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What I got for Christmas



Seasons greetings everyone!
I hope you all had a good Christmas, full of lots of relaxing time to read a good book, to make memories with family, and to eat plenty of good food.
I'm creating this blog post with one of my Christmas presents, voice recognition software. I had a couple of expensive items on my Christmas list this year (an e-book reader and this voice recognition software), and I could've told you which one my husband would pick to give me. When I explained what I wanted and why I wanted them to my husband, I could almost see the wheels turning in his head.
"An e-book reader would mean she will spend more time reading books, while voice recognition software would mean faster production of books and more income," I'm sure he thought.
I'm guessing for him it was an easy choice which to give me. I'm not complaining though. I wouldn't have put the software on my list if I didn't want it, and I do have several pressing deadlines this year. I'm hoping I can learn to use the software soon (it takes a lot of training), so I can begin really cranking out the pages in January.
So what did you get for Christmas? What was your favorite gift?
The older I get the more I realize the best gift of all is peace and calm for the holidays. Things get so crazy around here with all the shopping and wrapping and parties and appointments, not to mention all our regular responsibilities that sometimes finding a few quiet moments is really a challenge. Or some disaster will happen to mess up our plans.
Case in point, this year on Christmas Eve, we woke up to a broken hot water heater. Water had flooded under our kitchen wall and all over our floor. A few phone calls and three hours later, we had a plumber at our house replacing our old water heater with a new one. The hot water heater isn't exactly what I had planned to get from my husband for Christmas, nor was it what I plan to give him, but as they say about the best-laid plans of mice and men ...
So my wish for you this holiday season is simply this: may you have peace and calm, and may all your best-laid plans come to fruition! Have a happy new year and happy reading in 2009!
Beth Cornelison
www.BethCornelison.com

Comments

  1. I'm envious of the voice recognition software! Do you like it? Is it hard to learn?

    The prograns I've looked at seemed like they would take more time to learn (and edit) than they would save. But the idea of not being chained to a keyboard!

    Let us know how it works for you.

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  2. Happy New Year to you as well, Beth!

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  3. Ooo! High tech stuff! My writing-related Christmas present was this lovely low-tech slab of plywood to set my chair on, but I love it! The DH cleaned off my desk yesterday and now I have all this space I don't know what to do with. He also cleaned out two drawers in the desk for me(this used to be HIS desk, LOL!) and now I have somewhere to put my ink cartridges and spare votive candles rather than littering the desktop with them.
    Happy New Year right back at you!

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  4. My Christmas present was a calendar, but only because my DG thought what I want/need for my office shouldn't be a present. He was going with the thought that any exercise equipment for Christmas would put him in the doghouse for life. Normally it would but this is different.

    What I really wanted for Christmas was a walking desk. What is that you ask? Picture a desk that, with a press of a button, rises to standing height with a treadmill built into the floor.

    A doctor at the Mayo Clinic came up with the idea. When humans were designed, we were a nomadic people. We were made to walk at a leisurely pace for 8 - 10 hours a day. Instead of walking, we're sitting on our butts 8 - 10 hours a day and the obesity of the population has increased dramatically. Even people working out 2 hours a day can still be obese because for some body types, hard, stressful exercise can do more harm than good. This I know.

    With this desk, you're able to walk 1 - 2 miles an hour and still do everything you can do while seated. Type, talk on the phone, whatever. If you get tired, you can lower the desk and pull up a chair. But this low impact, exercise can having you burning 100-200 calories an hour depending on your weight. People who use it lose weight without trying which would totally work for me.

    Anyway, Stephen is going to buy the legs, make me a desk (he's really into making furniture) and build up my office floor to compensate for the height of the treadmill. If you want to check them out. Here's the website for TreadDesk Inc. where we'll get the tread and the desk legs http://www.treaddesk.com/

    Hopefully 2009 will finally be the year I get down to my goal weight.

    Happy New Year!

    Robin :)

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  5. Beth,

    You'll love the software. I have DragonSpeak.

    I don't know if I have one favorite gift, because I love them all. Things I've wanted, things that were a surprise.

    Linda

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  6. So far the software is working out pretty well. I have to train myself to use it, train it for greater accuracy, all of which takes some time but I can fumble along on my deadline in the meantime.
    Robin, the desk/treadmill sounds neat! I could use one of those! (cough, cough- i gained a few over Christmas!)
    Happy New Year all!
    Beth C

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