Thursday, August 26, 2021

People Who Steal Flowers From Private Property

Today I was driving through a business park around my neighborhood and I happened to see a guy helping himself to a handful of flowers from one of the planted areas near the road. I actually recognized the guy as someone who lives nearby. I didn't do anything about it at the moment but it has been on my mind and in fact, this is not the first time I have seen someone stealing flowers from this area. A while back, I remember seeing another person basically going on a tour of the business park and creating their own bouquet of flowers.

After doing a little research online it seems there are many cases like this of people stealing flowers from other people's property. I find it very bizarre that someone would do something like this. Personally I don't have much interest in flowers so I find it especially odd that someone would go out of their way to steal flowers that someone else has planted.

I guess they want the flowers for themselves either to replant or to just put in a vase in their house and apparently their moral compass is not very good. Still it is strange that someone would do something like this. I have thought about reporting it to police, but it seems so petty that I don't even think it would be worth it.

If I see it happen again, I might approach the person and let them know they should not be stealing flowers. Maybe even get some pictures or video of the theft just in case. I guess stealing flowers is just another thing to add to the list of stupid things people do.

Have you seen anyone stealing flowers or have you had flowers stolen from your property? Feel free to leave a comment below. 

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Coffee Meets Bagel Review - Should you try this dating app?

I have tried several different dating sites and apps over the years without much success. In fact, I had pretty much given up on them for a few years, but after getting inspired by shows like “Love on the Spectrum” and “Beauty and the Geek”, I decided to try out another app that had been on my radar for a while called Coffee Meets Bagel. I downloaded it after hearing that it was more based on actual content and providing good matches vs other surface level apps that just have you making judgments based on pictures.  

Setting up the profile was pretty simple. For the profile, it asks you to add pictures of course, as well as the usual basics like age, location, preferences etc. It also gives you prompts and questions that you can fill out to express yourself so people can get to know a bit about you. I found these to be very helpful so I highly recommend filling them out.

That goes for the profile in general, I recommend filling out as much as you can. With so many people on these apps you really have to make yourself stand out. You would be surprised at how many profiles are empty and have nothing but a few pictures and a minimum amount of information filled in. If you want someone to take your profile seriously and not just go based on a picture, make sure your profile is complete.

Once your profile is ready, they will send you a batch of potential matches or “bagels” as they call them. They really go with the “coffee and bagel” theme which is different, but I don't really understand the reasoning or connection. Supposedly the ones they send you are the best matches for you, but I found them not to be too accurate based on my likes and parameters.  

The app does let you set some preferences for your matches such as age, distance, height, ethnicity, and religion. I do wish they would add more options to help narrow down searches. This seems to be one of the limitations of the app. For example in the profile it asks about smoking, but nowhere does it ask about drinking. I found that odd as both of these are pretty standard questions.

One thing I don't like about the app is that it does not show names unless you have a mutual match with someone. So when you are going through the profiles, you see the picture and then below it, you see their job and school. Personally I'm not that concerned with their job and where they went to school when I don't even know their name.

When you see a profile that catches your interest, you can “heart” it or send them a message. If you're not interested, you can “x” it. If they like you back, they will move to your chats section in the app where you can begin chatting. I found that the app sends you about 15-20 matches per day, but there is also the option to go through more profiles in the “Discover” section in the app. I'm not really sure why they made these two sections separate as they seem to be pretty much the same except in the Discover section, you can't send messages right away.

There is also something called “beans” like coffee beans which functions as a form of currency. You get beans for checking in and for doing various things, and it seems to subtract beans when liking profiles. I never really saw much purpose of this, but I guess it is more for the premium features where you can pay money to have more features. Personally I have stuck with the free option so it does not seem to have much significance.

Upon trying it out for a couple weeks, I got just a couple matches that led to chats. Both were ok but one was a distance too far away and the other just kind of fizzled out in the chat. After a couple weeks it seems I may have gone through most of the profiles as it seems to be slowing down.

Overall I will probably stick with it for a little while. It is definitely better than some of the other apps I have tried, but there is certainly room for improvement. For a free app, they give a pretty good amount of options and the ability to chat with people and make connections. The way they send out a limited amount of matches each day also keeps you engaged without getting overwhelmed or bored with it. If you are looking to try a new dating app, I think it is definitely worth checking out.

Tuesday, August 10, 2021

Beauty and the Geek Australia 2021 Review


I have been a fan of Beauty and the Geek since it began and have watched all the seasons I could including the original US series as well as the international versions. It had been off air for many years but I was super excited to hear that Beauty and the Geek Australia was coming back for a new season in 2021! It is currently streaming on 9Now for Australia and is not available in the US yet, but luckily I managed to get to see it.

For this season, it follows a similar format pairing“geeks” with “beauties” and having them compete in different challenges to push them out of their comfort zones and introduce them to each others worlds. The host this season was Sophie Monk who I was unfamiliar with prior to this show, but she did a fantastic job as host. She has a commanding presence and I love her deadpan style humor.

The cast this year was excellent and there were so many likable beauties and geeks on this season. They were all kind and supportive of each other. I loved seeing their relationships grow throughout the show as well as seeing the personal growth of each individual.

I was surprised at how far this season pushed them out of their comfort zones. In past seasons I remember there were a lot of challenges that just tested them on little things like quizzes and activities within the group, but on this season it seemed like every challenge put them in front of an audience doing some kind of performance with almost no preparation at all. I don't know how they got through it, but they did and I think it made them stronger having gone through all those tough challenges.

Of course the show also had one of the most exciting parts, the makeovers, where the geeks get a fresh look. It is always fun to see and this one was no exception. It's great to see their transformation on the outside match the transformation on the inside.

This season was also very emotional as the bonds and friendships created were so strong. They really expressed their feeling and showed how much this journey has meant to them. You can tell there are some really great connections that were formed this season.

Even though they were all great, eventually there had to be one winner and no spoilers, but I think the right couple won as they really embodied what the show is about, taking two people from opposite sides of life, seeing an incredible connection they can make and how it brings out the best in both of them. Overall, I highly recommend this season of Beauty and the Geek Australia to everyone!

Monday, August 2, 2021

My 2nd Attempt Catching a Litterer - Was this time a success?

A few months back I had witnessed someone throwing garbage out of their car into a parking lot. I happened to get a picture of it including the make and model of the car as well as their license plate. Later that day I reported it to the police but they basically said they can't do anything about it at this point and that if I see it again, call it in right away.

Fast forward to today, I happen to be driving around and notice 2 cars parked in an empty parking lot with a bunch of garbage on the ground in between and around their cars. They were there in the vehicles with the doors open so it was pretty obvious it was from them.

I pulled into the lot and parked far away to observe them to see if they would happen to throw any more garbage out of their cars. My first instinct was to go over to them and ask what is going on with all the garbage on the ground, but I decided it would be best not to confront them.

Soon, I got an order for my work so I had to leave to pick up a delivery. While on the order I kept thinking about the situation. I considered reporting it to the police but some time had passed and they might have left and I figured the police were probably busy with more important matters. I decided I was going to swing back around to check on it again after I completed my order.

So about 20 minutes later I was on my way back. I figured if they left, I was going to clean up the mess they made because I hate when people litter. I decided if they were still there, I would call the police and report it.

So I drive by and sure enough, they are still there. I loop around and find side street that is far away but has a view of the parking lot. Then I call the police. I let them know the location and describe the situation. They thank me for reporting it and let me know they would send an officer out to check on it.

As soon as we ended the call, I hear police sirens. I was thinking, there is no way that is them, that has to just be a coincidence.

Then I see one of the cars in the parking lot starting to leave. I'm thinking, oh great, they are going to leave now and then when the police show up there will be no one here. But just as they started to leave, the police show up and stop them! This all happened in less than 30 seconds from making the report.

I stayed in my car and kept an eye on the situation from a distance. I could see the officer talking to them for a few minutes and then I saw the people in the cars cleaning up their mess, so the officers must have told them to clean it up.

I stuck around for a few more minutes but then I decided to leave. I'm not sure if they were issued tickets or if anything else happened, but I was glad to see at least they were confronted on it. With so many people in this world who litter thinking there is no consequence, it was nice to finally see someone get caught and be held accountable for their actions.