- Free Informational Phone Numbers - a user on Metafilter was searching for kid-friendly numbers their phone-obsessed preteen could call. I'm from pre-internet days and I can remember as a kid calling for the weather, the time, stories from the library. It's nice to know there are still numbers to call! This ask got 19 replies, most with phone numbers to try. Some things you can call for are poetry, marine weather, Hall & Oates songs (you can choose from 4), the New York City Squirrel Census. Why call for information you can Google? Because it's a delightful trip to the analog past.
- The Alabama Landline That Keeps Ringing - I would usually rather eat worms than call anyone on the telephone (and then have to talk to them) but if you wanted to be analog and retro and also talk to a person, then Auburn University has something for you. Their help line was started in 1953 and is still being answered. Any question is answered by students from 7 am - 11 pm Central Standard Time. The phone number is in the article.
- Fly a Kite - put in a location (ZIP and Royal post codes work, not sure of other ones) or type in a name and the cursor will change to a hand holding a kite. It will be flying in the same direction the wind is at your location. When you type in the location you'll get the wind speed, wind direction, gust speed, location and temperature.
I've been trying to move away from the phone being my one-and-all and going a more analog route. I have a wonderful little notes app called ColorNote. I make notes on everything. Things to do, grocery lists, TV shows and movies I want to eventually watch, places to go, work stuff, my reading logs. If you can make a note about it, I've done it. I wanted to move a lot of that off the phone so I invested in a Filofax refillable notebook. Check it out! (The last hotel I stayed at in Vegas had carpet kind of like this cover and it made me dizzy!
I chose a refillable notebook because I wanted something I could keep for a while. I didn't want to go looking for notes and have to rummage through multiple notebooks. I have a lot of lists, so I got some little tabs so I had a chance of finding my notes:
There were different paper refill options so I got some graph and unlined paper to go with the lined option. Why? I don't know! Thought one day I might want that!
And the third section has the unlined paper. I can use it for drawing or if I feel like writing and not being constrained by lines. Currently I have quotations I've been collecting in this section.
I'm not going to totally get rid of the app. I'll still keep some things on the phone, like the work info and grocery lists. But stuff I'd like to keep around longer or refer back to is going in the notebook.
I have a Seiko wristwatch that I've had for probably 10 years or so. I rarely wear it, mainly because I can't wear it at work (MRI scanners and non-digital watches don't play well together) and because I'm not already wearing it I don't think about wearing it anytime else. I'm on leave from work at the moment so I'm trying to use the watch daily instead of grabbing the phone to look at the time.
In an effort to banish the phone from my bedroom, I've invested in an analog alarm clock. I wanted a quiet clock (I had to move an adorable cat clock out of the room because it went, "TICK ... TICK ... TICK" - it was the opposite of soothing) but also one that wouldn't startle me when the alarm went off. I'd like to wake up gently in the morning, not have to peel myself off the ceiling because of some klaxon-style alarm.
This little clock fits the bill - it's quiet, it only lights up if you push the light button, the alarm is a gentle beep-beep that gradually gets louder. The best part? It has rave lights! No, seriously, when the alarm goes off it cycles through light colors. The link in the previous paragraph goes to the site I bought it from. There's a demo video on the page so you could see it in all its colorful glory.
When I told Best Son all about my analog plans he was appalled that I wouldn't keep the phone in the room at night. "But what if I needed to call you? I'd have to call DAD!" So, it might end up staying in the room anyway. But I'm still using my sweet new alarm clock instead of the phone alarm.
Listening
I've been listening to NPR's radio show Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me for literal decades. I love it! But I hate the huge commercial breaks in the podcast. I finally had enough and bought a NPR+ subscription so I get to listen to shows without the ads. This past week I listened to these episodes:
- Brian Tyree Henry talks shirtless Smokey Bear and the fine art of playing a tree
- Natasha Rothwell tells us the secret to staying cool at the White Lotus
I also went down a rabbit hole of searching out pirate or at least low-wattage radio stations in my area and came across Pulse 107 which plays dance/electronic/house. I've been jamming to these tunes this week.
I was going to insert a rave cat gif, and there are lots of cute fun ones, but they're awfully flashy. I didn't want to cause anyone any issues so imagine, if you will, raving cats.
Reading
I finished the book I was reading last week, Murder Past Due and it was a perfectly lovely cozy mystery. It's part of a series but I wasn't sure I wanted more of that right now so I picked something else from the Libby wishlist.
Years ago I read many of the books in the Amelia Peabody historical mystery series by Elizabeth Peters. There are 20 books in the series and I read at least 10 of them, probably more. I've been meaning to give it a reread and finish the series so I picked up the first book, Crocodile on the Sandbank. I love the main character - one of those redoubtable Victorian women who lets nothing get in her way. It's a fun, quick read and I'm already halfway through it.
Watching
I have started rewatching Babylon 5 on the Tubi channel. I loved it when it first came out and I'm looking forward to rewatching the series.
I think that about wraps it up for this week. I went grocery shopping today and found the most luscious looking cherries. Some of them ended up coming home with me and I think I hear them calling my name!