My first application that I’ve written for the iPhone has hit virtual shelves! Say hello to iProv, a handy reference tool for improvisers that catalogues and displays over 250 improv games and handles, organizes them by tags, lets you search, track your recently-viewed and favourites, etc. and even choose a random entry by shaking the iPhone!
I wrote it as a feet-getting-wet project for the iPhone, which is part of the reason it’s free (the other main reason being that it’s based on free material). In addition to writing the program itself, I’ve set up (and most significantly, written documentation for) an infrastructure to allow the improv community to help collaborate on the program’s contents, and that’s over at http://iprov.sourceforge.net.
If you own an iPhone, please check it out even if you aren’t an improviser, as I’d appreciate both the stats on the iTunes website and the feedback from you.
Otherwise, life plods along, with a couple minor detours. I’ve been having trouble sleeping, which wasn’t helped one night when I was called at 4 AM to liberate an intoxicated friend from the police station (I was sleepy and there was a ton of reverb where he was calling from, so when he first called I thought it was from beyond the grave). It was a DUI and thankfully nobody was hurt, but it’s the first time I’ve ever been called into that sort of service so that seemed noteworthy. I also went to a cool fundraiser/cocktail party for a friend’s dance troupe… I normally find any sort of dancing pretty intimidating so it wasn’t until the bar had received a significant donation from me that I would even consider sharing the floor with the room full of “professionals”.
I’m annoyed by things that are breaking in my world. Ever since the chains on my tires snapped during the recent snowpocalypse, my right-front tire has been making a quiet grinding noise against a piece of metal that won’t stay put. I’ll get it looked at the next time I’m in for service, but for now it’s just troublesome. And now my washer has apparently broken… it quits half-way through the rinse cycle, leaving my clothes soaked and still a bit soapy. I have better things to be spending my money on… although most of it is sitting in savings anyway, waiting for the spectre of the assessment that’s supposed to happen on my condo to actually materialize.
Just the other day I opened a money-market account at the suggestion of a helpful bank teller (who also scored a nice referral fee). It apparently has all the liquidity of a savings account (so long as I don’t withdraw more than 5 times a month, which is fine, seeing as I have yet to withdraw from that account even once), but with a rate that floats about a percentage point higher. I feel stupid for not knowing about this kind of thing already.
Dan.
Tags: condo, embarrassment, first times, improv, iphone, money matters, projects, things that annoy