What about Google Apps users?!

Official Gmail Blog: Spice up your inbox with colors and themes

I want to see this same customization in Google Apps! It's too bad how so many of the features don't carry over to us. C'mon, give us the pretties and the functionality, too! Themes! Reader! Bookmarks!

What about Google Apps users?!

Official Gmail Blog: Spice up your inbox with colors and themes

I want to see this same customization in Google Apps! It's too bad how so many of the features don't carry over to us. C'mon, give us the pretties and the functionality, too! Themes! Reader! Bookmarks!

What about Google Apps users?!

Official Gmail Blog: Spice up your inbox with colors and themes

That's all well and good for Gmail users, but what about us Google Apps folks who went to the trouble to switch our domains' e-mail hosting over to Google's servers? We want to see this same customization, you know? It's too bad how so many of the features don't carry over to us.

C'mon, give us the pretties and the functionality, too! Themes! Reader! Bookmarks!

Amazon Kindle: Light the fire for e-reading

I'm a long-time customer and fan of Amazon.com, and I've been reading about the Amazon Kindle for a few months now. For those who aren't familiar with the device, the Kindle a is a hardware device made for reading electronic books. Amazon's been selling ebooks for some time, so this neat introduction isn't a stretch.

Now, for nerds like Howie and me, there is no shortage of PDA's, smartphones and other electronic devices upon which we can read ebooks; you know we're all about the geek toys, and we make good use of them! Not everyone's like us, though; my mom took one look at my T-Mobile Dash and said, "that's way too complicated - I'd hate that".

So, what about folks who have heard about ebooks and would like to enjoy them, but find technology foreign to them, if not downright scary? I think the Kindle makes good sense. I've been thinking about the ways in which the Kindle surpasses other devices when it comes to user-friendliness.

Can You See Me? Good.

One thing I dislike about most PDA's and smartphones is the how dim the displays look in bright light. There are times I can hardly see my phone's display when I'm outside or in a bright corner of the coffee shop.

The Kindle removes that limitation, using a high-resolution screen which reproduces the matte finish and easy readability of paper, even in bright sunlight. Nice! Additionally, the font can be enlarged or reduced until it is at the best size for the user.

Look, Ma - No Cables!

With a PDA or smartphone, if you want a new ebook, it requires multiple steps. First, you have to locate the book you want online and figure out how to buy it. Then you have to download it from the web to your computer. After that, you must move the file to a folder that will sync with your device, copying the file onto it. And, yes, there are lots of little steps in between those big steps. This all involves cables, synchronizing files. Computers, and at least a basic knowledge of the process.

The Kindle streamlines the whole ebook-buying process by offering free access to eBooks via Amazon's Whispernet™, using the same type of networks cellphones do. You need only connect to Amazon with the Kindle, browse the selections, and make your purchase. That's it. The rest is done for you, as the book downloads to the Kindle within about a minute of your order being placed.

I think this is wonderful for people reticent about technology , not to mention those who provide the tech support for them.


The Form Factor

The electronics market demands our electronic paraphernalia be smaller and smaller. It's great how tiny such devices are when you think about all they can do, but there is a price to pay. The typical size of a display on a PDA or smartphone is 320x240 pixels. Some don't mind this, but others have a hard time seeing on such a small display unless they enlarge the font so much only a fraction of a sentence shows up on the screen at one time. That's a lot of scrolling.

The Kindle is may not be the size of a credit card, but it provides a more natural reading experience with a paper-like screen. It has an ergonomic design, too, with easily-accessible controls for turning pages and navigating within them. The unit is lighter than most paperbacks, weighing in at only 10.3 ounces, and can be held in one hand while you read. It comes with a leather book cover which folds back so the Kindle holds more like a book if you so prefer.


Downsizing

You can store over 200 books in the Kindle. That is a lot of shelf space. And it solves the problem of bathroom books. ;)


The Cost of eBooks:

If you know how to comparison shop online and don't mind taking the time, you may be able to find good deals on electronic versions of books you want. But, remember that long process of getting the book onto your device once you buy it?

With the Kindle, titles on the New York Times Best Seller List, along with all new releases, are priced at $9.99 each unless they say otherwise, and many cost less. Considering what hardback books go for when new, this is a bargain! Best, you can preview the beginning of any book for free. I love that idea! You can also subscribe to newspapers, blogs and other periodicals.

Even if you pay a little more for some titles, you have saved the time and hassle of all the steps I mentioned earlier, and they're all right there for you. Imagine one of your friends tells you about a great book she just read. You can access Amazon.com's Kindle Shop immediately (before you forget, if you're like me), and acquire it. Cha-ching...Woot! There it is!

I could say more, but I'll stop. Let me summarize my thoughts:

PROS:

• The cool factor
• It's Amazon - you know them
  
• Crisp display is easy on the eyes, even in bright sunlight
• No cables, no syncing, no computers
• Readable size, lightweight, good ergonomics
  
• Holds over 200 books
• Has free, instant access to thousands of ebooks available for purchase
• Best sellers and new releases are more economical than hardbacks
  
• Connect from wherever you are - no wifi needed
  

CONS

• Initial price
• It is just an ebook reader...But that's all it needs to be.

Curious? I've only touched a few of its benefits, the ones that really stood out to me. I have to tell you, after reading about this product I am excited about the future of ebooks! This kind of device makes them accessible by the average person who has little technical knowledge.

You can read about the Kindle in much more detail, including the device's full specifications, at Amazon's Kindle Shop. They have lots of photos, too., including shots submitted by customers.

It looks like they have an active support community for the Kindle, too. That's good to see.

Happy reading, whatever form yours takes! :)

My main website and blog can now be found at Gardenwife.com.

Tenkyouveddymuch.

Moving On Over

Yes, just when I get my blog template the way I want it, I'm going to move my blogging over to MoveableType, hosted and edited now at my own server.

So....From now on, go HERE for my current blog. Yes, it's easy to remember - mt.gardenwife.com - but don't expect anything to pretty until I figure more of this stuff out! ;)

The Three P's

I thought I'd put in one more update before I crash for the night. I can't believe I'm still up!

1. Parade: I made up a gallery of Thursday's Parade of Homes pictures. Right now the gallery doesn't have links to my main gallery or other pages here at the site, but you can find your way back here. I made the link so it will open a new window.

2. Practice: Music practice was excruciatingly long tonight, 2 1/2 hours. All I wanted to do was sit down and get off my achey feet. The first hour, the band played so loudly we singers could hear nothing. Finally, some friends listening were honest enough to say it was way too loud - so loud it would probably make people get up and walk out of the service. After that, levels were adjusted and we could actually hear ourselves without having to scream the notes. My voice is shot tonight!

3. Pee: After practice, I stopped by my MIL's apartment downstairs to say hi and visit. Her dog was friendly with me, as he always is, and sat playing in my lap for a while. Then he made his way up to his preferred spot, which is back up behind my neck. Usually he goes behind Nancy's neck, but tonight he crawled up behind me on the couch. He felt warm on my neck, kind of soothing.

Then he felt hot.

Then I realized the heat was intense, plus it was saturating my clothes and dripping down my back.

The stinking dog PEED on me! Not just a little, either. My back was soaking wet with dog pee. After yelling a few choice things and smacking his face into the pee-soaked couch back, I retreated upstairs shower while my MIL quickly took the little pisser outside.

He did that to her one time a month or so ago, before she moved. It wasn't on her back like this, though. Thing is, it was obvious tonight that he wasn't just having trouble holding his bladder, but actually meant to do it. What is UP with that? Was he marking her as a favorite? Does that mean he likes me?

If so, he's got to find another way to show his affection (humping my leg's out, too).

Well, that's it. I'm pooped (oh, that makes Four P's). I'm going to bed so I may, I hope, dream of great music, beautiful decorating ideas, and otherwise dry things.

Pressing On

Sorry I've been so scarce. It's not that I'm particularly uncommunicative (just ask my family and friends), I've just been busy. Since being a homemaker, I've led a pretty secluded and laid-back life. But lately...Whew!

Today I went to the 2003 Parade of Homes in Pickerington. WOW, what a beautiful bunch of decorating that was. From what my friend Shawna told me, the homes were more modest this year than in years past, more approachable. They were still 200k-600k, though, not mansions but surely out of our price range!

We noticed that most of the folks who, like us, commented with things like "oh, that'd be hard to keep clean" or "that would get dusty really fast" were obviously not the ones in the market for such homes and decorating. If we were, we'd hire people to clean and dust it all, believe me!

But I still did what I enjoy best and had a great time -- I took well over a hundred photographs and took home many decorating ideas. Poor Howie!

My feets is killin' me, though! I still have to go to music practice tonight for a special praise, prayer and healing celebration our church is having tomorrow night. Once I get there, I'll be fine. I know this in my head, but at the moment, sitting down here at the desk, all I want to do is kick off my shoes and crawl into bed. I hope everyone keeps to task and things wrap up quickly tonight. My bed awaits me!

Ah well, I'll live!

Spritzed and skeeter free

The Gentle Spray citronella bark collar arrived today June 12 and my MIL and I put it on her dog straight away. It works worked great! The instructions say to put the collar on the dog, then put him in a situation where he normally barks. For Jonah, that means being put in his crate when Nancy leaves.

Update: Problem is, Jonah figured out that if he barks enough times, the nasty spritzy stuff runs out and he can then bark, yip and whine to his heart's content. Dang it! Back to the old drawing board, $80 later.

Relaxing and Re-Kline-ing

Angie and did a little fish shopping at a local store run by a brother and sister. I just got our new (to us) 55-gallon fishtank cleaned and set up, and we're deciding on what to stock it with. We're going with tropicals, and I'm thinking about gouramis, tetras, barbs, puffer fish and some other semi-aggressive fish. I'd really like to get a parrot fish, but they're pricier; best to wait until the tank's well-established before getting anything special. Here's the tank, sans fish and ready to go:

After shopping, Angie and I watched not one, but two Kevin Kline movies. What fun - I forget how enjoyable it is to kick back and watch movies! The first was French Kiss, with Klein and Meg Ryan. It was your typical fun little Meg Ryan movie and had some great one-liners in it.

The second was The Emperor's Club, in which Kline plays a professor at a boys school. It spans a 27-year period beginning in 1974. I suppose they wanted it to be reminiscent of Dead Poets Society...Beloved teacher helps troubled student(s) at the stuffy and traditional boys school, etc. It didn't measure up to that movie at all, but then again, it would be impossible to (IMHO). It was okay, but not any great shakes - but Kline was really good in it and it made me appreciate all over again the power a good teacher has to change lives. Go teachers!

On another subject, my mother-in-law is purchasing one of those citronella-spritzing anti-bark collars for her dachshund; I bought one on eBay (saved a good $20 off retail "specials", even including the shipping) for her today. We're all looking forward to seeing how well it works. Her doggie's been barking up a storm since the contractors are still working in the house. They downstairs is 90% finished, and all that remains upstairs is the installation of our bathroom vent/light and drywalling/re-tiling around the new shower area.

It should all be done by Friday...And Merry Maids is coming out Monday morning to make all this plaster and drywall dust nothing but a distant memory. Hallelujah for life's rare treats!

Give that man a Tetris shot

Angie and I have been hanging around in the air-conditioning this afternoon, geeking out online. A little while ago, I thought heard the distinctive sound of the Tetris song outside. I couldn't see any kids playing with a Gameboy, and a Gameboy wouldn't be that loud, anyway. What in the world?

I cranked open the window to hear better. Sure enough, it was the Tetris song. And it was coming from an ice cream truck. I can't say I've ever heard that song played by an ice cream vendor, but then again, I don't think I've ever seen an ice cream truck quite like this one.

Angie and I craned our necks and plastered our bright and shining faces against the window glass to see this van go by. The general consensus? Ewwwwwwww! It was an old, brown van - one of those long ones, like a Ford Econoline, I think. What wasn't painted brown was brown with rust. On its sides were a couple of big, faded poster/stickers with pictures of ice cream treats. Painted on the back of the van was the admonishment, "Please watch our children" or something like that.

It really wasn't a reputable-looking purveyor of cool treats; it just looked kinda scary. Not someone I'd want watching my children, had I any.

Blogger Blues

So, has Blogger's new system made file extensions different? I had to manually go in and change index.phtml to index.html index.php for my blog to even come up. My comments are no longer again working after changing the file extension on my index page...It's not that I don't want to hear from ya! I know ya love me! ;)

My webhost is looking at offering customers blogging software as a perk; he's going to install MoveableType for me to use, sort of as a beta tester I guess. This is really cool and an answer to prayer, because I've been wanting to learn MT, but was confused by the server-side installation stuff and couldn't justify paying MT or Chari even the nominal $20 set-up fee. Wooo! This is such an answer to prayer!

Updated downloads page

I updated my downloads page to include a link to Omni Massage Systems. They're just so darned neat!

I'd Rather They Bark

My MIL's dog Jonah is a yapper and really carries on. The fact that he's hard of hearing doesn't help any - just makes him bark all the louder, we think.

In anticipation of his being in her apartment downstairs, we borrowed a bark collar (one similar to this one, only not rechargeable) from a friend. We had misgivings about these collars, but our friend had used it successfully with his beagle, so we thought we'd try it. The collar, touted to issue a "mild correction" at the vibration of a bark, would be there in case his barking got to be too much.

Howie picked up a battery for it, but we weren't sure how to turn it on/regulate it. There were no directions. Since Emma is a barker herself, we thought we'd try the collar on her and see if it worked.

It was horrible. She barked, then cried out loudly in pain and jerked back. Her cries made it "correct" (read: shock) her again, which only made her cry out again. It was horrible and I couldn't get it off of her fast enough.

I felt so terrible at inflicting this pain on her! I bawled as I held her trembling body close to me and tried to calm her. Her heart was going a mile a minute and she was terrified. She had no clue what had happened, why she was hurting like that. It was just plain cruel.

We will never use one of these again, and will tell everyone who mentions wanting to try one to seek an alternative. There are collars which release a spritz of citronella, for instance, or others which issue ultrasonic tones - both of which are supposed to distract the dog without the cruelty of shocking it.

I still tear up when I think about the terrified yelps she made. I just felt really small at the thought of hurting my puppy-girl. She's such a good girl, and hadn't done anything wrong. :( I think part of the reason it hit me so hard because of all the stresses these past few weeks, what with construction, my father, the impending scrapbook project, and all - it's just been a doozy of a month or so, and I guess I've been repressing a lot. Once that tiny chink opened up in the emotional dam, it all came flooding out.

Logo angst

I'm working on my blog's logo, but having trouble making a transparent GIF or PNG come out looking decent. Blah! Bear with me...I'm working on it. In the meantime, just hold your hand over the top of the screen while you read!

Update: Well, this JPG image will work for a while. It's a little too big, though. I'll make it smaller.

Wait! Newsflash! For now, I shall make my green background a layer in Photoshop and let my logo go above it; then when I save it, it will match the background already up at my site.

Added: Oooh, I think I might need to make a theme out of my birdhouse picture. It's a little mosaic birdhouse I picked up at Big Lots a while back - I liked the photo of it and made my logo from it - might as well piddle around with it some more!

Moving Day and a Recap

Today's the day my MIL Nancy moved in. We can't believe it's already time; we first started talking about redoing the basement into an apartment for her last October, had the basement waterproofed in January, and started construction on the rooms in May. And now she's here!

The contractor and plumber have a few things left to do downstairs and upstairs, but they'll be done this week. Next Monday, after it's all done, Merry Maids will be tackling our upstairs for us - a special treat after living with this salmagundi of plaster dust, sawdust, dirt, and other construction matter. We can't wait!

The scrapbook is now back in the hands of its rightful owners. In all, I did 38 pages. Sad thing is, despite even pulling an all-nighter from 9pm Thursday to 8am Friday, I was only finished through the end of third grade pictures. At some point, perhaps worn down by the lack of sleep, I came to the correct realization that I was NOT going to be able to complete it in time, nomatter how badly I wanted to. That in itself was freeing for this guilt-ridden girl. But, really, considering I didn't get the pictures until Tuesday, I don't think I did so badly! I'm pleased with how they came out, because I did them with love and with the same attention as my own scrapbook. That's enough. :)

Friday morning was a really fun scene, starting off bright and early as Rite Rug called us at 6:45am to say they'd be here in 15 minutes! Have you ever in your life heard of carpet installers coming that early without a customer specifically requesting it? I think it should be a capitol offense. It was doubly frantic because the contractor, assuming the carpet guys wouldn't come until at least 8 or 9am, had not completed clearing the rooms and sweeping the floors; like us, he never dreamed we'd have to be ready that soon and was just going to come in early and finish up before they arrived.

So, Howie called him and let him know everything was happening, and we headed downstairs to get the last of the debris and such out of the rooms. The carpet guys came right on time and helped us finish sweeping up. What a way to start the day! And with no sleep...Whoooo. Carpet looks great, though.

I ended up staying up until about eight last night, then crashing for a good night's sleep until ten this morning. It felt sooo good to crawl between those freshly-laundered sheets and listen to the pond's waterfall splashing a few feet outside the bedroom window. It's been unseasonably cool here, good sleeping weather. And sleep I did.

Burger vs. Booger

Okay...I'm taking a quick break from scrapbooking because I am laughing too hard to cut out any more of pastor's precious family pictures

All I've done today is crop pictures in preparation for putting them on pages. The whole afternoon, I've been listening to various radio stations online and having a good old time playing with all this paper. The music's helping keep me from stressing at all there is left to do!

Anyway, a little bit ago, I was listening to K-LOVE radio online heard this catchy song. I'm boppin' along, when suddenly the words "tender as a booger in the microwave..." leap out at me.

What the Hey?

Thank God for the Internet and instant access to factoids. I headed on over to Google to look, but couldn't find the phrase. This might have been due to my misspelling booger as "bugger", big dummy. Not to be thwarted, I change my tactics and type "tender as a" and "in the microwave" into Google's brain. Aha! A few references come up and I'm on my way.

Turns out, the band is The Newsboys, and the song's "Who".

Heh. It also turns out the words are actually "tender as a burger in your microwave".

Now, before you think me either deaf or really ditzy, I must point out that others thought the same thing. One of 'em posted it at kissthisguy.com, the wonderful online archive of misheard song lyrics.

Scrappin' for the Lord

If I'm scarce for a few (more) days, it's because I'm working on a massive scrapbook project. No, not mine! My pastor's son is graduating HS and I'm doing his scrapbook; his mom's been so swamped with other stuff going on with work and church, she just couldn't get it done in time for his open house this Saturday night. I love doing hands-on creative stuff like that, so I thought I'd take a stab at it. I love them, too, so it's a labor of love.

I'm figuring on about 100 pages total since it spans preschool through HS. His mom's got everything organized by grade and then by event, and she's going to do the journaling part of it on the pages. So, "all" I am doing is cropping and doing the layouts. It's a paying job, too, at a time when we could really use the extra cash - wooo-hooo!

I'm praying the creative cup will overflow, and that I can stay on task and work efficiently. See ya later, alligators!

What movie quote are YOU?

Well, I guess I'm Shrek, and for once one of these quiz answers makes some sense. My body somewhat resembles his, and the description is pretty apt...


You are... Shrek -
"Well I have to save my ass!"

You walk tough and talk tough, but inside you're just a gooey ball of mush. Your friends are important to you (whether you admit it or not) and you'd do just about anything for them (but you wouldn't like it). Trust is important to you, and so is respect. Looks don't matter to you; it's the gooey ball of mush inside that really counts.


What movie quote are YOU?
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Note: You'll probably have to tweak their HTML if you put the code in your blog; there were a lot of line breaks added in poor places, plus the word "respect" was misspelled. I threw it in here with a blockquote.

Not good words to hear

The plumber and his helper are working on our upstairs bath right now, putting in the drain and getting ready to insert the shower.

I'm hearing the sounds of the reciprocating saw and words like "dang" and "ohhh, mannnnn" and "how bad am I making it down there?".

These words frighten me.