If I can manage to put down Bejeweled for a few minutes, maybe I can write a blaaaahhhhg entry?
First of all, please please please pretty please with sugar on top. Please don’t text and drive. A local mom of four died in a car accident yesterday. It was a single car accident and there was no one else in the car with her. Somehow they figured out that she had been texting.
I am not gonna be judgmental about this tragedy. We have a no-texting law in Michigan but people do it anyway. *I* have done it. I admit that I do it VERY rarely. Have you ever tried to write a text message on an iPhone while driving a 6-speed manual transmission vee-hickle in stop-and-go traffic? I can barely *answer* the iPhone and shift at the same time, let alone text. But we all spend so much time in our cars these days. I remember when I had middle school-aged kids — like this woman did… I drove the darn POC (automatic tranny) all over hell’s half acre every darn day — like this woman did… It’s probably a good think thing I didn’t have a cell phone back then because maybe I *would* have tried to use it while driving.
I keep imagining this woman driving along multi-tasking in her car thinking about all of the stuff she had going the rest of yesterday, today, this week, spring, summer, and beyond. Like we all do. Not thinking for a minute that the grim reaper was lurking about and that less than a minute or two later she would be dead and her children would forever after have to deal with that fact. Please please please do not text and drive. Please learn to enjoy driving for what it is and, even though city driving can be very stressful, try to use the time to chill a bit. Listen to the radio. Process the events of the day. Whatever. Just don’t text. If you need to text, pull over into a parking lot.
Other than that, I am hanging out ALONE in the Landfill Chitchen. Where is the GG? He is occupying the bedroom along with various Shambling Mounds. Why? Because he is not feeling in tip-top physical condition at the moment. It seems to be the gastrointestinal variety of bug. It’s going around the schools, don’tcha know. I was surprised to see the Frog Hopper here when I got home and when I walked into the house it smelled awful. He had cooked some ramen noodles, which wouldn’t have been my choice. After about 5-10 minutes that I realized that the smell was at least in part because he hadn’t turned off the burner… I DO NOT WANT TO GET THE BUG! I have a spec review tomorrow! I have probably already been exposed but I will be sleeping on the Green Couch tonight anyway.
Last but not least, I am now (thanks to AgateGal) addicted to a new (to me) iPhone game. When Bejeweled first came out, I had one of those slodgy old original iPhones. I’m not sure they even supported 3rd-party apps. Even after I upgraded to the 3GS, I held a snotty attitude toward iPhone games for a long time. And then Solitaire snuck into my life. And the New York Times Crossword. Aaaanndd… Angry Birds got me through all of those horrible days when I sat in The Commander’s room while she slept and I couldn’t concentrate well enough to focus on a book or work. I still like Angry Birds but Bejeweled seems to be my new love. I understand (sort of) how to play the game but I have no idea what the levels and all that stuff means. But I don’t care. It kind of reminds me of that old Spit card game that we used to play in the Old Cabin. It was just about the only card game I was ever any good at.
Good night, love y’all, and please don’t text while driving,
Kayak Woman
March 28th, 2012 at 11:19 pm
I am really into solitaire on my tablet while sitting in the hospital room. Otherwise, I don’t do many games. I haven’t been able to get into Angry birds at all. (probably because I’m so terrible at it) I can barely text PERIOD, much less text and drive. That is utterly horrible about the mom!! I do occasionally talk on the phone with my speaker or headset, but rarely. I need to concentrate these days.
March 29th, 2012 at 12:44 am
Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha! (Er, that’s supposed to sound “evil.”) It’s a fun, addicting, maddening game. John has scored over 100,000 on a couple of different occasions (he plays just the Classic version). He swears, though, that it’s “rigged” to normally do you in on the 5th level. As far as we can tell, there really isn’t any difference in difficulty or complexity as the levels mount — it’s just an achievement to simply aspire to as high of a level (and therefore higher score) as you can. If you can get past that $%#*+! 5th level.
March 29th, 2012 at 7:12 am
I have to admit to playing Sudoku on my Iphone. After a few (+ a few more?) the touch screen gets less and less responsive. Is the phone trying to tell me something?
March 30th, 2012 at 8:41 am
Get the draw something app. Quick, fun, new addiction. The Lorax kids game is a cute waste of time. Christina likes the drawing apps, so she can create art. Good for a passenger to keep a kid busy on a trip to Texas and back in a car. A 4 year old can spend an hour on the same Angry Bird screen, laughing at the orange ones that blow up. I can hit a button and speak into my phone and it will write what I said, but it reallllly should wait until a person is done driving. Words with Friends is a wonderful distraction too.
March 30th, 2012 at 9:36 pm
I don’t text because I’m too cheap to pay the extra $$ for the service. I don’t play any games on my phone because I have “dumb” phone instead of a smart phone. Once in a while I play Angry Birds on the computer or solitaire. Sometimes I wish for the old days when I did not have a cell phone. Sometimes I just don’t want to be reached, especially by the stupid credit card company telling me there is “nothing wrong with my current credit card account”. What if we only answered our phone when we were at home? I guess those days are over but I really think that we should turn off the phones in restaurants, and use in the car only for emergency purposes.
March 31st, 2012 at 6:47 pm
I *love* the “handsfree” bluetooth connection my iPhone has with my car! Hit a button, say “Call [insert name]” and … IT DOES IT! Of course, i had to pre-program all the numbers, and hearing my voice played back is … weird. But it’s a great way to connect with one or the other kids or my Mom while I’m driving back from Jackson, or Marshall, or Midland, or Bay City… without the annoyance of my arm cramping up trying to hold the phone to my ear, etc., etc., etc….. admittedly, my car is a rather expensive hands-free device, but I am glad I got it last year 🙂 because it’s been great on the expressways on those snowy winter days! (yeah, I hit my 10K oil change at about 4.5 months….)