Monthly Archives: July 2005

Blogging from Games Workshop’s GamesDay 2005 in Chicago

Posted on by
Reply

Kinda cool to be able to blog onsite like this. My husband is in the middle of a tournament game, my son is painting a figure, my daughter (who has just completed her FOURTH painted figure) is now settling into a coloring contest.

The crowd is huge and…

… there are random, but regular whoops and hollering. The kids love it. My “Kid at heart” husband is having a blast, and I must admit that I even painted a figure myself. Of course, I’m slow and my end results aren’t so hot, but I’m participating :O)

The painting entries will be judged soon, and Wayne has been pacing a bit in anticipation. The competition this year, especially in his category, is particularly stiff. I overheard one entrant in another category comment “Gee, I’m glad I didn’t select THAT category this year, those are awesome!” And he’s right, they are.

People-watching, one of my favorite past times, is at a peak level here. All ages, all interest groups. A wide and varied… and may I say unusual crowd indeed.

I’ve seen some interesting t-shirt art here… like the one that said “Always a pallbearer, never a corpse.” and another which says… “It takes a Viking to Raze a Village.”

All said, a pretty good way to spend a relaxing Saturday with the family. Now, having proved that I can finally blog from anywhere, I’m going to look for more cool t-shirts, do a bit of shopping for Christmas presents, and maybe sneak out long enough for a hair cut while the rest of the family hangs out in the nether world of GamesDay 2005.

A Personal Aside: Sometimes I’m Too Obsessed With Mobility

Posted on by
Reply

This week, while preparing for our trip, I asked my daughter (she’s seven) to jot down a few notes while I drove.

She laughed after carefully printing the first couple items on a scrap of paper…

“Look, Mommy, it’s like this is my stylus (holding out her pencil) and this is like my Treo (displaying the envelope I gave her for her list).”

Now, if that’s not odd, I don’t know what is. The palm is an electronic imitation of the old fashioned pencil and paper — a better organized, more powerful and expanded version, no doubt, but still…

It struck me as extremely odd that she reversed the comparison. She’s growing up in the digital age. My own little techno-baby. I know my own passion for such devices is only compounding her rate of absorption, but sometimes it still strikes me as odd when she wants to have a laptop and a PDA more than a doll or even a gameboy.

Woo Hoo! Lookie, Mom, No Wires! Blogging on Geeklog From a Treo 650

Posted on by
Reply

I’m blogging while hubby is driving up I-65 headed to the Windy City!

Although I couldn’t blog on the old version of www.WickedBlog.com, apparently the new version of Geeklog — or maybe it’s the new firmware updates or some other issue. Whatever the case may be, the fact is that with the latest software on my server for Geeklog and the latest updates on my Treo 650, I’m finally able to blog on the road.

Can you hear my “Yipee!!!” from where you are? You probably can.

And, a matter of moments before we left, the new Think Outside keyboard was delivered.

I preposted a blog on here for Monday about ways to write on the Treo, and I must say that this little keyboard exceeds expectations so far.

I downloaded the Treo 650 drivers from the manufacturer’s website and also downloaded a copy of the user’s manual here on my Treo, last night, hoping that the keyboard would arrive by the time I headed out west on Monday a.m. — and here it is. Great service from seller who rushed the delivery for me so I’d have it to travel.

The pairing on this device was a split-second affair, unlike the marathon battles with the others I’ve tried.

The keyboard is a good, full size and despite the competition’s claims of no numbers, it does have them — but they are function keys instead of a dedicated row. That may be a problem for someone who uses numbers a lot, but I’m not one of those people. I can type pretty fast, some say amazingly fast, but I’ve always had to “hunt and peck” numbers. So, I Don’t really object to the function keys for numbers, I far prefer that to having additional size added to this sweet little device.

By the time I’m finished with my back-to-back trips, I should know if I’ve found my solution. I hope I have.

I know it may sound odd to some, but I’m extremely excited about an easy-to-use, quick pairing BT keyboard that will make writing down my ideas and thoughts even quicker. That ability raises the value of the Treo to a whole new level for me.

Bye! I’m going to discover if I can work on an article with ease. *grin* Or maybe respond t a couple emails that require a longer response.

Headed to Chicago for Games Day!

Posted on by
Reply

Today Wayne, Alex and I are headed to Games Day in Chicago. My hubby is an incredible artist, and he’s competing in a painting contest there this year.

I’ve never been to an event like this one, so I’m anxious to see what it’s like. Hubby has been playing WarHammer for years and this game (along the same lines/genera as D&D) is the focus for this Games Workshop sponsored event.

We will be picking up Derrick at O’Hare tonight. He was visiting his paternal grandparents in Florida and they are sending him up so he can join in the festivities.

It’s been a long time since we have had a weekend away. It should be quite enjoyable.

As soon as we return on Sunday, I’ll be helping my father pack up the 5th wheel and we will head out to Colorado first thing Monday a.m.

It’s nice to be able to blog on the road, the old version of GL didn’t allow me to log in from my Treo.

Of course, without a spell checker onboard, I may be humiliated by my mobile typos. :o )

More later.

Reading, Writing and … Math… on the Treo 650

Posted on by
Reply

Reading and writing on the Treo 650 are my primary concerns. Communicating using this little device is a breeze. All systems go there.

But the laptop replacement and the replacement for a stack of reading material… well that’s still an issue. So, I’ve done a bit of research, tested quite a few programs, and have discovered as much of what I don’t want as what I do.

Reading on the Treo 650:

I bought iSilo as my reader. I’ve seen some pretty amazing things with that program so far. I like the embedded images, the nice cover art on some of the books and the illustrations inside others. It makes it a little more like a book, a little less like a digital file. I also like the scrolling (adjustable speed) option.

Yeah, you must be pretty durn lazy to not even want to flip a page or “click” a button to progress through an e-book, eh? Truth is, the smoother “scrolling” function makes it much easier to read. Using the “click” button like I did in my previous reader program was frustrating because I’d spend a couple seconds with each page turn trying to figure out where I was. It got on my nerves.

As I explore some of the options on this program, I’ll share my findings.

Writing on the Treo 650:

I’m still looking into the best text entry program. I’m not thrilled with Documents to Go as my writing program. It’s a GREAT application package (suite) for standard business apps. But I don’t NEED a PowerPoint presentation on my Treo Screen. I don’t even use those for my own business applications anymore. There are much nicer ways to present information.

It’s also a memory hog. I’d like to find one that will launch from the SD card and that would offer an incredible BUILT IN dictionary, spellchecker and thesaurus.

I’d like a small footprint and a native format — so all the conversions and such aren’t necessary.

I don’t want fancy fonts; I don’t need anything other than basic bullets, bold, underlining and italics 99% of the time when I’m doing my creative work. I can do heavy-handed formatting when I return to the office and crank up a Word Document.

On a small screen, trying to format could only be described as a nightmare, anyway. What I need is a quick way to type it in and get it recorded.

If anyone out there has found the perfect program for the mobile writer, let me know. I’ve ordered a new keyboard, I’m not happy with either of the ones I have.