Still learning DROID...and some other stuff, too...

DROID:
Wow. There is seriously so much to learn with smartphones these days. Just like iPhone, there is an app for nearly everything. Some are worthless; some are necessary; some are great until the company updates them; some have one single feature that makes them different from the next guy's app for that.

Facebook app for Droid created by Facebook is crap. At least, as far as I'm concerned. If I click "Photos," I want to see other people's, not mine. If I want to see mine, I will go to my profile. You know, like the real site. This was either already on the phone when I got it or I downloaded it because it was at the top of the list. I suffered on it for a few days (maybe even a week or so) until I found the Facebook app for Droid created by DROID. It is soooo close to the real site, yet in a tiny format for me to zoom around on it. It's perfect for me. And that's when I learned that not all apps are created equal.

I downloaded a mag flashlight app for my phone and it was a cute little app that shined like a flashlight so I could see in the dark. Then they "updated" it and it stopped being cute. My mag flashlight with a power button was now gone with a grey square in the place of the button. Uninstalled. Found a new flashlight app that lets me choose the flashlight color, has multiple other effect (like spiral and disco ball...), and the entire screen is one bright color. So far so good.

I also learned that the Android Market and iStore differ. I heard a lot about a game called "Angry Birds" and decided to try it out. Man, it was (is) awesome. I'm still trying to conquer that dern game...anywho...I introduced it to my husband. Of course he downloaded it, too, and loved it. However, his download was a trial version and he had to pay a buck to get the full version. I was able to download the full version for free and even found a booster pack thing for it, too. For free.

Sticky notes. I usually keep a running list of A) Things to do and B) Items to get/buy. Of course I want to keep these lists on my phone! I downloaded a cute little sticky note app and things were going pretty well. Well, this was when I had one list on my home screen....my "GET" list. Then I added my "DO" list.....things got sketchy. Since they were in the same app, anytime you clicked either list, it merely brought up the last list you had up! I don't need to go to my "DO" list if I click on my "GET" list....duh! So, the hunt was on today for a new sticky note app. Things I wanted out of it: able to post on my home screen, just posts title - not entire list, clicking on home screen list will take me directly to that list - not just app, customization would be nice, nice format. I seriously tried about 10 different versions before finding mine. And it seems a little overboard for what I need (why would you need a "paint" note where you draw on the screen?), but I got all of the other things I wanted out of it. Hopefully another update won't wipe it out....

App organizer. When you get your phone, your service provider will stick a lot of crap apps on there that you can't get rid of just so you get curious and try them. What can you do about this? Well, you can get an app organizer. I tried 2 and both worked great at putting your apps into categories (including a folder for all the apps you don't use!!!! - I call mine "zzzzzz"!), so you could find them easier and get "rid" of the ones you'll never use. There was also an app called "folder organizer", but I think this was for the more advanced user and I don't qualify for that just yet...

Soundboards. Want a collection of soundclips from Family Guy? There's probably an app for that. From Mario World? Oh yeah, there's an app for that (got it!). Do these really serve a purpose? No, not really. But the Mario one actually let me set some ringtones/notification sounds to it, so that was kinda helpful...and super fun. I get a coin everytime I get an e-mail. :^)

Games. Some suck. As usual. Some are really well made. You just kinda gotta weed through them and see. And some games that everyone loves, you will hate. It happens.

PDAnet. If you haven't heard about this little jewel, you should look into it. It allows your computer to steal intarwebs from your phone. Some phone companies will even block this app when you try to get it through them. Easy fix...just take your SIM card out (or maybe just switch to wi-fi mode) and search for it from another internet source. Do be aware that this uses up A LOT of your data package, so maybe shouldn't be used all the time, but it's good for a jam. (Computers just process a lot faster than phones and the keyboards are much more typable.)

Widgets. Widgets go on your homescreen and are like little shortcuts to where you want to be. Make sure you notice how often they are pulling data from the internet, though, because if it's a lot, then you're gonna be missing your battery pretty quickly.

Ringtone makers. Upon stumbling on this, I got super excited. I could finally make all of *my* songs ringtones! However, it seems that none of the free ones will work with Windows Media Player files, so my really really cool songs are still full length - and un-ringtonable. :^(

Banking apps. Pretty self-explanatory. It's always handy to zoom on your phone and check your balance before buying that cheeseburger. I just wish there were one app to rule them...I'm in a multi-banking family.

There you go...just some DROID I've learned.

OTHER STUFF:
Today was a strange, yet productive day. I managed to run our 4 loads of laundry, clean the bathroom, shower, semi-clean the dogs, proofread a paper (twice), search through all of our movies and rearrange some, talk to my boss about closing lessons this week, sweep upstairs, change contact lenses, and rearrange our bedroom (in a way). Of course it helped to know that this giant snowstorm system is coming our way and we may be out of power for the rest of the week. Definitely don't want any laundry to do! Yesterday was "beautiful", but beautiful days in the middle of Winter tick me off. I would rather save them and actually have a Spring season instead of one week of nice weather before turning either Winter-cold or Summer-hot again. I realized (or probably just re-realized) that Oklahoma only has 2 real seasons: Summer and Winter. Spring and Fall are about a month long spread in between the two. Football season is Oklahoma's third yearly season. Either way, me, the dogs, and the family enjoyed the nice day yesterday and the only household thing I got done was paying bills. Oh well. It was one more thing off the list. Oh! And I trimmed Lyka's foot hair (and Phaux's front 2 paws) and cut Lyka's nails. I learned a better way to cut the nails and was able to get them down to a decent level again. I was so mad at myself for not doing that sooner and not letting her nails get so out of hand (bu-dum-bump-chee!).

So, in conclusion, I heart my phone still and I've been busy, yet productive recently. Yay!

-Mrs. Kreilaus

DROID

After some soul searching and deep thoughts, I got a new cell phone.







Backstory: The ol' Impression was missing alarms and not giving me messages intermittently, so I decided after a year and 4 months, it was time to leave Impression behind for a newer, more awesomer phone. A month or more ago I swung by AT&T to look at the phones that were out at that time. I like the style of the Impression and it was overall a good phone. These made me want to stick to Samsung. Well, actually, I tend to stick to brands when I find one I like or at least one I can move around on with ease. So, when I was in there, the new Samsung Focus with Windows 7 was there. And it was shiny and unlike any other phone I had ever seen. I went over and fiddled with it. Boy, it was cool-looking. There was also an Android-based (Droid) Samsung on the other side of the display that I acknowledged, but I really coveted the Focus. I was only window-shopping that day, so I left empty-handed and with a Focus-sized hole in my heart. I began to research on the Internet in the days that followed.






It's important to point out here that I always looked down upon Droids. I hate the commercials; in fact, they kinda creep me out. And I hated the attitude of the people that got the first wave - so high and mighty. Alas, I began to read up on the two. Most reviews about the Focus were good, but it was so new that there weren't a whole lot of apps for it yet. Plus, many of the reviews LOVED how it synced with Outlook, Excel, etc. Ummm...I don't use Outlook...well, except at work....but it does not come home with me. I use Gmail. Droids are made by Google. Maybe Droids would make more sense. And then I started to morph the Focus-shaped hole in my heart to a Captivate-shaped hole. One final trip to AT&T would solidify this. I picked up both phones and I honestly couldn't get the Windows phone to do anything magical past the first *beautiful* tiled screen. And I wasn't sure how all of those tiles worked. As I tried to fiddle, I remember this was the exact path I took with it last time, but it was so new and cool that I had just tried to convince myself that I would learn it. Over at the Samsung Captivate (Droid), I was whipping around like crazy. I could already do many cool and fun things with it just by playing with it on the display. After a long conversation with a salesperson who actually owned one himself, the choice was clear: Samsung Captivate powered by Android. Here's my current little Samsung family: Samsung N150 Plus netbook, Impression on the left, and the new Captivate on the right.

I love it so much. Now, I'm not one of those people that's going to pretend it's the same level as iPhone. Mainly because I don't Apple and I don't know what the iPhone is capable of. But I am pleased as punch with this new phone and really enjoying it. It is lightyears beyond the Impression, yet with the comforts of Samsung that I know and love. Love my new "toy"!!!




-Mrs. Kreilaus

Happy New Year still?

When does the "New Year" turn into the "Old Year"? Must be one of the mysteries of English.

Anyway, not a lot to report, but I did have time to blog, so I wanted to!

Jon goes back to school tomorrow and I'm very uneasy about the new schedule. M-Th he begins classes at either 10 or 11 and gets done with classes at about 6 every night. That's cool. That jives with my having to be at work between 9 and 10 every day M-F. However, Fridays have thrown a huge ugly curveball at us. 8am lab. We're used to waking up at 7am at the earliest and now that is when we will have to leave the house. Not only that, but after I drop him off at 8am (best scenario), I will get to work at 8:30 and have to go until close at 7. Not cool. However, I REALLY can't have him drop me off on his way to school because then I'm at work at like 7:30am....ewwwww! I'm in talks with my super cool coworker to maybe get Fridays off, but I'm not sure that that will help. And I'm not sure that working on Saturdays is going to help me, either. I'm really really REALLY hoping his teacher is going to tell him that they don't really have to be there in person and that it is just stuck on the schedule that way for credit purposes. I've got a bad feeling that that is not the case, though. This semester is "only" 16 hours instead of the 18 Jon has been taking, yet it's looking like it's going to be the hardest one on us yet. :^(

Sorry to bring you down. I'll get my Debbie Downer self off of here now, I just wanted to throw my thoughts/feelings out there.

-Mrs. Kreilaus

It's a New Year!

Well, since the last post happened months ago - last year even! - I suppose enough time has passed to give a list of the "big" events in that time.

December 18th - Sallisaw Christmas with Kurt, Renita, their girls, 4 other boys, Greg, Angela, Evan, Rachel, Nathan, Noelle, Stephen, his girlfriend Samantha, Dad, Gaga, and Grandpa Clayton.
December 24th - Mounds Christmas with Kim, Mary, Joe, and Miranda.
December 25th - FTG Christmas with Mom, Bob, David, Georgia, and Grandma.

I enjoyed wrapping the presents and giving them to their rightful owners at all of our Christmases, or in the Sallisaw case, having people fight over a gift I brought.

December 26th - I went to bed and couldn't warm up for the life of me (I'm usually a little oven...), so I had a bad feeling about what the future held for me. Turns out I was sick (cold/flu/stomach bug...maybe combo of each) and had to call in the next day to work and try to kick this before it got out of hand.

That week was horrible at work, but there were no lessons, so I wasn't really in need to be at my highest mental capacities.

December 31 - I was a little bummed that Jon was working a wedding that night and I was sick. On top of that, I was going to be home alone because the in-laws were going to hang out with Miranda's family. I had a crappy day at work (well, at least the last 30 minutes or so....) and then I realized something. I had Kim and Mary's car, but no house key. I was going to have to at least swing by the party to get the keys before I could go home. It turns out that I stayed and hung out there after Brenda assured me that no one cared that I might still be contagious. We got home at about 10 and I rung in the New Years with Lyka and Phaux (and texts to and from my love).

And then this week has mainly been a meltdown at work, but I won't discuss that here.

Hopefully this quenches the thirst of all that wonder of our Kreilaus adventures! Happy New Year! Hopefully 2010 was great for you because no there's no going back and tweaking it!!!!

-Mrs. Kreilaus