“Send Later” Function

iPhone to iPhone, there is a “send later” function. 

iPhone to android, this function is not available (as far as I can tell). 

I find this function very helpful. 

My most recent example, at 5:30am I remembered it was mosquito spray day. I set text alerts for my neighbors to send at 8:45am. The mosquito guys are usually here between 9-10am.

Here is how it works, iPhone to iPhone -

Here is a real example -

Clicking the x on the next open window returns the setting to normal. Can send texts in real time with the “send it later” activated/ready.

Sending later on email is equally easy, here are the directions - 

Story Graph and Goodreads

My ultimate goal was to load books Goodreads and then upload my list to Story Graph. Story Graph does wonderful analysis of books read. Goodreads is widely used. Youngest uses both apps. That was my goal too. I started with Goodreads. We then uploaded my Goodreads list to Story Graph.

Last weekend, at my local beauty shop for several hours because it was a cut and highlight appointment, I worked on my Goodreads account (on my phone while my color set). I was updating past read books. 

I started logging books on Goodreads in the fall of 2023 at Youngest’s direction. She set up my account and showed me how to use it. 

So a recent book list has been maintained. A list of past books was the problem.

I have wanted to add books (read long ago) for ages, but it was a daunting task. I had not kept a list. I have read hundreds of books. 

To get started, I searched key phrases for book posts on my blog and I looked for old group book lists in my email archives. Both those sources gave me titles/authors and approximate read dates. 

When it was an author with a lot of books, published over decades, and I had no idea of my read date, I used publication date plus one year and logged the books in December of that year. I read a lot in December’s, when school breaks left more free time. Sue Grafton and John Graham are a good examples of this. I read their new books within a year or so of publication for decades. A book published anytime in 1992 was logged in December of 1993 on my Goodreads account. Having a method helped.

Sometimes I could remember where I lived (new house vs old house) when I read the book, and that helped fix the date. 

I continued to work that night and the next morning and the day after that. Authors or individual titles would pop in my head. 

One fact to my advantage is if I like an author, I read most/all of their publications. I also read a lot of series in my younger days. So remembering one title or author often led to many others. 

The next day, I talked to youngest, who could remember lots of other authors. These were books I read out loud to the kids, or books we read at the same time, or books on CD that we listened to on trips. We figured out the approximate years. We both plugged these books in to our separate, Goodreads accounts. 

With a couple days of solid thinking/effort, I got to over 500 books listed on my Goodreads account. This is a very good start. It makes me feel like I am getting somewhere. 

Will I remember every book? No. I am probably missing dozens/hundreds of stand alone books that I am not likely to remember.  

For example, I read the biography/auto biography section of the school library when I was in 6th grade. When I was pregnant with middle (in bed for nearly the whole pregnancy), a librarian sent me boxes of books for months. I cannot remember any of those books. 

But I have remembered a lot. 

Sunday, middle and I met youngest half way for breakfast. Youngest backed up my 500+ Goodreads list to Story Graph. 

I will maintain/update books on both sites as I continue to remember previous books and read new books. 

Story Graph was my original goal, because it does wonderful analysis of books read. But Goodreads is widely used and handy too. 

Youngest had me log everything to Goodreads first. Story Graph takes uploads from Goodreads (but not the other way around). So I could load once and have data in both places.

Wordle

 I added a game to my repertoire. Wordle.

Yes, I realize this is not new or exciting news. 

A lot of people play Wordle.

I mention Wordle only because I might play it slightly different than the average person. I play for speed and efficiency. I do not care if I use all six tries to get the word. 

I think many people always start with the same word. They have one favorite word they try first. 

Many people chose a word with the most vowels possible. 

This site lists suggestions -

https://capitalizemytitle.com/5-letter-words-with-the-most-vowels/

I googled “what is the smartest method to play Wordle?”.

My search history no longer has the link listed. It might have been a video. 

But I have a screen shot of the suggestion -

The idea is to have five standard words, not one. And those five words utilize most of the alphabet. Four letters are missing from those five words (above) Q, V, X, Z.

My red dashes (above) indicate the duplicates. 

I liked the concept, but I fine tuned the words to include one more letter. 

I use DERBY, FLANK, WITCH first, every time I play. Those three words cover 15 of the 26 letters of the alphabet. They cover some very common letters. 

Sometimes, those three words are enough. 

If those three words are not enough, I add JUMPS. 

If that is still not enough, I add VOGUE.

My five words are only missing Q, Z, X from the alphabet. The letter U usually tips me off if there is a Q hiding.

If I only reveal four letters and there is not a U, then there is either a duplicate letter or a X or a Z.

Here is a screen shot showing all five of my words with the duplicate letters marked. Q, X, Z are missing. Again, if there is a U, I suspect Q.

Confidence

I did major plant work last year. I added a couple perennial/bulb beds. I reworked other beds. I added borders. We pulled a hedge. We pulled a tree. We pulled assorted bushes.

Middle just made me a large paper plot of our property with the beds detailed. I am going to write in the names of plants as they come up this year. Some I remember, some I do not. For the ones I do not, the app  (below) will help.

I have beds with almost no weeds. I have other areas with weeds.

This app also gives me the confidence to weed. I no longer have the “better let it grown so I can see what it is” approach.

It is very easy to use with my iPhone. I simply take a picture of the plant and it tells me what it is.

Oldest has sent me pictures of plants and I have pulled them up in the app and told him what they are.

I paid for this app. It was not very much. I have it set so it does not automatically renew this fall. But I will probably do it again next spring, if I have weeds.

Getting charged for routers you do not use

I am not sure I mentioned this, but when Best Buy installed our WiFi system (AMPLIFI), I called Frontier to return their router and get its fee taken off future bills.

Nope.

They took the router back at their service center. They did not reduce my bill.

Here is an article on this topic:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/01/us-finally-prohibits-isps-from-charging-for-routers-they-dont-provide/%3famp=1

I didn’t realize there were such easy options

Best Buy Geek Squad was here yesterday and fixed our WiFi coverage problem.

We had to buy equipment, but now have three bars of coverage in every corner of the house, garage and driveway.

Huge difference.

Picture This

These are screen shots from my phone of what this flower identification (Picture This) app does.

Super easy to use.

Can take photos on the app, or use pictures already stored on your phone.

It will identify plants from a leaf too, it does not have to be a bloom.

I think $20 a year.

This (below) is one of two things I identified for a neighbor. The other was a Lilac identified from leaf only.

Charging station, really good gift idea

https://authenticallyemmie.com/2019/07/everything-on-sale-day/

I love her pictures and posts.

I have never purchased anything she has featured, previously, but I jumped on the charging station when I read her post in July.

The station has been “charging central” on my kitchen island ever since.

Yes it has a lot of cords, but they are much more organized and visually appealing than the multitude of long cords that were there previously. (And I was always worried the pup was going to chew on one of the long cords.) It is nice to be able to set the device in the slots of the station. We have mostly iPhone cords attached, but I think there are two android which also work on our headsets.

The (now) 11 year old was here this past weekend and loved it. Her mom was here also and thought it was great.

I ordered one for them, also, shipped directly, they should have it Monday.

Bose

So I now have a pair of Bose (below).

And they work very well for me. The Best Buy guy set them up for me, before I left the store.

I wear it around my neck all day. I do not feel the collar around my neck (at all). And I find that collar very handy. Because I can let the buds hang down, loose, but have them handy to use.

If I have a phone call, I take it through the ear buds almost all the time. I listen to podcasts and audiobooks through them too.

If one of the kids calls, I can be doing something while I listen.

I use them while out with the dogs or in the garden.

I took me a while to get use the blue tooth. But I have the hang of it now, and do fine.

This is not elegant, but it is super functional

That (below) is the corner of my bed.

The head of the bed is up on post concrete blocks which I got at Lowe's. We had to take the castor off the legs of the bed to fit in the space made for the post. I highly recommend the blocks to anyone with issues. Makes a huge difference. I put felt pads down in the holes so the leg is not scrapping against the concrete.

I had to look it up because it was bugging me. The block is concrete. Cement is used to hold all the materials together to make the block.

I also got a power strip that plugs into the wall socket sideways, so it has a very thin profile. It is plugged into a socket behind my bed and the strip is mounted to the wall next to my bed. That keeps my cords high. So I can have a device plugged in on my nightstand or in bed with me. And the cords do not get tangled and the strip does not flip around.


Example of sideways plug - the black one (not the gray one).

And that power strip is attached to my wall using Command strips (where you pull the tab to release it from the wall when you want to disconnect the whole thing years down the road). I got the mega weight command strips. There is a strip on the top of the power strip and on the bottom of the power strip. I did not want to mount it to wall with screws. This way I can move it. Or can take it down as technology evolves.

My iphone is the top cord. My ipad is the next cord. An old cell phone is the last cord, so I can always call 911 from that phone if somehow my iphone is not there.

It is dwindling daily

New remotes as a proactive, avoiding carpal tunnel, action

I have mentioned, many times over the years, that I am super careful about my hands. If I do a lot of handwork one day, I do not do any for several days or even a week.

I am careful of my hand, wrist, arm, shoulder, neck placement pretty much all the time. So careful of my lower back too.

I have also mentioned I record everything I watch and then blink thru commercials. Our recorder is set for 30 second blinks. So I am not fast forwarding. I am jumping in 30 second segments.

So I push the jump button, a lot.

And I had sort of noticed the jump button was getting harder and harder to activate.

We ended up with extra remotes, because we only have one tv hooked up to cable now.

As the kids have moved out, we went from 3 (5 of us) to 2 (4 of us) to 1 (3 of us). So we have one tv hooked up to cable and three TV's hooked up to Rokus (which get Amazon and Netflix and PBS and other services). 

So I took two old remotes to the cable company and traded them for two new ones. They were free. They did not even look up my account.

World of difference between the old remote and the new one. So, I actually should have done this long ago.

Two remotes is a very handy thing in general. Two that work easily is wonderful.

I did this while oldest was home to program remotes for me. Yes, I am sure I am capable. But so much faster for him to do it.

I have a list going for when he is home for thanksgiving.

Top of that list is an iPhone for me. A whole series of buttons now do not work on my phone. And my love of a keyboard for texting is now being out weighed by Internet access and a camera.

And third on that pro list is the ringer shuts off but can call twice to get thru at night thing. Because 6, 7, 8am is often the middle of the night for me. And 11pm - 1am is sometimes the middle of the night for me. So that feature will be great, IF it has an option for texting that works like the calls.

Oldest is my go to for all things computer related.