The Results

In my last post I mentioned that I was going to try to stay off the internet for a week. Well I didn't completely cut my self off, but I did keep my self to only getting on once or twice a day. Overall, my experiment worked pretty well. It wasn't perfect. I still got online more than planned, but it wasn't half as much as I usually do.

And I did get more accomplished in my daily life. More cleaning got done, more errands ran. But I still wasn't as productive as I'd have liked to be. I truly don't think I'm being a  perfectionists about this. I just feel there is always room for improvement.

Now the new hurtle for me to climb is to stop playing stupid games on my tablet. A couple weeks ago I found this great tower defense game for free and it is awesome. I can't stop playing it. I even got Daniel addicted to it. Sad, really.

So now I've got to get my self to stop playing that game every time my butt is in a chair. It takes up a lot of time. *raises fist to the sky* Damn you awesome game creators!!

This whole "trying to be a productive adult" thing sucks sometimes. And trying to overcome 20 years of laziness seems impossible. Why does it have to be so hard?

For my dad, even though he never reads my blog unless I tell him too. ;)

Kindle Fire HD Review

Okay, I know I said I wouldn't be online for a week, but I really wanted to tell y'all about this before it all slipped my mind.

So yesterday, I got a brand new Kindle Fire HD for free from the bank as a promotion thing. Super freaking excited! I've had it for 24 hours now and I wanted to do a little review of it.

3 STARS

I'll start by saying I'm not sure I would have bought this myself. I was pretty satisfied with my regular Fire and from the research I did I found that the only real difference between the two was the High Definition screen and the Dolby sound system. I figured I didn't really need that. But I was totally happy to get this one for free. ;)

I'm going to break this review down into the features I like and dislike. First what I liked:

• The volume control buttons. I like that these buttons are on the outside of the device and you can adjust the volume without turning on the screen. I didn't like the three to four step process of adjusting the sound with the original Fire.
• The High Def screen. While I don't need such a fancy screen, it is nice. The picture is sharp and clear.
• The sound system. Again, not a need, but definitely better than the original.
• The calendar. I never understood why the original never had one built in. My boring cell phone had more basic features than my fancy tablet. So I'm glad this came with a nice calendar already put in.
• Skype. The HD has a camera and is made for video calling on Skype. I use Skype a lot so this is nice.

There are only a few things I don't like, but they are pretty important to me and what made this loose a couple stars.

• Ads. If you want to pay just $199 for the HD you'll have to put up with something I think is kind of stupid. Screen savers that are also ads. So when you turn on the device the image that pops up is an ad for Discover Card or AT&T or any other "offer" Amazon has going. If you don't want to deal with that, it'll cost you an extra $15. Now, since I got my HD for free, I didn't know this and it took me some research to figure out why I was getting these stupid ads. So my "free" device has now cost me $15. Still a great deal, but also still annoying.
• Ads Part 2. On the HD's home page you have the Carousel that shows all the recent content you've looked at, and under each icon is this "Customers Also Bought" thing that shows similar content. For example, under my Sudoku game icon it shows me Bejeweled 2, Scrabble, and Tetris. I don't really care what other people bought. Yes, I can see how this can be useful. Like if you finish reading a book and want to read more like it, that information is right there on your homepage. But to me, it just screams "More ADS! More MONEY!" And there is no way to get rid of this "feature".
• Favorites. The original Fire had a favorite thing as well and I love that. The HD's is pretty much the same except it won't save the order I put the icons. I move them into the order I want them and then go do something else and when I come back to my favorites page the icons are all random again. This is only a little annoying, but it just seems like something really basic they could have work.

So there you have it. Hope this helps you as Christmas shopping is underway. My basic recommendation is if you want the Fire HD, spend the extra $15 to avoid the ads.

A Life Experiment

I came to a realization last night. I spend way to much time on my computer doing nothing and most of that time is spent checking Facebook, Twitter and Absolute Write over and over again. And really not much happens during the day.

I've known for a while that I have a weakness for being lazy. I'm easily distracted with books, games and anything that I can use as an excuse to not get needed things done. I've been like this since I was a teenager, and this my bad grades in high school and college. I can always find something else I'd rather be doing than cleaning, or writing, or even playing with my boys.

The end result of this is that I've been miserable and feeling guilty all the time. I have these high expectations for my self. I know what I should be doing, I know that I am capable of doing it, I just chose not too because I'd "rather do something fun". It's a pretty immature attitude.

I'm 26 and the mother of two boys, it's time I grow the F* up. I know this will be hard at first. It will take a lot of self discipline and self control to keep away from all the things I have that distract me. But I also know that I can do it and that I'll be a better person for it.

So what happens now? Well, I won't be online as much as I used to be. I'll check in maybe once or twice a day, but that's it. I want to have it that the only thing I use my computer for is to write or research things. Plus, I'll have to keep from playing games on my Kindle. I already don't watch much TV, Will has a hold of that most of the day. And I won't stop reading, I need something to make me happy.

So we'll see how keeping off the internet for a week goes. If I can do it without going crazy and see how much I can get accomplished when I'm not sitting on my butt all day.

Thanks for reading! Have a happy Thursday and November. I'll check back in a week and tell y'all how it went.