Willa's Journal

Don't trick me

2012-01-24T16:26:00.000-06:00

Here's an instance in which I think a company should have done some more market research before implementing a plan. On Friday there was a message on our answering machine at home that said, "This is Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline Company. It is imperative that we talk to you regarding pipeline safety in your neighborhood! Please call 000-000-0000 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday."

We have gas service through Atmos Energy, and I've never heard of Southern Star, but who knows, maybe they're a parent company, or maybe they actually build the pipelines or something. But it just sounded odd, and I couldn't do anything about it until Monday anyway. When Bob got home, I asked him to listen to it and asked him what he thought, and he said it didn't make any sense to him, either, and to just ignore it. He said, "If it blows up, it blows up."

Then when we got home last night, there was another message, the same message. Bob said, well, there was an Atmos truck on the street this morning, maybe there's something going on, we should probably call them back. We had this whole discussion about it, with me saying that when someone needs us to do something, I wish they would just tell us what it is rather than making us jump through hoops, but that I would call the next day.

So I wrote down the number and called them back this morning on my way to work, and the phone was answered, "Southern Star Gas Pipeline, how may I help you?" I told the woman on the phone that, "We keep getting messages about pipeline safety in our neighborhood." She said, "Oh, yes, we contacted you regarding a survey on pipeline safety, would you have time to take the survey now?" I declined, and she said she would take us off the contact list so we wouldn't be bothered again.

I know that I'm odd in various ways, but I, like most people, I assume, dislike being tricked, particularly in a way that makes you concerned or frightened. I have a bad impression of that company now, since that's all I know about them, that they tricked me into calling them by making me fearful for our safety. Obviously, they did it because if they called and said we should call them back to take a survey, we wouldn't, so they try to make us think it's a safety issue.

Bad plan.

Evernote - it just works

2012-01-11T17:39:00.000-06:00

I'm always on the lookout for the ideal productivity app, the one that I can use for everything, the one that deserves to reside on the homepage of my iPad. I've tried dozens of them. I've also purchased lots of note-taking apps, but haven't found one that really felt completely comfortable.

I seem to always come back to Evernote.

There are fancier, more elegant apps out there--Evernote is kind of utilitarian--there are apps where you can choose from several different kinds of paper, or even make your own. There are apps where I can create a lot of different "notebooks," and choose pretty covers for them. For awhile, I liked the note-taking apps where you write on the screen with a stylus, and those are fun to play with, and nice for temporary notes, but for keeping well organized notes, I always come back to Evernote.

The main reason why I'm sticking with Evernote is the ability to sync seamlessly between iPad, iPhone, desktop/laptop, and web. I can use the full-size keyboard at my desk and type effortlessly, instead of hunting and pecking on the iPad keyboard, type a note, and then immediately open up Evernote on the iPad, and the note is there. I can edit notes on the iPad, and the edits show up on the desktop version or web versions.

I'm all about things that I don't have to think about, things that "just work." Evernote just works. It's not perfect--for one thing, I wish that you could have folders and sub-folders, so that I could have a "work" folder and a "home" folder, and be able to sort things within those folders, rather than having them all mixed up in separate notebooks. Any topic becomes it's own notebook. You can sort using tags, of course, but that has never seemed to be logical to me.

No, it's not perfect, but it's the best thing that I've found for keeping track of virtually everything--travel itineraries, software manuals, knitting patterns, lists of books that I want to read, meeting notes, photographs of white boards. When you open your Evernote account, you can set up an email address that goes directly into Evernote, so if you have something that you want to be sure to keep a copy of, but you're not near your computer or don't want to be bothered at the moment, you just email it to Evernote. There are also a lot of apps that allow you to export into Evernote; like Dropbox, it's become one of those ubiquitous apps that everyone has.

The one other thing that it doesn't do is allow you to hand-write a note, or mark up a note, but there are other apps that do that, and you can just export them to Evernote to keep a copy. You can save photographs, PDFs, web clippings, and text notes; if you need to save really large files, or need to work with files when you don't have an internet connection, you may want to upgrade to a premium account.

The free account allows you to upload very generous 60MB per month. If you need more than that--maybe you upload a lot of PDFs or large photographs--a Premium membership is $5/month, and allows you to upload 1GB/month.

Crossposted from P3 blog

What's in my bag?

2012-01-04T12:05:00.002-06:00

It's time again for: "What's In My Bag?" Always a good fall-back topic. I occasionally try to limit the number of things that I carry, and I can do that for awhile, but then when I'm having a stressful time I start worrying about things, and find that it's comforting to know that I have the things that I may need in my bag, even though I may not need them every day.

I was thinking about that this morning. I had washed my hair on Sunday, but didn't dry it, just let it air-dry, didn't do anything but comb it out, and hadn't put any product in it, so on Monday it was kind of fly-away, especially after I took off my microfiber fleece jacket. If I had been at home, I would have put something in it, but didn't have anything at work, of course.

So this morning I stuck a little travel-size tube of Redken "Outshine" ("anti-frizz polishing milk") in the bag. And then, if I do that, I think, well, I should also have moisturizer for my face, especially in the winter, and I've been feeling a little paranoid about people being sick, so I should put in a little bottle of anti-bac.

I guess it's a function of my mild OCD or my suggestibilty -- it's like needing to go put on a cross when I'm reading a vampire novel, making sure the batteries are fresh in my flashlight when I read a book where the protagonist gets stuck somewhere dark, or needing to clean the house after watching "Hoarders" (which I did Monday night). So here's the current list.

Purell Hand Sanitizer
Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion
Generic ibuprofen
Clinique Stop Signs Hand Repair handcream
Glasses
Vera Bradley eyeglass case
Emergency reading glasses (tiny fold-up pair)
Botanial Nutrients wooden hairbrush
iPhone in leather slip case
Little Phillips zip case with earbuds and my "Square" credit card reader
Vinyl folder for coupons, receipts, stamps, return address labels
Leather 3x5 card holder with Levenger personalized cards (I bought them years ago, enough to last me the rest of my life!)
Small notebook
Tiny Japanese zipper pouch with spare earrings
Thumb drive
Plastic nail file
Orly nail oil
Screen cleaning cloth
Tissue purse pack
Bandaids
Business cards
Pens - A Pilot Precise V5 recycled rollerball and a bank giveaway ballpoint
Clinique lip gloss in "Whisper"
Softlips lip balm ("Sparkle Mint")
Hair bands
Clinique gift-with-purchase lipstick mirror
Keyring with loyalty cards
Keys on the "jean ring" heart-shaped keyring I've had since high school
iPad stylus
Wallet with credit cards, cash, insurance cards
Pocket flashlight
Swiss Army knife (tiny one with scissors)
Baby nail clippers

Lot of stuff in this little backpack purse (Tignanello Multi Pocket Backpack in black leather)!

What's in store for next year?

2012-01-03T11:45:00.009-06:00

Every year about this time I start thinking about the new year, about how it always seems like an opportunity for a fresh start. Since reading tarot cards is one of my hobbies, I naturally turn to them at the first of the year, looking for insight into what the new year may bring. Several times in the past I have looked for tarot apps for the iPhone or iPad, and have downloaded several, but they were always disappointing. I have a couple of apps that are beautiful, but if you don’t immediately remember to save the reading, it’s lost forever. I have also seen ones where the card meanings are poorly translated from other languages, or where the interface is unattractive or clunky.

This weekend I spent some time looking through the apps in the app store again, hoping to find something new, and I was thrilled to find that Lo Scarabeo, the Italian publisher well known for beautiful tarot cards, has created three new tarot apps, and they are wonderful! There is a free app called LS Tarot Lite, which gives you a two-card “Daily Insight” reading, and gives you a feel for the complete app before you spend any money. The second is a $4.99 app called LS Tarot, which contains six spreads and one deck, The Universal Waite. The LS Epic Tarot, for $9.99, contains twelve spreads, and allows you to download five additional decks from a selection of around 50.

There are all kinds of customization options–you can choose to use reversals or not, you can change the background to one of the many that they offer, or you can set it to an image from your photo gallery. All of your readings are saved in a reading history. You can delete a reading from the history if you wish, but all readings are saved in the history by default, you don’t have to remember to do it ahead of time. You can also write down your own thoughts about a reading in a reading journal, and print or email a reading to yourself or to someone else. You can choose to use reversals or not, something that many other apps don’t allow–either they only use the upright position, or they include reversals even if you don’t want to use them. The interpretations are written by Jo-Anne Penn-Kast, and can be accessed as full interpretations, or as keywords.

I honestly can’t think of one thing that they didn’t include, or anything that could be done differently, or better. At $9.99, it may seem a bit steep compared to other apps, but in my opinion it’s worth every cent. All three apps come in both iPhone and iPad editions. Unfortunately, they aren’t universal, i.e., if you want it on both an iPad or iPhone, you’ll need to buy both versions. I purchased the $4.99 one for my iPhone, and the Epic version for my iPad.

If you’re looking for a sophisticated, beautiful tarot app, this is the one.

Cross-posted from Propaganda3's blog.

How to Hack a Moleskine

2011-11-02T17:21:00.030-05:00

I discovered this technique at Yarn-A-Go-Go and have refined it to apply to my own situation (and OCD). I recently found myself reading Allison Hewitt is Trapped: A Zombie Novel, by Madeleine Roux, in which Allison Hewitt, a blogger, is trapped in a bookstore with several colleagues when the inevitable zombie apocalypse happens. This, of course, started me thinking about what I would do if I found myself in a similar situation. Being me, rather than thinking in terms of weapons, I think in terms of information and creature comforts.

The creature comforts part of the equation mostly goes to what I carry in my day bag (a black leather backpack)--iPhone, wallet, keys, tissues, pain relievers, moisturizer, glasses, earbuds, pens and the inevitable Moleskine. The information part comes when I start thinking about what might happen if I'm holed up somewhere hiding from zombies and don't have access to electricity or wifi (Allison Hewitt, the fictional blogger, is trapped in a bookstore with both of those things, luckily). Or what if the cell towers are out (probably more of a worldwide armageddon than the zombie apocalypse, but you never know.

Thus, the Moleskine hack, my version.

As soon as you get a new Moleskine, number the pages. I number mine in the upper right-hand corner, and leave the first few (at least two) pages in the book blank. These first blank pages will become your index, or table of contents. Alternatively, you could use a few back pages as the table of contents ... okay, this is what I did, but only because I didn't think of adding it at the front until after I had started writing in the book.
Starting after the first blank pages that will be dedicated to the index, put your important information, i.e., information that you would want to have close to hand during the zombie apocalypse, such as phone numbers of relatives, doctors' phone numbers, medications you take, etc. This information will be the first entry in your table of contents. Mine is: Phone Numbers, Medications & Allergies, Mom's & Dad's Medications, Surgeries (Bob's and mine)
Go to those first few blank pages and add the page number, the date of entry, and what the information is, i.e., Page 1 - 10/31/11 - Phone Numbers.
Write only on the right-hand pages, leaving the left-hand pages blank for editing, adding notes, clarification, etc.
Write whatever you usually write in the rest of the book--notes, drawings, shopping lists, whatever. When you write something that you might want to be able to access later without flipping through the whole book, go to your table of contents and write it down. That way when you want to refer to notes from a particular meeting, you can find them easily by the date or title. Mine currently includes: Ideas for Christmas 2011, books I want to read, notes from doctor visits, blog ideas, sewing patterns (so I don't buy the same one twice).
Mark the index/table of contents with a post-it flag or some kind of tab so you can open the book to it easily. This is really only important if your table of contents, like mine, is at the back rather than the front.
When you fill the book up and start a new one, re-copy the "important information" into the new book. That way you have a fighting chance of having the information you need when you're holed up in the basement waiting for the zombies to break down the door.

Updated Birthday Offers List

Office Max/MaxPerks - $15 off a $75 order
Colorful Images - Free shipping on an order of $20 or more
Nature's Bounty - $1.00 coupon
Michael's - 20% off any regular price purchase
Pizza Hut - Free dessert or free side with any online order
Knorr - A recipe for "Nacho Supreme Rice"

Birthday Month!

2011-11-01T17:21:00.004-05:00

I don't want to be, and am not, ungrateful, and I've never been one to turn down something free, but I noticed this last year, and I'm noticing it again this year. All those places that ask for your birthday so they can send you something are sending out the most lame deals you can imagine. I just got one from Office Max giving me $15 off a $75 dollar order. Someone, I think it was Boston Market, recently sent out a coupon where if you buy two dinners you get a free drink.

This is just my personal opinion, of course, but if you're going to give someone a gift, which these offers purport to be, make it a real gift, i.e., with no strings or requirements attached. Chances are, I'm not going to walk into a restaurant and just ask for my free drink, or free cookie or whatever, it's going to get me into the place and then I'm going to have a meal and get my free item. But making the free thing contingent on purchasing quite a bit of other stuff just rubs me the wrong way.

And I guess the thing that really irks me is the way these things are presented, i.e., an email with a subject line like Office Max's -- "A Special Birthday Gift for You." Really? How special is that? If I come up with $75 worth of stuff, I'll only have to pay $60 for it. Sure, it's something, but is it going to make me run out to Office Max and buy $75 worth of stuff? Not likely.

I know that fast food restaurants and other places offer these kinds of coupons all the time--buy one meal, get one at half price, or buy a meal and get a free drink, or upsize or whatever--I think it's the fact that they act like it's such a big deal, and that they're giving you something of such value when really, like in the case of a free drink when you buy two meals, they're getting you in to spend $20 or so and giving you something worth maybe a dime, realistically.

I think I'll keep track of the birthday offers I get this month and see who actually gives things that are worth getting and not just deleting.

Office Max/MaxPerks - $15 off a $75 order
Colorful Images - Free shipping on an order of $20 or more. Not bad. I probably won't use it, but I always appreciate free shipping.
Nature's Bounty - $1.00 coupon. I can't tell what the $1 is off of, though, because I would have to install a coupon printer application in order to print it, and I'm not doing that. Something else that I find completely irritating.
Michael's - 20% off any regular price purchase. Nice, but not too exciting, since you can usually find 40% off coupons in the Sunday paper.

Oh, and by the way, since the holiday season is coming up, I wanted to mention that I have given up the post office box, and the forwarding order has apparently expired (if it was ever effective in the first place), so if anyone wants to send me a Christmas card and you don't have my home address, just email me and I'll give it to you. Assuming you're not the creepy stalker dude . . .

No mo PO

2011-10-20T14:47:00.004-05:00

I keep forgetting to mention this--I gave up the post office box, so if anyone wants to mail me anything, but don't have my address, email me and I'll give it to you.

Boggling

2011-09-25T17:25:00.000-05:00

Bob has been having quite a bit of pain in one of his knees for at least a couple of months, and he finally went to see someone about it a few weeks ago. He saw an orthopedist, then had an MRI, and we met with the doctor this week to discuss the results. He has a torn meniscus, along with some other small things showing some damage. The doctor said that he couldn't be sure what was causing the pain, but he recommended doing arthroscopic surgery and fixing the meniscus, and hopefully that would take care of it.

So he's having surgery next Thursday. I'm taking off work Thursday and Friday, and I think he's planning to be off for two weeks. He's not exactly looking forward to it, but I know he's anxious to have it be done; the knee has been getting worse, and now he can't take anti-inflammatory medication from now until surgery, so he's in even more pain than usual. My main concern is for it collapsing on him and having him fall down the stairs or something. I guess if we can get through another week, he'll be forced to use crutches or a walker or something until it heals.

I read someone's post about apostrophe misuse, and it reminded me of a sign I saw last weekend at the grocery store. I kind of wanted to take a picture of it, but it was dark and I didn't think it would come out well, and anyway, I would have looked like an idiot, not that I actually care about that. Anyway, there was a big display of fall flowers and pumpkins and gourds, with a sign that said:

"Please take"
items inside
to purchase.

What? Who would even think that was correct? Why would you use quotation marks in any part of that sign, and if you wanted to, why choose that phrase? It boggles the mind. Or my mind, anyway.

Finally!

2011-09-09T11:23:00.001-05:00

Blogger finally came out with an iPhone app. Maybe now I'll blog more often.

Looking out the window in my office yesterday afternoon:

Analyze THIS

2011-08-24T13:54:00.001-05:00

A columnist for the National Review, Tevi Troy, analyzes the books that President Obama took on vacation, and concludes that "they may constitute the oddest assortment of presidential reading material ever disclosed, for a number of reasons. First, five of the six are novels, and the near-absence of nonfiction sends the wrong message for any president, because it sets him up for the charge that he is out of touch with reality." Within that group of fiction were some mysteries, prompting the comment, "there is also the question of genre. The Bayou Trilogy has received excellent reviews, but it is a mystery series. While there is nothing wrong with that per se, not every presidential reading selection is worth revealing to the public."

Toward the end of the article, Troy says, "This year’s list suggests that Obama needs to consider the messages sent by his reading more carefully." I suppose that might hold some water if he was reading something like, I don't know, Mein Kampf, maybe, but selecting an armload of literary fiction doesn't seem to me to send any message other than he was looking for something interesting to read on vacation. I suppose the argument could be made that presidents never truly go on vacation, but everyone, even presidents, need a break once in awhile; I don't think that means that he's "out of touch with reality," which makes him sound in he belongs in a rubber room.

I wonder what could be deduced about me by analyzing the last half dozen books I read?

In the last couple of weeks, I've read:

The list is all fiction, pretty heavily weighted toward zombie fiction ("My Life as a White Trash Zombie," "Home Improvement, Undead Edition," and "Countdown," although "Home Improvement" isn't exclusively about zombies, since it includes stories about other creatures such as vampires, shapeshifters, and ghosts.

The rest of the books are in the dreaded mystery category, "The Missing Ink" being set in a Las Vegas tattoo parlor, and the Grabenstein series, taking place on the Jersey shore, chronicling the adventures of an Iraq War veteran, now policeman, and his young sidekick. "The Missing Ink" is a cozy, the Grabenstein books are, I suppose, police procedural, and "The Shop" is a thriller about a paid assassin trying to unravel the reasons for his recent assignments--he never asked questions before, but it's all beginning to seem a little too strange.

My mind doesn't really work this way--when I read that article it seemed like it must be satire, but sadly, I don't believe it is. But anyway, if I was going to analyze myself based on that reading list, I guess I'd have to say, since it's all fiction, that I'm out of touch with reality. I suppose the zombie fiction indicates that I identify with the oppressed undead minority, and that I am looking for ideas on stockpiling supplies for the upcoming apocalypse.

Maybe the police procedurals would point out that, while I'm basically law-abiding, I also look for ways in which I can put one over on policemen, particularly those on the Jersey Shore, and "The Shop" could mean nothing other than I'm planning a politically-motivated murder and need to find out how to keep it a secret. Oh, and of course the tattoo shop cozy indicates that I secretly wish to either work in a tattoo shop or to be tattooed.

What a crock.

In other news, my shellac French manicure just hit the 2-1/2 week mark, and still looks almost perfect. It's starting to show a little wear at the tips, so I made an appointment for Saturday to get it re-done. Three weeks is pretty darn good, I'd have to say, considering all the typing I do. Sort of in that same vein, I've got an appointment tomorrow with the hand surgeon who did my trigger thumb release a couple of years ago.

I've been having some pain that I think is probably carpal tunnel (I'm not a doctor, but I play one on tv); last week the pain was awful, but of course, just like a car that won't make that noise when you see the mechanic, this week it's almost non-existent. But using that same analogy, if I cancel the appointment, I'm sure the pain will come back. I figure it doesn't hurt to have her look at it and let me know what she thinks, although it will cost me a $50 co-pay. Oh well.

Willa's Journal

Don't trick me

Evernote - it just works

What's in my bag?

What's in store for next year?

How to Hack a Moleskine

Birthday Month!

No mo PO

Boggling

Finally!

Analyze THIS

Twelve things I love

What I did on my summer vacation

Wheezy

Lots of reading and a little drama

A couple of days off

Quiet Sunday

New toy

Kansas Troubles

Pinning

50 things that make me happy

Recap

Craft night

Thanksgiving Weekend

Cozy Christmas

Everything's okay

Books and yarn

When things work out

What I've been reading

Kindle

Holiday weekend

September

A matter of perception

Swagbucks

Whodunit

Non-attachment

Are you busy?

Nice Saturday

Awakening

Fallen Angel

While deriving

Blogger conversion

Lists and adventures

Ranting about ebooks

A weekend off

Procrastination

Week in the hospital

Wow

Sewing

Obsession

Stuff

A list about books

Dinah, Part 2

Cafe Press

Dinah

Project 365

Quiet evening

Resolutions

Snow, snow, snow

Happy Merry Christmas

Christmas iPhone Apps

Holiday Links

Suck it up

Quiet Night

Mysteries

Miracle

Black Friday

Thankful

Vacation

Saturday

Only Tuesday

What I'm reading

Electricity

I can work tomorrow

Wacky

Happiness: Media

Saturday

The Dogs

The 4th

Wallpaper