My Life

I didn't want to tell you what this blog is about in my title because I was afraid you wouldn't read it. I have been teasing about blogging about my love for my iPhone and I decided it is time. I can hear the groans out there. I know you are saying "come on, get a life." In a way, my iPhone is my life. (did I really just say that). Let's just say it enhances my life every day.

First, what I don't use my iPhone for: talking. I have AT&T's cheapest package and have more roll over minutes than I will ever use. I wonder if I can donate them to someone in need. I guess with unlimited minutes these days people don't need mine.

So if I don't use my iPhone to talk except to occasionally hear the voice of my siblings and daughters what do I use it for? Well, there is texting. Charlotte and I text back and forth to figure out what we are going to do on our outings. Often times I find I get a quicker response from my kids when I text them than if I leave them a voice mail. It's nice to know I can (and I don't do it often enough) text Judy or Rachel or Kate to tell them I'm thinking about them and know they see it immediately.

In a previous blog I talked about the GPS on my phone. That comes in very handy when I'm downtown and can't figure out which way is east, or if I am trying to get some place new and I want to figure out the easiest way to do it. My phone tells me which train or bus to take. And speaking of the bus, the CTA has a program call the Bus Tracker (kind of catchy name don't you think) that I can plug into and it tells me how long before the next bus comes.

I can click on the weather app and find out what the temperature is in Chicago, or Bentonville, or Tulsa or New Orleans, or Springfield, or Lexington or Eugene or Harwich or Salt Lake City or Kansas City, just to see how everyone is doing weather wise.

I have a clock app that has the world clock on it so I can find out what time it is anywhere in the world. I don't use that so much. But it also has a timer which I use every Sunday night to time our writings in my writing group. It also has a stop watch so I can see how long it takes me to walk to one place or another. And an alarm that comes in handy too. There is a calendar that tells me what day it is and I can set reminders for appointments.

I use iTunes to down load pod casts on cooking and photography. Since I have given up my car I don't listen to NPR so much but now I have an app called NPR addict and I am back in the know. Bill turned me on to Pandora which I downloaded to my phone and if I want to listen to music I have lots to choose from. I sometimes use the Spa Radio for my relaxation classes at work. Right now I'm listing to Romantic Piano Solos.

I down loaded a free dictionary app that comes in really handy because I can't spell. Most of the time I rely on spell check but when I'm commenting on other people's blogs I have to occasionally look up a word. And I can look up meanings and it even comes with a thesaurus.

There is a calculator of coarse. There is a program I've been using for the past 2 week is called Lose It. It calculates calories plus fats and fiber and even exercise. I have never been able to get myself to write down what I eat but I watched Jane while we were on vacation and she inspired me. Two weeks of actually tracking calories is a first for me. Very interesting to see how much I actually eat in a days time. A real eye opener and I can compare one week to another.

I've down loaded Fandango so I can get movie times at a moment's notice. I can check my email. I can surf the web. I can read the blogs that I follow on the bus or train or if I'm sitting by myself enjoying a nice lunch somewhere.

And then today I went out with friends to a garden show. The weather had turned really awful (dropped 30 degrees yesterday and snowing this morning). I thought I was going to go shopping after our little outing and didn't want to take my camera. I was really disappointed that I didn't have it when I got there and then I remembered I had my iPhone. Not the same, but it works pretty well in a pinch. And I can take funny pictures of me, cute pictures of my cat and even spade hands ("what would you bid with this?").