Time4Learning.com

Recently I was given a free month of Time4Learning.com in exchange for a review.  I was really excited about it, because I'd seen so many positive comments about it in the past.

The first thing I discovered was that time slows down in the Time4Learning universe.  And not in a good way.  After signing my two youngest up on the website, I received a message saying it would be (trying to remember here) either 24 or 48 hours until the account was active.  A week later it still said the same thing.  Just when I was ready to call customer support, the account finally went live.  But I was already ten days into my free trial.

Now the good news: the boys really liked it.  They weren't interested in the math section, so we did quite a few science, social studies, and reading lessons.  The lessons were cute, although somewhat repetitive.  The quizzes at the end were EXTREMELY repetitive.  The animations/stories are what really sold the kids on it.  We were all laughing out loud at some of the discussions between the animated characters.  There was also a lot of interactive clicking involved in the lessons, which keeps the kids engaged and learning.

So overall, I was pretty happy with the website.  I would definitely consider adding it to my curriculum for next year.  It would be great to let the two younger ones do some of their work online while I work with the older two.  I don't know that it's complete enough for a stand-alone choice, but I liked what I saw.

It's an app, app, app, app world

A couple of months ago, my dad decided to get an iPhone and pass on his iPod touch to me. Like I needed something new to take up my time.

I instantly became addicted to it. I know this is a big shock to you all, knowing how much I hate technology and all things new and cool (cough cough).  Yes, I am my father's daughter.  Anyway, it is undoubtedly one of the coolest things ever and will accompany me everywhere I go for many years to come.

The one thing I didn't really know much about before I got the thing was "apps."  I thought apps were the things you got before dinner (ba da boom).  Who knew that my favorite thing to do with my new iPod would be browsing the app store for FREE STUFF?  Because, as I may have mentioned once or twice before, I love free stuff.

There are so many cool free games available, it's scary.  I've found a few I really like.  One of them is "Alchemize", a game where you match colors and gradually trade up until you get to gold.  Alchemy - get it?  Anyway, it's horribly addictive and I have been know to lose hours at a time to it.  And I Still. Haven't. Won.

Another fun one is "What Song?" which uses your own music to play a sort of "name that tune" game.  The faster you get the right answer, the more points you get.  It's fun, my only complaint being it doesn't ever seem to end.

I have a neato shopping list app that remembers everything I've entered previously, so the next time I want to buy it, I don't have to retype it.  Nice.

I have an app that lets me send unlimited text messages to any phone.  Free.  So if you want to be texted, just send me your cell #.

And then there are the podcasts.  The Lost podcast, the Vampire Diaries podcast, and on and on and on.  So many podcasts, and all free!  I'm listening to Jay and Jack on the Lost podcast as I write this.

So, do you have an iPhone, or iPod touch, or iPad?  What are your favorite apps?  And more importantly, are they free?

If this robot wants to take over the world, at least it'll be a clean world

Today's Fake Quote:

"I could have told you to get a robot." -R. Jetson

As I sit here typing this, the bane of my existence my basement floor is being cleaned. My wonderful, handsome, intelligent, hard-working husband got me a little something:This is a Scooba, from iRobot. While I relax, blog, and drink my coffee, Scooba is downstairs vacuuming, scrubbing, and drying my floor. I used it yesterday on the bathroom floors and the upstairs kitchen and it did a fine job. Now it's tackling the filth of my basement floor.

It automatically goes around the furniture and any other obstacles. I did have a slight problem when it got to the cabinets - the baseboard is off temporarily and it kept getting stuck. I blocked that off and now it's happily buzzing around down there.

Ah, life is good. Now if I could just get a robot that would pick up toys, we'd be set.

I've been assimilated

Remember the Borg from Star Trek, who went around turning other races of beings into cyborgs like them? My dad gave me a Bluetooth headset for Christmas. Now I walk around with this piece of hardware in my ear and a flashing blue light that blinds anyone who looks in my direction. The silly part is, only my parents and Hubby ever call me. Yet I know the minute I take it off I'll miss a call.

Hey, if anybody has Cingular/AT&T, email me and we'll exchange numbers. We can talk for free, you know.

We are the Bluetooth. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

When technology is too smart

We have a really nice DVD recorder. Hubby got it for me as an anniversary present and it's fantastic. The really nice thing about it is the the hard drive. It works very much like a DVR; I can watch shows while they're recording, skip commercials, pause, etc. and I can save them until later or record them onto DVDs to keep.

Naturally, being the television addict I am, I have the hard drive set up to record all of my favorite shows from week to week. It's never given me a problem. Until now. Now, apparently, it has decided that mere humans are not to be trusted with timekeeping. And it has chosen, in its machinated wisdom, to ignore the time change. I cannot convince it to go back an hour. And because of the way it's programmed, it is supposed to find the time automatically and will not let me set it. The option isn't even there - it's grayed out.

Now, seriously, when did we get so stupid as a nation that we cannot even trust ourselves to set clocks? Are there other people out there with this same problem? All my programs are now off by an hour, and I can't change it. I can change all the programs, but I bet as soon as I do, the thing will figure out the right time and then I'll have to change them all back. And it's a pain to change every single recording time.

I'm going to outsmart this thing. I will not be defeated by a machine.

What??

What does my scanner want from me? Blood?

I have been trying to participate in WBW for an hour now. An hour. And my brand new HP Photosmart 3200 all-in-one printer/scanner/copier won't scan. And do you know why? Guess. You'll never guess.

It says there's a paper jam.

I can truly say I did not see that one coming. How can there be a paper jam when I'm trying to scan? I did not tell it to scan and print. I told it to scan. But, no, it says there's a paper jam.

So I checked the printer. No jam. I even printed something just to make sure. I came back to the computer. It still won't scan. Same reason.

So I updated my software. I got all of HPs little widgets and patches and installed them and restarted my computer twice. It gives me the same error. So I officially give up. There will be no WBW from me this week.

Why does technology hate me?