Month: July 2012

More on ‘Droids

Ask anyone who’s talked with me lately and they’ll tell you this – Trina loves her new phone!

I loved my AT&T Tilt – it did what I needed it to do until only recently when it couldn’t keep up with the Joneses. But my Galaxy S III has been able to do what I wanted and then some.

And I understand why people get so excited about “apps.” I’ve had far too much fun at Google Play finding and trying out apps for my phone.

In addition to the software I mentioned in my previous entry, I have installed the following wonderful apps:

  • RealCalc A scientific calculator, like you do.

  • ColorDict It’s nice having a dictionary on one’s phone. Also got the thesaurus and spelling app.

  • Lightning Bug As recommended by a friend – I think I’m going to try sleeping with this ambient/white noise maker. First night with it a success.

  • Alarm Clock Extreme I’m going to try and use my phone as my daily alarm and this program looks like it will fit the bill. Will probably buy it.

  • Book Catalogue I really wish there was an app that synced with LibraryThing, but this at least can pull info from Goodreads. (So now I have to keep that database up to date too. I prefer LT, however.)

  • SoundHound Recommended by the friend who recommended Lightning Bug. That I can catch songs when I’m offline is fab. Now I just have to remember that I have this program when I hear a song that I want to ID.

  • Smart Tools THIS is why they made Smartphones! I love all of the tools from this program: compass, flashlight, decibel meter, etc. Brilliant.

  • Cocktail Flow Dad had this ad-supported app on his MP3 player and it looked fun. And best of all, the ads don’t show up when you’re offline.

  • iBird Pro Many’s the time I wondered what that birdsong was. Perhaps this program will help…

  • The Night Sky Many’s the time I wondered what that celestial object was. Perhaps this program will help…

  • Periodic Table Well, duh, I’m a chemistry teacher!

  • OI Shopping List Going to see if I can switch from paper lists to using my phone. So far, so good!

  • Alchemy Not the Popcap game of the same name – this interesting thing has you mix “elements” together to make new stuff. More interesting than it sounds. I made a whale!

  • Angry Birds Like you do… (They only have the ad-supported version, but once again, offline = no ads.)

  • Glow Hockey 2 Pro With Bejeweled 2 not yet available for my version of Android, I think this will be my “go to game.” Quite fun.

This isn’t all of the apps I’ve got on my phone, but they are some of the niftiest ones. I’ve got a couple of Text-To-Speech programs/voices that I’m trying out as well. CoPilot needs a decent voice. If any of you have nifty Android apps that you love, share the love – I’m always looking for more ideas.

Androids FTW!

Over four years ago, I bought my first Smartphone, an AT&T Tilt (AKA HTC TytnII). It was a wonderful addition to my World of Geek, but like all things, it got old. And in the World of Geek, a 4-year old Smartphone is ancient.

With my PC upgrade to Ubuntu 12.04, I lost out on my way to sync my phone & PC. No more contacts or calendar syncs for the treen! That was not good. So I started researching my options. I discovered that Android phones sync to Google and my e-mail program (Evolution still) can access Google calendars. So next up, who made a nice Android phone that also has built-in GPS and can work on AT&T’s system?

Although I am not AT&T’s biggest fan, I do like their Pay As You Go feature and I have over $170 worth of calls & texts on it. (Only costs $100 a year to top off the baby, and I’ve yet to use $100 worth of calls in one year.) My only drawback to switching to Android is the loss of DVD Profiler. There is a rumor, however, that there IS an Android version coming. Some day. Maybe. So I’ll have to be careful buying DVDs when I’m oot & aboot until they get it updated.

OK, so AT&T, GPS, Android, up to date (or as up to date as can be). These were my criteria. And I settled on the Samsung Galaxy S II. But as I was researching this phone, I read about the NEXT version of the Galaxy S. And when I started reading the specs on it, I realized THAT’s what I needed to get.

So I had picked my Phone of Choice – the Samsung Galaxy S III. It wasn’t out yet when I first chose it, but I figured I could last awhile without backing up my calendar & contacts. I already had everything copied over to GMail for the eventual switch to Android, however.

As I researched more, I discovered a drawback to my planned upgrade. The newer Smartphones require a MicroSIM card, rather than the regular SIM card. I read up on people trimming their cards to fit, and buying a $25+ trimmer. But I went to my local AT&T store and a very perky and helpful lady (I think she was bored with no one to talk to) said that they could transfer my info onto a new MicroSIM for a $25 fee. Heck, that worked for me!

In order to use my Pay As You Go account on the phone, I needed to buy the phone outright. And turns out Amazon.com was selling the phone for $549. I hemmed & hawed for quite awhile until I broke down last Thursday and ordered it. And then got into my usual geeky OMG there’s a package coming today!!!!!! mode yesterday while I waited for UPS to arrive with my new phone.

I ordered the pebble blue phone, which only looks blue under the right lighting. It’s very pretty. Bigger length & width, but much thinner than my old phone. After installing the battery, I plugged it in to charge, then connected it to my Wi-Fi. After syncing my calendar and contacts, I played around with Google Play looking for apps to download. And my sister surprised me by finding me through Google Talk. My phone wasn’t a phone yet and I was already receiving “texts.” Heh.

Once it was sufficiently charged, I took it to the AT&T store to switch SIM cards. The gentlemen there were very nice and I didn’t even have to take the old SIM out for the process. I called the folks as soon as the SIM was in place and everything worked just as it should. The folks said that I sounded clear to them (and they to me). So yay – it even works as a phone!

Later in the evening, I purchased and installed CoPilot Live. This was the GPS software I’d been using on my Tilt – inexpensive (much moreso than Garmin or TomTom) and reliable. After discovering that Samsung’s Find My Phone software doesn’t work in the US (an aggravating half hour of installs & checks & still nothing), I also bought Cerberus Anti-Theft for my phone. And once installed, it found my phone. (After judiang‘s recent “lost iPhone” scare, I thought I should get that pronto.)

Today, I’m still working on getting the phone how I want it. Alas, Bejeweled 2, my go-to game on the old phone, isn’t available yet for this version of Android (Ice Cream Sandwich). I haven’t found a euchre game yet for it, either, which was my other go-to game. There are several to choose from there, however. I’m also going to set up the SD card (currently an 8GB card, though I have a 32GB card now on order) to be my music drive.

Turns out the earbuds that came with the phone are pretty dire – the music was tinny, like it was being played by a cell phone (heh). But with my nice headphones, the music sounds proper. And the little pause button on the headphones works (although the volume buttons don’t seem to – which, considering the cable is designed for iPods, is OK – perk with the pause working!)

Anyhoo, some more tweaking (the best part of any new tech, IMO) and it’ll be PERFECT! Or at least as perfect as it can be. Woohoo! New Smartphone!

What has Trina been up to?

My summer has been a nice and lazy one. I find myself in my library reading, sometimes with a cat, sometimes without (like right now – come on Lucy, get in here!) and that’s been lovely. I must remember how nice that is when things get crazy during the school year. 🙂

In between the reading (and the gaming), I have done some other things too. Like last Monday when mom and I went to a cooking class to learn some summer fruit desserts. Best $5 I’ve spent in a long time, I told mom. We learned how to make galettes (which are very easy with prefab pie dough), peach ice cream, chocolate mousse (made with ricotta cheese), and crepes (filled with lemon curd) with blueberry sauce. Everything was easy and delicious.

The next day, mom and I ventured out again, this time to watch my young cousin Sydney perform in a juvenile production of Annie. She was playing Miss Hannigan (alternating with another girl – the bigger parts were played by multiple people). It was a cute production – the kids did a nice job, though it was often hard to hear them, speaking or singing. Syd did a very nice job, IMHO.

Then on Wednesday, I had surprise guests – the parental units! They had popped in since mom had just had her hair done (her stylist is in my town, not hers) and wanted to see my ceiling fans. I gave them a tour and they liked ’em. They were going off to Trophy Nuts in Tipp to buy nuts (fancy that!) and I finagled my way to the Grand Adventure.

I bought a nice assortment of nuts from Trophy Nuts and my favorite preserves, too (hot pepper & peach preserves, if you want to know). Then we went to Harrison’s for lunch (and $.99 margaritas). I had finagled my way by offering my services as the DD. Heh. So I drove the folks home (to my place) and we chatted awhile until dad felt he was able to drive them home.

Friday evening was a meeting of our “Supper Club” at mom & dad’s. Normally, we go out with some friends (all now retired, except me) once or twice a month to a local restaurant. This time, however, mom suggested their hosting it. Dad has perfected pork chops with their new grill, so mom wanted to have that, cooler corn, and dad’s world famous slaw. The day of, 1 of the couples called to cancel – she had bronchitis, alas, and he was going to stay home & look after her. But the other two showed. Mom and I made a peach galette (since the missing couple was going to bring dessert) which turned out very yummy.

The evening was a success. The pork chops were perfect. The corn was wonderfully sweet. The slaw, popular. And the galette was also a hit. And the evening culminated with searches through annuals looking at photos of other former co-workers from way back when. (One of our guests couldn’t remember when she had started working at Newton, so we searched through the 80s to find her.) Those were a lot of fun for reminiscing.

Then, on Saturday morning, mom and I tried out our crepe-making skills for breakfast. Well, mom made the crepes, and I made the blueberry sauce. We also used lemon curd (mom got it from Trophy Nut) as the filling. We did a fab job, IMO. Dad agreed – it was a good second breakfast for him. (He gets up earlier than we do on Saturdays!)

Anyhoo, this week will be another lazy one, I suspect. I’m going to enjoy the hell out of these lazy days while I’m allowed them!

A Grand Adventure (in Cheese)

My family has a tradition of going on a Grand Adventure from time to time. Basically, we have a vague goal in mind and a vague destination, and there ya go: A Grand Adventure! So yesterday, the folks and I went on a Grand Adventure to Bellefontaine.

It all started with a Groupon coupon that my mother had bought for Blue Jacket Dairy (BJD). BJD shows up regularly at one of the Farmer’s Markets we frequent, so we were familiar with their cheese. The Groupon, OTOH, is only valid at their store, which is in Bellefontaine. The Groupon was going to expire soon, so we finally planned our Grand Adventure.

We packed a cooler w/ ice pack and headed north and east. We found the Dairy with only one turn-around (we do tend to travel by limits – think calculus) and entered the tiny storefront. It had to be the noisiest room I’d ever been in. Poor dad couldn’t hear a word that anyone was saying. Turns out they had sold out of a lot of their cheese just the day before, but they had my favorite (houtz – a hard goat cheese) and quite a few things that I wanted to try. The folks found some stuff they wanted as well.

Our next stage of the Grand Adventure was lunch. We drove around Bellefontaine looking for a nice lunch place and were disappointed. Their downtown was lacking shops and restaurants. We then looked for the ice cream shop associated with BJD, but there was no place to park and only outdoor seating. So we headed south to West Liberty.

There were some nifty shops to peruse here in the downtown area and one of the shopkeepers recommended Liberty Gathering Place for lunch. (West Liberty > Bellefontaine, even though it’s much smaller.) So we ate lunch there (I had a nice turkey club with fries & slaw, followed by a very yummy peach crumble pie a la mode) and then backtracked a little to Marie’s Candies for some chocolate.

As soon as we entered the store, they gave us all a sample. Then when we were perusing their various choices, the attendant asked what sorts of candies we liked, so she gave us samples of their equivalent. (Well, I’d started off by saying that we were from Winans country and here for the first time and I think she wanted to show us Marie’s was just as good, if not better, than Winans.) So I got $9 worth of chocolate candies (most with nuts but a couple of mints too).

The cooler, it turned out, was great for holding not only the cheese, but also the chocolate. Our Grand Adventure now over, we headed back south & west to home where mom & I went out to be Swimmin’ Wimmin. 🙂

Fun without the Taste

Usually when elsaf and I come to visit judiang over the 4th of July holiday, we visit the Taste of Chicago. But turns out, Chicago has moved the dates of Taste until the 11th of July. So we’ve not been going there for variety victuals.

Elsa arrived late on Sunday, and it wasn’t long before we were all abed. Monday morning, Judi went off to work, so Elsa and I hung out for awhile until she returned. Then we went off to Three Happiness for dim sum (ooooh, two days in a row). During the week, you order off the menu. And turned out when we got done, the three of us ate about the same amount of food as the two of us had the day before. Heh.

We also popped over to Target after dim sum, like the day before, because Judi had tried out a personal float in the pool that worked well with her. And Target sells ’em, so she got one.

Judi lives near all these lovely museums, and so we headed off to the Adler Planetarium. With a suggestion from the lady selling us our tickets, we bought tickets for the Undiscovered Planets movie as well as the general admission. It was a dome movie and was quite nifty (though we were all tired and it was difficult to stay awake). I enjoyed the museum, but I think the girls were too tired to get much enjoyment from it.

So we returned to the apartment and Judi and I headed off to go swimming. (Elsa was feeling a little under the weather.) And after that, we grilled hot dogs & had dogs & beans for supper. Followed by ice cream – woo!

Our evening entertainment was watching The Artist. However, we discovered that Judi’s den DVD player is dying. And then discovered that her living room DVD player is dead. So we wound up sitting on her bed & watching the movie on her bedroom DVD player. Heh. Excellent movie, BTW. (Anyone else seen the DVD version and/or the theatrical version? If so, we’ve got a question for you…)

This morning, Judi returned to work again, so Elsa and I went to Little Branch Cafe for breakfast. I had an egg, bacon & cheese bagel sammich, has browns, and fruit. Oh, and a hot cocoa. Tasty. Then I walked to the grocery to return the video (RedBox FTW) and then on to Field Museum to see the Extreme Mammals exhibit.

Today was under a Heat Advisory from 11am on. So my goal was to spend only about 2 hours and head back to Judi’s by 11am. And it took nearly 2 hours to see the exhibit. The girls and I then went to Little Branch for lunch. After my walk in the heat, I decided I wanted cool, so I had a smoothie (mango, blueberry, vanilla, apple juice) and salad (with blueberries, strawberries, almonds, and yogurt dressing). Very yummy and cool.

We bought tickets to see the matinée of Crowns, a gospel musical. I knew nothing about the musical other than that. And learned it was about Sunday church hats and the ladies who wear them. It was a fabulous musical. I laughed, I cried, I wanted to dance. 🙂

Next was swimming time! All three of us were able to swim and we had a very nice time. Then Elsa made us gazpacho soup and I grilled corn on the cob and flank steak. Supper was lovely. And we followed it with ice cream. And Judi gets leftovers.

Now Elsa and I are watching Game of Thrones season 2 episodes. I won’t get the season done before I go, but I’ll be getting the Blu-Rays when they eventually come out. Alas, tomorrow I must leave here (but hooray, I return to my kitties).

Small Plates Day

Yesterday, I flew to Chicago to visit judiang. Though we arrived on time, the train to Roosevelt took forever. And since Judi had misplaced her cell phone, there wasn’t a way to tell her when I’d arrived (though it wasn’t long before she showed up in the lobby).

We then raced to the Indian place she liked, though the bus also took forever (slow day for public transport) and we arrived 15 minutes before the buffet shut down. So we filled our plates and got our kheer (rice pudding) and had a leisure lunch while the restaurant cleared up the lunch buffet. (We weren’t even the last to arrive – Vernon Dursley and his wife showed up with friends… Well, I thought it looked like him.)

We returned to Judi’s flat to veg & nap. And when Judi awoke, she had a brilliant idea. Ice cream followed by fireworks. Hell yeah! Then I improved upon by recommending the Navy Pier Death March. So we did just that. We took our time walking in the 140% humidity (no, really!) to Navy Pier, then went to Haagen Dazs for shakes (she got strawberry, I got caramel). We then waited for the fireworks.

While waiting, several yachts were mooching about near the pier, several covered in drunk people. On one, a big fat bastard took his shirt off for us on the pier, then turned around, pulled his pants down and mooned us. Um, no thanks. Judi, thankfully, was oblivious and I didn’t draw her attention to it.

Fireworks were excellent (and this is something they do ever Saturday and Wednesday at Navy Pier in the summer). We wound up with a great spot (apart from the terrestrial moon). Sure, we had pondered going on one of the night boat tours, but they were sold out of up top seating. I recommended Judi return to Navy Pier in a week and get on said tour.

We took the bus back. I noticed that we could have walked the way back in less time and for less money, but we got to sit in air conditioning.

elsaf was originally going to join us today, but had to delay her departure indefinitely. So Judi and I opted for Dim Sum for brunch. Mmmm, Chinese tapas! We also stopped over at Target to pick up a few odds & ends, and managed to walk home before the Big Storm hit. (Having had one of these in Ohio recently, I’m beginning to think they are following me.)

We had another relaxation/nap time whereupon I discovered Elsa had texted me a couple of times to say she was able to come along later today. Woo! So she’s on the road to join us after all. *big cheer*

Judi’s next brilliant idea (she’s been full of them this trip) was time at the pool. I wasn’t too sure at first – the storm had cooled things off a little – but we went and had a lovely time. And her next idea was a topper to that. How about we walk to the Spanish tapas place, Valencia?

This we did. We had a lovely variety of Spanish dim sum, including the duck confit which is ambrosia, and the crepe rellena (crepe with goat cheese, spinach, apples, and pine nuts) which is vegetarian ambrosia. We both had the spicy mango margarita, which I didn’t think was all that strong, but Judi did. And then having finished mine, realized that maybe I’d drunk mine too fast. But I followed it with a mojito anyhoo. And I think I’m nicely drunk now. Oh, dessert was their crema con chocolate (creme brulee with bittersweet chocolate).

I am full and happy. And, apparently, drunk.