Sam Woodfin's Micro

How to Get Your Way Without Making a Stink

I've been bathing in dog shampoo for a while, now. As dog shampoos go, it's rather nice. Hell, it's nicer than most human shampoos. It smells like green tea and bergamot and feels like posh. But I ran out a few days ago. I texted my SO to ask if she could bring my Old Spice Swagger body wash (which had been left at her apartment) to our room at the Rodeway Inn. Despite the fact that she usually refers to this body wash as "stinky stuff", her response was "Sure!"

When she showed up that evening, she gave me my Old Spice. She then proceeded to let me know that she'd also brought a couple of alternatives, just in case. She gave me a bottle of body wash which smells undeniably like ginger -- WTF? -- and another which purportedly smells like citrus.

I love my Swagger! I think it smells freaking awesome!

But, as I sit here, writing this blog post, I smell undeniably like ginger and approximately like citrus.

There's a lesson to be learned in this stupid, little story. I'd be glad to spell it out for you. But for now, I'm too busy wondering what's going to happen when I run out of Degree deodorant.

Even the Domestic Partnerships Aren't Created Equally

This is a screenshot from the website of California's secretary of state:

 

For those of you with tiny screens or visual impairments: The text above states that filing for a domestic partnership in the state of California costs $10. Unless it's a same-sex partnership. Then it costs $33. Yep. More than three times as much. Why? Well "...to develop and support a training curriculum specific to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender domestic abuse support service providers who serve that community in regard to domestic violence, and to provide brochures specific to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender domestic abuse."

Aer we really beating the hell out of each other more than straight folks are?

 

Three Easy-Install Apps You *NEED* for Your Kindle Fire

The Kindle Fire is nice, right out of the box (especially for the price), but there are a few improvements you can make over the stock applications, without rooting the device.

And the first improvement you should make is installing Opera Mobile. In order to do this, you'll need to toggle your Fire to allow applications from non-Amazon sources (Settings > More > Device > Allow Installation of Applications), but Opera Mobile's browser features are well worth such minimal effort. 

What does Opera Mobile bring to your Fire that Amazon's Silk doesn't? A more browser-like interface, for one thing. Opera has been in the mobile browser business for a long time, and it shows when comparing the Opera Mobile interface to Silk (or Dolphin, Maxthon, or Firefox Mobile, for that matter). You'll get a bookmarks manager which puts Silk's implementation to shame, a genuine start page, and a tab switcher that's both slick and useful. Silk is nice, no doubt. But Opera Mobile is far smoother.

For power tweeters (and, to a lesser degree, Facebook users), I have to recommend Seesmic. (I've included a link in this post, but from your Fire, just open the app store and search for "Seesmic". Installation, in this case, is both simple and official.) It's clean, well-organized, and ad-free. But the main reason I'm suggesting Seesmic is that my Twitter use reached near-PC levels after I installed it. The same can't be said for using Twitter via mobile browser, or via other apps that I've tried.

My last recommendation for the day may seem counter-intuitive. There are slick and polished RSS apps for the Kindle Fire, including Pulse, which comes pre-installed. But on a personal, practical level, I'm of the opinion that an RSS reader should be simple. It shouldn't hook into Google Reader. It should allow you to add whatever feeds you want. And it certainly shouldn't trap RSS articles within it's own interface. That's where Sparse rss comes into play. It does exactly what an RSS reader should do: allow you to add the feeds you want, deliver new articles from those feeds, and send your browser to those articles when you tell it to. Easy, simple, functional (especially if you've already enabled downloads in order to install Opera Mobile).

That's it for today, kids. I'll post more as I learn more. But, for now, these three apps will go a long way toward taking your Kindle Fire out of the Amazon ecosystem, and into a more-connected tablet experience.

Marta Szemik's Marked: A Two Halves Novella

Not only is this the first book I've read on my Kindle Fire, it's also the first bit of fiction I've read in years that wasn't based on Xena: Warrior Princess, in some form or fashion. Marta Szemik's Marked: A Two Halves Novella doesn't have any of the lesbian subtext (maintext, if we're being honest) that I've come to expect from my reading material, either.

Wait. Why did I read this, anyway?

Oh. Yeah. I read it because Szemik brought imagination, structure, and a light hand to her work. The narrator, Xander, is a socially-awkward guy who hangs out with a witch, a demon, and a vampire slayer.

No. Really. Let's try that again.

The narrator, Xander, is a shapeshifter, so, technically, he is a demon. He falls in love with a witch, and, yes, there's a vampire in this story, too. Xander has a twin sister, Mira, and the two of them live in a world so dualistic that everyone is marked as either good (water) or evil (the underworld). Everyone, that is, except for Xander and Mira. This story is about their quest for purpose and belonging, even if it is wrapped up in love, lust, fate, and magic.

Marked is rather short (hence the term "novella"), but it's fleshed out enough to make me want to read more about Szemik's world of shifters, benders, seekers, angels, demons, witches, warlocks, the underworld and the good.

Click the image at the top of this post if you'd like to read it, too.

Box on Wheels

 

 

Good News Coming for TypePadders on Fire?

Glory be! There's a post up on Get Satisfaction where a TypePad employee asks about people using TypePad on Android! And it specifically mentions the Kindle Fire! I'm the only person who's responded, so far -- boo, y'all! -- but this isn't an issue of small concern. Blogging has become less and less chained to cumbersome machines; and while Apple (iPad users can get their TypePad on via Blogsy) may be carving the path for tablets, Android is catching up!

And what device leads the pack, in terms of Android tablets? Yep. The Kindle Fire!

If any TypePad decision-makers are reading this, and an Android app really is in the works, please, please, please remember to either a) submit it to the Amazon App Market, b) make a direct download of the .apk available from the TypePad dashboard, or c) both. (I'm partial to "b". Just sayin'.)

I'm desperate for this app to happen, kids! Make it so!

Settling In (It's Not What You Think)

Being poor is worse than being homeless. That may be the biggest lesson I've learned in the journey I started last November. I used to sit at home, flat busted, wondering how I was going to feed my mom, my dog, and myself, and I'd comfort myself with the thought that at least we weren't homeless. Gods, I was dumb.

Actually being homeless, but having enough money to rent a room at a cheap hotel or motel, to put gas in the car, and to get food and other necessities? Well, that changes everything, bucko! And don't let anyone convince you otherwise: It's not homelessness that creates problems; it's economic disparity.

The broader implications of that concept aside, it's time to put the personal implications to use. It's time to stop worrying about being technically homeless (a problem which can only be solved with the cooperation of other people), and start worrying about financial sustainability (a problem which grants me a much larger degree of control). I've become quite fond of hotel life, especially since I became responsible for choosing, and paying for, where we stay. There are certain things you don't have to worry about, living this way; like long-term leases, asshole roommates, repair bills, and people refusing to rent to old ladies with dementia. It's a good life, if you can get it!

I can't afford the place where we are, now. Not long-term, anyway. And that's a bit disheartening, because we love this place! But tomorrow we'll be checking out another motel in Anaheim, with rooms available from $210 to $250 per week. That's cheaper than most apartment rentals in this area, and from what I've seen, the place appears to be well-kept.

Meanwhile, I've started Turking for a living, with hopes of having my PC set up, soon, so I can get back to doing what I do.

And the moral of this blog post? Challenge accepted perceptions. Just because conventional wisdom touts something as the worst thing ever doesn't mean it's actually so.

Also: Fuck off, Craigslist!

Written, painfully so, on my fiery Kindle.

Testing TypePad with Dolphin on Kindle Fire

Still no rich text editor, but it's very, very different from using TypePad via Silk.

Sorry for the unwieldy title and lack of screenshots. Bigger fish, y'all!

Test posts. They happen, sometimes.

Like right now. I'm writing this post from the Amazon Kindle Fire I picked up at Walmart, today (complete with a $50 Walmart card included in the standard Kindle Fire price). So far, it isn't going smoothly. I'm writing in raw HTML mode because Typepad's rich text editor won't let me type anything, at all. I love TypePad, but one thing I've learned from this trip is that it's a mobile world. Technology that expects to sustain must be able to move with us. I'll be testing the Kindle Fire WordPress app in the morning.

How Do I Spell Relief? R-O-D-E-W-A-Y

 

We've stayed at several hotels and motels since coming to Orange County last November. We stayed at a Super 8 in Tucson (where we were allowed to keep Jerry, even though it was a pet-free motel). We stayed at the Red Roof Inn in Santa Ana (where the local wildlife included a wounded cat and at least one cockroach). We spent a couple of nights at the Castaway Motel in Orange (where the staff is friendly, but Internet access is nil). 

Due to the generosity of others, we spent several weeks at The Sheraton in Garden Grove, and a couple more weeks at the Residence Inn in Fountain Valley. The Sheraton is the place to stay if you want to be spoiled by the people who work there. No doubt about that. And the Residence Inn is the place for being well-fed while staying in what feels like a seriously freaking nice studio apartment. Maybe staying at these two places is what spoiled me for what used to be my favorite cheap accommodations: Motel 6.

Or maybe it's because that's where we were staying the night Jerry died. Or maybe it was watching the police take another guest away in handcuffs. Maybe it's because the rooms are small. Or because there's no way to cook in them, and no way to keep food cold, and the WiFi sucks. Whatever the reason, the only thing keeping me at Motel 6 after Jerry passed on was the price.

 

Enter Rodeway Inn & Suites. Not the Rodeway Maingate. I don't know jack about that one. But the Rodeway Inn & Suites Near Convention Center at 2145 S. Harbor in Anaheim. For a little less (yes, less; roughly $51/night, including tax and Mom's senior discount) than I was paying at Motel 6, we have a spacious room, the best cable we've had at any hotel/motel in California, good Internet access, parking by our room door, an actual desk, a (very small) laundry room, a heated swimming pool, free carby breakfast, free coffee all day long, awesome staff and cheery decor, in an area that the police don't feel inclined to utilize as warrant-hunting grounds.

I won't recommend Rodeway Inn over The Sheraton, if you have the means and want the luxury. I won't recommend it over Residence Inn, if you have the means and want to feel like king of your own damned castle. But if you're on a budget, and looking for accomodations that will break neither your bank nor your spirit, I can't recommend Rodeway Inn highly enough!