mind, I came from an 11 Pro Max. That phone technically still works if you use Air Pods for phone calls. I think the microphone went out, and people couldn’t hear me.

So rather than being tempted by the dozens of reviews, pictures, and social media posts, I decided it would be best to NOT commit another 2 years of overpriced cell phone service. Let’s be honest, how much “talk” time do you really use every month? Exactly. Unless you use it for work, then of course you are going to talk a lot. So what is it you are paying for exactly? Internet, text messaging. And if you are on WiFi, which is almost everywhere, then you don’t need phone service. In fact, I know of a lot of guys who use a Voip number like Talkatone, and their phone only works in WiFi. I actually have a QR code in my guest bathroom so my friends can connect to my high speed internet. Your router should have that feature. I also have it in the guest room for when visitors come. I actually hate having to spell out the WiFi password everytime someone comes over. So if you are looking to cut corners and you just realized you are almost always in WiFi, then just cancel your service.

Now if you absolutely can’t get rid of your service, AND your device is unlocked, you have an option. Also keep in mind you can buy an unlocked iPhone many places, such as the apple store. What I did was take my personal iPhone 15 and move it to Mint Mobile. I had to prepay for a year, no big deal, and activate it. So before on Tmobile I was paying for 2 lines, about $150 a month. That also includes the lease payment on my current phone. But now with the new line for one year, it came to $16.67 a month. <drops mic> You know data alone costs more than that on other providers. My phone still works on the same Tmobile network, 5G. Same number. E sim. Super simple. So here is the tricky thing, when you transfer your number you need a special pin. Not your security pin. You have to go into the Tmobile app, generate the pin, and it is good for 48 hours. I did not know this, and of course my port requests were denied. So thankfully Madelyn at Mint Mobile was a delight. Totally a five star experience. She ported my number, did a 3 way call and then walked me through the rest, which was all done via their app. Very cool. So it came to $200 for a year. All those sneaky fees and taxes are included. It has been a very smart move and will help the monthly cash flow. So if you are curious, here is my referral link. http://fbuy.me/vfrx3 By using this link you will get a friend credit!

I had a friend years ago who wanted my stamp of approval on things. He said, If I had all the research and spent my own money on it, then he wanted it too. And so conjured #AaronApproved.

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I unFRIEND you!

Do you remember that funny insurance commercial where the old lady puts her pictures from her vacation literally on her living room wall? OMG I laughed so hard at that. She called it her Facebook wall. When her friend made a comment she said “I unfriend you.” Again, I laughed at the silliness of that. Imagine if you got into an argument in real life and shouted that at your friends? I think we’d all get a little comic relief from that.

Well one day I knew the time would come that I would no longer have an interest in Facebook or Threads. Bottom line is that is THEIR platform and they have the right to manage and regulate it as they please. Well, if you don’t like it then GTFO. Oh I’m not going to delete my profile, or inactivate it. I am an admin of many groups, so I can’t technically do that without messing up a bunch of things. Think about what you actually get out of Facebook. “Oh I want to keep up with my friends.” Uh huh. How many friends are posting interesting life changing posts? Other than me? Not too many.

Over the years I have managed to accumulate a massive amount of “friends” and I honestly don’t know a lot of them. The chaos that the United States of America has endured has caused an unbearable amount of truth and honesty to come out sadly. Those who you thought you like, loved and trusted have turned out to be horrible people. I have been preaching “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” for years. It hurts my heart that there are people in my circle that want to intentionally hurt other people. Well Karma is a bitch. So long story short, I basically unfriended everyone on Facebook. I posted that I am no longer posting on there, and I am not responding to any comment. For the past year I only logged onto Facebook from 3-4 a.m. as there was no one online and I could post, not be disturbed and then log off for another 24 hours. That worked really well. But if you are like me, then at some point in your life, you got into some sort of disagreement with someone you like/admire/love and it didn’t turn out so great. Yeah, me too. As Elsa said, “Let it go.”

My friends, family, and readers can still keep reading my blogs, posts, and articles. I also wanted to share that I just joined Substack.com, another platform designed for content creators. It sort of feels a little like Threads, but without the restrictions. “Are you sure you want to post this?” A social media platform is NOTHING if there are no creators entertaining the masses. If you want to follow/subscribe to me on Substack, my handle, of course is, “aaronmstephens‘.

And to answer your question, no I won’t be just reposting my blog on Substack. I will have original content on each platform. So, there is a reason to check both. A really cool thing about both platforms is that I can write whatever I want, and NO ONE can make me change it.

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Subscribe. Email Me!

Did you know you can subscribe to the blog and get an email when I post an update? If you scroll down to the bottom of the site there is a subscribe feature. Back when email was a big thing I had a lot of people that wanted to read the blogs but couldn’t always get to a web browser. Think Blackberry days. Palm Pilot anyone? I don’t send out salesy emails, it’s just a feature built into the site that will email whatever I post. I don’t actually have access to those email addresses, they go through a WordPress plugin called Jetpack. And you can always unsubscribe. But why would you? Everyone still checks their email. There might be something important that shows up in your inbox. Like an email/blog post from me. 😉

And if you haven’t liked my Facebook page, you can click “like” while you are down in the footer subscribing. I know, I know, a lot of people don’t even use Facebook anymore. But … there are millions that do. A million thank you’s my friend!

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Alien Earth – Review

Weyland Corporation is at it again, and this time the story takes place years and year ago, when a space explorer starship went out into the universe and went out seeking new life. Sounds kind of like Star Trek right? Well, it isn’t quite the “New Contact” series that we are used to. In fact, we only pick up parts of the story here and there. It is full of holes, memories, and facts that the audience is still yearning for the entire episode. They bounce around a lot so don’t get upset when all of the sudden they are in a past story telling you what you missed. We are introduced to all new characters, good guys (and girls) and some new evil villains.

Something new this time is the creation and discovery of FIVE new species. I won’t ruin it for you, this isn’t a spoilers review. It’s more of an old fashioned book report, that entices you to say “Hey, I’ll go subscribe to Hulu just for this show.” I personally really like the direction they went with the storyline. We all know and hate the alien reproduction process. We also learn how and what is actually inserted when the face hugger gets you. They manage to capture a live one, dissect it and pull out the unfertilized embryo before it gets inserted into the lungs of its host. Yeah, the whole show is still pretty gross and it really makes you squirm sometimes. Watch each episode a couple of times as you really do pick up new things the second time around.

Aliens Earth shows every Wednesday at 6 p.m. on Hulu.

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Orange iPhone

So I successfully upgraded my iOs, AND I got my new decal stickers so my phones feel like they are new. Look at all the money I have saved. I’m not quite sure what all the new features are yet, but I’m sure there will be a plethora of YouTube reviews. The one feature I am excited about is the language translation via the Air Pods. I think I need to get new airpods in order to make that feature work. I am guessing the new pods have a chip it in that makes it smart and work with Apple AI. So, if you want to save a few coin, just get a decal, from Amazon, and make your phone feel all new and pretty.

It’s literally a sticker and takes less than a minute to install.

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Apple iOs 26

ICYMI, apple is releasing the new operating system today! You can check their website when your country is launching. If you are like me, Denver can get their new operating system update at 11 a.m. Mountain Daylight Time.

I’m excited! Especially if you are not going to get the new iPhone, just getting the operating system will make it “feel” like a new phone. I went ahead and opted for an orange decal sticker for $20. I’m old school and don’t feel you need to upgrade every year or even every other year. Do you get a new car every few years? Other than a lease? No. You keep it, and thank god you don’t have car payments.

Sorry I haven’t kept up on the site, but if you go read my posts on Threads, you will see I still have been active. But yes, there will be a lot more movie and television reviews coming up soon!

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The Legend of Zelda – Tears of the Kingdom

May 12th is the big day! After six years Nintendo has finally released a new Zelda game. Yes I admit I am one of the loyal followers/gamers who is anxiously awaiting the new game release/launch. For many, millions of already downloaded the digital version of the game and we are just waiting for the clock to hit midnight so we can all start exploring once again. I had no idea there were so many millions of gamers. Friday is the big day. I’ll be playing at midnight just like everyone else! Game on!

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