Jan22

Trying to find stability.

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Trying to find stability.
Moebius strip.

I’ve had a hard time trying to get into some form of stability. I had a bad cold after Christmas and I thought it went away, but it came back. Whenever I feel ill / weak, eating doesn’t go well either, which in turn makes me more weak and causes highly undesirable weight-loss. I take my (many many) vitamins and take my medication, and make my food and try to handle it all. Unfortunately, I haven’t felt happy or stable for quite a while.

I don’t seem to have the energy to do much, fun or needed, which results in TG doing my laundry, which makes me feel bad for not doing it myself. I do want to do fun stuff, but I feel so (physically) tired and my head just doesn’t want to work straight. I so very badly want to do fun stuff and crochet and draw and be creative, but most of the time it feels like the button for my creative juices got stuck on ‘off’ and I don’t know how to turn it on again. It makes me sad.

I’ve comforted myself by watching other people’s drawings and bursts of creativity, and sort of feeding on that. I especially look forward to Michael Nobbs’ 4th Beany and have splurged a little on some new crochet-books (I only had a twenty year old one…). I need to re-think my attempts to get some sort of schedule, I think I’ve based it too much on my old ideas of myself. I need to stop hanging on to the idea that I can actually do all those things I could do, before. I need to start over with many things, basically starting them at ’0′ again and see how far I can get.

I miss bread and pasta etc. I found gluten-free pasta and bread, but it just doesn’t taste the same. The gluten-free baguettes however did work very well in my cheese fondue (I’ll get some more). I’ve also eaten a lot of roasted vegetables, which go down extremely well, and I rarely feel ill after eating them and they taste good (big win). I haven’t yet figured out how to optimise my eating, and I wish I could use the freezer more for that but somehow, that hasn’t worked out so far. One of these days I’ll get it though.

In the meantime, there’s always tea. Tea fixes everything.

Jan20

The iPhone saga, part 6

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The iPhone saga, part 6

I went to the T-shop to check on my phone because I hadn't heard anything yet, and I noticed they had the wrong number on my form. Turns out, they had my (replacement) phone there. The lady was very nice and I hope this one works better than the other one. At least it doesn't have any dead parts in the screen (so far) and it seems to work properly. I give it another week before I slap my Zagg shield on it.

Dec31

The iPhone saga, part 6

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The iPhone saga, part 6
[caption align="aligncentre" caption="unresponsive part of iPhone touch screen"] [/caption]

Unfortunately, I had to continue my iPhone saga. The iPhone I received worked but showed some issues. It took a while before I figured out what exactly, but it turned out that randomly, the middle part of the screen would stop responding to touch. Sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn't (as shown on the picture). Sometimes the entire screen would stop responding, which I could usually solve by pressing that top-button to lock it and then unlock it.

I returned it today and expect it (or another one) back in a week or two. In general I've had no issues with the process, just too bad I got a bad phone in return. When I pick it up, I'll make sure to test it before taking it home though :)

Dec20

Nano loves the snow.

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Nano loves the snow.

It started snowing a few days ago, a fairly rare event judging from how the trains stopped going. On the other hand, that says more about the trains than the actual weather.

Nano enjoys the snow very much and randomly barks at it when she sees it falling. She loves rolling around in it, for some reason, sticking her nose in it and getting covered with snow. It sticks to her fur a lot, she needed a shower to get it all out. She looked like one of those cotton-ball-sheep :)

Dec15

The iPhone saga, part 4

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The iPhone saga, part 4

The T-mobile site updated my repair status with:

bq.. Result of repair: You can pick up your phone at the T-shop. Warning: if you get the confirmation that you can pick up your phone, it could take up to 3 workingdays before you can.

p. They should give me a ring from the T-shop when they have it, hopefully Thursday or Friday. I suspect they'll send it out today, so maybe even tomorrow, yay!

So far, everything went pretty smoothly and if it works when I get it back, I'll feel very happy %{color:purple}{:)}%

I miss my touchscreen...

Dec12

The making of an iPhone app, part I

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The making of an iPhone app, part I

Because my favourite shopper app has now gone mental, I decided I should write my own. I have no idea how to, and have so far not tried writing anything for the iPhone, it should turn into a neat little adventure.

So far, I have read a little on Apple's iPhone Developer site about Human Interface Guidelines and Planning your app. I've also did some looking around and thinking about a database structure, and what kind of things I do and what I don't want in my app. Currently I have:

  • multiple lists
  • checkboxes to check of items
  • a cart
  • separate totals for 'in cart' and 'on list'
  • item info including: name, category (sort-per-store) and / or aisle, note, store, per-store-price, photo

I haven't made my mind up about coupons / discounts, because I rarely use them. However, when I do, I like them showing up in the price.

I'd also like to make it so that the lowest price has a visual feedback if you have selected a store -- something Handyshopper always did very well. I want the interface as clutterfree as possible, and from what I can tell, I have some pretty good options with the default iPhone thingies.

Dec11

Mobile site

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Mobile site

I've tweaked and fiddled a bit, and now have a satisfying version of my website for mobile browsers. It all should just work, with a link to the full site on the top right should you prefer that.

I still want to tweak the layout, the pages list only shows up at the home-page, where it maybe should show up everywhere -- navigation matters. Also the search box shows up at the bottom, but maybe I should move it to the top.

I've added the little snowman to the home-page at least, to sync it with the main site's design.

I have also tried to keep it small. It currently loads at a 135kb for the main-page. Looking into making it less KB (the full version consists of 1MB of files, also trying to make it smaller). Just because a lot of us have fancy speedy connections doesn't mean I should aim for that. I aim for the average speed and hope it doesn't take too long to load either page.

Dec11

The iPhone saga, part 3

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The iPhone saga, part 3

I've not used my iPhone for a little over a week now, and I miss it somewhat. Every now and then I think %(quote)oh, I want to play 'Spider'% or something like that, and then realise I no longer have my iPhone. I've noticed I don't really want to use my current replacement phone. Pressing those buttons hurt my fingers too much. I love the touch-interface. I didn't know -- though I suspected as much -- how much easier that touch-interface works on my hands.

Currently, the repair status (which I can check online) says "Your phone is in repair.". The next step will tell me what they found, if anything, and what will happen next. I hope it'll update before the weekend, but suspect it might take a few more working days.

I like the online status check. Thank you, T-mobile.

Dec11

Eek! Shopper got really bad…

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Eek! Shopper got really bad…

I loved Shopper for quite some time. It was one of the first (paid) apps I bought for my iPhone, and I have stuck with it for over a year. Recently though, the business model the developers have chosen started to irk me. I started getting 'suggestions' and 'FDA alerts' (whatever that means).

With the latest update, they introduced ads. Ads in a paid app. I have not yet received my iPhone back, but I looked at the screenshots and read what other users wrote. Their screenshots don't show the real result, and in fact, the screencast on the website shows no sign of these annoying 'features'.

p(clear). They state on their website (in the forums):

bq.. As you might have noticed, we have introduced a messaging capability to Shopper with this release. We are using it to deliver a number of different types of alerts, hints (based on your feedback) and brand messages. We think there are a lot of innovative and useful things we can do with this capability.
Over the past week, over 14,000 people have checked out an alert from the FDA or USDA and 30,000 people have checked out a Shopper usage hint. So while they don't please everyone, a great number of users find these features helpful.

p. So, not only do they introduce an annoying 'feature' they also track your clicking behaviour. First of all, you can't really avoid clicking on one of those stupid 'messages' because they clutter your screen and get in the way. Second, eh.. hello... wtf do you check what I click on? They may or may not have mentioned that in the t&c, accessible from inside the app, so no way to read before you buy.

They also write:

(...) just so you know, the costs associated with all of the recent upgrades are now much greater than the $0.99 download fee. So in order to keep the platform up and running, while continuing to build your suggestions into the most capable shopping app available (including this months addition), brand sponsorship is needed. We hope you understand and stick with us, but if not - we will be offering an opt-out subscription in the next release (...)

I can only imagine that this opt-out subscription will consist of a paid subscription. When I bought Shopper, it cost me around €3, a price I happily paid. Why on earth they didn't keep it there, or even now increase the price, still baffles me.

Instead, they have chosen a business model that forces ads onto loyal users, defending it with numbers and the current low price. When you as a company choose to take the more expensive route -- not necessarily a bad thing -- you of course have to get that money from somewhere. But with ads in an already-paid-for-app? Seriously?

Goodbye, Shopper, too bad our relationship had to end so horribly.

Dec6

Software I wouldn’t want to live without.

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Software I wouldn’t want to live without.

Over the years I've collected software (for my Mac) that I use on a daily basis and wouldn't want to live without. Sure I could find alternatives, but these programs suit me the most. I often pay for software, something some of my friends find ridiculous :) I'll happily pay a hardworking person for their work, especially if their work makes my live easier. Before I buy software I check it out thoroughly, which includes not only the software itself but also its help-function/support, the update policy (when to pay for the next update) and how much I'll get 'locked in'. I don't like getting locked in and choose applications that allow me to export to a sensible format. I also look for something that supports Applescript, because with Applescript I can do things more smoothly. I love it when I can script repetitive tasks, and I very much like using shortcut keys instead of a mouse.

(more...)

Dec5

The iPhone saga, part 2

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The iPhone saga, part 2

Today I went to the T-Mobile store to drop off my iPhone. The Customer Service didn't phone me yesterday and I didn't want to wait till after the weekend. Unfortunately, I have no way of informing them they don't need to phone me anymore, so I suspect they will still do it Monday.

The guy at the store looked at my -- complete -- copy of the receipt and asked what I brought last time. I pointed it out and he said I brought enough, the guy should have taken in my phone.

This time, the other guy filled in the forms, gave me a copy and told me they'll call me in about a week or two. Keeping my thumbs crossed. And fingers too.

Dec3

Sprouting lentils.

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Sprouting lentils.

After roughly 24 hours in the bag, the lentil-seeds have started to sprout.

I have never sprouted lentils before, so I don't know if these sprouted faster. I do like how easy I can rinse the seeds, simply hold the bag under the tap and go -- or dip it in a bowl with water. I added the sunflower, broccoli and pea seeds a little later, I hope they'll sprout tomorrow.

The other bag has some quinoa from my pack. Normally I don't expect something like that to sprout, they do however sprout. I like it!