Living, Loving & Learning!

I was sitting back thinking what my favorite things were for 2010 and decided to list them. So here they are. What’s your faves from 2010? Let us know in the comments below…

Favorite Movie In 2010 = Inception
Runner Up = The Social Network

Favorite Band In 2010 = Zac Brown Band
Runner Up = The Roots

Favorite City I Traveled To 2010 = Austin Texas
Runner Up = New Orleans Louisiana

Favorite TV Series in 2010 = It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Runner Up = The League

Favorite Website In 2010 = Surfline.com
Runner Up = Facebook.com

Favorite Comedian In 2010 = Kyle Cease
Runner Up = Chelsea Handler

Favorite Blogger In 2010 = Tynan Smith
Runner Up = John Carlton

Favorite YouTube Channel In 2010 = GoPotatoTV
Runner Up = KyleCease

Favorite Charitable Organization In 2010 = St. Jude Children’s Hospital
Runner Up = DonorsChoose.org

Favorite Surfboard Shaper In 2010 = Scott Raymond Henry
Runner Up = Shawn Ambrose

Favorite Health Advisor = David Wolfe
Runner Up = Kevin Gianni

Favorite Tweeter = Gary Vaynerchuk
Runner Up = Craig Clemens

Favorite Book In 2010 = The War For Late Night by Bill Carter
Runner Up = The Likeability Factor by Tim Sanders

Favorite iPhone App In 2010 = Google Maps
Runner Up = Scrabble

So those are mine. How about you? What are some of your faves?

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So I’ve been playing a lot of Scrabble on my iPhone lately. I started by playing on the medium or normal level but quickly got bored of that. I crush the computer every time on that setting. It’s not much fun without a real challenge.

So I bumped it up to the hard level to try and get a more competitive game. I got a bit more than what I asked for. I think I lost about 45 games in a row before actually winning a game.

I remember one day I was so close to winning my first game and then the computer told me that “zen” wasn’t a word. Are you kidding me? Zen isn’t a word? Apparently it’s Japanese and doesn’t count in the game of Scrabble. Of course the computer can play words that sound like utter gibberish all day, but zen is a no go.

I’ve actually been blown away at some of the words the computer uses. Every game I play, I expand my vocabulary.

Here’s a screen shot of the last game I just played a few minutes ago. I beat the computer on this round and I came across 6 words that I’ve never heard before. They are…

scrabble

oxo
yom
dacha
inia
flaxy
jee

If I had to muster a guess of what the definitions are I’m not sure I’d be very accurate. Let’s take a stab. Here’s my guesses…

oxo = A cleaning agent or abrassive type cleaner
yom = soup (Oh duh, I know this. Didn’t think about it being combined with Yom Kippur.)
dacha = a plant
inia = a disease
flaxy = something to do with flax
jee = happy or gleeful

Ok, I’d assume I’m wrong on at least 5. Flaxy is pretty obvious. So, what I’m going to do so I can really learn and anchor these words is I’m going to write a paragraph and correctly use each word in that paragraph so the words will have context and more meaning to me. This way I’ll hopefully be able to remember the words more easily.

Here’s that paragraph….

I had to jee the horse as we departed the Russian dacha to head into town for some oxo before Yom Kippur had begun. While traveling along the river I was lucky enough to spot two inia’s playfully jumping out of the water. It was such a special site I decided to take a break and enjoy some of the flaxy leftovers in my satchel.

Of course I just made up that silly story to help my visualize the new words I just learned. I’m not going to tell you what they are, you can look them up for yourself if you are curious.

I will tell you that my spell check flagged oxo, inia and flaxy. However, I did find them in some dictionary online.

Anyhow, I’m sort of addicted to playing this Scrabble on my iPhone. It’s a good way to get your brain thinking and a phenomenal way to expand the vocab. Hey, vocab is a word.

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I’m kind of a word nerd. Usually in the morning I like to do the crossword puzzle to get the brain moving. I don’t always demonstrate my literary knowledge in my blog posts or writings, but I do try to study and learn a bit more each day.

Now that learning is getting so much cooler. With the new Scrabble application on the iPhone I’m in Hog-Heaven for some verbal Jujitsu.

Scrabble Game Against Gio via Facebook

If you have a iPhone, go to the “App Store” and search for Scrabble. I think it’s $4.99. Well worth it too.

If you don’t have a iPhone you can download the Scrabble app via Facebook as well.

So, if you are get the Scrabble app, make sure we are Facebook Friends. You can friend me up on Facebook at the link below.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=634453082

When we become friends and we both have the Scrabble App, we can battle back and forth.

Let’s get it on.

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