A Few Good Things - Vol. 23
A Few Good ThingsSlant Board
Last year, when I was dealing with my plantar fasciitis, I tried pretty much everything with exception of a slant board. A slant board is often used in physical therapy to help with stretching of the calves and achilles tendon, and has grown to be used for squats. I've watched as slant boards have dropped in price of the last year, and when I saw one for just over $20 I decided to take to buy one.
One of the items I did buy that helped a lot last year was a ProStretch. Heck, I can remember taking it to work and it was the first relief I had for my foot pain. However, the ProStretch always scared me a little. Creating an artificial drop just seemed dangerous and despite keeping it next to the door, I rarely use it. It also doesn't help that you have to wear shoes while using it. The slant board accomplishes the same thing, but I can use it without shoes and since putting it next to the door, I've used it daily, several times a day and my legs have never felt better.
I actually look forward to stepping on to this stupid little board. My only regret is, I do wish I'd bought a nice board. This one is rated to hold up to 500 lbs, and I'm not even half that, but I seriously doubt it'll last more than a couple of months based on the amount of popping I'm hearing. But that's okay, this little device has become part of my daily ritual and I'll gladly upgrade to a nicer model down the road.
Kindle Scribe
I have a feeling I'll expand on this in it's own post in the near future, but last week I bought a first gen Kindle Scribe. This wasn't planned, I saw refurbished units on Woot (well, what they call refurbished which were brand new) with a discount that dropped the device to $160. I asked my wife if she thought she could utilize one for school, and if she wanted to give it a try. Knowing that I prefer a bigger e-reader and have been in the market for one, she encouraged me to buy one as well. We figured worst case, we'll return them.
In all honesty, I wasn't expecting to love it. I left the Kindle eco-system six or seven years ago, but the build quality is impressive and the writing... which I hadn't planned on really using, is simply phenomenal. It's a joy to write on, and for the first time I see myself actually doing hand journaling on a digital device for a long period of time. Kudos also to Amazon for the AI feature which takes your hand writing, refines it into readable text and allows you to put it wherever you want. The accuracy is mind-blowingly impressive.
The downside is, for this version of the Scribe you are trapped completely in Amazon's system. So there is no saving to OneDrive or Google Drive, which my wife would have preferred. Luckily, it's super easy to export to .pdf or text, and you can email everything to yourself in just moments. It was so very easy to send all my DRM-free books over to Kindle for them to show up which is how I've read on my Kindle back a decade ago, on my Kobo seven years ago, and most recently on my Apple Books. No need to buy into anyone's eco-system, just bring your own shit.
I know a ten inch e-reader isn't what is cool these days, but I'm in my forties and reading a four inch screen sounds like a fuckin nightmare. I mean, I've been irritated with my Kobo's six inch screen, so I have no idea how people are out here reading on a four inch screen and clicking next page every few seconds. I like my screen to breath a little and that makes reading so much more enjoyable for me. Bonus with the Scribe, it syncs perfectly with the Kindle app on my phone, so I can reading my book while at work and then come home and keep the party going, which is what I was doing with Apple Books on my iPhone and iPad.
Mass Effect Legendary Edition
I can't remember when I bought Mass Effect Legendary Edition. I'm sure it was cheap and I just bought it to own it. I enjoyed playing the first two Mass Effects, and I honestly cannot remember if I ever beat the second or third. I remember getting stuck in the second one, maybe due to a glitch and I think that may have derailed me. Anyway, that doesn't matter.
I haven't been watching much TV, so I decided to boot up something different and I found myself playing the first Mass Effect for the first time in nearly twenty-years. I'd forgotten about most of it, and it was the first RPG I ever played, so I really didn't understand the grind and side missions like I do now. I put five hours into it last week and I've had a blast doing it. I'm not sure if I'll play through all three, or even if I'll finish the first, but it's been a great distraction and the game looks and plays great. It's a wonderful pickup for a game that is often offered for a very low price.