A Jungle Red News Years QUIZ

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: It’s still January, right? Never too late for champagne. And we haven’t missed it: our new year’s resolutions!  (Oh, don’t think you’re gonna get out of here without them.)  And keep reading--a quiz is coming up! (You'll find out how well we know each other...)

Here are the most popular resolutions of 2015, according to someplace: 

Lose weight

Volunteer to help others

Quit Smoking

Get a better education

Get a better job

Save money

Get fit

Eat healthy food

Manage stress

Manage debt

Take a trip

Drink less alcohol

So then I went back and looked up the most popular resolutions of 2008. They were:  

Get out of debt or save money

Lose weight

Develop a healthy habit

Get organized

Develop a new skill or talent

Spend more time with family and friends

Join a social network

Break an unhealthy habit

Clear out wardrobe on Ebay

I guess times do change.  This was the midst of a recession—look how much higher “get out of debt” is. 

But my favorite: Would ANYONE you know resolve to join a social network?  Ha. Our resolutions would be to get OFF of them. Right?  And when was the last time you thought about EBay?  (Am I completely out of it/ Is there still an Ebay?)

So then I went back to our Jungle Red resolutions blog from 2008, And hilariously, one commenter vowed to get off FREECELL. And another praised her new cutting edge iPhone.

Back in 2008, we Reds also listed our resolutions.  So now I’ve asked each Red to tell me a 2015 resolution. Just one.

And here they are:  But wait—which of us said them?

One of us resolved:  “To check email only after I've written at least 100 new words and no more than five times a day.”

This year, the same person said: “Do one thing at a time and try not to keep thinking of what I’ve got to do after..”

Another of us said: “This year I will learn that I don't always have to be perfect--that trying to be perfect comes with a physical price.”

This year she said: “Decluttering!”

Want to try another of us? In 2008, she said: “Try harder to live in the moment.” 

This year she said: “Let it go, let it go.  Stop worrying about what you can’t control.”

And one more? Who said: “Have more fun with folks I love, quit wasting time on stuff I can't control. “

Hint: This year, she’s in Australia! With folks she loves. 

Red Debs has since taken up Reds residence: this year her very luxurious resolution is:   “Take more baths. Long, soaking, bath salt/bubbly, relaxing, meditating baths.”

We welcomed new Red Susan this year…and her resolution is one for all of us: “Take a lesson from Miss Edna and enjoy life, Auntie Mame style...”

So two things Dear Reds:

Can you guess the Reds’ resolutions? Who vowed not to check email? Who decided not to be perfect? Who promised to let it go?  And who took off for Australia?

And of course—what are YOUR resolutions? Do you think they’ve changed since 2008?

There's an App for that!

RHYS BOWEN:  As a fairly recent owner of an iPhone, I'm still discovering cool apps and trying to decide which ones I'd really use. I'm trying not to over-clutter the phone but I've come up with some I find invaluable:
Evernote is probably my number one. So easy to jot down ideas or even speak the ideas when they come to me and not wait until I get home and have forgotten them.
Dragon Dictation is also useful when I want to speak my way through a dialog that has just come into my head.
Google Maps--couldn't do without it.

iTranslate is great when I'm traveling abroad (except that it gave the Greek translation in the Greek alphabet so I certainly couldn't give a spontaneous response)
Obvious ones like Skype, Pandora, Facebook
Then I have PBS to see what programs I won't want to miss.
Kindle so I can keep reading whenever I have a moment
The Tennis app used to keep me updated but it seems to have gone funny recently.
to relax I have the famous Colorful Aquarium where I get to feed my fish and
iZen where I can rake my Zen garden and move the stones around to the tinkle of bells or sounds of birds.
I also have SleepStream 2 to give me relaxing sounds and images.
For fun? Wordpops and Scrabble. My granddaughter loaded on Templerun but I keep getting killed too quickly to make it fun.

So what suggestions do the other Reds have for indispensable Apps? (or fun games where I won't get killed or eaten)
DEBORAH CROMBIE: I suspect I will be the only one here without an iPhone--I'm an Android girl.  Be we have cool apps, too!!!! I have some version of everything Rhys mentioned, except I play Words With Friends instead of Scrabble.  My daughter beats me every time.
But my favorite is an Android only app called Cover. It customizes your lock screen with the apps you use most, according to where you are.  I have mine set to Facebook, so whenever I unlock my phone, I see a slowly scrolling display of my friends' FB posts.  The imagine move so it's an almost 3D effect, and because of the clarity and resolution of the big screen (mine is a Galaxy S3,) it's like having constantly rotating art as mesmerizing as Rhys's aquarium.  I'm going to go stare at my phone now....

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Hi, my name is Susan and I'm an Apple addict. I adore my iPhone.
My favorite app is eBay ? yes, also addicted to eBay and now I can check my auctions on the go. I also love Pandora radio (set to Madonna/Lady Gaga/Pink/Kelly Clarkson for the gym and Pink Martini for dinner parties), In terms of games, I love Mahjong ? good for the memory and makes subway rides flash by! And the tiles are so pretty......

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Apps. Apps. Hm. I love my iphone, in fact, I love it ridiculously too much. But apps? Not so much. I have no games, not fun stuff, not Kindle and not..not anything. So I am reading this with great interest. I am almost tempted by Rhys's zen garden, but then I would just DO that, and then where would I be? Plus, I ALWAYS forget my itunes password, I think the universe just changes it from time to time, so at the moments I am lured to an app, I never get much farther.
 Two questions: One, what app will let me add to Jungle Red from my phone? RIght now, I can't do that.
Also, what app will let me add a photo to Facebook? My phone used to do that, but it won't any more.

DEBS: Hank, I can add  pics taken with my phone to any of my Facebook pages.  Maybe you need an Android:-)

LUCY BURDETTE: She can't get an Android Debs--once you have an iphone, no going back to the dark side:). Ebay sounds like a good one, though DANGEROUS to the wallet. I do love the Pinterest app, and for some reason, I see Twitter and Facebook more easily on the phone. Other than that? AroundMe for traveling. Tripadvisor. Pages. I did just delete a bunch that I don't use (like a seashell with soothing sea sounds) because I keep running out of space for photos. I think I'm due very soon for a brand new phone...

HALLIE EPHRON: Hank, I can show you how to add pics to Facebook with your iphone. It's easy peasy. You need the Facebook app.
I'm not that into apps, either, except for ones that I use to check on flights and Amtrak. I use those all the time. An eBay app? Sounds dangerous.

RHYS: You gals are no fun! I wanted more apps to lure me away when I should be writing. Except eBay. I don't think I'd better download eBay. I'd finish every trip with several packages waiting on my doorstep. But I want to know from our friends--are there any MUST HAVE APPS we've overlooked?