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By Carol January 22nd, 2012
Years ago I could only use a yellow legal pad for my writing. If I didn’t have my yellow pad, I couldn’t write. Then a determined Bill coaxed me to try word processing. Now I love the ease of editing, the spellchecker and the way words flow from my fingers onto the page. I especially like Microsoft Word, a program that I always thought was too complicated for me until we started blogging.
Today, with my right hand encased in a stunning purple cast, I can’t use my cherished Microsoft Word. The best I can do is to hunt and peck enough to edit this.
And what is this?
I am “writing” this post via an iPad app called Dragon Dictation. Since I had joint replacement surgery on my hand almost two weeks ago, …
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By Bill January 19th, 2012
One of my first memories about retirement was when a rancher in my home town quit riding every day when he was 85 years old. A year later he was dead. My father talked about it as though the rancher’s retirement was a death warrant. It shaped my attitude about retirement, in that there was something vaguely morally wrong about stopping going to work every day.
I have been retired since March 2011 and have two jobs. What is interesting about my attitude about retirement is that I acquired it from my father who retired at age 65 and never worked another day. I really do not know how he made the transition to retirement as he never in his life talked about his feelings. I do know he made regular trips to …
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By Bill December 29th, 2011
Holiday Moods
The holidays have not been as sad this year. We are farther away from the deaths of Audrey and Frank, Carol and Judi’s parents. Judi is facing health problems, but Carol and her son and daughter are doing well. We spent Christmas with them. We saw a good concert and a good movie, along with good food and gifts.
This is my first holiday season since I retired. I have not been home for the entire holiday season for about 30 years. I worked in water treatment, which meant shift work. I worked days, nights, weekends, and holidays. I was never home for the entire holiday stretch. I worked 12 hour shifts, so my time to spend with family was limited by the need to rest before the next shift. I …
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By Carol December 20th, 2011
Once we got our new iPad email working and used the Photo Booth app to take some funny pictures of ourselves, we wondered what to do next with our intriguing Little Buddy. The problem is not a scarcity of possibilities. According to official Apple sources, there are over 140,000 iPad apps available—many of them free. Too many to sort through on our own.
No problem. Sister Judi–an iPhone owner and aficionado—to the rescue. She undertook to coach me in advanced techniques of using the “Home” button and also suggested a few challenging and enlightening apps. High on our list are Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja. I also learned that she is the creator of her own app—Smart Tot Rattle!
Her next move was to challenge me to a game of Words with Friends.
I’m …
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By Carol December 18th, 2011
Tempted to Take a Byte of the Apple
One day in early November, I woke up knowing that I had to have an iPad. And I had to have it right away. Over the years Bill and I have had several opportunities to make a change from our somewhat trusty PC to the other camp. Each time we decided against the switch due to impatience with the idea of learning a new system as well as considerations of economy. We’ve always been able to do whatever we wanted with our PCs. Why fix what ain’t broke, right?
Now several factors converged to influence a different decision. Bill does not enjoy using our laptop, but didn’t always want to fire up the big computer in our downstairs office. I had read Marti Weston’s reports …
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