December 12, 2009 @ 9:14 pm | Filed under: Books,Fun Learning Stuff,Social Media
I sleep with my iPod under my pillow. No, not because I love it so much that I can’t stand to be parted from it even while sleeping, but because I am nursing my 11-month-old, and the Touch lets me read in the dark, with one hand, without disturbing the baby or my slumbering husband.
6:20 a.m. It’s still dark when I wake. In a few minutes I will try to slip out of bed without rousing the baby—Scott is already up with Wonderboy, our earlybird—but right now, in this peaceful hush before the rest of the gang arises, I stretch my legs against the cool sheets and reach for the iPod. I wage a brief war against the temptation to check my email first, and thumb iBreviary, a 99 cent app containing the Divine Office, the daily prayers of the Catholic Church. I try to pray the Invitatory and the Office of Readings first thing in the morning.
Then a quick email check. I loathe typing on the iPod’s touch screen, so I tend to read a lot more mail than I answer. Guilt!
6:45 a.m. Time to get up. But first, a 30-second dip into the SignSmith app, where I’m trying to learn at least one new ASL sign a day. Today’s word: exaggerate. And finally, a quick visit to the Louvre via the museum’s free app. Free! How terrific is that? Today I land on Vermeer’s The Lacemaker. The image is zoomed in close on the woman’s face and hands. I admire her careful concentration, her butter-colored gown. My baby is stirring. I’m up, I’m up.
10 a.m. The morning bustle is behind us and my older kids and I have taken to our books. We are reading The Odyssey aloud together: I from the battered paperback I brought home from college, and Beanie from the Classics app on my Touch. They are different translations; my hard copy is Albert Cook’s verse translation, and Beanie’s is a prose version. Sometimes we’ll read a passage twice, hers and mine, to hear the contrast. It’s working really well for us; I’m enjoying the girls’ enthusiasm for Homer. Not everything I attempt with the kids runs smoothly, but The Odyssey is a big hit.
10:45 a.m. Bean and Rose take turns playing with the MathTables app, which is basically math facts drill turned into a game. I noticed that even Scott got sucked into that one the other day. Then Beanie wants to explore some of the very cool mental-arithmetic tricks in the Mathemagics app I bought for Jane.
11:15 a.m. I’m nursing the baby and there’s a bit of a lull. From my rocking chair, I use the iPod’s Remote app to access iTunes on my laptop, which is sitting on a counter across the room. I scroll through the possibilities…a little Mahalia perhaps? Once the music is playing, I check my email again and then I have time to squeeze in a two-minute game of Scramble, which is sort of like Boggle. Wonderboy asks if he can play a game. He’s fond of DoodleJump, and much better at it than I am. But his favorite app is Scribble Lite, a free drawing/painting program; it has entertained him in many a hospital exam room.
4:09 p.m. I’m at the YMCA. Rose is downstairs in her gymnastics class, and I’ve dropped at my three youngest kids at the playroom. I dig out my earphones and decide what to listen to while I’m on the exercise bike. The latest News from Lake Wobegon podcast? This American Life? Or maybe an audiobook? Ooh, I just remembered that free download of Cory Doctorow’s Eastern Standard Tribe; that’s what I’ll try today.
4:42. The bike wore me out and now I’m sitting in the hall with the other gymnastics parents. I am momentarily irritated to realize I left my book at home. I’ll catch up on my article-reading instead; before I left home I downloaded a number of posts and articles to read offline via the Instapaper app, which is a favorite utility of mine. The iPod Touch requires a WiFi connection for internet access (unlike the iPhone), and there’s no WiFi at our YMCA. It’s the Y, not the Wi. The Instapaper app lets me save any web page or post I come across for downloading onto the iPod. I have an Instapaper button in my laptop’s Firefox toolbar, and when Mental Multivitamin links to a promising piece, or when I want to save a nice long Betty Duffy post for later reading, I click the Insta-button and am assured the post has been Saved. All I have to do is remember to open the app on my iPod before I leave home and click the refresh button. That downloads the latest string of articles to the iPod, and now I can read them anytime, without need of a WiFi connection.
11:06 p.m. Bedtime. Scott is closing up the house and I’m snuggled in the dark next to the baby, who is making creaking sounds like a rocking chair. I click on my Lexulous app to see if my friend Anne Marie, who lives in Virginia, has played her next move in our ongoing Scrabble game. She is beating me, as usual. I’m a decent Scrabble player, but Anne Marie is killer. Then it’s back to iBreviary for Night Prayer. And then, if I’m still awake, I open my beloved Stanza app, my favorite of the e-readers I’ve tried. Right now I’m reading The Cricket on the Hearth, because I always crave a little Dickens in December. I really do. I’m not sure I’ve ever finished a Dickens book in December—who has time?—but I figure Cricket is short enough I might actually pull it off. And it cracks me up when Mrs. Peerybingle doesn’t lose her temper—she only mislays it for a while. Ha. Yes. I can relate.
I am asleep. The iPod is back under my pillow.
This post probably makes it sound like I am glued to the thing all day long. I’m not! Many hours pass between bursts of iPod activity. Also, I deliberately picked a YMCA day because that’s the only time I use the Touch to listen to things on audio. I don’t think I have ever used my earphones outside the gym!
People often ask how I manage to read so much (and I know I don’t read nearly as much as a lot of folks, but I suppose I do pretty well for a mom of six), and the convenience of the iPod Touch is a big part of how I’m able to squeeze literature, art, music, nonfiction, and other pursuits into the corners of my busy day. For me, it works a treat.
Related post: Two More Nifty Apps
app reviews, iPhone apps, iPod Touch, Social Media
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I want one!!!!!
Posted on December 16th, 2009 at 9:30 amI love my iPod too – like the way I can do the Google calendar & sync it on my laptop and iPod. Works great for little kids games to put on “mute” for church and yes, for Bible verses. I listen to podcasts at night or if I awaken in the middle of the night. Mine does not go under my pillow though – it’s plugged in next to me charging!
Posted on December 16th, 2009 at 9:48 amI have one but it’s still wrapped. I got it with my macbook. Now, I’m really excited about all the possibilities.
Posted on December 16th, 2009 at 9:56 amOOOHHH! Thank you for this! I got one in October when we ‘went Apple’, but don’t use it for much of anything other than notes and carrying the household calendar with me. I love the fact I can sync iCal on both machines, and know who’s supposed to be where when, but not necessarily why… And I will confess guiltily to sending email from the driveway, accessing the house’s wifi network, just because I could.
Posted on December 16th, 2009 at 10:44 amYour day with iPod sounds rather like mine. The only time I actually listen to my iPod is when I plug it in for car rides.
I keep switching between iBreviary and the Universalis apps for my prayer needs. I’m fickle that way.
I like the iBird app, an interactive field guide to the birds of North America. It’s one of my girls’ favorite too. They love flipping through and looking at the pictures. I think Bella is starting to learn different bird names and even how to look at birds carefully for distinguishing features.
Posted on December 16th, 2009 at 11:25 amSanta is bringing me one… he’s out shopping today even though it has been on my list a while.
Posted on December 16th, 2009 at 11:52 amI asked for an 8 MB now I’m thinking I better ask for more??
Is yours a bigger one?
Can’t wait to download all the fun apps.
<3
Your Touch use sounds a lot like mine – Instapaper, Stanza, iBreviary and Remote are all among my favourites. Cherub loves Fingerpaint (sounds as though Scribble Lite is much the same). Maps, Fizz Weather and a train timetable apps are up there on my “useful apps” list. Oh, and Facebook! I mostly use the Touch for Facebook – typing short updates is OK. Current favourite games are Fling and Waterslide Extreme (free!). And have you tried Bump? You use it to transfer information from one Touch or iPhone to another by literally bumping them together. I tested it out swapping photos with my neighbour’s iPhone. Very, very clever.
Posted on December 16th, 2009 at 12:17 pmI like the sound of that instapaper. I wonder if I can do that with google reader or feedly?? hmmm. and I might need an ipod.
isn’t all this technology grand?
Posted on December 16th, 2009 at 1:16 pmMy husband has been lobbying to buy a new TV, and his main bargaining point has been that I could get a Touch at the same time. I think you just added some weight to his argument!
Posted on December 16th, 2009 at 4:30 pmLissa, can you continue your post listing
Posted on December 16th, 2009 at 5:40 pmwebsites for getting apps?
Thanks Sweetie!
My great husband just walked in and handed me a shopping bag wrapped gift of a Touch!!
Posted on December 16th, 2009 at 8:52 pmI’ll be bugging you to no end now to help me get it going!!
Laurie, yay!! Fun! Poke around in the App Store and you’ll find lots of good stuff…too much good stuff.
I like the Spider game, and my kids like Jelly Car.
EyeTricks is a fun optical illusions app.
AppBox Pro has nifty gadgets.
I use Wikipanion almost daily!
Blocked is a game like Rush Hour (and no little plastic pieces to lose).
Crazy Machines is a big hit with my older kids—you try to build Rube Goldberg-style machines.
Kathryn, I like the Touch for Facebook too. And Twitter. I saw a commercial for Bump and it looks fun!
Posted on December 16th, 2009 at 9:04 pmThanks for the tips! I like using mine for grocery lists and keeping track of how much we’re spending on the calculator while we shop.
Posted on December 17th, 2009 at 4:19 amWould a Touch be worth having if you don’t have a Mac computer or do most things rely on synching with the Mac? Can’t afford a Mac right now, but could get the Touch. Thanks.
Posted on December 17th, 2009 at 5:56 amWow! I have one I got for free when Chuck bought me a new computer but I don’t use it for anything. You’re inspiring me!
Posted on December 17th, 2009 at 7:59 pmThank you for mentioning Betty Duffy’s blog! I spent several hours last night reading it and it is wonderful! I always appreciate your recommendations.
Posted on December 17th, 2009 at 8:10 pmCathy M.
Pam, can people without Macs use iTunes? If so, I think the Touch would work just fine (but it bears researching). You can buy apps either by accessing the App Store on the Touch itself, or on your computer at iTunes. When you buy through the App Store, the next time you synch with iTunes on your computer, it adds the new apps to your iTunes account so that you can always download them again if you get another Touch, or need to reset the first one, or something like that.
Posted on December 18th, 2009 at 9:34 amMelissa — Thanks for the answer. I have done a ton of research since reading your blog yesterday and you can, in fact, use it with the PC. It is perfectly compatible. Santa-baby is bringing me one of these for Christmas. Thanks for the inspiration.
Posted on December 18th, 2009 at 12:00 pmOne more thing. Dragon Dictation is working on a version of their app for the iTouch. When that happens you will be able to dictate emails, Tweets and other text through your microphone on the Touch (32 and 64GB only I think). So you will be able to answer email, etc using just your voice. Right now the iPhone version is available and free. Maybe when they release the iTouch version it will be free for a while as well.
Posted on December 18th, 2009 at 12:15 pmLissa & Pam.. I have a PC (Dell) laptop and wanted to let you know that iTunes and iTouch are compatible with it!!
Posted on December 18th, 2009 at 9:11 pmDownload the latest iTunes and the iTouch connects by USB cable. So far So Fun!!
We don’t cosleep anymore with the 11 mo, but I keep my Touch in the nursery with him so when I go in to him, 3-4 times a night, I can use it. I actually DO listen to audiobooks at night. Because often he is really active, and I can’t hold onto it, so I plug in my earphones and zone out. And then when he flips in a way that leaves my right hand free, I can play Tetris and listen to my books. I LOVE MY IPOD TOUCH!!!
Posted on December 19th, 2009 at 6:52 pmI have my son’s iphone but I use it as an ipod touch, keeping my phone seperate. I have only had it for a few weeks and am just getting used to it. I love all the app recommendations, please keep making recommendations. My daughter loves doodle kids. i am always looking for games she can play, she is 13 but doesn’t really read yet because of her learning disabilities and developmental delays.
Posted on December 23rd, 2009 at 5:33 amI was fascinated by this the first time around but even more so after seeing it on F&FL… I’m not convinced I need one yet, but if I get one someday, I know where to look for apps! :>) I linked to this on my weekly roundup, the post is under my name.
Posted on January 14th, 2010 at 4:41 pmThanks for the link, Lenetta. What a great roundup post that was!
Posted on January 14th, 2010 at 7:46 pmfar away friends « one deep drawer says:
[...] Jess who is dubious of apps…Melissa and all she does of a day with her [...]
Posted on January 15th, 2010 at 7:39 pmStreamlining the Ways I Use Social Media — Here in the Bonny Glen says:
[...] Related post: A Day in the Life of My iPod Touch [...]
Posted on January 16th, 2010 at 10:28 amDear iPad: Me Again — Here in the Bonny Glen says:
[...] And just look how fond I am of your little sister. [...]
Posted on January 28th, 2010 at 2:02 pmWOW my daughter (16) bought herself an itouch 64gb I will be telling her about a few of these app. Nice to meet you in a distant way. Just found you by AFA.
Posted on February 22nd, 2010 at 10:52 pmWill come back again.
Amazing how an itsy bitsy device can shape (and improve!) your entire day! A heads up for any Rush Hour fans out there– ThinkFun just released a FREE app for the iPhone, iTouch, and Android! http://www.thinkfun.com/rushhour/... great for kids and parents, and makes waiting in line a lot more fun:)
Posted on March 10th, 2010 at 10:34 amAlright. I’ve finally bought myself an ipod touch. Do you want to do an updated post of the nifty apps you’ve discovered this year? These all look great!
Posted on August 4th, 2010 at 7:57 am