What's Your Favorite Droid App?

As much as I’ve complained about being behind the curve on learning all this blogging technology, I really do love technology.  I’m just too cheap to jump out and purchase all the fun stuff when it comes out.  I usually wait a while before I jump in.

But I did recently “finally” as my daughter said, join the Android cell phone craze.  And I must admit, I have no idea what took me so long to change…well other than my contract not being up for renewal and receiving a discount (like I said, I’m chep).

When I first got my HTC phone, I reached out to my Facebook friends for suggestions on which free “apps” were their favorites.  I compiled a list from their suggestions that I thought I’d share. 

• Shop Savvy or Savvy Shopper – both will tell you where you can find a particular product cheaper at another store
• PicSay – edit the photos you take on your phone or add special effects
• Squirrelizer – quite possibly the funniest app I’ve seen.  You can add a photo of a squirrel to any of your photos which can be quite amusing
• Barcode Scanner – scan barcodes on CDs, books and other products, then look up prices and review
• Words with Friends – a mobile word building game you can play with your friends
• Aldiko Book Reader  - turns your phone into a kindle of sorts
• Key Ring – keep s a photo of your favorite loyalty cards on file in your phone so that you don’t need to cart all those cards around in your purse

Of course, Angry Birds, is on the list, but I feel like everyone in the world must have heard of that one.  The others may or may not be as familiar.

What I want to know is…. What is your favorite app for your phone?

Just a vacation prep rant....

Why is preparing for vacation so difficult?  Sometimes I wonder if all the pre-vacation stress is really worth it. 

I mean I’ve spent the last four days just preparing to leave.  Aside from getting caught up to a point at my job so that I could leave, which was a feat in itself, and then I was faced with all the household pre-trip ritual…things like:

Laundry – Does it ever end?  And how many loads do I need to do before we have “everything” we need for the trip, clean?

Dog Sitting – Granted, not just anyone can take care of our little princess, but unfortunately it requires driving four-and-a-half hours one way to drop our baby off at my sister’s house.  I then got to turn around the next morning and drive the 4.5 hours home.

Snacks for the plane – It is a three hour flight after all and we “will” get hungry.  Gotta make a run to the grocery for some granola bars, candy and gum.

Clean out the fridge – Who wants to return home to the stench of two week old lasagna leftovers or the lettuce that turned to mush in the crisper?

Then there’s the packing….but oh wait, the weather forecast has now changed.  How does this continually happen to us?  The last three trips we’ve taken, we’ve planned to arrive at a location known for mega-sun and balmy weather, but as the trip approaches, the weather forecast changes and we find ourselves buying sweatshirts because we packed shorts and it's freezing.  Well, the same thing has happened again.  The four days we are going to be gone, it’s going to be unseasonably cool.  Grrrrrrrrrrr….what shall I pack now? Oh wait, is the washer free?

Row, row, row your boat....across the Pacific!

It’s officially guest post exchange day with the WordCount’s blogathon, but I didn’t reach out to anyone to exchange posts with today because honestly, I

a)      haven’t really figured out what my blog is about to tell someone what I’m looking for in a guest post.

b)      didn’t think it would be fair for me to write someone else’s blog because they wouldn’t gain any readers from me.  (After all, my blog says I have seven followers but being realistic I have maybe two.  Oh wait, my mother may be reading this so, ok three. Doesn’t seem like a fair trade off for someone)

c)      figured I’d be too busy preparing for vacation to really devote a substantial amount of time into today’s post (which turned out to be true) which wouldn’t be fair nor the right thing to do when exchanging

 So, in trying to stick to the day’s theme somewhat, I decided to post about Roz Savage’s blog.  If you’ve never heard of her, I’d highly recommend stopping by her blog.  Talk about someone who is following her dream and is truly inspirational. WOW! 

In a nutshell, she woke up one day in 2000 at the age of 33, evaluated her perfect life with a husband, job, house, and sports car, but wasn’t happy.  She wasn’t fulfilled. 

By 2004 her life had made a complete 180.  She was divorced, living in New York City working as a part time photographer and at one time was homeless. 

A former member of Oxford University Lightweight rowing club, Roz announces that she’s going to row solo across the Atlantic.  HELLO?  Did you catch that?  She’s going to row…as in a row boat, albeit a little souped-up, but still, a friggin’ rowboat...across the Atlantic Ocean!  OCEAN!!!!

Is she nuts?  Many might think so, but she not only completes that goal in 2005-06 rowing 103 days straight from the Canary Islands to Antigua, but then turns around in 2007 and attempts to cross the Pacific Ocean solo.  Bad weather thwarts the 2007 attempt but undaunted, Roz returns in 2008 and completes the first part of this journey – she rows for 99 days from California to Hawaii.  I first learned of Roz during this leg of the Pacific journey and followed her daily blog as she endured, to me what seemed like a nightmare.  But she loved it.

Roz continued her journey in 2009 as stage 2 took her from Waikiki to Tarawa – 104 days at sea.  I watched her daily blog then too.

She just left recently to complete stage 3 – rowing across the Indian Ocean.

I find her to be so inspirational.  She’s rowed over 11,000 miles, taken 3.5 million oar strokes which has caused her to spend nearly a year of her life at sea…in a rowboat people!  OMG!!!

Aside from her goals being crazy in my eyes, she’s an inspiration because she had a dream, gave up nearly everything to go after it and then persevered to make it a reality.  Now, I’m not suggesting that anyone give up everything for their dream.  I can say with absolute certainty that I’d never leave my husband and daughter nor sell my home (or a sports car, if I had one) for any dream I may have, but I still admire Roz’s tenacity and her dedication to a dream she obviously has.

She’s also an environmentalist who believes that we all can make a difference in our world and should.  I love that about her too as well as her personal creed of taking life “one oar stroke at a time.”  Check her out.  I don't think you'll be disappointed.

An update on the Power of Facebook

Well, as promised, I have an update.  For those who may be tuning in for the first time, visit my “The Power of Facebook” post for the story from the beginning.

The latest news is that I received a phone call yesterday from Jennifer.  Jennifer is serving as the primary contact for gifts, food and any other miscellaneous things for Olivia’s family so that Olivia’s immediate family can focus on Olivia’s treatment.

Jennifer was calling to let me know that someone from Disney called her today to verify Olivia’s address.  A letter and the this photograph of Belle in a Disney frame is being sent to Olivia. 

One of my St. Louis friends hooked me up with a very caring, sweet St. Louis couple who have a connection to Disney.  When they learned of Olivia’s story, the wife, Pat, called me for more information and said they would see what they could do as they were going to Orlando last week.  Well, they apparently knew someone and made this happen.

The phone call from Jennifer came yesterday morning ironically right after this email update on Olivia’s treatment arrived in my inbox.   

“She is feeling a little better today. Counts are very low, lowest they have been since chemotherapy began. No visitors for now. : ( We are praying her body quickly recovers.

Some have asked about dietary requirements and question why no fresh fruits & fresh vegetables. Her counts have to be at certain level (which is not often) to eat fruits & vegetables because they are not part of a low bacteria diet & her body can't fight back. Good washing can't always prevent. She can always have bananas, oranges & fruits that are protected by a peel. Hope that helps.

Her amazing OliCap arrived today. It is just perfect & Donna is one talented lady! What sweet friends made this happen. Some of her own hair is in it & she has 3 adorable caps to attach her hair too. Pictures to come.”

This email comes to my inbox because I subscribed to a website where Deanna, Olivia’s mother, keeps family and friends updated on a daily basis.  The updates are heart-wrenching yet I know we all appreciate them as we worry and pray for little Olivia.

As a mother I can’t imagine what Deanna must be going through.  It makes me so very thankful that everyone in my family is healthy…something we tend to take for granted.  I know I often get caught up in the drama in my daily life that in reality is unimportant, and I often forget to just be thankful for all the blessings I have. 

A side note:  There are still two other Facebook friends of friends working on a Skype date and a phone call so I’ll keep you posted if those happen also.

What I’ve learned so far participating in the blogathon

What a learning experience the Blogathon has been for me!  In celebration of being nearly at the half-way point, I thought I’d do a list of the five things I’ve learned so far.

Don’t use Blogger

It never occurred to me that Blogger would go down, and I’d be confronted with not being able to post.  Although I don’t understand the logistics of it all, Blogger being down also restricted me from posting to other blogs.  Very frustrating.  

Commenting is a two-way street

It’s the old adage, “you’ve got to give to receive.” 

Blogging is easy!  The technical side is the hard part. 

Even without all the Blogger nonsense, I’ve encountered Google Group issues, a learning curve for the technical jargon of Twitter, and just the technical details to posting links and videos.  I guess I never really thought I, the computer whiz of the family, would have such technical issues.

There are ways to “cheat” in blogging 

Ok, so “cheat” may not be the appropriate terminology, but I learned that on days, well, like today, when I don’t really have a blog idea in mind, that I can do a list (like today’s), post a photo and comment on it, do haiku, post a series of videos and comment on them…gee… this was so enlightening to me considering that I’ve got to come up with 31 straight days of blogs and five of those I’ll be on vacation.

Bloggers are such nice people

WOW!  I am so impressed with how supportive, helpful and just downright nice bloggers in this blogathon have been.  Anytime I’ve asked a “how do you…” or a “what’s your thoughts about…” question, the other bloggers have jumped right in to offer insight.  That has been invaluable…thank you!

Although I’ve learned a lot, I’m really looking forward to learning even more the next 15 days.  Mom wasn’t kidding when she said, “you learn something new every day.”

Thanks for the inspiration

The past week or so I’ve noticed in some other blogs a common theme of “don’t be afraid to take a risk,” and the “follow your dreams” which have really gotten me to think a lot about where I’m going and what the heck am I doing.

It made me also think about a cousin of my husband who I admire for reinventing herself over and over again.  This woman, Judy, is not afraid of failing. She follows her dreams – takes huge risks. I thought I’d share her story here today.

Judy is about 50 years old, but she has demonstrated over the past 24 years that I’ve known her that she isn’t afraid to follow her dreams.

When I first met Judy she was a stay-at-home mom with her one child, Erika, but in her free time, Judy would paint.  She found a market for her paintings and sold them for quite a while.

Judy lives on the inter--coastal near Stuart, Florida, and she and her husband have owned a boat since they’ve lived there.  Judy took up deep sea fishing.  She enjoyed it so much that she entered contests and won several. She’s well-known in the area as the main “deep sea fishing” competition.

As Erika grew older and moved out of the house, Judy decided to go back to work.  She chose to be a real estate agent.  She excelled in that field as well and made a very nice salary for her efforts.

She tired of the real estate business and didn’t work for a short while when she decided one day to open her own cake business.  Judy recalled all the holidays that she had spent as a child where her aunt would bring a delicious rum cake to holiday events.  As an adult, Judy learned the recipe and made the rum cakes for her own family. 

One day she told us that she was opening Edible Spirits, and by golly, the next week she had rented a space, was baking rum cakes and selling them.  That was about two years ago. 

About every other week I see on Facebook where Judy has posted another milestone – new cake flavor, radio show guest, TV show guest, new large client – it’s just amazing.  Judy has once again, become very successful in yet another new profession.  Oh, she’ll tell you it’s been a lot of hard work, but that she really enjoys it.

As I am now looking at my own future with a bit of a better focused lens, I find Judy to be an inspiration for me to “follow my dreams” and “do it now.”  It is time!

Music feeds the soul!

Editor's note:  WOO HOO!  Blogger is back up!

I love music.  I grew up in a fairly musical family.  My mother and sister played the piano.  My sister also played the violin.  My father loved music too.  He played the guitar and would have his buddies over quite a bit to "jam" in the basement.

The basement was music-central.  I remember spending many, many hours listening to my dad’s record collection, and the few LPs – yes, I’m that old – that my parents bought me.

I never stuck with an instrument long enough to learn to play one well.  I took piano lessons at the age of about seven, but gave up after learning how to read music.  Then I decided I’d play the flute in grade school.  I learned the finger positions for the notes, but could never figure out how to blow across that dang thing to make that angelic sound.  I gave up on that too.

But choir.  Now that’s where I belonged.  I was in choir in elementary school and Showchoir in high school.  I loved to sing, and still do.  I’m one of those freaks that you snicker at as you drive by on the highway because I’m singing at the top of my lungs.  I’ll sing to whatever is on the radio, but I won’t hesitate to put in my all-time favorite CD – the soundtrack from the musical, “Wicked.”  I also love to sing along with “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Rent” soundtracks. 

I thought I’d share this with you today because I’ve been stopping by Radio Nowhere’s blog  where he’s posting his favorite songs.   Loving music as I do, I thought that was a fun blog idea, but it also made me think about how much I love music, and how it can literally change my mood or enhance it. 

For example, when I just want to listen to a song that gets my blood pumping and puts a smile on my face, I listen to OK Go’s “Here it Goes Again.”  The video is a classic too.

Or if I’m really mad, you can’t beat a good hard rock song like, Sammy Hagar’s “I can’t drive 55.” 

Feeling sad?  Sarah McLauchlan’s “When Somebody Loved Me” may send you further into a depression, but it’s a beautiful song.   

Having a great day and just want to celebrate it?  It’s a Perfect Day by Hoku is the perfect song.

Wanting to share an inspirational song with someone.  Try Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband’s “Dream Big.”

Oh I could go on an on, but you get the idea.  Music just feeds the soul!