Photos taken with my iPhone4.
Geek
The Wanna Write Conundrum.
I don’t know if this is actually a conundrum, because technically a conundrum needs an answer in the form of a pun. This is definitely a “first world problem”, as I’m about to somewhat complain about one of my technological arrangements that I am currently pondering. I know, many should be so lucky to have these problems.
I am typing this blog entry on Jamie’s laptop whilst sitting in a hotel room in Saratoga Springs. I didn’t bring a laptop, because I have pretty much relegated my 2008 MacBook Pro to being my DJ computer. Adding the additional stuff necessary to make a vibrant blog would bog the older MBP down too much. Plus, I like the ability to travel with just my iPad. I don’t have to worry about backpacks and all that; my iPad is available to me just about anywhere and pretty much fits all my needs.
Except when I want to write something, especially if I didn’t bring along an external keyboard.
Apple purists have a fit when someone mentions using an external keyboard with an iPad. They say that Steve didn’t design it that way and if we really need a keyboard, we should buy a MacBook Air or something similarly sized if we dare stray outside of the Apple Reality Distortion field. The truth of the matter is, when you’re capable of typing at nearly 100 words per minute, you’re going to find the iPad virtual keyboard on the screen to be quite frustrating. I know that there’s videos of people typing at nearly their native speed on the virtual keyboard, but they are people with less than 5% body fat and therefore have fingers that are bony (and usually kind of ugly without the accompanying hand makeup). My fingers move quickly but I find the experience of typing a blog entry directly on an iPad to be vexing. Frustrating. Not worth the effort.
This is a shame because there are times that I really just want to write, whether it be on my blog, in my journal or just to get my thoughts down in a text document. It’s what I do.
Here’s where the first world problem comes in.
On my lunch hour I have the bluetooth keyboard that is stored in the Jeep. The iPad (and cover) are draped over the steering wheel, the seat goes back to its farthest position and the keyboard sits on my lap. The problem with this, for travel outside of the Jeep, is that I need to remember to bring that keyboard along in my suitcase. I barely remember to turn off the lights in the house let alone grab a keyboard from the Jeep. But I definitely don’t want to incur the expense of another computer (besides, that would NOT fly with my budget views nor my husband’s views).
So, for folks that have an iPad, do you think that I should get one of those cases that comes with a keyboard and makes it look pretty much like a Macbook Air? Do you have any experience with one of these keyboards? I tried one like that a while back, but it was made of plastic and the keyboard was tiny. From what I understand, the new versions of these have full-sized keyboards and are quite sturdy.
Any recommendations would be most welcome.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled weekend in Saratoga Springs. If have included a link to all my Instagram photos in the menu bar across the top of the blog. Erik helped out with getting that working.
Patriotic.
I bought these workout clothes in 1990 from International Male. I keep them around for patriotic occasions.
Breaks.
Work became too hectic today for me to even get away for a lunch break. Luckily it was hot dog grillin’ day at the office and I was able to get two hot dogs, a scoop of potato salad and a few chips. The lunch was to raise money for a local charity. It’s what we do.
There are times when I think I should stop writing in my blog but then I have a day like today where I don’t get the opportunity to do my (mostly) daily entry and then I realize that I would miss it. It’s also in the here and now that I realize that sometimes I write in short, staccato like blurts of information and then there are other times that I write in run-on sentences that would garner a lot of red pen if this sort of thing was being marked up by someone more literate than me.
There is a commercial that runs on a local radio station that contains the line, “so join Christine and myself at the store.” It sounds weird. I know that the English ain’t so goodly either because if you take “Christine and” out of the sentence you’re left with “so join myself at the store.” Now this sort of thing will never make me ‘loose’ my mind but it does bring me close to where I would lose my mind.
The goose is loose. The goose will lose because she lost change.
I just made that up. Remember it.
Technology.
Today is my Sunday. Tomorrow I’m back on schedule with work. It’s all good.
To celebrate my day off, I am getting some errands done and doing some exploring in the Jeep. And this is where it occurs to me that technology is awesome.
For example, I just took this photo of some parking skillz in Downtown Utica. I took the photo using my iPhone.
To get the photo from my iPhone to my iPad, I didn’t wait for Apple’s iCloud service to sync it up, I simply used an app called “Bump”. I banged my iPhone and my iPad together and the photo was instantly transferred over to my iPad, ready for inclusion in the blog entry.
After admiring the parking skills of the Utica natives, I stopped at Bagg’s Square Café Express where I picked up a Venti Iced Green Tea and paid for it with my face using the Square app (I talked about this last week).
I am now picking up a solar light at the Lowe’s that I know has them in stock because it was indicated in the affirmative online. From here I will stop at the gas station along my intended route where I know the price is the lowest (courtesy of Gas Buddy) and then I will select my lunch stop based on recommendations from Yelp!
I love being a geek.
iTheme2.
Visitors to the actual site of the blog will note that I have changed the visual theme of the site again and I think I have found a theme that I am pleased with. This theme is called iTheme2 and I think it looks good and represents my Mac tendencies very well.
I have also added a couple of widgets to the side (even if I’m a little late on my Happy Pride Month! widget this year). Feel free to browse around.
Gas.
The first time I pumped gas at a self-serve station was at the Hess on the corner of Henry Clay Blvd. and Buckley Rd. in the town of Salina, outside of Syracuse. This station sits in a more industrial part of town. I was riding with Grandma City in the Ford Granada she had just purchased. It was a used car from Canada. She advised me that she was only doing 60% of what the speedometer said because the gauges were in metric. 60% of very slow is still very slow. Grandma City had a tendency to drive slow. We were going to a warehouse sale at Fays Drugs on Henry Clay Blvd. There must have been a discount on African Violets or something.
I have probably pumped gas a couple of thousand times since that first time at the Hess station on Henry Clay Blvd. We have a Hess station relatively close by, but there’s a Fastrac station about a mile from the house so we go there. I just filled up the Jeep in preparation for my commute to work in the morning. I don’t like starting out the day with the need of gas. I like to be prepared.
The gas at all of the local stations is 10 to 15 cents higher per gallon than it is in nearby Syracuse or Albany. I once asked a very important person at Fastrac why this was the case and they told me it was because our area doesn’t have any terminals near by and therefore the gas has to be brought in by truck. I thought all gas was brought in by truck. I didn’t mention the fact that River Road, the same road that the Fastrac is on, is lined with huge gas tanks that are marked with signs that indicate it’s a terminal. Today I paid $3.589 a gallon, which is marked down from $3.659 because I have a gimmick card from Fastrac. I’m not a big fan of the gimmick card, but every few cents per gallon helps the budget. When you commute as much as I do, you watch your fuel budget and hope that heaven doesn’t require you to be completely green. My carbon footprint should be getting smaller soon.
I think gas might have been $1.099 that first time I pumped it myself on Henry Clay Blvd. Far from the $0.299 that Goober pumped in Mayberry but even farther from the $3.589 price tag I pumped today. When I was graduating from high school there was some quick reduction of gas prices for a little while during some sort of event in the Middle East. I once paid $0.799 a gallon to fill my 1976 Pontiac Astre. People called it “the Disastre” because it was a Vega in a fancy suit. It got me from point A to point B so I didn’t care so much. It was a really weird green color. When I wore my red snowsuit while driving it I looked like an olive with me in the starring role as the pimento.
Vista.
One of my relatives has a computer running Windows Vista that is spamming my email with random factoids and address book information. Windows Vista was touted as Microsoft’s “most secure version of Windows ever!” I’m so glad that it’s doing its job so well and I’m happy that the person that owns the computer is attentive to the required upkeep and maintenance of a Windows-based operating system. Despite claims to the contrary, owning a computer is a responsibility that entails a fair amount of hard work. I still believe that users should be required to own a license to operate a computer.
But then again, licenses don’t seem to mean much these days. I just watched an elderly couple barely miss being flattened by a Wal*mart truck that was well within the speed limit and right of way because they apparently didn’t see the monstrosity coming through the light. Truth of the matter is, they didn’t even look. The light was green so they went. They probably got their license to drive 60 years ago. I’m sure at age 77 or whatever that they still have the stamina, reflexes and intact thought processes to navigate a 2000 pound hunk of metal down a roadway. Silly licenses.
I recently saw an online letter to the editor where a man was upset that the Department of Transportation had installed “Deer Crossing” warning signs on a busy roadway. The writer thought that this was foolish and that the signs should be installed on a roadway with lower traffic so the deer would cross where there weren’t as many cars.
Wow.
I bet you think I’m nuts. Here ya go.
I can spin a tall tale like the best of them, when suitable motivated, but lately I haven’t felt the need to make any of this shit up. We are in Rome, the bricks are falling but the general public keeps fiddling.
