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I have a few complaints regarding the new Netflix Streaming interface on Xbox Live:

1. The clicky “bip-bip” noise every time you shift to a new selection.
Whyyyyy, Netflix, WHY? Why would you do this? It’s practically the first thing everyone shuts off of any kind of interface (iPod, cell phone) and you can’t shut it off of the Xbox interface. It’s driving me INSANE. Every move you make now has a noise attached and it’s horrible. I mean, really – I’ve pressed a button and I can see the screen shift accordingly. I don’t need the extra feedback of a noise to alert me that I’ve done something.

2. Autoplay instead of preview
If I hit “enter” to see more information about a movie like the description, or actors or whatnot, I do not automatically want to watch that movie. The update made it so you can view this information without clicking, which is nice, but I want to be able to select “Play” on purpose.

3. Button for searching vs Search “category”
I may have just missed this, but “Search” used to be one of the main options like “Instant Queue” and “Recommended for you” or whatever. Now I have to press “Y” to get there. Which I guess makes sense, but it took me a frustrated minute of scrolling through all the categories and not finding Search to realize that was the case.

4. Load time
Lots of things give you the whirly loading icon where they didn’t before. Especially searching – if you are typing in letters, it used to quickly try to match a result right away, and now it seems like it waits for you to stop typing.

5. The not-transparent-enough layers behind the current category
This is petty, but I hate it. If you’re looking at a category, you can see the covers of the next category extremely clearly. I find this incredibly distracting visually, and it makes for a cluttered interface. I want to see what’s in the current category, not the two behind it. It might be less annoying if it were WAY more transparent, but I don’t think it even needs to be there to begin with.

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Things aren’t all bad, I suppose, because there are two updates I do really like:

1. Ability to browse TV shows by season
It’s something I appreciated on Hulu and found irritating on Netflix – if I wanted to look at an episode in Season 7, I had to scroll down through six previous seasons! Now I can go sideways to the season I want and scroll down through a manageable number of episodes to get to the one I want.

2. Ability to view TV show descriptions
You used to only be able to see the show descriptions if the episodes took a long time to load, and there was no way to get back once they did. Now you can see what a show is about before you look at the episode description.

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Somewhat unrelated, but I really wish there were more shows like The Tudors, Camelot, and Legend of the Seeker. Big, productiony shows with great characters, drama, sexytimes, and humor. (Is Game of Thrones anything like this? I saw some of the first episode a while ago but haven’t seen anything else.) I was really sad when I found out Camelot only had one season! Also, there needs to be more than only three episodes of Sherlock with Martin Freeman.

This is the last installment of Thankful Thursday! Big thanks to B for the idea/inspiration.

• I’m thankful that I made up my own chili recipe on Friday and it worked wonderfully. It basically consisted of me looking at the recipe I printed out, mostly ignoring it, and adapting it to what we had in the pantry. I NEVER DO THIS. I am a strict Recipe Follower since I don’t trust myself not to ruin whatever it is I am trying to make. But it turned out! And it was really, really good!
• I’m thankful that the Pioneer Woman mashed potato recipe Daniel and I made this morning turned out. (How could it not be good, really?) I’ve never made mashed potatoes not from a box (embarrassing, yes) so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but these are amazing. You will not be disappointed.
• I’m thankful for Pinterest. It’s given me so many ideas and helped me refine the sort of aesthetic I like.
• I’m thankful that my dad was able to fix our car tire after it repeatedly kept going flat. This was a huge annoyance and it’s awesome that he knows how to fix things like that. (Daniel was excited to use the ZHOOP-ZHOOP hubcap bolt unscrewer thingy.)
• I’m thankful for all the lovely people in my life. Daniel, Wesley, our extended families, and all our wonderful friends.

This week’s installment of Thankful Thursdays:

• I’m thankful for my sister-in-law volunteering to take Wesley for a few hours today. So far, I have scrubbed the toilet, sink, and bathtub; reorganized some of my craft storage boxes; done laundry; and written this blog post.
• I’m thankful that my mom doesn’t seem to mind when I text her saying I am going to come over to her house to do a craft project. I received a Land of Nod catalog in the mail yesterday that contained a photo of a cute garland of mittens and I immediately decided I would try my hand at a DIY version. I knew my mom had a giant Rubbermaid container full of felt, and a glue gun, so I came over. She even made french toast for dinner!
• I’m thankful for six-sided paper snowflake tutorials. I’ve been going a little crazy with the paper snowflakes in the last two days. (Most common paper snowflakes are 4- or 8-pointed, but if you want to be more scientifically accurate you can fold a 6-pointed snowflake!)
• I’m thankful for our public library. I am a little upset they have recently decided to let you pick up your own books-on-hold with a receipt that has the first four letters of your last name, because then I get receipts that say GUNT on them in big black letters. BUT. Despite this, I am happy to have been able to read so many wonderful books recently without requiring I purchase them. Books like The Time Traveler’s Wife, the Ender’s Game series, and the books that the Legend of the Seeker show is based off of. I love reading and getting lost in books and the public library makes this possible for me right now.
• I’m thankful that our good friends Cameron, Brianna, and their baby Piper made it to their new home on the east cost safely. I already miss them terribly and have vowed to send Christmas cards and maybe win the lottery so we can come visit.