Learning Curve

I have been "otherwise" occupied for the past week or so and have not updated or even thought much about this blog.

I did mention, that my sons gave me a ipad for my birthday.

So much to learn, so many apps, so much fun!

One of the things on my new ipad that I did not expect at all is a feature where you can TALK your emails.  Yep, don't have to know how to type (tho I still can type about 50 wpm if necessary) don't have to know how to spell, all you have to know is how to talk.  This is an amazing feature on this electronic. thingy...

 It is much like when you phone someone and you get the answering machine.  Leave a message... works much the same when you want to send an email using the ipad.  Just talk the email and send it! 

I managed to figure out an even better use for sending talking emails.   I have two other blogs that I update very irregularly because they are both only meant for a select few who have a particular interest. 

One is called John's Journal ( jrb1909.blogspot.com ) which is the actual journal that my father in law wrote from about 1929 to 1978.  My DH inherited these journals after his mother passed away and we decided that the writings, tho often boring and rather repetitive might be of interest to John's decendents so we started typing out and posting some of the journal entries.  It is a very time consuming process as translating the handwriting to the typed word then to posting to the blog was hours and hours of work.  The ipad, has made that job immensely easier, and very much faster.  Just read the hand written words, check for errors or omissions -- but you must realize that because much of it was written, many years ago, by a man who left school at age 14, spelling and grammar and composition was not a big priority, so what we do is actually correct, the correct sentence structure (that the ipad wants to implement)to the way is was written.  It is not up to us to change in any way what was originally written down.  So that is a big part of what I have been doing the past week or so.  Talking the journal entries to transfer to that blog for those in the extended family.

   There are more than 5000 hand written pages to translate and post.  Even with the 'talking email' on the ipad there is many hours of work ahead, but now it is so much more enjoyable to do!

And still with the ipad, I have added a couple of apps that are taking a bit of time to learn and use.  One is for Diabetes control.  It will track my weight, my blood glucose levels, my carb intake, my meds, and my activity levels and then create charts and graphs to tell me how well I am managing the day to day things. It actually cost $7 but is turning out to be so worth it!

I am very pleased to report that this app really makes it clear how daily attention to detail makes a difference!  No wonder my sugars would get out of control!  Now I can see instantly how a donut will affect the day or even the next days choices.  Maybe I can actually find a way to make informed and useful food choices so that I can naturally loose a bit of weight! 

Oh, iPad, how I love you!!

Now, of course a "good thing" is not all good, all the time -- even when it feels good.... My son, introduced me to a game, and it is free on the ipad (and iphone) called clash of clans -- it is a war game, sort of -- you have to build a village and defenses and armies and every now and then go and raid another village.   The anticipation is amazing and I have become addicted to the 'hunt'.  Finding ways to defend my village, to upgrade defences, to build a new hut or money making gold mine...  And it is a global game, it has a chat area, all quite facinating.  Never expected that a mature female would have so much fun playing this game!  I even wakeup in the middle of the night to check on my village and Clan! Wanna play too?  just look for Clash of Clans  (join my clan - Whichcraft!) and we can play together!

Did I say, I love you, ipad?!