Ta-daaa! I finished!

Thing 22

Languages and Translation

This gave me a good reason to try out Pronunciator so I can speak more knowledgeably about it to patrons. I went to the CCPL website (using my new icon on my homescreen!) and found Pronunciator through the 24/7 tab. Signing up was easy--just entered my library card number and email address, then I was ready to go.

I chose French, the "High Beginner Course 1" because I took a couple of years of French in college, so maybe I remember enough to get me started. Started OK with the drills, but the interface is annoying and clunky. I had to tap things really hard to get a response, and it's not always clear exactly what I'm supposed to tap--do I tap the phrases to hear them pronounced? After several tries I realized that wasn't it: I had to tap either "normal" or "slow" at the bottom to hear them. But even then, there's a considerable delay between when I tap and the sound of the voice.

I wanted to take a quiz, but it doesn't matter how often I tap that tab, or how hard--it just won't do anything. Same with the Notes tab. I also can't find the "Postcards (culture note)" you mentioned as part of Activity 2, making me wonder if those are contained in Notes? Is this yet another Android issue? I can't imagine recommending this to patrons until I figure this out.

Thing 23

Art

Bitstrips is addictive. It was great fun creating my avatar and posting it on Facebook. I love that my avatar actually had a Bitchy Resting Face in the template I used--it's the only one that really seemed to resemble me slightly because of that facial expression! I especially loved that you could add bags under the avatar's eyes; nice touch.

I remembered that Nancy, one of my Facebook friends, had posted cartoony pics of herself before, and now I recognized that she was way ahead of me in using Bitstrips. So I put us together in a funny pic and posted it on FB. I crack myself up.

Thing 20

Email

Gmail is my personal email, and I've had that synced with my Android phone from the beginning. It works great! But wow, we can sync our Webmail too? That's a plus, because I've had occasions where I needed to check it from my phone, and going through the whole log-in process is a hassle.

I followed the instructions on the 23 MT site, modified for Android of course, and with some guidance from Katherine when I got stuck (thanks!), I successfully set up Webmail on my phone. It took me a minute to figure out how to find it once it was installed, but I found it with all my apps, and I moved the icon to my home screen, so now I'm in business.

Thing 21

CCPL

I've used CCPL's mobile site before, but never thought to add it to my homescreen. I did it easily, but it makes me laugh that's it's just a generic red "C" instead of a cute little icon of our site. It would be nice to have a real CCPL app someday, especially one for our Summer Challenge.

I then tried BookMyne. Once I installed it, I tried to find CCPL by using Nearby Search--no luck, although I did see HEPL, Avon, Tipton, Anderson, etc. Then I tried searching by name, Carmel Clay Public Library, and it said "Sorry, your search returned no results." What the heck?

Thing 19

Communicating

My kids use Snapchat, so this was the app I chose to install. Matt, our youngest child at 13 yet the most teenager-y of the three, rolled his eyes in that irritating way when I told him I had installed it. When I looked for other friends, of course, hardly anyone in my contacts (taken from my Gmail account, phone contacts, and Facebook) had Snapchat. One friend did; I sent him an invitation to Snapchat with me, but he hasn't responded two days later, and I'm guessing he signed up just because his kids have it and he never checks it--gotta text him and ask about this.

Hannah, my co-worker, heard me talking and said that she has Snapchat, so she sent me a photo for 10 seconds and I sent her one back. She's young and hip, so it makes sense that she already had it. Fun, I guess! BUT. My usual problem with these apps: to use it for anything fun, you have to turn on data! I found this out by trying to send a video--after maybe 10 minutes of trying, my month's allotment of data was gone. My son Matt was completely out of data and his cash balance for overages within a week of his monthly plan starting, and when I investigated, sure enough, it was all from Snapchat. So that's another app I couldn't delete fast enough. I think the library needs to give me a stipend for trying out these data-required apps!

Thing 18

Calendars

My friends make fun of me for never using my phone's calendar when we're together, planning the next dinner out or whatever. Fine, today is the day I will try it! 

At first I was impressed. It's the first time I've ever even looked at my phone's calendar, and there were a few things that had synced from other places, like reminders about dentist's appointments (I guess their emailed reminders somehow went to this calendar) and dates that I had entered for my husband's recent visit to Chicago. This is embarrassing that I don't know how those got there! Also, a friend's August birthday popped up. Maybe that came from Facebook? Anyway, I added a couple more upcoming birthdays, and a meeting with a co-worker for this Wednesday. But then it required several taps and swiping when I wanted to go back and edit an appointment or add a reminder. It will just take some getting used to, and maybe I will still always prefer my paper calendar!

I also wanted to try Sunrise. Right off the bat, I can see it is beautiful to look at. I connected it with my Facebook account for events, and maybe will connect it with Evernote if I ever start using that regularly. I've got US Public Holidays linked, and of course my Google account. I added that meeting with a co-worker, and I loved it! Love the analog clock where you just tap to add what time, and that when I'm writing what the meeting is about, it works just like my text function. I even like the little weather symbols for morning/afternoon/evening! It means I don't have to go to my special Weather Kitty app except when I want more details! 

Some friends and I are working on a few get-togethers for the end of summer, so I will put all of them on Sunrise as we get them scheduled. It would be great if this works for keeping track of all the crazy school events that are about to start hitting us.