Hello! My name is… Imelda Bettinger

wife, mom, computer geek, photographer talking about total randomness

Archives for the 'Reviews' Category

Hard Awakening: Alarm Clock iPhone App

Matt was looking for his “Clock” app to set his alarm clock on his iPhone last night, or well this morning at 1:30am or so.

He couldn’t find it and thought Mason might have deleted it so went to find another Alarm Clock app.

Well he had to find the most annoying one, Hard Awakening: Alarm Clock (iTunes link)!

Hard Awakening

This app has 70 different sounds, all of which I think he went through at the highest volume ever!

There is even a warning: CAUTION: some of the built-in rings could drive you crazy so use them with caution! We are not responsible if you go wild about your iPhone smashing it into pieces! Not for the faint hearted!

He ended up choosing one of the Reveille tunes and I was promptly woken up at 6:30am!

For a full review visit: http://www.apptism.com/apps/hard-awakening

Sure this app works, but boy is it annoying! You have been warned.

Photos via apptism

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08/20/2009 | Reviews, Technology | 1 Comment

The Four Agreements

fouragreements
The Four Agreements
A practical guide to personal freedom.
By Don Miquel Ruiz

I have recently finished ready The Four Agreements after my friend Hilary suggested in a comment to a previous post. I gave the book as a gift to my sister about 10 years ago but never asked her if she read it or what she thought until recently.

This is a very small and simple book, but very profound. To embrace and live each of the Four Agreements is to find yourself experiencing personal freedom.

The Four Agreements are:

Be Impeccable With Your Word: Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

I have been guilty of saying many things I didn’t really mean and know my words have hurt people. I know how wrong that is and am much more aware not to do this.

Don’t Take Anything Personally: Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

This one is hard. I usually think I don’t care about what people think of me, but really I have. I need to work on not taking anything personal, positive or negative. I need to find my own opinion of myself and be true to myself.

Don’t Make Assumptions: Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

What’s the old quote, when you assume, you make an ass out of you and me? I have definitely assumed things and build all kinds of dreams and stories around those assumptions that turned out to be totally wrong, which then cased a lot of suffering on my part. We now have a saying on our refrigerator reminding us not to make assumptions in our house but to talk to each other and ask questions instead.

Always Do Your Best: Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

Just as it says, do your best. Don’t try and do someone else’s best, do your best.

I learned a lot from this book and hope you find it just as useful.

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01/28/2009 | Reviews | 1 Comment

Review: Origami Japanese Cuisine & Sushi Bar

Origami Japanese Cuisine & Sushi Bar
Category: Japanese
1220 Airline Rd Ste 150
Corpus Christi, TX 78412
(361) 993-3966

Lunch

Originally written for Yelp and posted: 02/19/08

Used to go to this place weekly when I was in college.. sushi in college? That’s where my student loan money must have went.

Very nice people. Gave me free stuff all the time and the lady who ran the place had short, cute hair, like me.

They also take your photo on your birthday so I’m up on the walls in a few places.

Haven’t been in ages but would go back and try it again.

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10/03/2008 | Reviews | No Comments

Review: Black Walnut Cafe

Black Walnut Cafe
Food Category: New American
Courtyard, First Colony Mall
16535 Southwest Fwy
Sugar Land, TX 77479
(281) 565-7800
www.bwcafe.com

Black Walnut Cafe Fish Tacos

Originally written for Yelp and posted: 02/29/2008

I have been to the Rice Village location a number of times but this was my first for the Sugar Land location. They have wifi!

I went during lunch hours with a friend from work at about 11:15. The place wasn’t crowded but was also roomy. I love their oversized wingback chairs they use at some tables. There was also a really cool cone shaped blue glass light fixture I noticed. Very hip and unique!

Since my last visit, I stopped eating chicken so didn’t know what to order. My usual here was the Black Walnut Salad that had chicken. It is really a great salad if you like apples, gorgonzola and walnuts of course. I didn’t think this salad could be prepared with shrimp so I decided to go with fish tacos.

I was serve two, rather large, fried fish tacos in corn tortillas. The were topped with shredded lettuce, diced tomato and chipotle dressing. They were just the right temperature and had just the right amount of flavor for my taste buds. A house salad also came with the tacos.

Black Walnut Cafe also has a great assortment of desserts and italian gelato. I didn’t have either this time. They serve beer and also have a coffee bar. They also serve breakfast all day along but you won’t find any pancakes here.

I’d go back to this or any other Black Walnut location, even just for dessert and coffee. Did I mention they have wifi? Didn’t see anyone on a laptop when I was there though.

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10/02/2008 | Reviews | No Comments

Blog Review: swissmiss

Swiss Miss

I thought I would share a little link love and start writing reviews on some of my favorite blogs. First up swissmiss.

Swissmiss is written by Tina Roth Eisenber. She is a Swiss designer currently living in New York City. I don’t know exactly how long I have been reading her blog but its been a good while. She features some of the best web sites, designy stuff, art, photography, and the coolest products. If you like well designed artsy items, please stop and visit, if you haven’t already done so. I read through a feed reader and never comment but really really should. I <3 it!

If you have anything you would like to submit to share with swissmiss, contact her at swissmissblog {at} gmail.com. She is also on twitter!

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08/28/2008 | Reviews | No Comments