#176 - bernie, hello son

Google invited me to be apart of one of the test groups for GoogleVoice. I signed up with my same phone number so now, when someone calls and leaves a message, it is transcribed and texted to me. A copy is also sent to my email with an audio version that I can listen to it for clarification. Now one of my favorite things is to have people leave messages. Google tries its hardest to figure out what information this mumbling-fast-speaking-human is trying to convey. Half is a hit and half is a comical miss. It's now turned into a game for me, so call me and leave me a message if I don't answer! Google and I would love to try and figure out what you're saying.

THIS: Call me when you have a minute. Thank you. Hey too much heroin inside the number so when you're free. Gimme a call
MEANS THIS: Call me when you have a minute. I can't text that much so I wrote them down so I wouldn't forget. When you're free, give me a call. Bye.

And THIS is COMPLETELY wrong: Hey Vanessa. This afternoon you're doing well. Well, we're just going well. Hope you are jobs. It's interesting. Yeah, I'd like longer this week and others like the picture. I wanted to tell you. Well, mother break you. Bernie, Hello son tomorrow morning. This is a home hi, yeah, on how to talk to you later. Bye.

Good try, Google.

#168 - carousel of confusion

Boise Bike Week kicked off last Sunday with a vintage bike swap. Seeing all those bicycles made me want to buy a cruiser and maybe another street bike. If only I had the space... my loft's capacity is basically maxed out. There was a Mardi Gras Twilight Race last night that weaved through downtown and circled the belt loop (people mistakingly think it's called the "green belt" ba!). To have my bicycle in top shape for the race, I decided to ride it over to the bike shop where I purchased it for a tune up. I remembered it being about 5 minutes away by car, and thus, very feasible to cycle there. I headed out on one of the more busy roads (State Street) which luckily had a bike path. I was well equipped with my ipod and water bottle so time passed relatively quickly. About 40 minutes later, biking pretty hard, the "I remember this being a lot closer" thought popped into mind. I kept trekking on, thinking it would surely be at the next group of businesses, to no avail. I finally texted google only to discover, it was on Fairview. Another busy road very far away from my own current path. I turned around and headed back, this time faster to make up lost time before it closed. I biked up a ridiculously huge hill and finally, an hour and a half after leaving my house, arrived at the bicycle shop that's a 5 minute drive from my loft. Two hours later, I was back home and too exhausted to do the Twilight Race... My 'oops' bike ride was enough for me.

(from D - B on accident, from B - C where I wanted to be, from C - D which would have been easier to go in the first place...)

#166 - the rainy wait

Since the birth of my mac, I've been checking all my gmail accounts through the mac mail program; making it so I don't have to actually log-in to gmail.com. A few months ago, though, I discovered a feature on google that allows you to change the theme of your main page. I've changed the theme a few times so far, but have soundly rested on one I really like. It consists of a group of people (and animals) waiting at a bus stop. This adorable little gathering draws me to log-in to gmail regularly now. Every day it has been the same. Always the same. People still waiting. Sun still shinning. Animals still accompanying. Grass still green. Sky still blue. I've grown acustom to it.

Footnote: as I was driving back to work from my lunch break, a freak-slushy-hail-snow storm hit for about 2 minutes. It's been gloomy, rainy, windy, and overcast all day, and then finally the climax hit.

Later that day, I logged into gmail to access a document for work, previously saved there. I looked at my gmail and what did I see?? I big gloomy rain storm looking at me! I was blown away... I didn't know the picture could change?! We're all in this together... see you soon, little bus stop neighbor friends.

#154 - ogling google

So I have a crush on the super-cool, Google. They are always coming out with extremely user friendly, fancy features and products. I'm really into the Google Reader, iGoogle, Google Earth (woah!), blogger ('course), Google Desktop, Google Calendar, Picasa, YouTube, Docs, Gmail (beyond rad... I have a public account, a private account, a personal account, and a super-special-happy account. AND thank you very much I was one of the first test-gmail accounts), and the highlight today: Google Maps. Not only does it show you everywhere and routes (better than mapquest or other others), satellite imaging and the street views (like you're actually driving down the road), BUT I recently discovered the "more" selection. You can pick to have bike paths illuminated for easy routing, and even see pictures and movies posted from those areas.