Archive for ‘Various and Sundry’

March 28th, 2012

Useful iPad/iPhone Book Tracking App – ReadMore

I didn’t know I was in the market for a book tracking app until a friend told me about ReadMore ($1.99 through iTunes).

I used to use Excel to track the books I read. I’d track books by title, author, who referred it, and my comments. I liked keeping track of my reads, but it was inconvenient. I’ve tracked reads every which way, old fashioned (pen and paper), a Facebook app, web-based apps (but I don’t remember which ones and haven’t gotten around to trying GoodReads – mostly because I apparently created an account and resetting my password never seems to work, so I can’t log in), etc. Excel wasn’t perfect, but it worked for me.

I bought ReadMore in December and have used it faithfully. What I like most about it is I just scan the ISBN with my phone, and the app pulls the book info from that – no data entry. I can also search for a book manually (yes, data entry, but until my iPhone learns to read my mind, I’m stuck), like when I hear about a book I want to get, I just search for it and add it to my stack until I get the book and read it.

The other thing I like about ReadMore is logging my reading sessions. ReadMore lets me track the time I spend reading, and it calculates how many pages I’ve read, how many pages are left, and how many days (at the current rate of reading) until I finish the book and log it as complete. If you like statistics, you’ll love this.

ReadMore also allows exporting, so I will eventually try to export my reading history to Excel. I’m eager to try this, but I’m waiting to get a few more books under my belt.

In summary, ReadMore keeps me honest with my book reading.

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I’m always looking for more apps that might be useful, and recommendations go far with me. So, let me know if you’re using a great app and why you recommend it.

CategoryBooks, Personal, Various and Sundry | Comment2 Comments »

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March 26th, 2012

Best compliment of the week

While having coffee with a new friend last week, I mentioned something about my age. Shocked, she said, “I thought you were maybe 30!” I wish I’d said, “Oh, I am, just a few times removed.” Anyway…

Love her already.

CategoryPersonal, Various and Sundry | CommentNo Comments »

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March 23rd, 2012

Useful iPhone/iPad Recipe App – Paprika

I am an avid reader of Real Simple magazine, and I love the recipes. They’re usually very easy and interesting, and I’ve found several great ones over the last couple of years. So, when I saw that Real Simple had an iPad recipe app, I decided the $4.99 was worth it, even though I already pay for a magazine subscription.

Thankfully, I read the reviews first, and let me tell you, they weren’t pretty. Most of them were complaints about the ads Real Simple runs on the paid app. Why they run ads on a paid app, I don’t know. But I do know I can’t stand ads, which meant the Real Simple recipe app wasn’t for me.

While reading through the reviews, a couple of people mentioned an app called Paprika, which copies recipes directly from Real Simple (and other websites). It sounded interesting, so I did some research. Here are the deets that were interesting to me:

  • Price: $4.99
  • Captures recipes from popular recipe sites such as RealSimple.com (view the complete list)
  • Lets you organize recipes by category, which you can customize
  • Lets you schedule meals
  • Lets you specify and load ingredients to a shopping list

I’ve been using it for a month or two now, and I love it. Since I was using the old fashioned method of looking through books, writing down recipes/ingredients, Paprika has been a huge time saver. I wish I’d bought it months ago! Plus, now I can toss all the old Real Simple magazines I’d been keeping because I liked the recipes. Bonus for a clutter-fiend like me :)

I did research some other popular recipe apps, but none of them looked as robust, and I really like how Paprika captures online recipes. Most of my research consisted of reading other blog posts about recipe apps and then reading some of the reviews on iTunes.

In summary, Paprika does everything a reluctant cook needs.

CategoryPersonal, Various and Sundry | CommentNo Comments »

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March 1st, 2012

How to write a novel and lose weight

I wasn’t kidding when I tacked a bullet point on my last blog entry about losing five pounds. I really did lose five pounds in November. I was actually down by 10 pounds at one point and attributed it to the copious amounts of green tea I was drinking and some really late night writing sprees.

I wasn’t actually trying to lose weight, but isn’t that a nice bonus?

As I inferred before, my daughter is a very light sleeper. What I didn’t mention is, my office faces my daughter’s room. So, I’d get her to sleep, clean up downstairs, and then I’d head up to my office and close the door most of the way – closing it all the way would wake her up. I could work for an hour or so without interruption, but every night she’d wake up and see my office light on and start calling to me to stop working because she wanted to snuggle. I wasn’t getting quite as much work done as I wanted.

Something had to give, so I gave up my lovely 24 inch monitor and took my laptop downstairs to the kitchen (warmest room in the house!). Since I don’t have a desk in the kitchen, throughout the month of November, I stood at the counter and typed away at my novel. The one to two hours of extra standing and fidgeting (or dancing if the music was right) every night got rid of five pounds I didn’t need.

And drinking copious amounts of green tea helped.

CategoryOn writing, Personal, Various and Sundry | CommentNo Comments »

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June 27th, 2011

Back from Vegas and nothing to show for it

This is a good thing.

We thoroughly enjoyed the sights and sounds of Vegas, but we didn’t waste any money on gambling. Although I missed playing blackjack, I couldn’t justify gambling when the economy is so rocky and we have no idea what’s around the corner. Having my own business has made me much more conscious of my spending just because I don’t know when I’ll get another project.

Luckily, Vegas isn’t all about gambling. We loved getting a chance to sip hot chocolate at Max Brenner’s again. Specifically, the italian hot chocolate in the hug mug. However, $3 for my two-year-old to drink a third of a cup of milk out of the Alice cup was a little outrageous and frustrating to deal with (a cup with no lid for a two-year-old is just asking for trouble). But this is the new Vegas, where food is double the price of what it would normally be. It almost felt like being back in Sydney, except that we knew if we ventured off the strip, we’d hit normal-ville again. But where’s the fun in that?

Other delights? Not that I’m all about food, but I was all sorts of excited when I saw Serendipity 3. Frozen hot chocolate! Yes! Unfortunately, the wait to eat and the slow service meant we had to skip dessert to get little J back to the hotel and to bed. We never did make it back for our frozen hot chocolate. My husband wasn’t impressed with the place, so I couldn’t drag him back to partake of the real attraction of Serendipity. Maybe another time.

By far, the best part of the strip was the Conservatory at Bellagio. I just adored the whimsical displays. This was my favorite:

Flower painting at Bellagio

It’s a painting made from fresh flowers. Spectacular! I’ll add more photos when I upload them from my other camera. The Bellagio displays knocked my socks off. They’re always impressive, but this time, I just wanted to sit on a bench and absorb the sites and fresh air. It’s now my favorite hotel, although I’ve yet to stay there. Maybe next time.

CategoryFood, Travel, Various and Sundry | CommentNo Comments »

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