The Diary of A Simple Man

I installed the Google Books app on my phone today. Now that I've upgraded the Android OS from 1.5 to 2.1, it's working a lot better, and I can use a lot of apps that I couldn't before.

It's a cool app; it makes reading on that tiny screen pretty easy. Lots of flexibility. I just wish that it had an auto-page feature, to scroll at a steady pace from page to page. If it could be controlled by tilt, that would be really neat.

There are two reading options for most books: the original text format, and "flowing text". The original text is basically a scan of the original work, sized to fit the screen. Since the books are old, the text often has that old-fashioned, worn look. The flowing-text editions are in modern, resizeable and customizable fonts, sharper and easier to read - but so far, I've found quite a few transcription errors. In one case, a book that had a large initial letter to start off each story (i.e. "Charon leaned forward and rowed.") was totally screwed up, with the initial letter appearing somewhere in the middle of the story.

Another feature that would be useful would be recommendations: if it let you rate your books, and then recommended new ones for you based on your preferences. Basically what Netflix does with movies.

There are some wonderful free books available. I'm tempted to try to recommend a new one each day, but I don't know if that's possible. The problem is that a lot of books old enough to be copyright-free are also difficult for most modern readers to read comfortably. I'm used to older books, but even I find some older books tedious. That said, there are still some great ones that are very readable.

Here's one, Fifty-One Tales by Baron Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett Dunsany - he who had so much influence on H.P. Lovecraft and many later authors. The first story, "The Assignation", is only 202 words long - but it's a gem. I hope you'll try it.

(Let's see if LJ can embed a Books listing.)

Edit: No, it can't. I'm getting increasingly annoyed with LJ.

I picked up Dragon Age: Origins a few days ago. So far it seems to be the game that Oblivion should have been, but wasn't (Oblivion looked cool, but got really dull fast).

Dragon Age is a bit drab compared to World of Warcraft, and the plots feel a bit railroaded, but it's a good alternative to WoW. It relies quite heavily on cutscenes, though, and requires more tactics than WoW. Unlike WoW, it's a solo game.

Playing it has enhanced my appreciation for the way that Blizzard uses art to enhance WoW. WoW is graphically inferior, but artistically far superior to Dragon Age: Origins - at least, so far.

(Posting with my phone is killing me. I hate this keyboard!)

Posted via LjBeetle

I'm dead tired.

Yesterday Teri, Sebastian and I did a lot of walking in Boston. Today, I'd taken the day off so I could help run the Field Day event at Sebastian's school. It went from around 8:30am to noon. We ran an obstacle course for the kids. As always, I did lots of loud cheering and encouraging. It was fun.

But it was really hot and humid - 90% humidity - and the sun was fierce.

We're all basically wiped out. Once again I'm too tired to play World of Warcraft. Perhaps that's just as well; I've been getting tons of ideas for stories, and I should be working on those instead of WoW. Incidentally, I've been using the VoiceMemo app on my new phone to record ideas. It's a nice, simple, reliable app. I keep the phone by my bed at night, so if something comes to me, I can record it immediately.

Had a bit of a scare with my Droid today (okay, it's a cheat to call it a "Droid"; technically it's a Motorola Backflip, running a version of the Android 1.5 OS that has been deliberately crippled by AT&T).

But anyway, I went to a webpage which was supposed to have some video that I thought Sebastian would like to see. Instead, it locked up my browser with a "you've won a prize!" message. What was scary was that that award page stayed on top no matter what I did. I couldn't close it. I couldn't even call up the menu! I could switch out of the browser, but when I started it up again, there was that damned page. And I certainly wasn't going to click "OK", which was the only option.

I spoke with AT&T on the phone. Eventually I ended up turning off the phone, pulling out the battery, replacing it, and re-starting. The browser started up clean. But I cleared the cache and several other things immediately, just to be safe.

Like I said, scary!

Can anyone tell me how to have my tweets automatically posted here? I promise to restrain myself and not twitter mindlessly. :D

Unfortunately I still don't have an easy way to post directly to LJ from my phone.

Speaking of which, I'll probably be posting some mini-reviews of Droid apps soon. Does anyone else on my flist have a Droid, though? Other than Teri? She doesn't count, she doesn't read my journal - and if I find a great app, I'll just install it for her anyway. I'm her IT person as far as the Droid goes. :D

Okay, I have a problem: as I mentioned earlier, my phone can simultaneously cross-post to Twitter and Facebook. I have a link set up for LJ as well, but it requires me to write and post separately. I'd say there's a crying need for someone to work out a way to add LJ as one of the "social network" options for Droids.

Today I also ran into the Twitter length-limitation problem when cross-posting. Although to tell you the truth, it may have encouraged me to make an improvement. On Facebook, the post looked like this:

An idiot in a white SUV was blocking the other side of the road. A truck came around the corner towards us and crossed the median to avoid crashing. The car ahead of us went into the brush. Scary!

But on Twitter, I had to edit it down to this:

Idiot in white SUV blocks 1\2 of road. Oncoming truck crosses median to avoid crash. Car ahead hits ditch. Disaster averted.

Teri thinks I should have mentioned that the truck was a large tractor-trailer, but there wasn't space enough for that. For a few seconds it was headed straight for us. I blame the young idiot in the white SUV; I don't know what he was doing, but blocking half the road in a dangerous area near a blind curve was a really stupid thing to do. Several people could have died.

What else? I set up Facebook on Teri's phone for her. Also showed her a few tricks, including how to make speed-dial links. I think she's getting more comfortable with the phone.

Doing okay with WoW. My top character is up to level 72 now. I still get killed by the Horde once in a while, but I'm trying not to let it get to me.

I read two more chapters of The Castle of Llyr to Sebastian at bedtime, and then had him turn out the light. I was going to sing to him, but he asked for a story instead. I told him about a time when I was very young, living in Belmont (Massachusetts) on Trapelo Road; how we'd go to the Pepperidge Farm Thrift Store, and then on to the Waverly Oaks park and playground. From there I moved on to the park across the street from Waverly Oaks, which doesn't have much more than a pond and a mill wheel, as I recall. I explained mill-wheels and different ways in which the wheel could be turned; windmills, animal-powered milling, and waterwheels. He was soon sound asleep.

I'd like to find a mill to take him to, so he can see how flour is made. Does anyone know of one in the general area?

My phone cross-posts status updates to Twitter and Facebook - but not LiveJournal. There are a few Droid apps for LJ available, but I'm not at all sure which one is best. Any suggestions would be very welcome.

Last night I staple-gunned pipe insulation to the exposed edges and corners of the wooden platform of our bed and Sebastian's bed. I think it worked pretty well. With any luck, we'll never hit our shins against those frames again.

And I have to say, the platforms really worked out well. Our mattress has great support now, and the bed is absolutely, startlingly silent.

Well, we finally got new phones. Droids. But not the Incredibles I was hoping for.

I'd write more, but it's really hard to type on this tiny keyboard while standing in a lurching, overcrowded train.

Any recommendations for apps?