This is a Test |

I could say, “of the emergency broadcast system,” but I won’t. This is actually a test to see if I can start dictating things like this blog post, newsletters, and Facebook posts. So, just a quick warning, this post could be riddled with typos. And I have no plans to correct any of them, just because I want to see how it goes. And I thought I’d let all of you see how it goes too.

So far, I have to say that with the writing I am extremely impressed with the accuracy of this program. What program might that be, you ask. Why that would be called Dragon NaturallySpeaking, and if you click the link, you should know it’s an affiliate link – which means that if you click it and buy it, I could earn a small commission. It also means, that it won’t change the price for you at all.

The only time Dragon isn’t working quite as well as I would like, is if I first dictate into a voice recorder, and then play it back by the microphone on my headset. Still it’s just so much more accurate than it was when I was using a cheap microphone. Not that this is a top-of-the-line microphone headset, but it is better quality than what I was using last year. And the year before, actually.

That’s and of paragraph probably why I gave up on dictating stories, because it took so long to fix all the typos and errors, and to figure out what I actually tried to say, because translating from speech to text without Dragon was on nightmare.

I’m trying to not read through this to see what I said, and how it turned out, because if I do, my natural inclination would be to fix it all. If there’s anything to be fixed. And a quick skim, I have to say it looks pretty good to me.

And this is exactly why I’m doing this. This is why wanted do all the social media with dictation. I figure if I get used to speaking everything, it will be so much easier to dictate the stories. Right now I’m not doing too bad, but it’s kind of like putting me in front of an audience of a few hundred and expecting me to give a speech.

Trust me it wouldn’t go over well. I’m not comfortable in front of people, I never was. Taking drama and junior high to try and combat my shyness didn’t help at all. I am not as bad as I used to be by a long shot, but dictating is taking a lot of getting use to, and feels an awful lot like it did when I get up on stage at school.

Aria doesn’t have a problem like that. If I forget to close the door and she sees me dictating, I have to be really quick with pause button, because she’ll come up and start speaking into the mic with her nose almost against mine. I hope she always has that degree of confidence, but it does make dictating story is kind of interesting if I don’t hit that button and time.

So a quick update on the diet. I’m back on Trim Healthy Mama. Keto was great and a lot of ways. Within four days, I had cut my meals to twice a day, and had absolutely no problem fasting sixteen to seventeen hours a day. However as you all know by now, it’s been a rough year. A lot of you also know that I’ve struggled with thyroid -related fatigue for a long time. And the fatigue started coming back, even though it never completely gotten rid of it in the first place. That’s not all though, there were other issues that I wasn’t prepared to deal with right now. Possibly not ever.

So I will still be low-carb, just not keto low-carb. I’m going to be one of those people who shares photos of food. Until fall arrives, or the weather cools down a little bit, that foods can be served on paper plates. I have no furnace, it’s baseboard heating, which means no central air. And for some reason, whoever refurbished this house, put in a weird window so there’s no air conditioning in the kitchen. That means when it’s hot out, I try to avoid dirtying as many dishes as possible.

The reason I’m showing tonight at supper, is because I have been reading that cauliflower makes a good mashed potato substitute. Which I kinda knew but it wasn’t that great. Though what I’ve seen, made a huge difference tonight.

There is a need to drain the cauliflower really well. And I mean to press the moisture out with paper towels or a lint-free hand towel. It needs to be pretty dry. Then it needs to be beat really well with butter and heavy cream. I’ll be the first to admit it doesn’t taste 100% like mashed potatoes, but it’s really close. And with the little gravy on it it’s hard to tell the difference.

So that’s all there is tonight as far as updates, except for the picture which I’ll share below. And except for speaking the corrections when Dragon used the wrong word, and there weren’t that many, I’ve been pretty pleased with how this dictating of a blog post turned out.

I know I said I wasn’t going to fix typos, but what I’m talking about aren’t really considered typos. It’s more of a misunderstanding. And I need to train Dragon to understand what I’m saying. For instance when I said dictating above, Dragon first heard me say Dick Tate. So I told Dragon to fix it.

And now I’m going to say good night, post the picture and try to finish dictating a scene I started last night. Until next time, take care.

Yes, it tasted as good as it looks.