What I learned from switching to Centurylink

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My husband and I started this experience with Cox internet and phone services.  There were salespeople for Centurylink who come through our  neighborhood every once in a while, and in the past I haven’t considered their sales pitch.  This time I listened.  In an attempt to know exactly what we were getting, I kept asking them what the full price for the services was, and for some reason, this salesperson said that with taxes and fees included, it would not be more than $80/month.

That sounded pretty good, so I had my husband talk to him.  To make a long story short, we signed up for the service, but the costs were quite a bit different from what we were quoted, not even taking into account the careless statements about including taxes.  (Turns out the salesguy shouldn't have been saying taxes were included.) Not taking into account taxes, we were paying $20 more.  And that’s even after a $20 monthly discount that was supposed to be applied for 36 months. And there were other charges in there too that we didn't expect.

Thinking back on the experience, I realize that we made some assumptions that turned out to be untrue.  But we also learned some valuable lessons that I think would be helpful to share.

Lesson #1  Phone/internet service companies make money from customer inertia. 

What this means is that they structure their business on the bet that you (the customer) will probably not want to take the effort to switch services or even to find out if the promotions their salespeople are offering are actually the best out there. 

Cox, the company we were with before this experience, had raised our rates over time until we started to look for ways to cut costs.  They were betting on the assumption that we didn’t want to take the trouble to try switching for a lower rate or that we would even call to try to get a lower rate.   Cox offers very nice promotions, but they seem to be only for new customers.  What about us old customers?  What are we supposed to do to get those nicer rates?

Lesson #2  Promotions offered by sales people may not be the best possible deal.  Make sure that you find the best deal before you sign up.

We listened to the Centurylink sales people who showed up at our door because we thought that surely they knew their business best and we trusted that what they offered was the best possible deal, possibly even better than what was on their website.

As it turned out, the promotions the sales people offered us were pretty lame compared to the promotions on their website.   (And that’s after we discover the taxes-included claim was false.)  But by the time we looked at their website, we were already using the first promotion which wasn’t saving us as much.  And when we called to try to switch to their website promotion, they wouldn’t let us.  They did not allow us to switch promotions.   All they could do was give us a $10 discount for 12 months.

Again, you have to get it right at the beginning because you won’t be able to switch promotions afterward.

Lesson #3  It is good to switch to a different company at least once. 

One of the reasons switching companies is a pain is it means different lines and different equipment. 

Yes, there are equipment charges.  One of the charges we discovered Centurylink hit us with was a 7.99 charge for leasing their modem over 36 months.  Over that 36 months, we would pay a total $287.64 for what is really just a factory-refurbished piece of equipment.  (This is a major overpayment.)     

 Or we could buy outright a $99 modem (new) from Centurylink and also pay $14.99 for shipping and handling. (After we had already paid a $14.99 charge for shipping and handling to get the first modem, another charge we weren't warned of.)  

 Or we could just buy the $99 modem from Bestbuy.   

Or we could buy a modem off ebay for whatever price we can find there.   

(See how the prices can vary, depending on your level of technical expertise and inertia?)

Cox on the other hand, provides their modem, which you have to return if you terminate your service, otherwise you get charged.  They also have a bit of a set-up fee. 

Now, why would it be good to switch companies at least once?  In order to switch to a different company at least once, you probably have to buy equipment to get all situated and working.  At first this seems like a problem, but over time it becomes an advantage because it will lower your switching costs in the future.  The easier the move, the easier it will be to take advantage of deals.  If X company doesn’t give you what you want, you can switch to Y company and you’ll already have the equipment you need.  Then if Y company starts jacking up the prices, then you can switch back to X because you still have the equipment for that. 

This is about lowering your inertia for switching costs in the future.

Lesson #3  Experimenting with lower levels of service is a good thing to do when switching companies. 

After all, when you are switching companies, you are experimenting with them.  (How is their customer service? How open are they about costs? How is their tech support? How closely do their price promises match the bill you get?) You are also experimenting as you try to lower your bill.  It is cognitively efficient to do your experimenting all at once and experiment with lower levels of service too.  

  At Cox, we were getting 50 Mbit internet service.   Centurylink’s offer of internet speed was lower (15 Mbit), but promised to be more consistent during peak use times because of a dedicated line.   We didn’t know if we would see a slowdown in our internet, but we were willing to try. 

At Centurylink, 12 Mbit proved to be perfectly adequate.  What this means is that when/if we switch back to Cox, we should be confident we can switch to a lower tier of internet service without seeing any problems.  Lower tier means a lower cost.

What about phone?

At Cox, we were tired of seeing long distance phone bill charges, so when Centurylink promised us unlimited long distance, we jumped at that. 

Only later when we saw how much that unlimited service cost ($15) (which the sales people were not terribly forthcoming about mentioning) did we realize we had made a mistake because our typical phone charges were less than that.

What about TV?

We don’t have TV service, but if I were to think about it as if I did use TV service, I would seriously consider what I watched and how often.  My husband loves to watch NBA games of his favorite team, but he will listen over the internet too.  Which is better—subscribing to the NBA channel over Roku or getting a NBA radio subscription or buying access to a whole bunch of channels that we won’t watch?  Is it better to get a bunch of channels or to buy subscriptions to hulu and Netflix? 

You can’t watch it all.  Your time is limited as it is.  You really don’t need it all.  And here’s a tip—you’ll feel better about yourself if you can make do with less. 

Bottom line?  Check to make sure that that you are not paying for too much service.  Experiment with lower service levels.

Of course, it will not feel efficient to do all this experimenting.  It will feel hard and obnoxious.  But it is more efficient to get it all done at one time than to spread it out and then have to fight the inertia again.) 

Lesson #4  Beware when salespeople say your techy friend-neighbors are considering switching services.  Or even when they say those techy friend neighbors decided not to get the service.  

This argument style is a subtle tactic, but it can be very powerful and I suspect it is quite successful because it is an appeal to the authority of a qualified friend.   However, do not go by what the sales person says your techy friend has decided.  Go straight to your techy friend privately and tell them what has been said about them, ask them about their assessments of the service. 

My husband and I were told by the Centurylink sales people that our techy friends the Q family (names concealed to protect their privacy) a few streets down were considering the service.  We should have just called them.  (Silly us.  It’s that inertia again.)  A few weeks after we had signed up for the service, I had an opportunity to talk to Mrs. Q and she said they had considered switching, but then after researching decided that the deals were not as good as was being hyped.  So the Qs didn’t switch after all.  

Even more interesting, Mrs. Q said that the sales people had told Mr. Q that the V family (more techy friends we knew and trusted) had considered switching but decided not to. However, that the sales person tried to use it anyway by asserting that Mr. V’s decision was a mistake and Centurylink could have done a lot to help them.  

Conclusion

We made mistakes all along the way here by trying to just do the easy thing.  But you can avoid the mistakes we made, since you are obviously researching this stuff right now, otherwise you wouldn't be here reading this.

If your rates go above your comfort level, don't wait for the salesguy to find you in your driveway, get on the internet and start comparing prices.  

1. Look for the lowest rates of what you need offered by competing services.
2.  Save up a nice little $200 cushion so you won't be financially cornered by any unexpected switching fees. (I'm not saying they will be this high. This cushion will just give you piece of mind in case you discover you have to buy additional new equipment to make a new, different service work with your stuff.)
3. Call the competing service to find out about any associated switching fees so you won't be surprised.  This is the send-out-feelers stage.  Don't actually commit yet.  Also make sure to learn if there are any early termination fees.  Write things down. Question, question, question when you don't understand.
4. Call your old service to find out if they can lower bills to match the competition's nice promotions.  Be ready to switch if they are not willing to. 
5.  In the event that you switch, consider keeping any equipment so that it will be easier to switch back in the future.
6.  If you switch and discover over time that the new service disappoints you, you can then take advantage of new customer promotions and deals offered by your old service. But find out all their terms before you go order them.
7.  Whatever service you decide to keep, put a note on your calendar around the time when your promotions expire so that you know to start looking for deals again for competing services. 

May I add one final thing to remember?

The customer representatives of these service companies are human beings and they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.  Even if you are angry, yelling and swearing at them will never help anything.  Getting belligerent also doesn't help.

Here are some things that I suggest for getting the best cooperation:

• Do your very best to assume that the person you are talking to will want to help somehow. (They are usually trying to work within their company's rules and policies and also to do what they can using whatever computer system they have for customer service records, and the computer system may not allow them to do everything we often think should be possible to do.)
•  Keep voice level and polite.
• Stay calm and in control of yourself.
• Avoid profanity. 

Good luck!

What is it with these Skymall products?

One of the fun things about flying is looking at the magazines, particularly the Skymall magazine to see what hare-brained goods marketers have come up with lately to try to sell to materialistic (and bored) airplane passengers.  A good portion of the merchandise is good for a laugh for any number of reasons.

1.     The product is so simple that anyone could make it themselves.

2.     The product claims to provide the answer to a problem the passenger didn’t know they had, and, with ordinary intelligence, can survive very well without.

3.     The product is aimed at someone with diehard enthusiasm for some pop culture icon or sports team.

4.     The product is aimed at someone so stressed that they imagine it will provide relief even though they probably will not use it more than five times in their life.

Let us examine some of these objects.

The abominable Snowman Yeti Statue.  How did we ever LIVE without an abominable snowman yeti statue for our front yard?  We will perish without one!

The UP bracelet.  This is a system + app that tracks how you sleep, move, and eat 24/7 so you can know yourself better and make smarter choices.   This asks us to believe that rather than pay attention to what we are doing, we can outsource our brains.  Do we really need a bracelet and app to tell us we are eating too much sugar or are not exercising enough? 

The car-shaped wireless mouse.  $49.99.  The people writing this description must have been scraping the bottom of the barrel.  The function of a computer mouse shaped and painted like an iconic car is to “create auto envy”?   They ask us to believe that we will provoke envy in other people with this device?  Pfffffft.   Full-sized cars create auto-envy, not computer mice.  Now, if it said it would create "computer mouse envy," that might be a little more believable.

The wine-holder shoe.  $36.  This is strange on at least two levels.  First, it is a holder for wine bottles that is made to look like a high-heeled shoe (because, as we all know, wine and high-heeled shoes go together).  Yes, those shoes are the most natural way to keep your bottle upright.  (Stand it up on its bottom?  Never!)  Second, because this high-heeled shoe is painted with your favorite professional sports team logo and colors.   

What's actually going to happen is the girly wine drinkers will look at it and say, "The sports logo just ruined it. Can I get one in red with rhinestones?" and the manly wine drinkers will look at it and say, "Love the sports logo. Hate the high-heeled shoe."  The only chance the marketers have is if the manly wine drinkers look at it and say, "I'll order one with the Broncos and then I'll give it to the wife for her birthday. She loves high heels."    (For the love of Mike, DON'T DO IT!  DON'T DO IT!  You'll be sleeping on the couch for a week!)

Your name written in the sand. $39.  They have to include a picture for this one because text about will probably just make you angry.   You send them two names (up to 12 characters each) and they will create a print featuring those two names written in the sand (with a heart around it). They will print this picture on 13”X15”, frame it, and send it to you.   They are hoping that airplane passengers still don’t know how to use a digital camera and Walgreens’ photo center and know how to buy their own frame.

Feel Cooler bedding.  This supposedly responds and adapts to changes in your skin temperature, helping to prevent overheating.   They hope that people will not think of a much cheaper solution—removing your blankets.  Even children are skilled enough to kick off their covers while asleep.

LinenLOCK Sheet Holders.  This is supposed to keep top and fitted sheets in place.  Honestly, when I look at the device, I can’t tell just how they are supposed to attach.   I’m not even sure why I need this.  I can straighten my own sheets, thank you.  If I’m worried about my fitted sheets coming off, I can sew some $3 elastic to the corners to make the pocket deeper.

Portible Security Door Device.  This looks like a combination between a car jack and a worktable vice, but it is smaller than either and painted candy-apple red.  It is supposed to keep people from barging in the door.   If you fall for this one, it is because you’ve never tried to keep people out of a hotel room with a deadbolt lock, which is plenty effective on its own.  But if your door doesn’t have a deadbolt, it is time to move the dresser.  And really, if you feel so unsafe, why are you sleeping there in the first place?

The step-sensor fingerprint-proof trash can.  $199.  This has electronic sensors and keeps the lid open 4 seconds after you step on the pedals.  It has not one, but THREE pedals.  The lid will stay open if you double-tap the sensor.  And it has a carbon filter for odor control.   Come on, people, save yourself some money and get the $10 trash can from Walmart.  All it needs is a lid and one pedal.  You don’t need a carbon filter; lids automatically control odor.  And if you need the lid to stay open 5 minutes, you don’t need a computer to do it for you; just take the lid off. 

The travel Hoodie Pillow.  They take a pillow and sew a hood onto it like a hoodie sweater.  This is supposedly for comfort and privacy, because as you know, it would be unthinkable for someone else to see the back of our head while we are sleeping.

The One-of-a-kind shirt.  $129.  This is a guy’s shirt, made from 10 different fabrics and it is meant to demonstrate the wearer is a individual.  The customer is told they will not know what their shirt looks like until it comes in the mail, but we see three sample pictures of these shirts and they are all….HIDEOUS.   Pink, black, and pin-striped fabrics mixed together?  Blah. (insert vomit noises here)  I think it much more likely that some shirt factory had extra pieces and needed something to do with them.  Or they were up-cycled. 

Wireless call notifier.  This is a key-chain like device that hangs on the outside of your purse and flashes when you get a call on your cell phone.  Because, as we all know, even though women miss 50% of their calls when their cell phone is in their purse, they also stare at their purse constantly.

Sunlight 365.  $60.  This is a light you set up in front of you that lets you “soak up up the benefits of natural sunlight in doors, anytime of the year without UV rays.”   I have an idea.  How about we all GO OUTSIDE and soak up the benefits of natural sunlight for FREE!  And if you are worried about UV rays, put some sunscreen on.  And if it is night time, how about turning some lights on?  

  

Freestanding mesh gate $199.   “Finally, a gate that keeps your pet safely confined and your sense of style intact.”   Because as we all know, houses are extremely dangerous places to keep pets and they have to kept away from all those live wires, spinning saw blades, and waving spatulas in the kitchen.  Or.. you could just keep the pets outside in the first place..

Rejuvenating Oxygen Bar.  $500.  Allows you to breathe clean, fresh oxygen-enriched air anytime.   If you don’t get enough oxygen where you are, it is time to leave.  I recommend pulling your face out of the water. 

Ultraviolet Shoe Deodorizer.  $99.  “Stop smelly shoes!”   Better yet, stop smelling shoes, yours and other people’s.  Since when did shoe-smelling become a practice? 

NetChef $279.   This is an electronic device shaped vaguely like a Rolodex.  Supposedly 2000 receipes are available, cooking videos, cooking apps, famous cooking websites, music, movies, photos, social media, browser…    I have an idea.  How about if you save yourself $300 and just bring your laptop into the kitchen?  What? You say you’re worried about spilling on it?  Well, if you’re worried about spilling on your laptop, you’ll probably be worried about spilling on the NetChef too. 

Book Review: State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

 

Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder is about a pharmaceutical researcher, Marina Singh, and her descent into the dark frontiers of the Amazon to discover what progress a disturbingly uncommunicative colleague, Dr. Swenson, is making toward formulation of an important fertility drug. She also must try to discover the truth behind the mysterious death of a close friend and colleague, Anders Eckman.  

Patchett describes Marina’s journey as one beginning in reluctance and confusion but ending in courage, slowly stripping Marina of modern trappings and emotional insecurities to show how she learns to face the dangers of the Amazonian rainforest and sacrifices what she is just beginning to love.

Patchett describes Marina’s internal wondering and thought associations enough that we understand Marina is very thoughtful.  We see how Marina’s fears of loss have affected her and prevented her from expressing more love to her family and friends. Marina goes from being a passive character whom things happen to, to being an active character with initiative.  

Few of the plot events seemed contrived except for the sudden appearance of Dr. Swenson in Manaus at the opera performance. This seems like an unexpected burst through a plot problem that doesn’t quite feel earned and isn’t fully explained, but since it happens about midway through the book, the reader will likely forget about it as they move on through the strong second half.

Some criteria the reader might use to judge this book are the following:

• How much detail does the author use to transport the reader into the Amazon jungle?  Does this detail succeed?  I believe it does.  We are treated to descriptions of wildlife, tribal peoples and their customs, and adventures that fit with the atmosphere. 
• How much detail does the author use to describe the relationships and motivations of the characters?   Does this detail succeed?  I believe this does as well.  We are given pertinent background narrative and scenes that allow us to connect with characters or question them.
• How well does the author describe the biology and medical details that the researchers/doctors would discuss and notice?  Does this detail succeed?  I think it does as well.  We are given enough to convince us, but not so much technical terminology that we would be drowning in it.  Educating the reader without doing a data dump is a fine art and the author succeeds.

Through the narrative and dialogue of this book, Ann Patchett examines a number of questions and issues in a manner that does not feel forced or awkward. These issues are the following:

• What level of responsibility do outside researchers have toward those they research to help improve their lives and make a difference?
• How much should researchers be involved with their human subjects?
• How language barriers can lead to laziness and hurtful assumptions of other peoples.
• The appropriate time to have children and whether women should wait to have them.  Eventually the conclusion drawn is that having children is for the young, both for responsible care-taking and because it is when the body is the freshest.
• How critical a person should be of a mentor they admire, especially when they know about their private life.

Why you might like this book

A woman has to travel deep into the Amazon jungle to try to find out the truth.  Amazon jungle is interesting! 

Interesting view of pharmaceutical business and research and development. 

Seeing how researchers may interact with tribes they are researching.

Why you might not like this book

You might not like the dream sequences.  There are a number of them throughout the book, so they may get tiresome.  They seem to be used to indicate Marina’s continued insecurity and reluctance to go on the trip to the Amazon.

If you read with a moral lens, you might not like the instances of premarital sex and adulterous affairs.  They are not graphic, but you may find yourself feeling that they weren’t necessary.  You might also not care for the interest in hallucinogenic mushrooms, although the books mentions them more from the biological/medical perspective.  There is an instance of marijuana drug use, though it is not dwelt on. 

This book is meant to both provoke thought and thrill.  It’s the kind of book that you have to read slowly to take in all the imagery and reflection.  The description is careful and apt, but not over-done.  You get enough to realize that the main character thinks about things and is reminded of her past a lot by the experiences she is having.  Events raise associations in her mind and we get to see that, but it is always for some purpose.  Fans of literary fiction may find just enough description and ambiguity to interest them, while fans of genre fiction will find enough of a plot to draw them in and keep them reading.  Medical professionals would probably be perfectly at home in this book.  As it is, it gives the rest of us a bit of an insider view of the Amazon, pharmaceutical research, and conflicts that can occur when the two mix.

 

Review of Android Calendar apps

I've gotten my first smartphone, and I'm hoping to be able to find applications that will allow it to replace my Palm Tungsten E2, which I've had for at least 5 years now.  I'm a diehard Palm user since 2000 and 13 years of Palm habits have worn deeply into my brain, so any Android apps I use have to be as good or better than what I've been used to.

There are a lot of calendar applications out there and I've tried at least six now, including the Google Calendar app that comes with the phone, so I thought I'd share what I see as the advantages and disadvantages of each of them below.  Dashes indicate disadvantages, while + indicates an advantage.

I must mention first that I have a certain bias against any agenda view, since my brain doesn't seem to comprehend time very well in that setup.  (Agenda view is when all events are simply listed with their times under each day with no depiction of scale as to how much time occurs between them or how much time they take up.) So, take any ranting I do about agenda view with a grain of salt.

Google Calendar

+Agenda view's font makes events easy to distinguish from dates

-Month view tells you nothing. You only see there is an event represented by a dot.

-Week view shows the days in long narrow vertical strips that make the text awkward and unreadable

-Adding an event takes 3 touches as the option is in a sub-menu. (Inexcusable!)

-Day view requires you to scroll to see if you have anything

-Difficult to edit events once put in

Pimlical (Supposedly designed for Palm users)

+ Synchs with Google Calendar

+ Week view is good and readable, using an eight-square grid

- LOTS of gestures to learn and remember (location of gesture on the screen is just as important as what gesture is made)

- Events in month view are displayed too small and too limited text to read

- Includes a 4-day view with long narrow vertical strips that make text awkward and unreadable.  I consider this view to be pretty close to useless, yet I have to scroll through it constantly to get to day view from week view.

- 2 touches to edit events (once you figure it out)

- Inconvenient to put in done tasks (I track what I've done each day by making a floating event that holds todo list items I've completed)

AnCal (Emulator for Palm software)

+ Very simple interface

+ Navigation with screen buttons (similar to Palm)

+ Supports inclusion of tasks, appointments, and notes

+ Easy to enter task, appointments, and notes (unknown whether notes float between days or not)

+ Takes 1 touch on a time to enter an appointment in day view (This is the GOLD standard of efficiency!)

+ Takes 1 touch on an appointment to bring up an edit box in day view! (Excellent! Why aren't other apps like this?)

+ Tasks have settings for two priority levels, alarm, and due date.

+ Appointments have alarms, a floating event setting, and repeat settings

- DOES NOT synch with Google Calendar (Sooo disappointing!)

- Day view requires scrolling to see events

- Does not show text on week view, only shows a dash for events

- Does not show text on month view, only shows a dot for events

- Tasks for future days do not show due date and only two priority settings available, and no repeats available

- Notes can't be attached to a particular day

- I personally dislike the black background

aCalendar

+ Synchs with Google Calendar

+ Week view is good and readable, using an eight-square grid

+ Has a widget which is very large, also transparent, but configurable.

- Month view doesn’t show much useful text

- Hard to edit events put in (takes 2 touches to get to edit screen)

- Can't edit events put in with other calendar apps

- Difficult to get to a dayview of the day you want from weekview. It took me a while to figure out that I had to click the right day and THEN scroll left.

Jorte

+ Synchs with Google Calendar

+ Week view is fairly readable

+ Incorporates tasks and memos

+ Can create task templates and different task lists

- Uses only one calendar view (month/week) which is set by the user.  Makes it annoying to switch views.

- No day view, only agenda view, a sliver of which is shown below the main calendar. It can be expanded, but it still feels very cramped. (and did I mention that I hate agendaview?)

- Hard to get to day-specific agenda list (requires 2 touches)

- Difficult to edit events once they are input (3 touches required)

- Icons at bottom of the screen seem annoying (should have been in menu)

- Supposed to have a widget, but didn't find one in the widget list

- Tasks incorporate only 1 priority setting.

- Unable to set tasks to different task lists.

CalendarPad

+ Synchs with Google Calendar

+ Week view easy to read (8 grid boxes)

+ Month view shows events, though only first word fits

+ Day view can be customized to show 3 different ways, one of which shows the whole day without having to scroll at all

+ Day view displays open slots of time and beginning and ending event times

+ Entering events seems intuitive (touch anywhere on the day view)

+ Has a widget which has customizable size and customizable view of day, week, or month.

- Month view does not show event times, and only first few word(s) fit

- Entering a new appointment takes 4 touches instead of 1 to bring you to an edit box (ABSOLUTELY INEXCUSABLE!!)

- Editing an existing appointment takes 3 touches instead of 1 to bring up an edit box. Also inexcusable. 

- When trying to edit, program keeps asking what program I want to use to edit, even though I already chose what I want by default!  (Update. Okay. It seems to have stopped for some reason, so now I'm down to 3 and 2 touches to input and edit events respectively.  But that's still too much.)

- Menu contents change depending on what view you are in, which is kind of weird

So far I think CalendarPad has the best views and the best navigation.  I just wish it had 1-touch entering and editing of events like AnCal.  I think CalendarPad will probably be what I use, although if I get discontented, I will probably try out some more apps.

After trying out all these calendars it is enough to make me wish I could make one myself.  Here's what I would include:

• Synch with Google Calendar
• Month view with time and a few words of the event showing
• Week view in an 8-square grid layout
• Day view in which the whole day is visible without scrolling
• 1-touch entering or editing of appointments
• Floating appointments
• Memos for appointments
• Using the edit box to change appointments or tasks with 5 priority levels, due dates, and memos.
• A pane in day view showing tasks in priority order
• Completed tasks are tied to the day they are completed

 If you happen to know someone who has already made an application that does these things, please comment and tell me!

Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown

It is 1819.  Owen Wedgewood is the household cook whose rich employer has just been shot point-blank by the red-headed pirate captain Mad Hannah Mabbot.  Mad Hannah happens to taste Owen’s food and decides to drag him captive back to her ship.  His culinary skills are tested to the limit when Mad Hannah tells him he must cook for his life, making her a fantastic meal every Sunday evening or… (finger across throat)

Just what is Owen up against?  He has to work with flour infested with weevils, horse meat, and hardly any spices to speak of.  How he collects more appropriate supplies and makes ingenious use of what he has is one part of the enjoyment of this book.  Another part, surprisingly enough, is the description of the cooking; somehow the author infuses it with a passion that is almost sensual.  A third part is how the relationship between this temperamental chef and his captor progresses.

The larger historical context of the story is depicted very well and we discover that Mad Hannah’s piracy amounts to economic sabotage aimed at the tea traders as protest for their policies of enslaving the orient in drug addiction to opium. 

The book is surprisingly clean, although it has brief mentions of prostitution, bestiality, homosexuality, and fornication.   Such is probably to be expected in a story featuring life on a pirate ship, and I am only grateful that it wasn’t worse, as much as I dislike such.

It seems as if once Owen and Mad Hannah reach a romantic understanding, the energy of the cooking descriptions and the narrative falls off, although it is probably because the character has Mad Hannah to care about in addition to cooking for her.   Still, as a reader it felt like the author’s main goal was to get them together and then didn’t know what to do afterward.   The story was there, but as a reader I just didn’t care as much.  I wish I did, though.

I was a bit disappointed by the ending.  It left me with a “What? That’s it?” feeling, although it was probably the best ending that could be expected with when Mad Hannah’s driving motives are met or removed.  Still, it left me what the impression that the romance was a fling, rather than love.  Mad Hannah deserved better, considering her deep concern for her lost family pushes her to such lengths in the story.

I will keep an eye out for more books by Eli Brown, though.

To do apps: Astrid for Android

I have to say that I am suffering from technological growing pains. Specifically, with my to-do lists. I have used a Palm Pilot for 10 years and I have honed my ability to use its tasks application to a fine point. So when I look at other task applications for iPad or iPod touch or Android, you can be sure that I want something that will be as functional as my Palm.

So far I am very frustrated. While Palm seemed extremely concerned with using screen real estate as carefully as possible, it seems like iPad, iPod Touch, and Android applications drop the ball by being more concerned about style and beauty rather than efficient use of space. I’m forced to scroll with my finger to find the information that should be immediately visible in the most important screen space.

Right now I am testing the Android ap Astrid.

What Astrid does wrong

Astrid puts user-created lists at the bottom of the main lists screen. User-created lists should be at the top of the screen where users can get to them easily. Why should a list called “Recently Modified” or “I’ve Assigned” get more attention than a list that I am more interested in myself? I want those OUT of there and I can’t find anyway to do that!

Astrid uses the “active tasks” label. The label should be “all” instead. This makes much more sense.

Astrid has a button for “Sorting and Hidden Tasks,” but unfortunately I have no idea what I do to create hidden tasks. I have some, but I don’t know how they got that way in the first place. It wasn’t like I selected “hide” anywhere.

Astrid provides an “Astrid smart sort” option, but gives me no information as to what “smart sort” actually does. Astrid’s help site is silent on the matter.

Astrid only has 4 priority levels. After having 5, 4 seems like a step down. I may sound picky, but if I could, I would have 6 or 7 priority levels.

Astrid has the capability of adding additional filters for lists, but in testing out this capability, I discovered that the filter I created was added to the main lists screen and it uses up more of the valuable screen real estate space! And there is no way that I can see to delete it. (Later: Never mind. I discovered I could press and hold on that filter and then a dialog came up that gave me the option of deleting it. (phew!)

What Astrid does right

Astrid allows users to customize the layout of their task creation screen so that most needed items are easiest to get to. If it weren’t for this option, I probably would have given up on this ap in the first 10 minutes of trying it out. For me, the most important things to enter for a task are:

• Description
• Priority
• Due date
• Category
• Notes

Astrid allows me to find out exactly how much time it takes me to complete a task by incorporating a little timer into each task you create. You can start it when you begin the task and stop it when you take a break. This makes it possible to really gather data about how long it takes to accomplish something and make your estimates more accurate for how long it will take to complete a task.

Astrid makes it possible for me to put a task on my Android calendar without having to go to the trouble of entering it manually. Unfortunately, it seems to put the wrong tasks in. Obviously there is a bug there. I messed around with the task I had tried to put in and finally got it to work.

For me, a good to-do list program should have

• Priorities. Use numbers for priorities, preferable as many numbers as possible. 1-5 is good, 1-10 would be better.
• Categories. Allow user to make as many categories as they want.
• Due dates. Allow user to give due dates.
• Due date ranges. Allow user to see task for next seven days, today, and last seven days.
• This way, user can easily see what is coming up to prepare for it, and can easily see what they missed.
• Recurring tasks. Allow the user to make tasks repeating tasks. Palm’s repeat is the best I’ve seen for customizing repeats. You can actually set something to repeat until a specific day, which is very nice for tasks you know will only last so long.

An unconventional view of buying cars and body styling

Many people get snookered into buying a fancy-looking car without realizing one important thing. You only get to enjoy the snazzy body styling during one particular time—finding and getting into your car. All the rest of the time, you are in the car, or leaving the car. Can you enjoy the snazzy EXTERIOR styling from the INSIDE of it? No. Can you enjoy the snazzy exterior styling while walking away, back to the car? No—(unless you give yourself an uncomfortable crick in the neck and are willing to run the risk of colliding with hard objects and complete strangers while not watching where you are walking). Because of this, for me it is far more worthwhile to appreciate OTHER PEOPLE’S cars. Thus, when I see a new car model coming out with exceptionally attractive styling, I look forward to seeing it populating the roads because then I’ll get to see it often, and each sighting will give me a little thrill of surprise and delight.

On another matter, I believe that car designers need to understand the most important places for a car to have its best styling touches is the sides and back. I was looking at a picture of a new model car today and it struck me that all the appeal was concentrated on the front end, with the sporty shark-like shape of the hood and headlights. It was all in the nose. But the sides were lackluster, and I couldn’t see the back. I supposed that it was a PR photo that was playing up the best angle to drive sales, if you'll pardon the pun. But I realized that in the real world, drivers and passengers don’t spend much time looking at the front end. Drivers see the front ends of cars usually only in the rear-view mirror, and even then, not for very long, since they have to go back to watching the road in front. However, passengers get plenty of time to see the sides of a car and the back end of a car. And the driver sees the TAIL end of the cars in front of him/her for a good long time. It follows then, that if the styling of the back and the sides is excellent, the car will be a great advertisement for itself on the streets where it is driven every day.