As I mentioned in Thursday’s post they did finish the shed last week and we had a enjoyable and productive visit with Kaitlin and Torben. We still have a lot of detailed planning to do with Steve, hopefully early this week, and with any luck Joe and his crew may pour the concrete slab for the house. There does seem to be a hassle about getting an inspector to come up to approve the shed so we can actually use it, but that’s another matter. Steve says he will work on that.
I’ve also been playing with modern technology. I actually bought an iPod Touch so I could download audiobooks from the library, but that part isn’t working very well. The first thing I was asked to do was to download and install the latest, new-and-improved, operating system for the iPod. That took an hour and a half. Then after several mishaps and downloading the whole thing again, it turns out my problem is the library system works with the older software but not the latest one. They’re working on it. 😀
It was more funny than frustrating. I was already curious about the iPod Touch because Kaitlin and Torben love their iPhones and the iPod is very similar except it uses WiFi instead of my having to pay for a phone plan. (I have no need for a cell phone.) I didn’t mind having an excuse to try it, plus amazon discounted it $100 if I signed up for a year at audible.com. I was curious about that too and am pleased I did it. I used this month’s credit on a biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. It’s over 29 hours long and I’ve almost finished it already. So my adventures aren’t all about rebuilding up in the mountains. I’m trying new things and am learning a lot, which always makes me happy.
What about you? Did you try something new/learn anything interesting this week?
good to hear on all fronts…I don’t think I will be upgrading to anything as modern any time soon. But note I didn’t say “never” 🙂
I have already been shelved by my son as not being worthy of smart new gadgets as he maintains that they are for smart people. I don’t mind. I love the smell of the new book when I open it for the first time.
I am glad that things are moving along. It won’t be long now.
Rummuser, it’s interesting what these “young things say”
I remember a few years ago at Uni when this young lass said to me “I think it’s so kewl that you know how text”
And then another time, a person thought that because I could touch type, I must know how the entire computer worked. I didn’t know the 2nd thing at all. However, when I told him that the reason I could touch type was because I had learnt on a manual typewriter, he was completely bamboozled.
He didn’t have any idea what one of those gadgets was!! I suggested he do online search…Mr Google hadn’t arrived in my computer world at that time. You used Jeeves, Fetch or something akin to that…
it stil bemuses me to find students using “hunt and peck” or whatever the current words are for just jumping around on the keyboard…not only that they have to look at the keyboard whereas I hardly have to….plus my finger knows exactly where the back space key is, so it’s almost seamless!
Cathy,
It never occurred to me that a lot of youngsters don’t know touch typing. It does make sense since so many of them text on touch screens now. I have trouble with that on my iPod because my thumb is bigger than the letters. I am getting better, but I still prefer using a keyboard.
Ramana,
“It won’t be long now.” I wouldn’t bet the rent on that. They need to do two more pourings of concrete before they can start framing the house. There’s a fair chance we can get the first one done, but there’s also a fair chance the second one will have to wait until Spring. We’ll just have to see.
I love books too, and my preference would be to immerse myself in them, but my chronic eyestrain ruled that out years ago. I’m grateful for audio books. I didn’t have that option as a kid.
in fact, a lot of older people don’t know how to touch type because mainly the people who learnt the art were going to work in an office envirnoment where you typed letters on all types of matters…
I worked mainly in office areas of department stores that sent mail to people about overdue accounts, and so forth. I also knew how to listen to a dictaphone and type it up…
And now everyone has a keyboard of which QWERTY is still the prime layout…ok there are other keys but after a while – you can see (no feel) where things are on it…if you have a touch type background 🙂
well that’s how I think/feel it works….
Cathy,
I had never thought much about the subject before. I asked Andy if he knew many people who don’t know touch typing. He said he thought some of the guys had to use hunt and peck. He and I both learned touch typing in high school. I worked with computers and it seems to me most of my colleagues used touch typing. It sure saves a lot of time if you have much typing to do. It’s also a boon for those of us who need strategies to avoid eyestrain. 🙂