Sometimes Life Just Needs a Little Plaid

Howdy, howdy. It's Tuesday and I am supposed to be off doing other, more goal-orientated tasks like pulling info together for taxes. Instead I'm asking a question about Apps and how people use them. As in, I have my handy Kindle Fire. I love my Kindle Fire. It's backlit, does text to speech, lets me increase fonts until the cows come home (or until I can see what I'm listening to), and more than a few other fun things. Life is good and Chrissy is a happy camper with her Kindle Fire. (ooh, the dreaded 3rd person reference).

I've also downloaded a few apps, not too many, but some. They're fun and allow me to spend a bit more time online. Which makes me think maybe an app would my solution to my Facebook problem. Almost everyone has heard me dither about my Facebook account and how it gets short shrift because there are so many other things (writing anyone?) I could spend my limited online time on. A modern, and easy solution to most people I know would be to download the FB app on my Fire and spend my evenings liking and catching up with all you lovely people. In theory, that's great. And I've entered the app store more than once, determined THIS time I'm going to download the app.  But I don't.

The reason is App fear. Because every time I stop and read the permissions I'll be giving the Facebook app I can't make myself hit the download button. Have you read all those permissions? Maybe I'm foolish. I have a FB account. I use the account on my desktop. I know they have their little Facebooky fingers in everything I do or everywhere I go online, but seeing all those permissions laid out in black and white on the app store makes me cringe. Why the heck do they need ALL of that (including the ability to "download without notification") for me to read friend's posts and click like? If nothing else, how much of my Fire resources and battery life will that app burn through if I allow it free reign?

And this is where I wonder, am I just being paranoid? Should I fulfill my American duty as a consumer-driven data minee by closing my eyes and downloading the app uncaring if it will misuse my trust and the access I've given it? It's not that I have anything to hide, it's just, all those permissions seem so unnecessary. It's kind of like our packaged food situation. They spend all this money and research on food additives to make things addictive and packaging and shelf life. Maybe they could spend a little on actually providing minimal nutritive value.

Sigh.

Anyway, maybe paranoid isn't the correct word. Maybe odd would fit the bill better. What do you think?

Such fun. We all think we are sleep deprived and know it can impact our reaction time, but have you ever wanted to test just how much? Here's your opportunity:

The Sheep Dash! http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/sheep/

Be sure to try some of their other tests here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/

I haven't had a chance to post or poke about on the web these last couple of weeks, but I can't resist sharing this link to bubble.us courtesy of PaperbackWriter. It's Mind Mapping - but without the need to download a program. Does anyone else find that concept as appealing as I do?

The online program looks quite fun and you can edit, share, save, export, print your output, and probably quite a few other things than I've not had time to discover.

Hmm, now that I've shared the link, I'm curious. How many use an actual program to mind map/brainstorm/figure stuff out? What's your favorite? Would you find something like this helpful, or just another time waster?

  

I'm not sure. But I'd sure like to figure it out.

This bit of thoughtfulness is brought on by goal number seventy-five on my 2013 list. No, please don't ask my status on numbers 1 through seventy-six. Anyway, back to the website, there's no particular reason why this has made my list other than a desire to freshen things up. Let's just put it down to a Spring kind of thing. So I head out to my handy website manager and contemplate my template choices. There's 187 of them. Surely I can find one of them to tickle my fancy?

I'm feeling drawn to light and bright, clean and uncluttered. Easy enough, right? That eliminates a lot of the darker and browner options, and most of the greens (my favorite color) are just a little too neon. Not feeling the red and pink vibes, so where does that leave me? Orange? Am I really feeling orangey this year? It's amazing how much time I can waste spend on something as simple as choosing a color.

Of course, when I find a color mix I think I can live with, the button style isn't wowing me; neither is the main setup or font. Picky, picky, picky. I could spend the time and figure out how to change most of that, but then, why am I bothering with a template in the first place?

Then I sit there and contemplate the amount work involved in changing everything around - what if I don't like it? What about all the work to change it back? And this is why goal number seventy-five is still on my todo list.

How about you? How often do you change things up on your website? And when you do, how easy is it for you decide to take the leap?


Many thanks to Kelly over at Clkr for the color wheel.

(image courtesy kbowenwriter @wana flkr commons)

COOKIES!!!!!!! Yum!

And our favorite Holiday Music!!

Hope everyone has as much fun ((Hugs))

We celebrated a birthday this week in the Munder household. We'll gloss over just who celebrated and how many years were racked up, but it was good day. Can you sense the theme o' the day in the following description?

Cat insists we get up/coffee/petting and cat brushing/watching birds on the deck
ate
Went to see "Skyfall". Our opinion? Best Bond movie ever - but wow, we went to a 10:20am showing and didn't get out of the theater until 1:00pm. Was it really that long or were we caught in some strange time warp?
ate
Came home and napped with cat
snacked (just to change things up)
Watched football
ate

The day continued, but you get the gist. Luckily, no antacids were abused during the celebration.

We also enjoyed a few free bonuses. Not only did we enjoy the reduced matinee movie price, but also ended up paying for only one ticket. Sweet. Then at lunch we received a free entree and appetiser. Double score! In the end we decided it would be a good day to stop and buy a lottery ticket. Surely if good things were going to happen, this would be the day.

Now, we just need to find were we put said ticket and check it.

Yesterday was a beautiful 71 degree day. Truly spectacular in what can be considered mid-November in our usually snowy state. So Mr. Munder and I set out to take a stroll and test the limits of his recovering, and still somewhat inflamed, achilles tendon. Fresh air, sunshine, and hand holding with the one I love. What more could I ask?

How about some coordination? We were on the home stretch when I hit a damaged bit of pavement and rolled my ankle before hitting the asphalt. (The damage? A bloodied knee, palm, and definite "owy" ankle)

As we limped homeward we decided we were definitely a matched set. Can't wait to see what we come up with on Tuesday, when the bottom falls out of the temps and we are holding at 38 degrees.

And luckily, not because of Sandy. I wish everyone facing the wrath of the storm only the best, and after spending spent a rough week earlier this year without power, lights, or basic sanitation while temperatures soared into the triple digits, a very speedy restoration of services. Remember, when they suggest you to evacuate - please do it, and please, please, take the family pets with you.

Came across a few tidbits of stormy interest, including the rescue of 14 from the HMS Bounty (they are still searching for some of the crew), and the possiblity of Lake Michigan wave heights of 18 to 25 feet. The guys at the local surf club are a little too excited.

Everyone stay safe!

I came across this video on Yahoo, so I can't embed it here. But I did laugh at the oh so serious delivery of "The only six things you need in your wallet".

And then I looked at my carry-on bag sized purse.

At least when the zombie apocalypse arrives I, unlike those with only six things in their wallet, have a greater chance of survival.