Android App of the Week: iTriage

This week's Android App is iTriage. I came across iTriage while scouring the market for useful apps when I first got my tablet. Let me start by saying that I love how this app works. I don't really know or care who created it, but they did a very, very good job with it. I would say, and I'm guessing that the creators would say also, that iTriage shouldn't be used as a substitute for an E.R. visit if you have an emergency. But it can certainly be helpful in those situations.

There are five major areas that iTriage focuses on. I will briefly describe each and if you want to know more, you'll have to check it out for yourself. The first area is: SYMPTOMS. You can put in any or all of your symptoms by first selecting a body part from a model on the screen. (You can switch the model from male to female as needed.) After you have selected your symptoms, iTriage gives you a list of possible diagnosis based on your symptoms and some suggested treatments.

The second area is: DOCTORS. In this area you can find a physician, using your GPS to find one nearest your current location. OR you can input an address and it will locate physicians based on their proximity to that address. You can narrow your search by choosing a specialty (family practice, OB/Gyn, even dentistry). The third area is related to this one: FACILITIES. You can search for a facility based on your current location or by inputing an address. You can find the nearest E.R., urgent care, clinic, pharmacy, and/or doctor's office. You can even search by a physician's name or the name of your health insurance provider.

The fourth area is: DISEASES.  You can search through an alphabetical listing of diseases to learn more about it. Ever wonder what Arteriovenous malformation (AVM) was? You can click and find a description of the disease, a list of common symptoms, how to test for it, and even some images that may help you identify it. Located in the same area are links to the nearest E.R. as well as a link to providers who may be helpful in treating it. The fifth area is: PROCEDURES. If you hear that you or somebody needs an arthrocentesis done, what is that?! iTriage can, again, give you a description of the procedure along with images to flesh out the details. It tells you what type of specialists do the procedure and gives links to find physicians in those areas. It also tells you what the complications can be.

All in all, iTriage is a must for families. I know that in my household, raising 3 children, you see a lot of symptoms and you go through a lot of doctor visits. And as I get older, there are more things in my life that I am dealing with. iTriage just makes all of that easier, and I highly recommend it for anyone!

Inside Goofy's Kitchen

Yesterday, I had the opportunity (thanks to some wonderful friends) to have dinner at Goofy's Kitchen. Goofy's Kitchen is the new buffet-style restaurant inside the newly refurbished Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, CA. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I went in with two positives already on my list. First, in my experience, Disney serves up quality food in it's restaurants. I have been an annual passholder for 3 years now, and I've eaten at just about every place possible in the Magic Kingdom. In that time, I have yet to be disappointed. The second positive on my list going in was that this is a BUFFET! That's one of my favorite words in the English language, or as Disney calls it, "All-You-Care-To-Enjoy" dining. Fantastic! I went with an appetite, and I cared to enjoy a lot!

With those things squared away, we were called to begin our dining experience, which began with our group taking a photo with the head honcho himself, Goofy. It was as if he'd stepped right out of the kitchen to greet us personally, sign autographs for the kids and grace us with a "Bon Apetit!" Upon being seated and giving our server our drink order, we were informed that some of Disney's characters would be working the room, and it would take about an hour to see them all. That was fine with me. If this truly was "All-I-Care-To-Enjoy", I was going to be there for a good long time. Sure enough, minutes later, Snow White showed up at our table. She was beautiful, friendly, and everything else you would expect Snow White to be. The kids were mesmerized as she signed autograph books, posed for pictures and exchanged pleasantries with us all.

The food serving area was very well laid out making it very easy to move about amongst the throng of diners. The first thing I noticed was that this buffet experience was very kid friendly. The plates were durable, but not heavy. There was a kid section right in the middle with lowered counters so that little eyes could see, and short arms could reach the delicious kid-friendly faire they had. This is where items like, chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, popcorn shrimp, spaghetti & meatballs, and pizza (including a peanut butter & jelly pizza) could be found. There was a "salad bar" that was a bit non-traditional. There was plenty of fresh fruit, and a variety of prepared salads like a caprese salad, potato salad, pasta salad, etc. I skipped over much of that to head over to where the "big boy" food was. There were a variety of what I would call "good quality gourmet food." Note: I am from Fontana, CA where I'm usually happy eating at places that are $8.99 for dinner and are owned by friends. So my idea of gourmet may not match yours or the Food Network's. There were some Asian dishes that were exquisite. Vegetable poststickers were part of that which I could not get enough of. There was a shrimp and pasta dish in a creamy pesto sauce that was wonderful. There were veggies, and fish for those that try to eat healthy at these things. And then there were the two carving stations where a chef was slicing off custom slices of sirloin steak and a BBQ pork roast. The pork roast was amazing! I didn't try the sirloin because I already had some delicious pot roast on my plate.

I devoured the first plate. It was clear that this was no cafeteria food they were serving up. This put Hometown Buffet to shame, and I like Hometown Buffet. There was some time and care that went into the preparation of this food for these guests. So, I thought I'd give the kid-friendly food a try to see how that ranked. I dove into the chicken nuggets mac & cheese without reservation. There was even a mac & cheese pizza which was very good as well. The nuggets didn't taste like they were frozen in a bag a few hours earlier. The popcorn shrimp was delicious. All the while we enjoyed visits and pictures with the likes of the Fairy Godmother, Minnie Mouse, Chip & Dale, Pluto and others as they each came around to great us and converse with us a little bit about dinner and where we were visiting from. This all made for a fun and memorable dining experience. It was topped off by a dessert selection that couldn't disappoint. There was such a wide variety. Staples like soft serve ice cream and fresh warm cookies were offset by some specialties like bread pudding, fruit cobbler, mini apple pies, rice crispy treats, and a fruit pizza. I'm diabetic, so I had to exercise some self-control, but I also found a no-sugar added chocolate cupcake that was so decadent and delicious, I almost felt guilty for enjoying it so much.

If you and your family, or maybe just you and your sweetie are visiting Disneyland and you are hungry, I highly suggest Goofy's Kitchen. They are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I know that dinner cost around $35 for adults. I know that may seem pricey, but I figure, if you are already at Disneyland, you planned on spending some money, and if you can hold off your food budget and put it all in one basket, Goofy's Kitchen is a pretty good basket to put it in. You won't leave hungry or disappointed and neither will your kids. Call ahead to make reservations (714-781-DINE). There is sure to be a wait otherwise. Enjoy!

Android App of the Week: Universal Password Manager

If you are like me, you do a lot of business online. I do my banking, pay my bills, do social networking, manage blogs, keep up with multiple email accounts, buy and sell, and a variety of other thing on the web. All of them are password protected. But because many of them have different password criteria, or I opened the accounts at different phases in my life, very few of them have the same user name & password. This was a constant cause of frustration, usually around payday, or the first of the month when things came due.

Enter Universal Password Manager (UPM)! This is a free app on the Android Marketplace that allows to to keep all of your account names, user names, passwords, site URLs, and other notes, all in one place on your tablet and/or phone securely locked up under one master password. The interface is very easy, and,  as far as I can tell, there is no limit to the number of accounts you can save in it. It works very well on my Toshiba Thrive tablet. It has been a God send for me. The other advantage is, I now have that I for in a central location that my wife can access as well if something were to ever happen to me.  I give this app two thumbs up, because it is free and extremely useful and helpful. That's what an app should be in my book!

Real Marriage Weekend

Tonight, my wife and I are going to the Real Marriage Tour put on by Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church and his wife, Grace. This tour is based on the book of the same name written by the couple and just released last month. I haven't read the book, but I have listened to the first of Pastor Mark's current sermon series based on the book via podcast. I am very excited for what is to come. The conference itself is short (just 6 hours with 3-hour sessions on Friday night and Saturday morning) but I've seen God do a lot more in less time. Although the conference is fairly local, my wife and I have decided to make this a mini retreat of sorts by getting a hotel room and sending the kids off for sleepovers. This gives us an important opportunity to do some "marriage maintenance. In a world where we see relationships crumbling all around us like old dilapidated buildings and Satan is at work to destroy ministers of God and their families, every investment we can make to strengthen our marriage is a good one. It will be nice to get away alone for some quality time together letting God speak truth into our lives to strengthen the bond He has created between us.

Teenagers: They're Everything They Were Cracked Up To Be

WARNING: This is a rant meant only to vent my frustrations. It's not too late to turn back.

For Christmas (and his birthday) my wife and I bought my oldest son his letterman jacket. He lettered in Cross Country and Swim last year and has held this jacket at the forefront of his mind and every conversation for the last 8 months or so. He spent hours designing it in his mind, talking about how cool it would be. We finally got it ordered in late November with hopes that it may be ready before Christmas Day, but it wasn't. He was obviously disappointed, having asked about it every day in December leading up to Christmas. The day finally arrived. I paid the last of the $435 price and he had his prized jacket.

As luck would have it, the California winter went on vacation and the temperature was in the mid 80s for a week. That didn't stop him from wearing the jacket (all black, by the way, with gold trim) to show it off to his friends. Now the weather has cooled off again, but I've noticed he hasn't worn the jacket. I see him wearing some different hoodies and such, but not the $435 jacket that he begged me for. This morning as I was driving him to school, it was 37 degrees outside. He was in shorts and t-shirt, but no jacket.

"So how come you don't wear your letterman jacket?" I said, "I think I've only seen you where it 4 or 5 times in the little over a month you've had it. And now it's freezing and you're not wearing it?"

He looks at me casually and says, "I don't want to wear it everyday. That's overkill. I don't want it to get messed up."

"What the...? I didn't pay $435 of my hard earned money for a jacket to hang there in your closet! You've only got a year and a half left of high school, so you better wear it everyday you can." Then he hit me with the one thing he knows I can't stand!

"Nobody else wears their letterman jacket everyday." It took all of my willpower not to pull the car over and strangle him dead right then and there. All I could muster was, "Well, I didn't pay $435 for everybody else's letterman jacket. That's between them and their parents. You better put it to use, or I'm gonna give it to a homeless lady who will wear it everyday, over her four other coats, rain or shine!"

He shook his head in the "Parents just don't understand" way that teenagers do. I can only sit back and remember the thought my father had shared with me so many times: "I just want to live long enough to see your kids do to you, everything you've done to me." Thanks, Dad. Now, I'm invoking that curse on my own child and just waiting for the day when I, like you these days, can just sit back and laugh.

Android App of the Week: Out of Milk

Due to illness and a short week due to the MLK holiday last week, I did not get my Android App of the Week post up. But this is my blog and I can do what I want to. So, this week will feature not one, but TWO Android App of theWeek posts. Without further delay, here is the first one:

When I first got my Toshiba Thrive tablet, I searched the internet looking for lists of the best, most useful, and most fun Android apps out there, and Out of Milk appeared on a good number of those lists. So, I figured I would give it a try. In my household, I do the majority of the grocery shopping. One of the issues I always have with it is trying to remember what I need to get. I often make lists, but usually can't remember all that needs to be on the list. Enter Out of Milk.

Out of Milk is primarily a grocery list app, but it has some cool perks that I enjoy. I can enter an item on the list by typing it in. Out of Milk has a huge database of different items that are available in a dropdown menu as soon as you start typing to make it even faster. I can speak my item onto the list which is just plain cool. And to really turn up the cool factor, I can scan the barcode on an item and it will find that item in it's database or on the internet and add it to the list. This gives you so much more detail on your grocery list. For example, my wife brought home some new Colby Cheez-It Crackers. We all loved them and wanted more...the Colby ones. So, I scanned the barcode into Out of Milk, and it brought up the name of the cracker, the flavor, even the size of the box!  It's that easy!

Take your phone or tablet to the grocery store and with a click and drag you can reorganize items on the list, and cross them off as they make their way into your cart. There is also a pantry listing which includes a spice rack where you can keep inventory of those essential items that you like to always have on hand in the pantry, but may only need to be purchased every few months. As an added bonus, there is a to-do list. I believe there are better apps out there devoted to "to-do lists", but this one can be of some use too.

I have made two grocery store runs with Out of Milk and both have been a success. I start my grocery lists early and keep it ongoing throughout the week so I don't forget stuff. I haven't used the barcode scanner very often; only in cases where there was a specific new item that wasn't familiar. My teenage daughter accompanied me on one trip and she had no trouble navigating through the app. If you're looking for a useful app that will make your grocery shopping a more organized experience, Out of Milk is my personal recommendation.

Superstitious? Not me!

Friday the 13th always brings with it a discussion of superstitions that I find amusing. I was once a superstitious person to some degree. There was the carry over from the childish games and rumors we had as a kid. "Step on a crack, break your mama's back." Or "If you get slapped on the back while crossing your eyes, they'll get stuck like that." As a child these things carried a lot of weight with us. So, we would go around making sure not to walk under ladders, or breaking any mirrors. We made sure to throw salt over our shoulder if we spilled some.We would cringe at the thought of a black cat crossing our path. And Heaven forbid someone would dare to open an umbrella indoors.

As I got older, most of my supersttions revolved around sports. I had to have the same conditions every time I watched my favorite team play. When I played basketball, I had ritual things that I would do. My socks had to be folded a certain way. I put my uniform on in the same order before every game. One season in college, I ate a half dozen glazed donuts and drank a quart of milk 3 hours before game time. (In hindsight, definitely not a wise choice as I am now a 37 year-old Type 2 diabetic.) My coach would walk around on game days searching the ground for a penny. Not just any penny. It had to be a heads up penny. I thought it was silly, but I certainly understood.

Now, as a Christian, a pastor, and a father, I don't have anymore superstitions. For me, superstitions mean fear. Fear that if you do or don't do something, something bad will happen to you or someone else. But now, I know that God is Sovereign and in control. His desire is not for me to be controlled by fear. Superstitions have no place in my life or the life of any Christ follower. Our trust is in Him and our submission to His will should direct our actions. And when you live in that truth there is freedom. Freedom to let black cats cross and step on cracks in the sidewalks.  John 8:36 says, "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." Happy Friday the 13th!