Digital Footprint

Despite my half-hearted efforts, my digital life just keeps expanding. Recently, I have added a new device and traded out another and I will be reviewing soon here on the blog.

What are they?



Yep, after deciding that the Kindle Fire was not a good device for me, I was surprised that I was willing to give this a chance. But it was so new and shiny and all the tech bloggers and podcasters were talking about it so I got sucked in too. I have no regrets and I’ll tell you why soon.



I was not so thrilled with my cell phone anymore and not so thrilled with my carrier anymore, so I decided both needed a refresh. I went in for the Galaxy Note but, even though T-Mobile has started selling the device, they haven’t actually stocked the stores in my area. I don’t know what that’s about. Anyway, I am now with T-Mobile and learning to use the Galaxy SIII. I’ve only had it a few days so I’m not going to be too quick to say anything, but I can say that I miss the user experience of the HTC product line. I have faith in HTC. I know they will bounce back. The question is, will this phone make me a loyal customer of Samsung?

Stay tuned to find out...

Stop and Learn-Automation

I have been trying to get myself back into the blogging rhythm, but I ran into a little snag when trying to get new pictures onto my computer. They kept disappearing on me and going right into the trash!

I have a program running on my computer called Hazel. I love Hazel. I considering her the little cleaning script that keeps my files all nice and tidy--or as much as I have told her to. One of things I have Hazel looking out for is repeat files. When she sees a duplicate in certain places, she goes to work and she sweeps them off into the trash. She’s so efficient at her little cleaning duties that it happens within seconds of the duplicate file hitting my computer. I was transferring the files from my cell phone to the computer using bluetooth so as soon as they came in, Hazel shuttled them right back out.

I don’t blame Hazel in any way. She is doing what I asked her to do and for that reason I’m not going to shut her down to bypass the problem. Nope, I’m going to fix the problem! That means re-naming hundreds (if not thousands) of photos that I have uploaded to my system. Needless to say this is beyond tedious, but I have heard that it is possible to do this in batches.

I consulted my friend Google and found several resources for using the Mac Automator program to do the renaming for me. I’m still in the thick of it so I won’t give any final words on it just yet. The video below will give you basic instructions on how my process is going.



Those of you that are professional or budding photographers or small business owners that supplement your online presence with nice photos really should learn how to use the Automator. I’ll do some looking around to see if I can find a similar resource on the Windows side of the house.

Stay cool this summer. The temperatures and humidity levels are rising!

Yelm and the Mountain

There is a very good chance that at the end of this job search, I will be packing up and moving. I’m not sure where but I’m almost definite it won’t be where I am now. Whenever I talk to a new company about a new city, I immediately turn to Google Earth. I am having so much fun thinking about the possibilities. There are so many beautiful places in this country and I’m ready to see another one.

I was on the phone with my brother last week and unknowingly, he fed right into my latest obsession. He said, “Man, every day I get up, I swear that dog-gone mountain is getting closer!”

Mountain, what mountain? I had no clue. He has just relocated to Yelm, Washington which I didn’t know existed until he was heading to an army base there. I consulted Google Earth and there it is, about an hour away. Mount Rainier in all its snow capped glory.



What a beautiful sight. I was excited to plan to visit him because of his proximity to Seattle and Portland, but now I have a new target when I go. I’m going to that mountain. Actually, I’m just going to the state park to get closer to the mountain. I’ll leave the mountain itself to the more adventurous people out there.

Oh the places we can go!

Why the Kindle Fire Doesn't Work For Me

When tablet fever hit the world, I was interested. But the iPad as the leading device did not and still does not appeal to me. It’s entirely too big and after being an Android user with my cell phone, I see a lot of limitations with the form factor of the Apple iPod/iPhone/iPad software. I was determined to get an Android tablet when they hit the market, but I couldn’t justify the $500+ price point. To justify the purchase I needed to figure out ahead of time exactly what role the tablet would play in my life. I set about trying to decide exactly how I would use it, which really just resulted in it being an extension of the things I could already do on my cell phone. Of course, the bigger screen was a great selling point. I even considered incorporating the tablet into regular use and downgrading to a feature phone.

When the Kindle Fire was announced at $199, I no longer needed the justification. I was okay spending the money to try it out. Fast forward a few months and I hardly ever use the thing. One reason is that Amazon has put Apple-like limitations on the Android software so unless you are comfortable with rooting the device, you were a little stuck until app developers worked around things. One of the best and most useful things to me about Android is the use of widgets on multiple home screens. Amazon only offers you one home screen that displays like a book shelf.

But, I can still get most of the apps that I love on the Kindle and so I could still do all of the things that I like to do on my cell phone. But I find myself not even thinking to pick the thing up. When I’m home, I go for my laptop. When I’m on the go, I go for my cell phone. The Kindle Fire, although a really great device at a really great price point, has no place in my life. And I do have to say when it’s time to read, my go-to device is the e-ink Kindle.

I have to expand this to be inclusive of any tablet. I just don’t have a place for them in my life. Most of the people that I know that use and love tablets so much are people who are not big laptop users or have children that can not be trusted with a laptop. Some of them still have desktop computers at home and so the tablet hits a nice sweet spot for them. That place does not exist in my life. I never thought I would be rejecting a nice little piece of technology, but it is nice to say that I have everything around me that I need.

Maybe in a couple of years when it’s time to update my computer needs will I reconsider using a tablet device. For now, I will be bidding a fond farewell to my Kindle Fire. I have already wiped it and deregistered it and will be selling it on to someone who can find a place for it.

If you are a tablet user, I would love to hear how it is working out for you.

Don't Ditch That Old Technology

In the process of doing my recent house cleaning, I ran across my old Kodak Easy Share camera. This thing is probably about eight years old and still runs on two AA batteries. Since the cameras on cell phones have gotten so good and it’s easy to share the pictures from the phones, I have started to opt for using my cell phone to take pictures.



But when I pulled out this camera, I had to be think critically before just tossing this in the recycling bin. This camera is 3.1 mega pixels which is not good in terms of purchasing new camera, but excellent when compared to the front facing camera on my Android phone which is only 1.3 MP. So, I popped in some new batteries and put my old friend to the test. I have been very happy with results but decided to do a side by side comparison with my cell phone to see if new really is better.

Now, my cell phone is an HTC Incredible 2 with an 8 MP camera. It almost seems unfair to compare them, but take a look at pics.



The first picture was taken with the Kodak EasyShare. The second picture was taken with the cell phone-I put the Kodak in the picture so I wouldn’t get them confused. Both pictures have the same lighting. I used the flash on both. I have to say, I like the picture that the Kodak took better. The colors are not as washed out. What do you think?

Bottom line, don’t be so quick to upgrade. Technology manufacturers like to convince us that we need newer, better, bigger but is that always the best option for us? We really need to step outside of the marketing and use a little critical thinking of our own.

Use or Trade

I’m continuing to go through the house, cleaning out where I can and getting rid of things I no longer need or want. Next up was the media cabinet. It was getting to the point where I couldn’t fit much more in it without messy stacking that threatened to tumble out eat time you opened the cabinet.

I checked the trade-in requirements for my local used video/games/music/book store before starting because anything that can go will go there for now. I do have some items that don’t meet the requirements and I will keep them for now, but I will be keeping my eyes and ears open for options for getting rids of those.

My media cabinet went from this…



to this…



I didn’t count my totals but I have an assortment of VHS, DVD and CDs ready for trade. The place I am going has the option for cash buy or trade, but since I am a regular customer I will be going for the trade as it is much more valuable.



I added my used first generation e-ink Kindle to the pile and walked away with $159.85 in store credit. Only 5 items were rejected and returned to my media cabinet

How is your cleaning going? Have you tackled your media collection?

I Need A Charging Station...

So I made one. I have a few too many gadgets floating around the house these days and none of them ever seem to be charged up when I need them. So I go through the same routine everyday. I go through the house searching for a charger and then I try and figure out where to plug it in so I could possibly use it while I charge it. I’ve looked at setting up a place to charge everything in several places in the house, but nothing quite struck me as perfect until today.

In my living room, I have a console table with a decorative box on top…an empty decorative box. I think I used to keep knitting projects in it at one point, but after I started traveling, the unfinished projects went with me. So this box sat empty.

This box is a heavy paper box…maybe chipboard. I was able to cut a section into it with scissors. I took a power strip from my growing stash of cables and such and adhered it to the box with a couple of strips of double stick tape. I fed the cable through the cut-out in the box and put the lid back on. From the front the box looks just like it did before. You can only tell it’s been altered by seeing the cable protruding from the back. The cable goes straight down to the outlet below the table.

This is a great solution for charging small electronics. In the photo above, I have my Kindle Fire, iPod Touch and Nintendo DS charging up. I also have some extra cable store away in there for other electronics. And when I need to charge large electronics, I plug it in and feed it’s cable through the cut-out.

Perfect solution for my needs.

The Nokia N900

IMG00150-20100129-0953.jpg
Originally uploaded by aldorris105

So far, I am really liking this phone. Excuse me, to those literal people out there that would rather call it the tablet computer that it is sold to be. And it is a tablet computer, but I'm not quite ready to get into the computing power of it just yet. Right now, I am just wanting to port over all of the phone and email aspects and then I can start branching out.

This truly is a beautiful device and I can see so much potential in it, but it is not for the casual cell phone user. Setting it up takes more thought than other phones and it may take a couple of tries before something works exactly right but it is well worth the effort.

Because some people have asked, I chose this over an iPhone because it has a physical keyboard and I don't have to go over to ATT. I chose it over the Droid because it has resistive touch rather than capacitive touch. The difference? Capacitive screens allow for all the fancy multi-touch functions that you see on the iPhone and Droid. Resistive screens allow for stylus input which allows better use of hand drawing and note-taking applications which I wanted. Not to mention, I have had trouble with capacitive screens when my hands are too cold which they often are.

But this phone is meant to be a potential replacement to my Blackberry Tour so I will do a more in dept analysis of the differences between the two devices soon.

So, what new technology are you trying out these days?

Well, That May Change Things

I’m a very brand dependent person so it’s a big deal for me to not only change the kind of cell phone (really it’s a min-computer) that I am using, but to also change my service provider. But I just read that Verizon will cut 13,000 jobs before the end of the year. I don’t feel so bad anymore. Verizon just last week lowered it’s prices on some of it’s plans. Is this the true cost for that reduction?

Joy in the Palm of Your Hand

Tomorrow, I take delivery of a brand new toy. The Nokia N900. I won’t bore any of you with how excited I am. The only potential negative is that the phone is GSM which carries me over to T-mobile, but I’m willing to give a try. For the next few weeks (or how ever long I have to decide to return the phone), I will be transferring my life over to T-Mobile and Nokia to see how things go. If all goes well, I’m bidding a fond farewell to Verizon and the Blackberry (I shall miss you though BB--you’ve been so good to me). Look for some geekyness from me in the next few weeks. :)

A Little Bit of Sewing-the Nissan Leaf

If you have a lot of t-shirts that you don’t wear laying around or you have shirts that are stained and no longer wearable, consider recycling them into other projects. Lately I have been more into projects that are designed to reduce waste. On Friday, Nissan was in town for their road tour announcing their new electric car called the Leaf. Since they were in walking distance of our office, some coworkers and I walked over to take a look. We didn’t stay to take a test drive, but we did sign up so we could get a free t-shirt. it was a beautiful t-shirt, but I would never wear it, so I up-cycled it.

I didn’t think to take a before shot of the t-shirt so you could se what it looked like, but this is what it looks like now.

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I told you it was a nice shirt. That logo was begging to be the centerpiece of a bag. The pattern is the Amy Butler Swing Bag. The dark blue external fabric is the Nissan Leaf t-shirt. The internal is a white t-shirt from Lane Bryant that I had stained but had not thrown away. I would often wear it to bed because the fabric felt so good. Now, it has a new life. The bag is lined with Peltex to give it some stiffness. It is reversible but I would never walk around with a white bag. I attract stains too much to be that brave, but having a white interior gives you that extra brightness that makes finding things a little simpler.

But I couldn’t leave it there. I’m constantly looking for ways to organize all the stuff that makes it’s way into my bag. Mostly I do this with little zippered bags. I made two to match my new Nissan Leaf Swing Bag.

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These zippered pouches are made from the cap sleeves of the t-shirt. These are improvised and far from perfectly square, but they are very utilitarian and ready to toss in any bag.

So, what do you think? Are you off to make new use of your old t-shirts? Let me know.

Happy crafting.

Creativity Blooming

Creativity Blooming
Originally uploaded by aldorris105

I've not been feeling well today so I have been camped out on my sofa with a few crafts and books. I've been embroidering and appliquéing and sketching up new projects for the coming year. I also have a little bit of knitting and my Nintendo DS on the table.

For a look at some of my recent projects, follow the picture over to my Flickr page. I'm going to take the week after Christmas to do more crafting. I am developing new projects to teach at the quilt shop and I am so excited about the ideas that I'm coming up with.

I don't like being sick but I don't mind not going out in the cold at all. Hope you all are staying warm. I'm trying hard.

Yay! It Works

Looks like I’ve got my mobile blogging set and ready to go. Let’s see how it acts with a bit of knitting.

This is the Manitou Passage Scarf that I have been working on. The yarn is Cascade Sierra and I’m happy with how it is turning out right now. The dye bleeds a bit but I can live with that after a quick post-knit wash​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.

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I am using MacJournal to do off-lne blogging which I can then upload directly to my existing blog account. The set-up took a bit of time but that may have been because of me and not the software. Okay, it’s completely my fault. I can admit it. I’m testing the software for 15 days but if all continues to go well, this is a definite buy. I will give a more affirmative recommendation after a little more testing.

Glad to be back with you all. YAY!

Still Testing

I’m determined to get this up and running so I can blog from Stitches South.

Testing New Software

Hey All! I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted. I am in the process of testing some new software which I hope will help me keep up my blog a little better even when I am on the road.

And just to prove how much I’ve been traveling, here is a picture of my growing collections of hotel ink pens.

Delicious Buy

I'm testing out this software for cataloging.  Check it out.  I'll give a review when I've had a chance to use it.

Delicious Buy

Bad Service Will Not Be Tolerated

I've been having trouble with my cell phone for weeks now.I called the company (HELIO) several times and their fix everytime was to reset the phone. This means I have lost all of my pictures, all of my ringtones and I had to reload my numbers and emails everytime. Yesterday was the last straw. I had to reset yet again and after telling the company I would switch my service if this was not handled, I got put on hold for over 15 minutes. No one ever came back to the phone. After leaving the office, I drove directly to the Verizon store and switched my service. I'm not going to continue giving you money if you don't take my concerns seriously.

There's also a yarn store that's been bothering me. More on that later...

If you don't get the service you expect, take you money somewhere else.

Recovering

This weekend will be the first time in a while that I get to just concentrate on myself and doing what I want to do. Unfortunately part of that will have to be spent cleaning the house but I have enough joy in store that I can endure the cleaning.

I've gotten most of the pieces cut for my mother's messenger bag. I need to pick up some canvas tomorrow at the fabric store for the lining and then I can get to sewing. She's really looking forward to getting this bag and it makes me want to get it finished quickly.




Other than the bag, I will spending a lot of my weekend with my new friend Mac the iMac. Cheesy, I know, but you would be cheesy too if you had one. Isn't he lovely. I think it should be a he. He will get a more appropriate name at a later date, but for now he is just Mac.













When things don't go as well as I would like in life (not that often but it happens), I like to spoil myself. In addition to Mac I bought myself another very special gift which is still in the box so I will post about it later.


For those of you in the Chattanooga area that include fabric in your fiber love obsessions, check out Lavender Lime. I know I've mentioned them before, but they have rearranged their store and it looks fabulous. You can't help but fall in love and loose your money in that store (hint on the other gift I bought myself).

Take care you all and have fun indulging in your fiber love.

Catching Up

I spent the majority of the weekend catching up on my reading and podcast/audiobook listening. Of course I'm knitting and roaming around on Ravelry as much as possible as well. You can keep track of my reading on the list at the bottom of my blog. I'm way behind on my reading goal for the year, but I blame it on the knitting. You just can't knit and hold on to a book at the same time.

But the knitting does not suffer I assure you. My projects of choice nowadays are socks and now that Krazy Knitz is having a sale, I'm sure I'll be doing even more socks.

I'll be back at work soon and maybe that will give me a chance to catch up on my reading. Maybe. The knitting bug is a powerful thing.

Trying New Things

Wow, it's been a roller coaster of a week. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail right now as I am trying a new blogging method. I am using Microsoft Word 2007 to compose my post. I'll then see how things work. I'm trying to be able to do as much as possible off line so I can move around the house more. No I don't have wireless at home.
In addition to a new method of blogging, I am trying something new on the job front. As of leap day I am unemployed. I still can't quite get my head around that, but I'm going to use this time wisely and not stress out too much. I'll have a new job soon enough.
In my free time I am going to get a lot of knitting done and I'm also considering starting an Etsy store. More on that soon. I hope you all are doing well. Write to you soon!