Have You Ever Seen the Rain?

We woke up to a rare sight this morning: rain!

I started waking up to some thunder, so I hoped that would mean there were actually some raindrops accompanying it. Once I did get up, I went out the front door to look, and yes! It was raining! I stood out there for a while just to enjoy it; the smell, the gentle sounds, the cool air, the peacefulness of it all. I've always loved the rain smell, and this was such a wonderful sight to wake up to.

I can't even tell you the last time we had rain. I've been getting so excited each time there would be rain coming across the state, only to have my hopes dashed by watching it dry up on the radar when it got closer. The air here is so dry that hardly any rain clouds could make it. It would always be so close, so close!

Today is finally an answer to everyone's prayers. I was beginning to think we needed to call for a state-wide rain dance or something, haha. Is it enough rain to make up for weeks without? No, but it's great to see it nonetheless.

Why I Will Never Buy an Android Phone Again

I hate my phone. Everything seemed all dandy and sweet in the beginning, as I moved up into the world of smart phones. My first cue should have been the fact that, when I started out, I had an HTC Inspire. I had it for a week, and after numerous crashes and freezing, the final straw was when I had to take the entire phone apart and take out the memory card because the phone would not turn off or restart. Jarrod was not having any problems with his Samsung, so I switched and got the same as his, a Samsung Infuse.

I realize (or at least, sure as hell, hope) the issues I am about to complain about may have been resolved by more recent OS updates, but I don't have those... so I'm only writing what I know.

Here are the reasons I will never again buy an Android phone:

1. The lack of OS updates—I realize I have Samsung to blame for this one. See, when Google releases a new OS, it is then up to the phone makers to provide a kernel of that for their specific phones. Some phones may get it, others may not. The only people who don't have to worry about this issue are Nexus phones, they always get the updates (similar to Apple's way of doing things.) If your phone is over 6 months old, there's a good chance you won't get it. I am stuck forever on Android 2.2, aka Froyo. Android has a fun/cutesy naming system with sweet treats, in alphabetical order. Currently, the up-to-date Androids are on Ice Cream Sandwich, soon to become Jellybeans. F, G, H, I, J... I'm five versions back. And will always be that way because, like I said, Samsung has deemed my phone, the Infuse, unimportant or incompatible to upgrade the operating system. Yes, this is Samsung's fault, but that's the problem. With Apple, the OS is from Apple, and the phone is from Apple. At a point, your device will become obsolete, but that probably won't happen as quickly as Android. Is this outlook a bit walled? Yes, but it makes for a fluidity that Android doesn't have for probably 90+ percent of it's devices.
2. Delay or Lack of Apps—Something I've started to notice, because everyone I work with has an iPhone, is the enormous lack of apps on Android. There have been more times than I can count where I've been reading about this great new app, only to get to the end of the article where it says it's for iOS only. Furthermore, updates seem to come to the land of Apple sooner, too. It took AP over two months before they updated their app, versus when their iPhone app updated. And I'm still waiting on Twitter to update theirs with their new logo/icon. It's ridiculous. Wanna do Pinterest? You'll need an iPhone for that. Want to manage a Facebook Page with Facebook's new Page app? You'll need an iPhone for that too.
3. The unpleasant-ness of the App store—Or "Google Play" as it is known these days. The process for approval, to get your app to market, is much more loose on Android than with Apple. I think I heard once that there are 2 stages, where with Apple there are 6? Anyways, the lack of development shows. Furthermore, the abundance of, how do I say, "adult" apps is appalling. No joke, in almost any category you browse through, you are bound to find an app relating to pictures of girls, sex position 'dictionaries', or something like that. It's been a while since I've perused the Apple App Store for my iPod Touch, but I never, EVER came across one of those in there. I guess that goes back to the stricter approval process.
4. Stupid bug issues—Again, I hope these have been resolved since my OS version. But there are so many little issues, like how the phone operates, how the screen goes off randomly when trying to hang up a call, to how I can't see what I've written in a comment on something because the text box won't expand more than two lines. And the list goes on and on.
5. Gmail sucks—Come on Google! This is your baby here! Wouldn't you make your native mail client work better? Gmail on mobile is pretty much useless when you have a forwarded message. I asked a coworker one time how iPhones display forwarded messages, and it shows the history of a message in a neat, nice menu format. Not Gmail. Gmail tabs over each previously responded message, but doesn't expand the text field so if you have more than 4 replies in the conversation, the message shows up one letter on top of another.

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like that. It's impossible!

Android, I expected better of you. I don't care if I have to sign my life away to Apple and only buy everything Apple for my next phone, because my daily experience will be worth it. Androids are selling like hot cakes these days, but I just don't believe they'll be able to retain their audience. I realize every phone will have problems, including an iPhone, but I can't imagine things will be more clumsy than the stupid Android phone I have right now.

Embracing the Mayberry

As I'm sure you heard, Andy Griffith died this week. The majority of the discussion about the legacy he left behind in American pop culture has focused on the Andy Griffith Show and the fictional town of Mayberry. He was also not shy about the fact that Mayberry was a lie. It wasn't based on a particular town, they just made it up.

To me, Mayberry was a place where people were kind and good, neighborly, watched out for one another, and good family values prevailed. In our current world, things like this seem harder and harder to find.

I grew up in a town called Washington. It was smaller than it is today, didn't have multiple large department stores like it does now, and it's a place where everybody knows mostly everybody. Obviously this brings with it some local town gossip, and the running joke is that you always want to be careful what you say because there is a good chance they (who you're talking to) might know the person you're talking about, or even more likely, be related to them.

When I was a teen, the quaintness and small-towny feel got annoying. I was tired of knowing everyone's family tree — 'This kid is the son of Debbie, and she was this and that... oh and her grandfather owned this place...' on and on. It was folksy, and it seemed to me that the people of Washington don't get out much. I wondered how they could be so content to see so little of the world, and just stick to their hometown.

But now that I'm in my mid-twenties (still not that old, I realize) I find myself wanting to move back. As you know, we are planning to move back to Washington for a variety of reasons. But I have to admit that I feel myself longing for the Mayberry-ness of Washington; the neighborly aspect, the goodness, the familiarity. When I was in the hospital most recently, the outpouring of support and, well, love that I received from the people I know in Washington was very touching.

If we stayed here longer, I'm sure we would get to know more people and that sort of neighborly feeling would show itself. But the fact of the matter is, I'm not exactly the most social person and we've lived here for a year, and I still have never met one of my neighbors. Whether that's my fault or theirs is moot.

Yes, every place you look you will find good people, even in big cities. And yes, every place you look you will find problems, even in small towns. But you just don't get that community sort of feeling from a large city, that sense that people are looking out for you or living their lives in a certain way because it's the right thing to do.

Now I want to be a part of that community, and it's something we're going to do.

Checkup Today

I had my two-month checkup today, and I am excited to report that it went fairly well. My lung functions are up 25%! I was able to increase them by 6 points to get a nice, round 30. So my doctors were very pleased with that. I am extremely happy with that too because it means that my walks are making a difference. I honestly wasn't expecting to see much results this early, but it is really great to see the difference has not taken too long. Although, I guess two months is a pretty decent window to see some improvement with exercise.

The only downside to today, or lately rather, is that I've been waking up coughing overnight multiple times. It's getting annoying, and I know it's getting hard for Jarrod too. Call us lazy, but since the house is on the market, I haven't been going to the spare bedroom when this happens because that's another bed we have to make every day. So I usually tough it out in our room or sit in the living room. Anyways, I am very tired today after four continuous nights of waking up. My doctor said he was happy with my results and didn't want to lose the progress we've gained, so they are going to put me on some antibiotics and try to kick whatever it is that is going on right now. And I'm okay with that.

I'm not quite sure how I'll reward myself... I usually like to do something small when I have a great appointment... maybe I'll get a Blizzard from Dairy Queen.

Burnt Sauce

I had a minor kitchen catastrophe tonight, but it was a first for me. I burnt something on the stove so badly that it caked onto the pot. I was reheating some meat sauce for our noodles, absentmindedly turned the burner on high from the start, and not much later there was steam/smoke coming out from under the lid and my sauce was a bubbling away.

And burning.

Thank goodness it was on an older pot. I soaked it immediately after we spooned out the sauce we wanted, which luckily still tasted fine, and then grabbed a brillo pad and scrubbed away. Since this is my first burnt-pot shenanigan, I'm quite proud of myself for getting all of it off of there. You'd never know that a couple hours ago, that thing was black as coal. You know, it was almost therapeutic in an odd way, scratching away the burnt parts bit by bit. (Knowing that my pot was not ruined for life was a nice feeling too.) It reminded me of scratching off a lottery ticket.

Do What You Do, and Be Good At It

I have a complaint to make to the restaurants of America: Why do you all feel the need to serve almost every genre of food?

Recently on vacation, we dined out a little more than normal, like ya do when you're on vacation. Anyways, it occurred to me that so many of the places we went to had a huge variety of food; an unnecessary amount, in most cases.

Why is it that an Italian restaurant feels the need to serve burgers? If I'm going to an Italian place, there's a good chance I'm going because I want Italian food. It really bugs me that so many of our restaurants feel like they have to cater to everyone and the only way to do that is to offer a little of everything. The fast food industry has taken a turn like this too, if you haven't noticed. Five years ago we wouldn't have dreamed of going to Wendy's for a salad, or get iced coffee at McDonald's, or breakfast at Subway. Why? Because they were already successful with (and good at) their staple items, burgers or sub sandwiches. According to a retired fast food franchisee, the restaurants have expanded their menus so much these days, requiring more and more equipment to make these new special items, that it is nearly impossible for anyone to even get started, much less stay in business.

Please, restaurant CEOs: cut it out. Instead of being mediocre at a lot, how about you try to be awesome at less. Instead of serving me just 'eh' spaghetti, forget about the burger and fries, and make great pasta! Do what you do and be proud of it.

Laughs

Father's Day post number 5.

I would like to take this moment to thank my dad for my sense of humor.

At a young age, my dad introduced me to the Three Stooges. I still watch them from time to time and enjoy a laugh. But a couple months ago, as I was watching them by myself one morning (Jarrod was gone on a business trip) I texted my dad and told him it just wasn't quite the same... 'cause it wasn't.

Both of these things came up the other day, actually, in conversation with someone else. But another thing I was introduced to at a young age was the wonderful comedy of Bill Cosby. My dad is a big fan and has almost, if not all, of his records (yes, LPs.) The record player is packed up at their house these days, but we've talked of taking it back out so we can convert and record them onto CDs one of these days. I have told him I want to KNOW when he does this so I can come over! Bill Cosby's humor isn't talked about much these days, I guess, which seems weird to me since I grew up knowing about him. It astounds me when I talk to people my age and older who have never heard The Dentist, but I guess maybe liking Bill Cosby at my age is a little atypical. Oh well, I think it's great.

As I got older, we branched onto British humor, when I was introduced to some Monty Python. My poor mom had to come with us when we went to see "Spamalot", the musical version of Holy Grail, at the Fox Theater. She just doesn't enjoy British humor. But dad and I thought it was great.


I don't know about most people, but I think it's safe to give credit for my sense of humor to my dad. From slapstick, to British, to quirky, to sarcastic, to dry, I usually "get it" and he's the one to blame. Sorry to all the people who have to deal with all my goofy jokes, impressions, and associations these days :).

Cycling

This Father's Day blog post actually goes out to both my mom and dad, but I doubt anyone will have a problem with that.

Something I am eternally grateful for, though we don't talk about it much, is how involved my parents have been in my health. I doubt my mom or dad will EVER stop asking me "Do you have your pills?" when we go out to dinner. That's okay. I didn't realize it until long ago, but a big reason I am doing okay and the reason I can keep up with my treatments is because they cared so much and were so much a part of it.

My dad has also been very big on keeping up with research. There is an annual conference, a "State of the Union" about CF research if you will, here in St. Louis, and he almost always attends and comes back with news of a new drug, how a drug trial is going, or research for better treatments. In addition to that, he/they is/are a big supporter of the CF Foundation, which brings me to my next paragraph...

This weekend, he will be riding in the second annual Cycle for Life fundraiser for the CFF. I don't usually do this, but if you'd like to donate, you can do so on his personal donation page here. (All names on the donations are hidden, so no worries.) I thank you if you do choose to donate, and I'd like to thank dad for riding in this. :-)

Antique Shopping

Leading up to Father's Day, I'll be writing about different memories I have with my dad. Today is the third.

Sometime back in college, I decided I wanted a cigarette case. Weird for me, right? Well, I wanted one to use as a tiny wallet in cases that didn't warrant bringing a huge purse. After keeping my eyes peeled at a few stores, I saw that a few of them had something like what I wanted, but I decided I wanted an old one. So one Saturday, dad and I went antique shopping together, just us two.

We stopped by the old Union Post Office building, and found one that was okay. Then we drove out to the big antique mall in Eureka where I found what I wanted to get. It was a little silver cigarette case with a spring loaded piece inside to keep things in place. Most likely, we figured it was used to hold cigarette papers back when everyone rolled their own cigarettes. The one I had previously spotted in Union was wider, and would have actually held them after you opened a pack, long ago.

So I bought that and then we had lunch at Arby's. It was during the car ride and at Arby's that we had some really great conversations and I realized something: my dad knows a lot. I mean, we had some wide-ranging conversation, from why the auto industry couldn't fail at the time (ok... so that dates it back to 2009ish), to other economic issues, to other worldly issues, to how the world's changed, to parenting these days... on and on. There was hardly a topic that I brought up that he did not at least have an educated comment on; I really couldn't stump the guy!

But it was great, and I'll always remember that day. We need to go antiquing sometime again.

Bath Time

Leading up to Father's Day, I'll be writing about different memories I have with my dad. Today is the second.

Another great, but small, memory I have with my dad is during bath time. After play time in the tub was over and it was time to actually wash up, if my dad was the one to wash my hair, many times we would sing "On Top of Spaghetti." There were other songs too, but this one sticks out to me.

Not sure what noodles and boats have to do with each other, but hey, why not!?