having organized two kitchen cupboards, folded a mountain of laundry and made deliciously greasy hamburgers for supper, I’m sitting down to tell you about something I love. because I need to unwind and I need to smile.

santa — yes virginia, there is a santa clause! — was very kind to me this year and left me an ipod Touch under the Christmas tree. when i first heard of them, i didn’t want one. what use would it be without a phone?! plus knowing i can’t afford a monthly iphone bill, my analysis was simple = don’t go there. Still, I’m so glad that the old guy from the north had the foresight and imagination to leave me one because…

it’s brilliant! the little thing doesn’t leave my side for long — no matter where i am in my day: home, work or out and about.

what do i use it for that makes me love it so much? so glad you asked!

it’s the apps.

there really is an app for whatever you can think of and then some.

Here is a list of my favourites and how I use them…

[full disclosure is that i simply love these apps and have recieved nothing to rave about them. hehe]

1. grocery gadget: keeps my grocery list, the pharmacy list, the walmart list, any shopping list your heart desires. and it’s like a puppy, you train it to do the tricks you want it to learn and it does!

like, say you can’t find an item in it’s database, add it and it will be there at your fingertips forever more. good boy.

best of all, it has a corresponding free web application that your family can use to share lists. so now hubby can add those hickory smoked almonds he’s been craving to my list when he gets an envie. cool.

2. evernote: one amazing monster and it’s hard to say what i don’t use it for. Ah! to start…

• remember how much I loved Annie Lammott’s book bird by bird and how i swore ever after to carry index cards to jot down inspiration and quotes and thoughts and references to the world around me and books i was reading. i did that. i really liked it and was so proud to have adopted a healthy habit.
• well now evernote keeps virtual index cards for me. i start a new “note” for each book to keep bits, page numbers, quotes i want to add to good reads and my thoughts. eventually that miasma become blog posts, act as a mini-diary of what i have read and just make me so happy. ’cause, no offense Annie but the index cards were sometimes hard to keep track of.
• evernote makes my living cookbook recipe archive mobile for use in the kitchen and at the grocery. invaluable.
• i save my current weekly menu, i save pdf files with photos of crafty things i want to make with the kids, i save lists of library books i want to show the kids, gift ideas, restaurants who have kids-eat-free-nights, my favorite podcast and firefox extensions list in case the computer explodes, i save everything. it’s my mobile me. LOVE it.

3. mobile RSS: lets me take my love of google reader anywhere. all my feeds are downloaded into it when i am online like at home and can be read when i am offline like at work on my coffee break. in other words, it lets me read my chicks anywhere! sweet.

and it works with…

4. read it later: which is like my online to-read list. articles i don’t have time to scroll through when i find them, recipes i can’t archive in Living Cookbook right away, pages i want to revisit to see the latest update like discussion posts or polls of which book the bookclub is choosing next

5. wordpress: definitely not to be forgotten. lets me jot down an inspiration, quote, anything that moves me to later flesh out into a real life blog post. i can write anywhere. wow.

6. podcasts: my  favourites are in iTunes, they sync to the Touch and voila, i can listen anywhere. we eventually bought a small portable dock and speaker system for it too. washing dishes and ironing are suddenly not quite so boring.

7. remember the milk: my to-do list software. it goes where i go.

• the positives: i have consistently used this program. adding and completing tasks is so easy, fast and i don’t forget. things don’t slip through my fingers like they used to do on occasion. i know what needs to be done and when. i choose to complete or postpone. somehow i feel like i have way more choice in my life and am leading my own life rather than letting my life lead me. that’s quite a benefit from a piece of software.
• the negatives: i don’t find that the mobile app syncs very well with the web application. you are supposed to be able to add tasks at either place and your lists should to be identical. it doesn’t seem that good to me. always a bit off. however, the whole point of it is that my to-do list is mobile and i find i use it on the Touch not on the Web 99.9% of the time and so just ignore the ingruency and go on my merry way.

EDIT several hours later… these negatives got me looking for something better and i found it. it’s called TouchToDo with the same basic functionality, a one-time small fee rather than a yearly subscription fee, plus a sync with Google calendar. win.

even better, it’s easier to use. and if you type in the word “call,” you add pick from your contacts to auto put in whoever you need to call. same when you type in “email.” you can make notes about an item on your to-do that is visible on the main list. wow, now i think RTM is royally ripping people off.

8. goodreads: has an iPhone app now and the Chapters bookstore where I shop has a Starbucks with free wi-fi which all adds up to being able to see my bookshelves when i really need them. yay!

9. stanza: free e-books in a beautiful and smart interface. no brainer. i’ve actually switched my whole purse philosophy because of this app. no more need for bulky purses to carry my latest read. i bought this one instead. (almost identical, same colour, only London Fog.)

10. tweetdeck: has long been my favourite twitter client anyway and i think it works even better on iPod devices than the desktop version. tweet me, i’m Kalanna.

12. always having a calculator to figure out how much that 20% off sweater is really going to cost me

13. alarm clock! night shift is crazy and sometimes my sleep schedule is wacked, even to the extent of affecting where i fall asleep. if i’m starting to doze off in a strange place, i can always be sure that i’ll wake when i need to.

14. words with friends: play Scrabble with your friends who are in the next room or really really far away. play with me, I’m Kalanna. lol

so, there you have it. this is what i do with my ipod Touch. so very very much. and the crazy thing is that you could do so much more in the States where public wi-fi is available at more places than in Canada.

“i can’t be the person that i was before this thing came along” — Lou, from the tv show Chuck, episode chuck vs. the truth, season one

this is my life
i love it

how technology can be all wires and tangle
yet when it is sorted out

be simple and perfect and full of form

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