The Momma Loves Gringo

The ten most popular posts this year:

1. Healthy for humans, deadly for dogs - We’re so happy that this is number one. We hope that it has prevented many accidental poisonings. A worthwhile read because some of the foods are surprising…and commonly within reach of many dogs.
2. 13 cribbage boards from the momma’s collection
3. CPAP, CPAP run - about sleep apnea
4. My top three dog toys - the most fun ever!
5. The Audiocity of it All! - a list of free audio applications for the Mac
6. NBC Heroes/USA The 4400 - the comments relayed both good and bad news
7. My 11 favorite activities…doggie style - you wouldn’t believe the search terms that led to this post!
8. Tapetum Lucidum - eye shine
9. Feelin’ Groovy - me in agility class…you may as well bypass this if you watched the video in number 7 above.
10. The momma’s 13 favorite computer games

Tags: 4400, agility, Apple, audio, audiocity, cats, chocolate, computer, CPAP, cribbage, dogs, eyes, free, games, grapes, hazard, headache, Heroes, itunes, list, mac, music, nap, NBC, new episodes, ophthalmology, play, poison, polysomnography, sleep apnea, sleep disorder, snoring, sorbitol, squirrel, tapetum, television, toys, trivia, USA, veterinarian, xylitol

There are many, many cribbage boards in the momma’s collection…..here are a few:

1. The rifle butt: this is from the UK and that’s about all we know about it. The pins (pegs) are stored in the butt trap. Spent bullets are used as legs for the board. 
   

    

2. Inuit art - cribbage board on shed caribou antler - the detail is amazing. 
   

    

3. Yellow Dragon board 
   

4.  

5. Masonic emblem 
   

    

6. Noble Games - 3 player board in black walnut and leather trim. This company is no longer in existence and these well-made boards are snatched up very quickly on ebay, usually for several hundred dollars. The momma bought this from the company when it was still in business. 
   

    

7. Hedgehog board: these were made by different manufacturers in the late 1800s. The maker of this particular board is unknown. 
   

    

8. Priest’s Indigestion Powder: this board was actually used as a “postcard” c. 1920. 
   

    

9. Schweppe’s: another advertisement 
   

    

10. Tennent’s Lager: and another…. (the momma loves this beer) 
    

     

11. Brains Beer: and another….. 
    

     

12. Dewar’s Whiskey: never heard of it but a nice board anyway! 
    

     

13. Saves Argument: Patented in 1940. The tracks have four sides and are rotated as the points increase. 
    

     

14. Tune in next time….same bat time…same bat channel 
    

     

 

 

---

Tags: cribbage, games, thursday thirteen

The earlier ticktots.com had lists of free mac software. We give it to you again in the category of audio. Since the momma is currently using Tiger, all of the software listed is Tiger compatible, however, there may be compatibility with Leopard or Panther in most of these applications.

• AudioSlicer: an mp3 splitter
• AutoRate: iTunes rater according to how often a track is played and how often a track is skipped
• Breakaway: Stop/start iTunes depending on whether headphone jack is inserted
• DrDJ: DJ software
• The Filter:
• iTunes2web: create beautiful web content from your iTunes music library
• iTunesShut: shuts down Mac after iTunes playlist has finished
• JewelCase: turns iTunes into a visual jukebox
• Join Together: automates joining of iTunes tracks together
• Moody: tag music files for playlists based on mood
• Orator: text to speech
• Quicktunes: places current iTunes track name and artist in menubar
• Say: text to speech
• Senuti: transfer songs from ipod to computer (donationware)
• SizzlingKeys: control iTunes with global hot keys
• SoundSource: fast audio input/output source switcher
• ThisWeekOnXM: view XM radio programming updates
• WordPod: an intuitive way to read books on your iPod

---

Tags: Apple, audio, audiocity, computer, free, itunes, list, mac, music

So, this morning, the manager of the condo association where the momma and I live (Ken) called the momma at work and told her that her neighbor’s kitchen has a bad odor and they want to look inside our unit to see if it is also in our unit. By the way, our kitchen and our neighbor’s kitchen share the same wall. She told him that it’s fine since she was already expecting maintenance to come to fix the toilet in the guest bathroom.

Later today, Ken called the momma and tells her that our place is filthy and smells like animals and she needs to clean it by next Monday when our neighbors will be getting back home from vacation. She agreed and asked if they had fixed the toilet. Ken said,

I told maintenance to hold off of any repairs until the place is cleaned up.

The momma is a “collector” and quite a bit messy, but our place is definitely not filthy! When she got home she didn’t really smell anything at all. once she thought she faintly smelled something like urine but it was temporary. That Ken is such a deck jerk!

---

The momma compiled a list of her favorite macintosh software and asked me to pass it on. Lots of cool and helpful stuff!

1. BookEnds: bibliography and reference management. Cheaper than EndNote and lots of features. She has had to email tech and customer support a few times in the 5 years she has owned this. Not just with problems, but questions of usage, etc. She usually gets a response within an hour…..
2. 1PassWord: password manager with auto-fill and isync compatible. also synchronizes passwords stored on various browsers.
3. BookDog: sort, manage, migrate, synchronize & verify bookmarks between and within different browsers
4. iSync: synchronization software that is part of Mac OSX
5. iTunes: music player/store
6. Jiggler: free app that jiggles the cursor every few minutes to keep the screen saver from coming on. very useful for presentations
7. VooDooPad: hypertext and wiki notepad, free and paid versions
8. Notebook: outlining and organizing information manager
9. Scrivener: word processor and project management tool
10. SketchBox: stickies with reminders, alarms, drawing, and screenshots! very cool….also free!
11. Skim: .pdf reader & note-taker for scientific papers & free!

---

Tags: Apple, computer, mac