Not Sure What To Title This, Really

I know I started off a post the same way last month, but man, talk about blogger apathy.  I always think about this space, how updated it has not been, and how I need to just do it.  Well right now, I've dropped everything to just come here and put out a quick post.  It must be done.

The other day I was walking our dog, Bowser, here at our lovely apartment complex.  As we headed over to the "dog area", I noticed that there was a lady and her dog already there.  Now, with a normal dog, this isn't really a problem, but with our dog, he likes to investigate stuff, like people and other dogs, rather enthusiastically.  So, because I saw that lady and her nice, calm dog already in the space I was heading, I decided to hang back until her dog did it's business and they went on their way.

Well as I was waiting, I couldn't help but watch what they were doing, you know, so I knew when they left.  As I watched, I noticed that the dog was about to poop.  Now, everything poops, right?  That's not the real point here.  At our complex, we are asked nicely to pick up after our dogs, so that there isn't poop all over the place.  It's something I've gotten used to over time, and I really don't have a problem picking up poo.  Whatever.  So, this lady is there with her dog, and she's got her bag out, and I'm thinking "great, good, she picks up after her dog, too."

That's when she bends over and sticks the plastic bag directly on the dog's ass, and the dog poops directly into the plastic bag, without hitting the ground.  Now, am I wrong to think that this is totally weird and messed up?  I mean, wouldn't a normal person just let the dog go on the ground and then pick it up afterwards?  You don't have to catch it.  Do you catch you're dogs poop?  And not to mention, one of the ladies from the office was returning from showing two people an apartment that they were thinking of renting.  They had the paperwork in their hands, that's how I know.  And this lady, bent over behind her dog, catching dog poop turns to her and the prospective tenants and asks if their day is going good.  Imagine that scene.

So she threw the poo bag into the compactor and went on her way, and as Bowser prepared to do his thing for himself, I couldn't even imagine doing the same act to Bowser.  It's bad enough he has to poop with an audience, but to have someone catch it while addressing other members of society at the same time?  I don't know I just thought it was weird.  Like I said, there really isn't much of a problem picking it up off the ground. But catching it in a bag? You still have to bend over, so it's not like a "I can't bend over" thing.  I'm not sure what the reason for it is, but there's probably a good one.  But you won't see me catching poo directly into a bag anytime soon.  

10 Great iPhone Apps for Free (mostly)

I love my iPhone.  I really do.  Chances are, if you have one, you love it as well.  If you're anything like me, you're always looking for a great new app to check out.  And hey, maybe sometimes there are older apps that you hadn't heard about that are great as well, but you somehow missed the boat along the way.  Maybe you're new to the iPhone?  Whatever the reason, everyone could use a suggestion or two when it comes to good apps for the iPhone.

So, I've decided to tell you what's good, in no particular order.  Pay attention, there will be a quiz.  (this is not true) There are some obvious apps that are essential that I'm not going to even list because you should probably have them already, like Angry Birds, Facebook, Words with Friends, Instagram, things like that.  These are the "other" apps that I use just about every day and I think you should check out.

Okay?  Okay, let's get to it.

1. What's On TV?  - 

What's On TV?

This app is pretty good for seeing what's on TV, obviously, judging by the title of it.  I don't have cable or satelite at home, I only get my TV from over the air, DTV.  This is perfect since I really have no other TV guide to go off of.  I think they still put a guide in the Sunday paper, or something, but might as well get this app instead because it's convenient and it's free. You can personalize it to you're area and it'll tell you what's on locally.  Pretty good.  I use it often.  You can set your favorites and set alerts when your favorite shows and episodes of shows are coming on.  If you like TV, you'll like this, I think.  

2.  Tiny Review  

Tiny Review

This is a picture based app, like Instagram, but instead of putting filters on the pictures, you put a caption over the picture.  You can follow people or just look at what's "trending", which just seems to be a mix of some of the most recent pictures taken from all over the world.  I think the original idea was to have people leave short, three line reviews for business and things like that.  But people started using it as a general picture posting place, with captions, not necessarily reviewing things.  Anyway, it's a fun little app.  I like it.  

3.  Flipboard 

Flipboard

Do you like to read the news?  Me neither.  But with Flipboard, I do a little bit more now.  If nothing else, it's fun to just make the pages flip up and down.  Not many apps on my phone do I just open and play around with it aimlessly just because I like the way it looks.  Flipboard is one of those apps, though.  You can also hook up your Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts to look at those in a completely unique fashion. You know how your friends post boring stuff you don't feel like clicking on?  Well this makes those boring links look more appealing, and you will probably actually click on them and find what was so interesting. There are several different sites you can hook up to it, from major news outlets like USA Today, BBC news and ESPN, ABC news, stuff like that, to tons of others that are perhaps lesser known like, oh I don't know, "I Love Dogs".  Anyway, there are a lot of choices to personalize it, and I just think it's the best.  I'm pretty sure this is a fantastic iPad app, as well.  Not sure, I don't have one of those. (yet)

4.  Swackett 

Swackett

You know, there are a lot of weather apps out there, but few are as snazzy to look at as Swackett.  Swackett tells you what sort of layering you should be wearing when going out of the house, like if you should be wearing a warm jacket, or if just a hoodie will do, based on the current weather.  Why just look at the weather, when you can look at the weather in style?  It also tell you if you need to put sunglasses on your cat.  It's got extended forecasts and hourly forecasts, just with the 90 degree rotation of the phone.  It's got radar to see if that storm is coming right at you or not.  I don't know, I tell everyone to get this app.  It's the first app that pops into my head whenever someone asks what apps they should get.  It's pretty much the inspiration for this blog post, really.  

5.  Sportacular

Sportacular

For the sports fan, or really anyone who want's to know who's playing when, and against whom, this is a must have.  I've noticed a lot of people use ESPN's Scorecenter.  Okay, that ones alright, I have it too, but I rarely ever use it.  I think this Sportacular app is better.  It's cleaner and faster.  Personally, I like to pick the winners of games in Football and Hockey with this app, just to see how I stack up in predictions.  You can set your favorite teams and it'll tell you the next game each of them has coming up.  You can set score alerts, for when the game starts, when there's a score change or when a period/quarter/half ends.  It updates very quickly when you need to monitor a game on the go and can't watch it.  It's my personal favorite sports app.




6.  Project365

Project365

Any regular reader of this blog knows that I've written at least two, maybe three different posts about how much I love the Project365 app.  Briefly, it's an app where you post a picture to it everyday, with the idea that you'll never forget a day for the rest of you're life.  If you want to know what happend on, say, October 4th, you can pull open the app, go back and see what you did that day, because you took a picture and wrote a description.  Personally, let me see what I did on October 4th, 2011...  Ah yes!  The guy from the carpet cleaning company came and cleaned the carpets in our apartment and I walked around with wet feet all day.  I apparently also watched some baseball.  Thank you, Project365.  I remember that day now!

(Note: with this app, I have the paid version.  There is a free version, but it doesn't overlap into the next year.  Once you've filled up one year, it's done.  The paid version offers multiple years and also, you can upload your pictures to a website where you can look at it and it's saved there forever, too.  If you want it, it's probably worth the 99 cents for the pro version, but the free version works just fine, too.)




7.  Paper Toss or Paper Toss World Tour

Paper Toss World Tour

The best iPhone games are the ones that are the simplest.  This game is exactly that.  It's simple enough that you can be good at the beginner stages right away, and yet difficult enough to make you keep on playing it, whether it's trying to get a huge streak on one of the easy stages, or to make at least one shot on the ridiculously hard stages.  Seriously, I have wasted a lot of time playing this damn game.  It's so addictive.  It's so simple, I don't even need to talk about it anymore.




8.  Taco Bell Locator

Taco Bell Locator

Ever find yourself in an unfamiliar place, yet have a crazy craving for some delicious Taco Bell goodness?  The Taco Bell Locator app is the perfect app for you.  It'll take your location, then show you on a map the nearest Taco Bell locations, within a given radius.  Perfect if you're traveling or if you've recently moved. It goes all the way up to 10 miles out, so if you know you're going to a particular area, you can see where a Taco Bell is.




9. Wikipanion

Wikipanion

If you're like me, you like to read up on stuff from Wikipedia, even with all the warnings from people about how it's not necessarily always the best place to get some facts.  Well, I've found it to be extremely useful, and Wikipanion is your gateway to Wikipedia.  Yes, there is an actual Wikipedia app you can get, but Wikipanion is faster and easier to use.





10.  Echofon

Echofon

Why I waited until the tenth spot to mention the very best twitter app?  To save the very best for last.  I like to tweet (follow @BradPerala or for you sports fans out there, follow @BPsportsTweets) and I've tried NUMEROUS Twitter apps.  Pretty much all of them, actually.  There are some decent things about some of them.  Some have features that you can't do on Echofon (like being able to set pending tweets with Hootsuite.  In fact, if you don't want Echofon, get Hootsuite.  It's a solid runner-up) but no other Twitter app is as easy to use and as easy to read as Echofon.  What it does, and most other apps don't do, is in your Twitter feed, it highlights the links, usernames, hashtags, pictures, and everything else that isn't regular typing, in blue.  It makes in infinitely easier to read.  It picks up where you left off when you open it, it refreshes fast.  It sends you push notifications on mentions and new followers.  Trust me, I've used them all, and this is the best.  Twitter is a rather simple concept, and it's pretty amazing how many apps screw up that mindset.  Echofon keeps is simple.  With Twitter, that's the point, in my opinion.





That's the skinny, people.  These are some of my most heavily used apps, so I say they must be good.  I think you'll like them and find them to be very useful.  I hope you've found this helpful in some way.  Let me know what you're favorite apps that I should try out are in the comments.  Also, let me know if I've helped you out with these suggestions.  Your feedback is very important to me.

Have a fantastic day!

The Record Store

A few weeks ago, I had the itch to go to the record store.  That hadn't really happened in a while, because going to the record store requires having money to spend, something I really can't justify doing with bills and a child to take care of.  But on that day, I just felt like going.  So I grabbed a few old CDs to trade in and headed down to Grimey's.

I brought seven CDs with me but they would only accept three of them for trade in, which netted me a cool $9.50 in store credit.  I used the money to buy Balance and Composure's CD, Separation.  I ended up only paying like, a buck sixty out of my pocket for a brand new CD. This was the second new CD I have bought in at least 13 months.  I just don't buy (new) CDs anymore.  That's why I brought in some old discs to trade in, because I have so many CDs laying around, and a computer to hold all the songs on in iTunes, I don't need the physical copy of N.E.R.D's album Fly or Die anymore.  Might as well turn it into something I actually want, if they're willing to take it, right?

Anyway, what brought me here to Bloggerated today was not to tell you the story of selling off my CD collection, but to talk about a lie I spewed to the nice people working at Grimey's.  I remember the last time I went to Grimey's.  I went there with my brother when he visited us back in May.  When I walked in, I talked to Josh, a guy who works there, and I was happy to see he remembered me.  Anyway, I had little baby Evie with me, and of course, he asked about her.  I said to him, "yeah, I haven't been in for so long because of this little one."

Not true.

I hadn't been into Grimey's for 8 months because of Spotify.  I hadn't bought much music from anywhere because of Spotify.  Now I know that I've written at length before about the plight of the music industry and my desire to single-handedly keep it afloat as the way we know it.  Album sales create revenue for artists and bands to create more great albums and sustain a living.  It is no fault of these artists that people have decided to devalue their work by stealing it off of the internet, which drove album sales to the floor.  Sometimes I get frustrated when a musician is fatalistic about album sales, saying it doesn't matter because they don't make money off sales, they make money from touring and merchandise sales.  If no one buys your music, what's the point?  You need proper albums out so people can come to your show.  Without it, no one knows who you are or what you're singing about.  Make a great record, and people will be there at the shows.  So when it comes to not caring if people buy your music, no one is gonna hear it if you don't make it.  If no one buys it, no one will want to make it.

Anyway, I told Josh at Grimey's that I hadn't been in because I had a kid, which wasn't true.  All the great albums that came out last year were conveniently streaming on Spotify, that's really why I hadn't been in.  I didn't need to drop ten bucks on a CD at their store anymore.  It makes me feel guilty because these guys at Grimey's have one of the best places in the world right there, and they stay afloat when people go in and buy stuff.  If no one buys records, they go away.  Thankfully, people in the area have realized this without my help, because they were on the news a few weeks ago saying that 2011 was a banner year for them.  Okay, good.  Phew.  Don't need to worry about that then.

I'm conflicted about Spotify.  It's the only way I can listen to a lot of music I otherwise would just wonder if it was any good or not.  Now I know.  There are so many good albums, and they're all right here for my listening pleasure.  But when I think about owning some of it, I just think, "why bother anymore?"  I don't need the physical copy taking up space in my life.  But there is that collector in my bones that tells me that I need to own it.  I need to feel it and look at the real artwork on the cover.  I need to support these bands, financially, and I really can't go to the shows anymore, not with a kid at home.  Sure, Spotify pays artists on a per play basis, but from what I know, it's like, pennies.  Okay, so Spotify is better than stealing, but it's also damn near stealing.

Do I wish I could own every single one of these great albums in my Spotify bookmarks?  You bet.  How many have I actually went out and bought, whether physical or digital?  Three.  Only three.  And total actual dollars spent on them totals less than $10.  (One was a 3 song EP, one was the CD I mentioned above, and one was on sale or dirt cheap from AmazonMP3)

So I lied.  I hadn't not been into Grimey's because of the kid, I hadn't been in because of Spotify.  And part of me says that's okay, you spend money on more important things like food and clothes.  The other part of me misses the process of going in and buying stuff.  Spotify is great because it has allowed me to fall in love with some great music.  I hate Spotify because it has taken that great experience away from me.  I control my own actions here, but I can't say no to listening to something for free.  I'd rather listen to it and feel a little guilty afterwards.  In 2012, I'm going to try to find a balance.  If I truly love something, musically, I'm going to go buy it at Grimey's. Because I enjoy it.

Also, #firstworldproblems

The Movie Groundhog Day Was A Really Good Idea

This is probably the worst bit of writers block I've experienced as a blogger.  Well, this I guess this would be the worst bit of writers block I've ever had then, because I've never really written before the blog.  Well anyway, I don't know what to write.  I haven't known what to write for a while.  I feel like now that people are paying attention, this has to be good, and I just don't have any good ideas.  I could probably pound one out, like I'm currentlly doing, but I just don't have anything new or interesting to write about.

I figure now that it's February, I should get it together.  So that's why I came here, just to say that I'm sorry that I don't know how to write, I guess.  One thing I'll say, you need to ask yourself, January is over now, how was it?  You'll need to remember how it was at the end of the year when you ask yourself how 2012 went.  Remember the big things and write them down.  For me, January was marked by visitors.  We had people in the apartment for like, a total of a week and a half, which is always nice.  I'd chalk up January as a win.

Hey, here's a topic!  It's groundhog day!  Don't you think it's brilliant that the makers of the movie Groundhog day made their movie the way they did?  I mean, every year, we're talking about this movie.  It was funny, but there were a lot of funny movies throughout the years.  It's great! The Groundhog saw his shadow this morning so there's six more weeks of winter, which if it's like it's been, weather-wise, that's okay with me.  It's been super nice this winter, and I'll take more of it.

So yeah, that's all for today.  I'm happy I wrote something.  I hope you're happy having read it. 

Get Rich Quick Scheme

I've come up with a great idea.  Okay, so you know how it's nearly impossible to win the lottery?  I know it because my mom has bought a ticket for the lottery for every drawing for years and hasn't won anything yet.  I know that it only takes one time to be a winner, but the odds are pretty steep.  You can't win if you don't play, but playing can get discouraging.

So I've come up with a plan.  You see, I actually live on the same street as Tennessee's lottery office here in Nashville.  So this idea makes sense to me because the travel is minimal.  Anyway, here it is.

Okay, someone won a bunch of money by winning the lottery, they have to go to the lottery office in their state's capitol. (at least that's where the lottery office was in Michigan and that's where it is in Tennessee.) What's one thing you would do if you won the lottery?  Buy stuff, sure.  But I'm sure you would be generous in giving some of it away, don't you think?  You win the lottery, you go to the office, they give you your money and you couldn't be happier!  You want to do something good with your new found fortune.  As you exit the lottery office building, you see a homeless man, looking sad and disheveled, perhaps even holding a cute little baby.  He's just asking for some spare change from passers-by.  Well hey, you just won millions of dollars in the lottery, let's give this poor homeless man a fresh new start.  Here's a pile of dough, young man.  Spend it wisely.

Bam.

You need to increase your likelihood of actually coming across a fresh new multimillionaire and convince them to give you money without actually asking.  That's why you have to hang around the lottery office.  Everyone that wins the lottery in Tennessee has to go through those doors.  If you look sad enough, I'm sure those happy new rich folks will throw you a bone, right?

So that's my scheme to get rich quick.  Don't just beg from the regular folks on the street or your family members.  Beg from the lottery winners.  Duh! You might not have the millions you would have if you actually won the lottery, but you will have something. And people win the lottery all the time!  There are millions of people in Tennessee.  Someone is going to win some sort of lottery on a regular basis.  And as I said above, every single one of them has to walk through those doors.

Something tells me this isn't going to work, but if you need me, Evie and I are going off to rub some dirt on our clothes.

Freshly Grated Parmesan

Tell me when

Ever eat at an Italian restaurant?  I mean, c'mon, who hasn't?  Italian restaurants are great, in my opinion.  I love Italian food for it's butter and garlic and bread and pasta and all of that.  I'm sure I've been eating a rather Americanized Italian food experience most of my life, but I can't say for sure, I've never been to Italy.  Well anyway, one thing I've noticed at Italian restaurants that I've eaten at, is their offering of freshly grated Parmesan and that awkward moment of them doing the act for you.

Okay here's the situation, you've downed your appetizer, you drank a glass of wine or beer, perhaps you ate a salad, and now you got your delicious main course set in front of you.  The server turns to you and asks if you want freshly grated Parmesan on your food.  "Why, yes, that sounds great!" you exclaim.  So they whip out the white grater thingy and start a-turnin' the handle with the instruction "tell me when to stop."  They start and it throws down a little on top, and you feel like you should say "okay, that's enough."  But I don't want them to stop.  Heck, I'm paying for this meal, I want my moneys worth.  Keep going, Parmesan grinder.  After a few twists, I think they expect you to say stop so they sort of slow down, but you didn't tell them to, so they keep going on, wondering if it will ever end.  Is there a stopping point?  What amount of Parmesan is too much?  I love Parmesan cheese, I want a lot.  If you put the can of it in front of me, I'm going to use the hell out of it.  But when someone else is in control, you feel that you have to say "when" even when that's not as much as you would like.  Although, I must admit, I've never gone longer than just slightly longer than what you would consider normal, I always want to just let them keep on grinding just to see if they will pull the plug on the operation themselves.  They say they want you to tell them to stop, but everyone knows there is an unwritten amount you're supposed to accept, even if it's not enough.  I want my free cheese.

Know what I mean?  

Taco Bell. I Approve.

I held off writing this post for 24 hours because I didn't want to type this up on my iPhone. Well, I need to do something to keep me awake right now, so here I am, pounding away at the touchscreen.

Let's talk about Taco Bell. Man, I don't care what anyone says about that place, I love it. I know it's not the best quality food you can buy, I think everyone know that, but I really like it. Heck, even I refer to it as "Toxic Hell" most of the time. But I think it's delicious. One thing that makes it appealing to me is the variety of foods I can choose from, being vegetarian. Most places have very limited meatless options, but not Taco Bell. You can pretty much substitute the meat with beans or rice or both on the majority of the menu for no extra charge. And it's dirt cheap. You can get stuffed on a couple bucks. It's great.

When you order your food, they often ask of you want any sauce. Taco Bell offers three sauce packets to choose from: mild, hot and fire sauce. I like the heat of fire sauce but I prefer the hot sauce because it has a better flavor than the fire. My question is, who requests mild sauce anyway? I mean, sometimes they'll throw in all three, and you're like, "okay, I got this mild sauce, I guess I'll use it." But what's the point? It just tastes like cumin (even though cumin is not listed as an ingredient, which makes you wonder a bit.) I mean, it's okay, but with the other sauce choices, why mild? I guess that not everyone likes hot spicy stuff, and sometime you wanna add a little extra flavor to stuff without all the heat, but it doesn't taste very good. And if you don't like hot, spicy food, maybe you shouldn't be eating "Mexican" food to begin with? I try the mild sauce on my food every time I get a packet, and I am consistently disappointed. But at the same time, I don't want the mild sauce to go away, because it has this mystique about it to me. The weird mild sauce. If the mild sauce went away, I'd be as disappointed as I am in it's flavor.

I should utilize the fact that I live right around the corner from a Taco Bell more often. Then when I get my food, hope they throw a mild sauce in the bag, which I will use on my burrito, and then be disappointed for the 40th time. Taco Bell. I approve. So good.

(they a little mad at them right now though because they took my favorite item off the menu, the cheesy bean and rice burrito, but whatever. Still good stuff)