Apps on my phone and what I use them for

You can tell a lot about a person by what apps they have installed on their phone.  You can figure out where they shop, what games they like, how they connect with people, and how they entertain themselves.  So I thought I would share the apps on my phone and what I use them for.  This isn't every single app, as I'm not counting ones that were already on my phone when I got it.  These are in alphabetical order:

ActiveBuilding - This is for our apartment lease and to check on things with our complex.  I can post and read bulletins and access messages from our leasing managers.  I usually just go on my computer to do these things, but when I'm out and about and I need to check something, I can.

Disney+ - An entertainment viewing app.  I love watching things on my phone.  I've watched a few movies on here as well as Star Wars: The Clone Wars.  

Door Dash - My favorite restaurant delivery app.  They have a lot of restaurant partners that offer free delivery.  I haven't had a problem with them yet (although my girlfriend has).  I'd say I use this once or twice a month.

Drive Safe - My auto insurance, State Farm, offers this program as a way to earn a discount for safe driving.  Combined with a beacon I keep in my car, I can use this app to check my trips to see how safe (or unsafe) I drove.  It tracks my car through GPS so I can see exact routes I have taken, if I happen to drive on unfamiliar roads.

DVD Netflix - Netflix originally started out as a DVD through the mail subscription service.  I still to this day to subscribe to this service, as they offer more content this way.  They just came out with an app in the past year so that I can add movies to my queue on the go.  

Fandango - The main service I use to purchase movie tickets.  With reserved seating more common than ever, buying tickets in advance is now the way to go.  When I have to do that, I use the Fandango app.

Harry Potter - Officially called "Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery", this app came out in April of 2018.  It's a Harry Potter role-playing game.  I've put quite a bit of time into this game as it's the mobile game I have played most the last two years for sure.  I am currently taking a break from it (because of lack of content), but I will get back to it someday.  

Hulu - I use this to watch various TV shows, mostly.  It's one of three streaming apps I have on my phone.  

iHeartRadio - A music streaming app I like, although I don't use it that much at all.  May remove some day.

IMDb - As a long time user of this site (since 2005, I believe), I love going on IMDb and checking movie and TV show casts.  Whenever I see an actor I recognize in a TV show or movie, I go on here to check what else I may have seen them in.

Imgur - I use this to upload images and memes so that I can share them with others, either directly or on social media.  

Instagram - Social media picture app.  If I take an interesting picture, I'll generally put it on my Instagram profile using this.

Layout - I use this fairly rarely to make a photo collage for an Instagram post.  They can make a collage of up to 9 photos in one, which I've used to celebrate different occasions.

LivexLive - This formerly was "Slacker Radio", and yes I believe it came on my phone, but I do have the option to remove it, if I so choose.  But I don't because I really like it.  I use this to listen to music fairly often.  My favorite are the countdowns (or "count-ups") they do.

Meme Generator - I use this to create memes, obviously.  I usually do that for people's birthdays to post on their social medias.

Mercari - This is an app I installed recently.  It's like eBay, but a little more user friendly.  You can either buy or sell basically anything.  I have posted a few items to sell that haven't sold yet, but hopefully will some day.

Messenger - Officially "Facebook Messenger", this is the app I use to communicate with others most often.  

MLB - The official MLB app.  I use it to check the scores of Mariners games and get updates on their games, for example scoring changes and final scores.

Netflix - The third of my streaming apps.  I use this to watch various movies or TV shows when I'm not by my TV.  

NFL - The official NFL app.  I use this to check on NFL scores and news, but also to watch NFL games through the NFL Game Pass.

Pedometer - This is the best pedometer app to see how much you walk each day.  It will keep track of all your days and give you charts and reports on your step totals and distance covered.

Reddit - Perhaps the app I spend the most time on now.  Reddit is good for checking up on the latest news and memes.  There's a subreddit for literally everything, so if you have an interest, others do too and you can share posts and comment on them with others.

Rocketbook - Another newer app I got.  I recently purchased a Rocketbook after seeing their pitch on "Shark Tank".  It's basically a reusable notebook that you can very quickly upload scans of to your computer, Google Drive, email, etc.  I used this app to take a scan of my rough draft list for this very post.

Roku - I have a Roku on my TV in the bedroom.  I use the Roku app primarily to turn my phone into a remote, usually when I can't find my actual remote.  Works pretty darn well.

Safeway - My most often shopped grocery store, so I use this app to get coupons, discounts, and to see what's on sale.

Seahawks - As a huge Seahawks fan, I have to have their app.  I often have this app open during games to check stats, and I also use it to watch post game press conferences.  The app will also send me Seahawks news when it's official.

Smith Bros - A bit over a year ago, my girlfriend and I signed up for Smith Bros Dairy delivery, which is a dairy company that delivers dairy products and other food items to your home on a weekly basis.  They recently came out with an app so we can check our orders, add items, all from our phone.

State Farm - As a State Farm Insurance customer, I have to have this, right?  I don't use it much, but I like how they have our insurance cards on here in case I ever need to provide proof of insurance and I can't find my paper card.

Tasty - The app I most use to find new recipes.  I love how there are videos for every recipe, which really helps with cooking.  I use this whenever I am having trouble deciding what to make for dinner.  You can of course save recipes to make later or to make again.

Venmo - I use this to send and receive money between friends.  Not much else to it.

Wells Fargo - My banking app.  I use it to check on my recent transactions, my account balance, and to transfer money.

Xbox - I use this to check my Xbox achievements, generally.  Or to see who is online.  Don't use it much.

YouTube - The app I spend on most (besides Reddit) would be YouTube.  I most often watch YouTube videos on my phone rather than my TV.  

YT Music - My main music app.  I like how they track what you listen to and give you those songs again, so a personalized playlist.  And you can look ahead at the playlist they generate for you and if there's a song coming up you don't want to listen to, you can remove it.  


Well, that's all the apps I have on my phone.  If I install any others, I'll try to remember to add them here.  

Why the Plastic Bag Ban Doesn't Work

Starting March 1 of this year, the city of Kirkland implemented a city-wide plastic bag ban, preventing any retailer from giving plastic bags to customers.  Instead, they can give out paper for a 5 cent per bag charge.  They do this to try to encourage people to bring their bags so that very few bags have to be made and used.  THIS DOESN'T WORK.  And I'm going to explain why.

1) Paper bags cost more to make and are harder on the environment to make
Paper bags cost more to make than plastic (if you look at the cost per bag to retailers).  I'm not sure of the amount for either, but it's something like this.  Each plastic bag costs about 1/100th of a cent, while each paper bag costs 1/2 a cent.  It's a significant difference.  Those aren't exact, so don't quote me on that, but it's similar to what I remember seeing.  Point is, paper costs significantly more PER BAG.  Sure, they can hold more, but 50 times more?  Yeah right.  Also, paper bags come from trees while plastic comes from the ground.

2) People never remember to bring their bags--and are too lazy to go get them!
I find it simply astounding that the residents of Kirkland were given a year's notice about the plastic bag ban, told to remember to start bringing their bags a year in advance, and two and a half months into the ban people are still forgetting them.  We, the city of Kirkland, had a year to prepare, and we totally freaking failed.  That's like given an entire semester's notice of a test in a class and told exactly what to study for, and choosing not to study.

Anyway, the most common thing I hear is "I forgot/left them in the car."  Really?!  Great, they're less than  1,000 feet away!  Oh, you're too freaking lazy to go get them?  Are you s****ing me?!  First off, if you're shopping with someone else make the passenger hold the bags on the way to the store.  If you're shopping alone, leave them on top of the passenger seat... and put your cell phone on top of the bags there.  You won't forget that, will you?  Which means you won't forget that bags.  THERE IS NO EXCUSE.  Secondly, if the bags made it to the car, and you realize it before you've done much shopping, GO GET THEM!  No excuse.

3) People are content with paying for bags in Kirkland
This isn't true of everyone of course, but a majority of Kirkland residents are all right with paying 5 cents for every bag.  I'd say the average order only requires 2 or 3 bags, which comes to 11 or 16 cents (if you count tax--yes, they are taxed... lol... gotta love America).  Most people are ok with paying the bag fee, because Kirkland is already an expensive city to live in, what's 20 or so cents every time you shop?  It's nothing.

People being ok with paying for bags means a lot of paper bags headed out the door, which means retailers have to increase production on paper bags, which can't be good for the environment.

4) Reusable bags cause cross contamination!!!
When we had plastic bags, I would always put meat that wasn't that tightly wrapped in a plastic bag before I put it in a reusable bag, if they brought them.  Now, with no plastic, if someone comes to the front with reusable bags and no produce plastic bag around their meat, I am forced to put their leaking meat in a reusable bag.  Guess what?  There's a decent chance that bag doesn't get washed before it's next use.  People are lazy.  If they're too lazy/forgetful to bring their bags sometimes then they're too lazy to wash their bags, too.  Reusing bags, especially cloth bags, can cause cross-contamination which can result in sickness and in some cases even death.

5) People can just shop in neighboring city for plastic bags and dispose of them here
Currently, neighboring cities Redmond and Bellevue do not have a ban on plastic bags, so I'm sure many shoppers have flocked to those cities for free and convenient plastic bags.  And I bet they're still doing the same things with the plastic bags that they did before.  Myself included, many Kirkland residents have brought plastic bags from other cities into Kirkland and used them as trash cans, pet waste bags, etc.  They're still ending up in Kirkland garbage cans.


So what do we do?  I'd say bring plastic back, and if people really want it they'll pay for it, too.  All the money that plastic bags make could go towards environmental efforts to keep them out of landfills.  Bring plastic back, but make people twice before they stuff them in the garbage.  Also, couldn't they make the plastic bag bio-degradable, like you see with the food compost bags?  Why can't those be made into shopping bags?  Oh well.  In the meantime, I will continue getting plastic in Woodinville, Bellevue, and Redmond and bringing it here, because people in government do not know how to THINK THINGS THROUGH.