Wednesday, January 23, 2008

AlphaSmart and Me

I have an AlphaSmart. I acquired it by accident. My mom had it sitting in her apartment and didn't know what it was - a friend had given it to her, yet she'd never really taken the time to look at it.

When I saw it, I was ecstatic. I'd read about others' experiences with it and thought maybe I'd try it out. So I've been using it on and off for a few months now. I love how it's so easy - turn it on and start typing - no waiting for it to boot up, etc.

But last night, I wanted to write and since my office is in the basement (and it gets really cold in our basement during the winter), I decided to write upstairs on my comfy couch. But instead of the AlphaSmart, I got out my trusty laptop.

And I realized why AlphaSmart and I will never have a good relationship.

It would be the perfect little companion if it had a bigger screen. Some people like the fact that they can't see what they wrote other than a few lines of text. But not me. I need that big white screen to look at and chart my progress. And if I don't have that screen, I freeze up. I feel like I'm writing into an abyss.

Am I weird or what?

Definition

I loved all your "definitions" for widdershins! Thanks for playing! Here's the definition according to Dictionary.com:

widdershins - In a contrary or counterclockwise direction: "The coracle whirled round, clockwise, then widdershins" (Anthony Bailey).

4 comments:

  1. I too need to see all the stuff I have typed. I flip back to stuff not only on the same page but sometimes forty or fifty pages back.

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  2. It's funny - that's the thing I like about the Alphie and the thing I don't like at the same time. I usually use the Alphie if I'm traveling, or if I want to just write flat out and get an idea down. But as much as I love my alphie and the convenience it provides, I like to have more than a few lines in front of me when I'm writing.

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  3. Anonymous6:26 AM

    Well, I have a Dana version of the alphasmart, so it has a bigger screen. But I rarely use it now that I have my MacBook!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I also have an Alphasmart, and I also never use it--for the very same reason. The screen is too small! It's impossible to edit on it, and they say that's what's so good about it. You just have to type into the abyss. So far, that hasn't seemed to work for me.

    ReplyDelete

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