Dragons, Stocks, and Presents, Oh My!

Over the Christmas break, I met with a former colleague for lunch. It’s always a pleasure meeting up with this colleague, who is enjoying his retirement. At one point during our lunch conversation, we started talking about stocks. He told me how he began buying and selling stocks as a teenager, and I admitted I didn’t buy my first stock until I began working with our former employer. After I got the hang of buying and selling stocks, I decided to buy a stock that specialized in digital voice software. It was the late 90's, and there wasn’t a lot of competition, so I decided to buy this company’s stock. The stock was around $50 a share in June. Within two months, it rose to about $175 a share.

When I told my former colleague about this stock, he knew exactly what I was talking about because he just bought digital voice software. He asked me if the company name was Nuance, and I started to laugh because that was the company I had bought stock in over a decade ago. (I don’t know if this is the same company, because I couldn’t find matching stock prices on the web.) He stated he just bought the software, and it’s been working great. It takes a while for the software to get to know your voice and writing style, but after working in it, you get used to the dictation and commands. He was very pleased with the software and I told him I’ll have to look into it for my writing.

Yesterday, we went to the post office to pick up a package. To my surprise, the package contained digital voice software with a note from my former colleague stating that he hopes it assists with my writing endeavors. Of course I had to try it out to see how it works. I set up a profile, let it read my documents, and the more I use it, the more it familiarizes itself with my voice. I’m sure the NSA would enjoy this software… if they aren’t using it already. Anyways, I decided to use it for this blog post. I dictated, made corrections, and started understanding some commands.

I’m on my third draft of my novel, Fogged up Fairytale, and I hope to use this software for revisions. It does take some time getting used to, but not that much. I’ve been using it for several hours with only a few problems with voice recognition.

I must extend a huge thanks to my former colleague, who has been a loyal blog reader and supporter of my writing. If it wasn’t for him, and many others who have supported me along the way, I would not have achieved success with my writing. I’m truly grateful for him and his continuous generosity.

If you are interested in digital voice software, you can purchase it on Amazon. The software is called Dragon Naturally Speaking. It’s by Nuance, and is a home edition speech recognition software.

Has there been a software or electronic device you recently purchased that you’d like to share with others?

Stocks and Presents,

Bea

Railway, Castles, and Dragons!

Last weekend we went to Schloss Drachenburg to see the castle and the Drachenfels Mountain, and we wound up doing so many other things there, too. The foundation of the Schloss Drachenburg was laid in 1882. To read more about the castle’s history and take a look at other pictures (aside from my own), you can visit the Schloss Drachenburg site - http://bit.ly/yblQoE. Now relax, keep your hands by the keyboard, and enjoy the scenery.

When we first arrived in the town of Koenigswinter (King’s Winter), we parked in a free parking lot. Free People! A free parking lot is hard to come by in Germany. You drive, you pay, which includes high price gas and parking. While we were walking through the parking lot to get to the train, we came across a few washrooms and here is what it said above one of the doors (translation: urinal). What can I say, I’m childish and thought it was funny.

From there, we took the cog railway up to the Schloss Drachenburg. This railway opened in 1883, but it has been updated several times since. When we got up to the castle, we went inside the small museum and gift store. 

 I was in awe of the castle once I saw the full view. 

 

We went inside the castle, but they didn’t allow us to roam the entire castle. We only saw a small portion of it, so I took as many pictures as I could. Side note: While we were in the castle, there was a group of people having a good old time. My Love elbowed me and pointed out one of the men in the group. He is the President of the German Parliament (very interesting). 

In one room, there were two stained glass windows of writers. One is Uhland and the other Schiller. I also took a picture of their writings. The street we live on is named after Schiller—Schiller Strasse.

In the art room, there was a book where guests could sign their name. I wrote a little about my book, Net Switch, and left a bookmark. 

Here are a few pictures I took from the castle looking into the valley.

We had a small lunch in the restaurant on the left. The building on the right was built in 1661. 

Finally we arrived at the dragon’s cave. 

 

This lead to the reptile exhibit.

Again, we went on the cog railway up to the Drachenfels Mountain where the old castle remains are.

After we took our pictures on this gloomy day, we went back down the mountain into town where I took a few more pictures.

We passed one storefront and they had this cute Christmas display for sale. I loved it.

Hope your fingers didn’t get cramped at the keyboard.

Castles and dragons,

Bea