21 Nov – Appliance Addiction

What is the one appliance you can’t live without?

 
I guess most people would say something like their phone or their computer or their tablet etc… And really, yes it’s true, but generic at the same time… So I’m going to have to think outside the box…

Daily Prompt – Soulful Machines

Machines, appliances, and gadgets sometimes feel like they have their own personalities — from quirky cars to dignified food processors. What’s the most “human” machine you own?

I would love it if my appliances had actual personalities, but I think we’re a few years away from that.

28 July – Life Enhancement

Tell us about 10 inventions or pieces of technology that enhance your life.

 

1. Internet banking

Not having to physically go into a bank to withdraw or money or go to the post office to pay bills has made such a massive difference – now there’s apps for mobile banking that allow me to pay bills, transfer money between accounts and even pay people via mobile, email or Facebook!

2. Smartphone

The Smartphone has completely revolutionised telecommunications. Everything changed with the introduction of SMS but now they’re more than just a phone, they have become a gaming device, a camera, they allow us to share information almost instantaneously through social media platforms, and allows us to video call people from all over the globe.

3. Tablets

The introduction of the ‘tablet’ has made a massive impact on the computer industry. No longer being confined to lugging around a laptop anymore, we’re able to use a tablet as a laptop with mobile versions of desktop apps allowing and enhancing productivity and creativity wherever we may be.

4. Bluetooth

The introduction of bluetooth to technological devices meant one thing – no more cables. I have multiple bluetooth devices from headphones, to keyboards / mice, to speakers. There’s something so satisfying about the simple removal of a cable – it just gives you that much more freedom to move devices around. Personally, one of my favourites is my bluetooth keyboard that I use with my iPad. It allows me to keep my blogging up to date when I’m in the city with a couple of hours to pass.

5. Wifi

As soon as the internet went wireless, the internet exploded. I remember a few years ago when I was living in a share house, and we just had a standard router, because a wifi one was far too expensive for a poor student, and my three housemates and I each had 10-20m ethernet cables from the router (in the lounge room) running to each of our bedrooms so we could all be on the internet. The hallway, unfortunately, ended up looking like a mess from all the cables. The day I bought a wireless router, was one of those days that changed my life.

6. Foam roller

Granted, not a technological device, but an invention that has enhanced my life. Working in the fitness industry, I continue to learn more about myofascia, and certain tendons and how they’re interconnected with various parts of the body, and in using the foam roller for myofascial release, it keeps muscles healthy, promoting fresh blood flow and reducing stiffness / soreness and muscle fatigue / DOMS.

7. Digital music / iPod

Remember the good old days of walking around with a Walkman or a Discman?? And then carrying a half-dozen cassettes or CD’s in your bag? I do. Then it was a Mini-Disc… and if you wanted to keep music on your computer, you had to ‘rip it’ so you could then play it all in WinAmp, whilst customising the ‘skin’ of the program. And then came the iPod. Overnight, I was able to suddenly carry my entire music library in my pocket, instead of taking multiple cd’s with me and constantly breaking covers and scratching discs.

8. The cloud

‘The Cloud’ has been one of those creations that has, again, revolutionised how we store / share data. For me, the cloud has allowed me to sync my web-based email and my calendar to my devices, so that I can remain up to date wherever I am, without the need to physically sit down in front of a computer. Since I started using Google Drive for my cloud computing, I’ve been able to centrally store all my important data, and again, be able to locate it from any of my devices wherever I may be. The other bonus to cloud computing is that because it’s not stored on my computer, I don’t run the risk of losing it all should I unfortunately have my computer suddenly die on me.

9. Web forms

Web forms are something that we’ve started using a lot more frequently at work – rather than having to deal with countless pages of individual registrations, and then manually entering all that data into a spreadsheet, a web form allows me to gather all the data centrally, and then download all that info in one spreadsheet, that will also allow me to do specific reporting and data sorting. It’s become a streamlined process that has saved me countless hours of mundane paper handling (not to mention, the amount of actual paper we’ve saved).

10. The Boss blender by Breville

I thought that I’d just throw this one in, because its something that I’ve recently purchased after seeing it at the Good Food and Wine Show. Coincidentally, we were actually in a position to have our blender replaced, but then we saw The Boss, and decided that we wanted to upgrade instead. And it’s been amazing. Even something as simple as making a green smoothie in the morning is now an enjoyable process, because it breaks down all the fibrous ‘greens’ into something smooth and drinkable. There’s no issues with pulp separation, or even the issue of greens not being broken down completely, and remaining somewhat ‘chunky’ – which just made the experience even more unpleasant.

May 5 – Kitchen Creation

Have you ever invented your own recipe? Tell us about it (or your favourite one).

There are two ‘creations’ that instantly come to mind when I read this…

Firstly, there’s my cheesy pepper rice concoction.

I first created this when I was poor student. I was doing really long hours dancing full time, and would generally come home feeling completely exhausted, and by time I was ready to have dinner, it was quite late. After going through my six-pieces-of-toast-and-two-cups-of-tea-for-dinner phase, (which at one point also became a breakfast phase!) I moved on to this creation. It all happened one night when I was craving rice. Nothing special, just plain, boring, rice. I don’t know why, but I just was. I would sometimes make a big curry or stew, and a big pot of rice, and then portion it up and that would be lunches or dinners for a week, and I would always make my rice substituting water for stock – usually vegetable or chicken.

I’d make it in the microwave, and it would always cook perfectly.

So this one night, I decided to just make a small single portion of rice. Using chicken stock, I cooked my rice to perfection and took a couple of mouthfuls. It needed something. So I hunted through the cupboards to work out what to add… A-HA! A couple of small tins of tuna. Mixed it into the rice… still needed something… PEPPER!! SO I mixed that in and then added some grated cheese… and it became this gooey, peppery, tuna rice dish that became an instant hit, and a new regular in my repertoire of cooking late at night.

The other ‘creation’ of mine is my watermelon drink. It’s something that I generally only make in summer, because it’s so refreshing – especially here when summer reaches temperatures up to 45 degrees celsius!!

So, in a blender I would put a small amount of juice – I would only ever use a special Apple & Mint juice from the supermarket, then I would cut up a whole bunch of seedless watermelon (enough to fill 2/3 of my giant blender) then a big bunch of fresh mint, a generous handful of ice, and another small amount of juice… and blend.

It takes a little bit for everything to blend and for the ice to crush, and it quickly fills the blender – so if you try it, make sure that you don’t overfill the blender, because once it’s all liquidised, it’ll overflow.

Then in a glass, I put some more ice, pour in my concoction, garnish with some more mint and VOILA… heavenly refreshment!!