Feeling stupid, but still reading and learning

I got home from a Crown Center bus trip to the grocery store only to discover I'd lost my keys and couldn't unlock the door to my apartment.  Did they slip out of my pocket on the bus?  No, Yoram checked before bringing a key from the office to open my door for me.  Should I call the store to see if they'd been found?  Yoram asked if I had a spare key to my apartment or my mailbox.  Yes, a spare for the apartment, but not for the mail ... and a lightbulb clicked on over my head.  Here's my mail right here on top of the groceries in my cart; therefore, my keys must still be hanging from my mailbox.  Yes, they were.  Yoram assured me I wasn't the first, but I still felt stupid.

Unbelievable: Why Neither Ancient Creeds Nor the Reformation Can Produce a Living Faith Today ~ by John Shelby Spong, 2018, theology, 10/10

"If God is the Source of Life, then the only way I can appropriately worship God is by living fully. ... If God is the Source of Love, then the only way I can worship God is by loving 'wastefully,' a phrase that I like. ... If God is the Ground of Being, then the only way I can worship God is by having the courage to be all that I can be ... So the reality of God to me is discovered in the experience which compels me to 'live fully, to love wastefully, and to have the courage to be all that I can be.' ... the mission to which my mantra calls me is the task of building or transforming the world so that every person living will have a better opportunity to live fully, love wastefully and be all that each of them was created to be in the infinite variety of our humanity" (quoted from pp. 285-286).

I read this book in 2018, but I hope to re-read it as I discuss it with the Seekers Class at my church in Chattanooga.  Zoom allows us to meet with friends near and far, you know!  I pulled it off the shelf recently because Bishop Spong died a couple of weeks ago, and this is his last book.

Second iPhone class via Zoom

On Friday, I attended our second (and last) Zoom class about using iPhones.  Last week, we learned a word new to me (haptics) and words with new meanings (swipe, pinch, gesture).  This week, I learned how to find more screens and how to use Siri, among other things.  I learned that updates only arrive when the iPhone is plugged in.  I also learned that swiping the Home page one extra time takes me to my app library, grouped together in pre-set groups like these in the illustration.  If I then swipe up from near the bottom of that page, I'll see all apps in alphabetical order.  So much to remember!  I especially want to remember I can say, "Hey, Siri, call 9-1-1" even if the phone is not turned on.  This option must be pre-set to allow it, though.

Ten ways to say "No"

1. No.
2. I can't give you an answer right now; will you check back with me?
3. I'm not able to commit to that right now.
4. I really appreciate you asking me, but I can't do it.
5. I understand you really need my help, but I'm just not able to say yes to that.
6. I'm going to say no for now.  I'll let you know if something changes.
7. I'm honored that you would ask me, but my answer is no.
8. No, I can't do that, but here's what I can do.
9. I don't have that to give right now.
10. Under different circumstances, I'd love to, but right now I can't.

And the best part of this list that I found on Facebook six years ago is the name of the group who posted it:  The Society for Recovering Doormats, who claim that "No" is the most important word every recovering mat needs to learn how to say.

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Sunday Salon — at separate computers
in different time zones — to talk about
our lives, our books, and our reading.

iPhone class via Zoom

A handful of us are taking a Zoom class in "Getting to Know Your iPhone."  Two of us live at the Crown Center.  The class is in two parts:  two hours yesterday, plus two hours this coming Friday.  In the meantime, I'm trying to absorb what I learned and realizing how many new words there are — OR — words that have new meanings.  Here are a couple of the words I'm learning, with definitions that specifically relate to the iPhone:

Word of the Day #1

hap·tics /ˈhaptiks/ technical noun plural = the perception of objects by touch, especially as involved in nonverbal communication.

"Haptics is that subsystem of non-language communication which conveys meaning through physical contact."

Okay, so I've learned to touch my iPhone screen in certain ways to make things happen.  (I'm also learning that with Donna's Chromebook:  tapping with ONE finger does something very different from tapping with TWO fingers.  Yeah, try remembering all this stuff!)

Word of the Day #2

ges·ture /ˈjesCHər/ = listing some examples would be easiest.  

A swipe is a gesture, and punching two buttons is another gesture.

To go to the iPhone's home page, swipe up from the bottom, as in the left example.  To call 9-1-1 or turn off your iPhone, press two buttons, as on the right, and several options pop up.  This Apple Support page has a dozen examples (click on the link to go there). 

We were told that iPhone uses touches, swipes, and pinches.  Pinching is the way to zoom in or out on specific items.  A pinch goes both ways:  pinch your fingers apart to look closer at a photo.  I took a picture of purple flowers on my walk back from the grocery store and, when I zoomed in on the photo (by pinching apart), could see spiky points on the flowers and even where something has nibbled on a green leaf.