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Highly recommend Stephen King, Dark Tower Series but it takes a serious investment of time with 8 books in the series.  Once I started, I couldn't put them down.  I am currently re-reading the Shannara series from Terry Brooks from way back in the day.  If you like Fantasy fiction you will like Terry Brooks.

If you are into Android (I suspect everyone is in this community!) I am finishing up "Inside the Android OS" by Blake Meike and Larry Schiefer.  It covers a lot of the Android OS basics and an in depth section on building and operating Android system services.

For years I have wanted to build a mobile app on Android or iOS so if anyone has any good books, articles or advice on making a go in the Playstore or the App Store, please share.

No worries at all — hope you had a great break! 🎉

Thanks for the kind words — it’s always nice to be part of a community where everyone’s open to sharing and helping each other out when things get tricky.

Now, onto the fun stuff…
Favourite dish with pickles? I’d go with something from Gujarati cuisine — always full of flavour and pairs really well with a good tangy pickle on the side!

And as for cricket... here’s my attempt to explain it like you’re 5:

It’s like a game of tag mixed with baseball. One person throws the ball, one person hits it, and then they run back and forth to score points. If someone catches the ball or hits the wooden sticks behind the batter, they’re out. Both teams take turns, and the one with the most points (runs) wins!

Hope that helps! 😄

I play in both PS5 and PC. Favourite is Far Cry series and Assassin's Creed

I have a fitness app for the US Military so they can see what scores are needed on the tests. One Time Pad encryption app, and a device information app  

East Coast for now, but have been around the US. 

Hi Emilie!

This is my group getting ready to play for the anniversary concert of a theater we opened 2 years ago.  I am the one in the blue shirt in the lower right corner:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXer7hQcuAw 

This is an open rehearsal we did for the public a year ago and is typically how our rehearsals go.  I'm in the Elf costume: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYbJHPs_tqY&t=1620s 

This is us the day we opened the Nashua Center For The Arts.  I'm the one with the blue binder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YdyrQ411r4  The guy across the stage from me is a local news anchor who was covering the event.  He's friends with my leader and when we do local events that he's covering for the news, we have a deal where he has to play with us.  For those of you in NH, that's Sean MacDonald from WMUR Channel 9.  Yes, that is him playing and yes he is a member of our group.

He's not the only contact I have for the news: my friend is also his co-anchor.  I've also taken Ballroom Dance classes with him and his co-anchor for another local news show called NH Chronicle.

And for you Sports fans, my cousin works for one of the teams in the National Hockey League (LA Kings) and my friend is a former National Football League (NFL) cheerleader.  I also have a friend who is a Broadway actress (she played G(a)linda in "Wicked") and another friend who is currently performing on the largest cruise ship in the world (Star Of The Seas) in "Back To The Future".  Through cruising, I've also met The Las Vegas Tenors, and quite a few acts from "America's Got Talent".

I am also related to someone famous...Amelia Earhart!  Three generations removed and I'm the only one in the family that looks like her.  She is my second cousin three times removed.  I also have a relative in the Bowling Hall Of Fame....and no, I didn't inherit her coordination at all!  I did, however, inherit Amelia's looks and love for travel and adventure.  I prefer to explore the oceans and am getting ready to take my 41st cruise, which will be on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/@cruisingwithkristen .

I've been thinking about a career change back into education from working with seniors for a long time now.  I'm a degreed Early Childhood Educator here in the States and wanted to work with Kindergarten.  This was during the recession, so jobs weren't exactly plentiful, especially for those of us who just graduated college.

I got a job working in a nursery school, and while I love babies, I wasn't happy that I wasn't doing a lot of academics, so I started substitute teaching in my local school districts.  One actually resulted in a part-time perminant position in an Elementary charter school for the arts.  I wound up taking over the theater and after school programs.  Eventually the school decided to end the program.

At the time, I was obtaining my Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Work and got placed in Activities (sometimes called Life Enrichment).  I loved it, as I was now working with adults and doing "Info-tainment" for my residents and staff trainings in Dementia (I'm a Dementia Practitioner).  Sadly, COVID changed many things in the nursing homes and I was getting frusterated with the politics that come with that, so after 20 years, I decided that nursing homes wasn't the right setting for me anymore.

After some soul searching this past year, I decided that I really like working with young adults and seniors.  I learned (coincidentally through networking on YouTube) that education doesn't have to be limited to the classroom, but that if I wanted to become a trainer, I really needed to expand my educational horizions and I came across the Google Trainer Certificate program, as well as a Digital Learning program through Plymouth State University.  I applied to both programs and got accepted to both (for the Google one I became a Level 1 Google Educator), but as I learned more about the Master's program, I learned that yes, it's in Education, but many graduates from that major have jobs in business settings.  Not knowing which setting I want, I decided to apply for the K-12 certificate along with my degree, which will allow me to teach any grade level.  I had taught young children before as well as seniors: what I was missing was the 80 year gap in between, which this degree will help me fill!

An opportunity presented itself in one of my local school districts to be a Classroom Assistant (Paraeducator) in middle school, and they use Google products (including Classroom and Chrome) quite heavily in their curriculum.  So now, I'm seeing both my love for education and my love for technology come together and I actually use my background as a Product Expert to help the students.

As far as Yoga is concerned, I initially picked it up during the recession, when my best friend (who is a bellydancer as a hobby) was teaching me how to do a split for an audition.  I didn't get the part, but kept up with the practice for a few years, and even incorperated it into my programming with seniors.  Through my time with seniors, I met actual trainers and would take their classes alongside the seniors.  I'm still friends with them to this day, but decided to join my local YMCA because of the fact that I switched fields and could no longer join their classes.  I take a beginner class, as I'm not....well, let's just say my middle name isn't "Grace"!  The classes work with my new schedule, and the instructor knows of my injury and helps me modify the stretches.  Coincidentally, since I got back into it, it's helped me with my hand!  We just started a self-care class at work, where the students are taking Yoga classes, so I want to lead by example!

I do have the ability to practice at home, since I have my own gear and can watch videos (my local YMCA has YMCA 360 which has free videos, as does my Fitbit, Weight Watchers, and Planet Fitness apps), but I like the socialization at the YMCA.  I use the videos as a backup in case I can't make it to the studio due to weather.