"Excuse me, but where can I find the 'Ulta Ultimate Shine Luminous Clear Glaze?' White and grey tube, about so tall? It was here last time, but it seems to have moved. Again." The sales clerk gave me a blank look. "I've never heard of that. I don't think we carry it." I sighed, because this happened the last time, [...]
[dropcap]I[/dropcap]phigenia the iPhone holds a boatload (or maybe a phoneload) of apps, those intriguing little chunks of software that do...stuff. I've a bit more than 100 of the little critters stuffed in there right now. I regularly use 10 or 12 of them, though (if you don't count games). The rest I keep around for rarer tasks, like checking with [...]
Icy fence [dropcap]So[/dropcap] you know I can’t pass up something as gorgeously photogenic as crackly, melting ice over snow in my backyard, right? Right. I can’t. And I didn’t. I thought about schlepping Darius-the-Nikon and all his gear out to the backyard for a shoot…but the “melting” part of the above description gave me pause: Darius is not [...]
There are days I think my life is one big detour...and that's exactly the way I want it. I've
“No, ma’am, that’s not what I said,” said the support tech. She was using that syrupy, paid-to-be-nice-even-though-you’re-a-moron voice common to kindergarten teachers, hostage negotiators and underpaid helpdesk employees. My Internet connection had been completely hosed for about 90 minutes and I’d spent the last 30 verifying it with their automated troubleshooter. They finally passed me through to a human. “What I [...]
Encountering a homeless guy on a dark and lonely sidestreet isn’t always a happy situation; I was nervous. But the man, tall, swaying, reeking of booze and piss, only blocked my path for a moment. “What is your why?” he asked, and moved aside. […]
So I'm watching Julie and Julia, and the lead character is discussing the relationship between a blogger and her audience. "It's like there's this whole group of people who are sort of connected to me. Like, if I didn't write, they would really be upset."
After living with Gigi-the-iPhone for about 18 months, my app fervor has diminished. I've six pages (100 apps) sitting on Gigi, but mostly, I use the ones that came with the phone. Of the ones I've installed, only five see regular use. I've taken at least 20 more off just to relieve some of the clutter. Apple's basic apps lineup includes phone tools, email, addressbook and calendaring, GPS mapping, financial reporting, entertainment and photo tools. For most people, and considering that you're talking about a screen the size of a playing card, that's more than enough. So what are my five?
You know, people, I think we're missing a bet. Have you ever tried reading your spam? Somewhere inside me is this compulsion not to let anything go to waste (probably DNA inserted into my genes by my thrifty Scottish ancestors), so I do actually read the spam that's posted to this blog or my junk mail folders. Some of it, anyway; if I read it all I'd never get anything else done.
"Sometimes when I read your blog," an erstwhile friend wrote, "I realize that I don't speak Cynthia very well." OK, I will admit that I take the title "wordsmith," i.e., one who makes words, more seriously than many and on rare occasions actually do kinda make up words. Like, oh...Castuary. Or glassist. Or weirdicle. Or frittery. Or...never mind.
