#370 - Resting and Dictations

I was able to sleep in until 1030 this morning and woke up to an empty bed.

Robyn was downstairs working on her extra work, so I decided to stay in bed and watch an episode of Dark Matter. The show has been a slow burn but enjoyable as the story slowly unfolds. After the episode was over, I went downstairs and made myself and Robyn a cup of tea. She had already eaten breakfast, so I made myself some toast and jam along with a banana. Not the type of breakfast I hope to eat on a weekend; I prefer bacon and eggs. But it was satisfying enough.

I headed upstairs again to watch some YouTube videos and get caught up on all my subscribers. It was a lovely way to start the weekend, for once we didn’t have plans or responsibilities to tend to this weekend.

Shortly after noon, I suggested that we go for a walk in the Brontë Park. It was a beautiful sunny day, and the wind was slight in the air temperature was cool. It seems like the perfect day for cyclists to be on the trail but we're used to putting up with them.

In the end, there were more dogs and people out on the trails. It seemed like anyone who only dog in our town had brought them to where we were. Luckily, all the dogs behaved themselves, and none of them tried to jump up on us this time.

After returning from our walk, which we both mentioned that we really needed, I headed back upstairs to watch some videos about dictation and writing in general. Some of these were videos I had watched in the past, but I just wanted to reintroduce myself to the information now that I have had more experience.

This is something I’ve been thinking about in regard to all the writing tutorials I’ve watched from my teachers. I should go back and watch the videos again to see if I can take a new meaning from them because I’ve had more experience writing.

We were able to firm up some of the cottage details for the end of the month as well as our Thanksgiving plans with my side family. It sounds like this year we won’t be getting together with my side, as we will be up in Parry Sound visiting Robyn side of the family. The trees will have just turned colours, and it will be Robyn’s favourite time of year.

Robyn and kiddo number two left to go grocery shopping, and kiddo number one and her friend are out and about in the other car. This seemed like a great time to use dictation to write this blog yet again using the DJI Mic receiver and transmitter hooked up to my laptop and using Dragon to type my words. The more I use a set up the better it seems to be. I think it’s the best version of a setup I’ve had so far. Yesterday I was able to complete my word count, just using the blog, through dictation in an hour’s time. That means within one hour I was able to write over 2000 words, which is not something I could achieve using my fingers and the keyboard.

I’m also realizing that the software can handle me talking much faster than what I’ve been going at during my practice runs. Sometimes the text lags after what it does catch up eventually. It seems to understand sentences better when there is more text. In other words it’s able to pick the right word based on context. I still need to learn more of the commands for the software to make my life easier but I’ve got the basics down. I know enough to use it for it to be a game changer.

One of the YouTube’s who was discussing the pros and cons of dictation mentioned that although he was able to get more words and is one he found he got tired faster and if he had been typing the old-fashioned way. So, in some instances his word count was astronomically greater but in others he saw no difference in what he was able to accomplish in a day. This makes perfect sense to me based on what I’ve encountered so far. I think there’s something to be said for using both methods typing and dictation intermittently. Dictation gives my hands arrest and allows me to accelerate when I have the story ideas down in my head, and typing allows me to slow down when I need my brain to catch up in my throat starts to hurt.

Robyn made us her famous seafood boil dinner this evening. It’s got corncob, mussels, clams, shrimp, sausage, squid and sweet potato. Everything is wrapped into a tinfoil pouch with two knobs of butter and a sprinkling of creole seasoning. It was a very filling meal and was probably enough food for eight people. I think with half a portion and some linguine and Alfredo sauce along with a nice crunchy bread or garlic bread would be amazing.

Before the meal the kiddos were wrestling on the kitchen floor over a fork. I took some photos so that one day we can use it as blackmail at their wedding or some other important function. I remember when they were much younger a similar bout of wrestling took place on the kitchen floor and I took out the retractable hose from the sink and sprayed them with cold water.

They giggled and laughed like it was the best thing that ever happened. After wrestling was done we were all able to enjoy Robyn’s home-cooked meal.

After dinner Robyn headed out to her second job and I went upstairs to continue blogging using my new dictation set up. I had left the computer running and turned off transmitter and receiver for the microphone. But when I came back upstairs the receiver refused to turn on or charge. So I went online to see if I can figure out what was wrong but I believe I have a faulty receiver. I bought it over a year ago without any warranty from Amazon. So I don’t think there’s anything I can do about that. However DJI has come out with a micro transmitter that’s meant to plug into a USB port on your phone. I can’t see any reason why I wouldn’t be able to do that to the same port on my laptop. And then of course after purchasing said item which was only $18, I found out you can pair your microphone directly to your computer using Bluetooth. There may be some loss in transmission quality and you lose the ability to alter the decibel boost, but so far it seems to be working fairly well. I’m not sure what the difference in range is between the Bluetooth and the transmitter. Not that I’m planning on going very far while using it.

Either way I’ll have a new transmitter sometime tomorrow I can test that out as well. The smaller transmitter is about 1/6 the size of the old one and it still has the ability to control the noise reduction from zero to low to high.

Kiddo number two was absolutely delighted today when his new pet hamster, whom he has named Dr. Craig, finally started to trust him. It nuzzled into him and even groomed itself while being held. Usually when an animal groomed itself it’s a signal that it’s very comfortable and feels safe in your presence.

My new writing book arrived today, The Art of Fiction by John Gardner. The opening pages sound to me like they were written by a very pompous and self-assured man. He certainly wasn’t trying to make any friends when he wrote this book. Much of what he has to say could have been said differently and with a lot less words. I’ll keep reading but I’m not sure I’m going to enjoy this book as much is the person who recommended thought I might.

My writing teacher wrote back to me today to inform you that the in-person classes that are meant to take place in Las Vegas aren’t happening in the first half of the year. I think they’re still waiting for Trump to get out of office. This is disappointing to hear that I won’t get to go and learn from my teachers in person, and that my money is still wrapped up in this course which I have yet to receive. I do have the option of cancelling, but then I would have to reapply and there are only limited spots of 10 to 15 people per class. And I would hate to miss the class when it finally becomes available simply because I needed the money back. I paid for the course that pay dividends so I’m not really missing out at the moment.

Overall, today has been absolutely wonderful. I got to take a walk in the park with my wife, have dinner with the whole family and just relax the rest of the day. I got to indulge in some research on dictation and experiment with the form a little more. It is really starting to feel a lot more comfortable, and I think I’ll be able to write much quicker this way.

If I’m lucky, we’ll be able to watch a couple of shows this evening. I think we have more episodes of NEAGELY and there should be a new Bill Maher.

I’m really enjoying how cold the evenings are getting, we can sleep at the window open and get lots of fresh cool air that helps me sleep better.

Robyn returned from working and unfortunately went straight to doing some schoolwork. My hopes and dreams of having a relaxing night together was dashed. I saw the Death of Robin Hood was available to rent for 99 cents from Apple TV. I wasn’t in the theaters for long and the cheap rental price didn’t bode well for the quality of the movie.

It stars Hugh Jackman, Jody Comer and Bill Skarsgård. So, it’s got a good cast. The filming was very moody and it’s a slow-moving film. People can’t handle slow moving movie these days. And it isn’t the average Robin Hood movie filled with swashbuckling adventures. It’s a more realistic version of what time might have been like during the mid 1200’s in Britain.

Robyn came upstairs to bring me a nice cup of tea, and it made the viewing experience all the better. I liked all the scenery the film showed even though it was an unforgiving environment that always seemed to be damp and cloudy. Everyone generally looks unwashed and dirty all the time. Hugh Jackman looks great in his costume as an elderly Robin.

He’s no statesman down on his luck, trying to restore the name of his noble family in this film. He’s a thief and murderer who knows how awful he is as a person and would like nothing better than to end it all. I can see how this might not be the kind of Robyn Hood movie that people might be expecting. There is something to say about not delivering what people expect when you conjure up a certain genre.

I’ve enjoyed the movie so far anyway, but I don’t know if I would have wanted to pay to see it in the theatres. But it was definitely worth ninety-nine cents.

My sister went to go see Tom Cruise’s new movie, Digger, at the theatres tonight. She told me it was “interesting,” and that there was a lot of yelling in it. Then she went on to say I would probably like it. I’m not sure why she thinks that, but I guess I’ll have to watch the movie to see for myself.

My first thoughts I had when seeing the trailer was that it was either going to be really good or really bad. I think Tom Cruise liked his role in Tropic Thunder so much that Digger is giving him that opportunity to play a weird character once again.

Until tomorrow.