There are many reasons for big silences between blog updates. Mine was a broken wrist. I slipped on a sheet of ice, aka the Ottawa sidewalk, one January morning. And that one-second tumble lead to weeks in a cast, surgery and physiotherapy. It also lead to a new relationship with voice-activated dictation software, aka Dragon Dictate.
Hmm, how should I describe our relationship? Probably like the communication struggles of many real-world relationships: hopeful and frustrating and sometimes funny. The software would type out what I said, requiring me to sometimes enunciate like Dory from Finding Nemo. Dragon's intent is to improve the more you use it and it helped me get a lot of text on to the screen. But there were plenty of miscommunications along the way. Below, some examples of what I said, and what Dragon typed.
1. physio = Fabio
2. more dessert = Mozart
3. smokey lagers = smokey loggers
4. cheers = chairs
5. texting = text eating
6. physio = Fabio
7. more dessert = Mozart
8. Winterlude = winter dude
9. oyster shucking = moisture shocking
10. event planners = vampires
11. xoxo = ex oh
12. So I'll be in touch = Swabian touch
13. depanneurs = date banners
14. Mickey Rourke = Mickey work
15. Salzburg = Sal's Berg
16. the scenery alone = the serial loan
17. realtors = real tears
"Oh, Dragon," I would mutter and try again. At the very least, the experience spiced up my travel writing. Although I must confess I have yet to feel the caress of a Swabian touch or locate Sal's Berg on a map.
Hmm, how should I describe our relationship? Probably like the communication struggles of many real-world relationships: hopeful and frustrating and sometimes funny. The software would type out what I said, requiring me to sometimes enunciate like Dory from Finding Nemo. Dragon's intent is to improve the more you use it and it helped me get a lot of text on to the screen. But there were plenty of miscommunications along the way. Below, some examples of what I said, and what Dragon typed.
1. physio = Fabio
2. more dessert = Mozart
3. smokey lagers = smokey loggers
4. cheers = chairs
5. texting = text eating
6. physio = Fabio
7. more dessert = Mozart
8. Winterlude = winter dude
9. oyster shucking = moisture shocking
10. event planners = vampires
11. xoxo = ex oh
12. So I'll be in touch = Swabian touch
13. depanneurs = date banners
14. Mickey Rourke = Mickey work
15. Salzburg = Sal's Berg
16. the scenery alone = the serial loan
17. realtors = real tears
"Oh, Dragon," I would mutter and try again. At the very least, the experience spiced up my travel writing. Although I must confess I have yet to feel the caress of a Swabian touch or locate Sal's Berg on a map.
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