Sunday, May 30, 2010

Keeping Score





This is one of our roses that I shot in honor of Macro May.

One of the things that influenced Doug and I when we decided to buy the iPad was our love of minor league baseball. The first app we purchased was ESPN iScore Baseball, though when I researched it before the 3G iPad was released it didn't have the ESPN moniker.

I'll admit right here and now that I find baseball to be a little slow and boring. I prefer to sit at the games and knit or do crosswords while I watch. I have a short attention span. So one of the things that I learned to do, with Doug's help, was to keep score. We bought scorebooks and I kept score. It forced me to learn about the game and, more importantly at the time, to pay attention to the game. I say "at the time" because we used to sit on the first base side in the bleachers where a foul ball could be life threatening. If I was reading or knitting or whatever and not paying attention, I could get smacked in the head with a foul ball before Doug could dive in front of me.

I liked keeping score but when we started sitting in the box seats behind home plate (and behind the netting) it became harder to see what was happening on the field. I didn't have to worry about foul balls anymore so gradually I went back to reading, knitting and crosswords.

The iPad and iScore has changed all that. Now we take turns scoring (I score the visitors and Doug scores the Suns) and I am having to learn all over again how to score a game. What's worse is that now it seems to go so fast that I can't always keep up.

We attracted some attention when we first showed up at the game with our iPad and started keeping score. The Suns assistant manager Joel wanted to know more about it and sat with us for a while to see how it worked. He later downloaded the iPhone version and messed with it enough to see the potential. He now sees to it that the starting lineups are emailed to me before game time so we don't have to waste time setting that up.

One of the scouts who are always there came over and asked about it also. I hoped he checked it out some more because I know it could make his life easier.

I sometimes sit at home and watch baseball on tv now so I can practice scoring. Before the iPad I considered that to be akin to watching paint dry but know I'm so busy trying to figure out what happened that I can't keep up. This has turned out to be so much fun that I really look forward to games. I'd like to be able to score every play exactly right but I think it will be a while before I reach that level, if ever.

So for now the knitting stays home and I'm getting things done a little more slowly but they are getting done. I finished Eva last weekend but I haven't worked in the ends or blocked it yet. I'm almost done with the India Stole, less than 100 rows left with each one being two stitches shorter than the last. When it's done I'm going back the Evenstar shawl. So despite the attraction of the iPad and the rush of baseball, I'm still getting some knitting done. Just a little more slowly.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Don't Let That Furry Face Fool You!




My friend is waging a war to save her vegetables from the aggressions of an insidious invader known as the groundhog. They know no boundaries, recognize no form of legitimate government authority, show no mercy, and take no prisoners.

According to her latest update, hogs invaded her home base and destroyed her romaine while she was away performing a humanitarian mission. Later she discovered that the enemy had also destroyed her crop of kale and established a base of operations nearby. She has been forced to call in air strikes on their underground facilities. It's unknown at this time whether the air strikes were effective. These subterranean saboteurs often have a network of burrows which allow them to elude attack and escape all capture attempts.

The battle is ongoing with the weather favoring both sides and neither camp likely to yield at this time. Stay tuned for updates.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

I took the plunge

We purchased an iPad. It's a 32G wifi 3G model which means that I can get to the internet from just about anywhere. I wanted an iPhone ever since my friend Janis got one a couple years ago and I had my hubby convinced that I should get one when our current contract was up for renewal. I knew about the iPad but figured there was no way i was ever going to talk the hubster into one of those. But then my friend Sarah said that I could get a 3G iPad and just get a plain phone.

I told Doug and he didn't reject it out-of-hand so I thought I might have a chance. I just kept chipping away at his wall of resistance but my big break came when he went to a work meeting and saw someone using one in person. He stayed after the meeting and talked to the guy about it and I think he was sold.

The release date for the 3g was April 30 (my birthday) and we made arrangements to leave work early and head over to the next town to purchase one from Best Buy so we could get the Geek Squad coverage. When we got there we were number 17 in line but they only had 15 iPads! They recommended that I get in line anyway just in case and I am so glad that I took their advice. Two people ahead of me left when they said they didn't have any 16G's. So we got the one we wanted and it was the last one they had.

I love this thing!! I've been finding apps for all the things we need to do including this app, BlogPress, that allows me to post to my BlogSpot blog. For some reason, I can't post to it in Safari. There are so many apps but the best one so far is iScore Baseball that we're learning to use to keep score at the Hagerstown Suns games.

Of course there's still knitting going on but it's taken a backseat this week. Friends and I went to Maryland Sheep & Wool on Saturday but I only bought one skein of silk lace weight from Spirit Trail Fiber Works and two remnants of Koigu. I have apps to buy! I can't be wasting money on yarn!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:W Washington St,Hagerstown,United States