It's Here!

Christmas came two months and one day late today. When Dave and I got home from work, there were two boxes sitting outside our door: our Kindle Readers had arrived. Even better, they were upgraded to version 2.0, which was just released this week. Santa is very good to those who wait.

Mine has been open, plugged in and charging for an hour - I've also browsed through the manual; Dave is just opening his as I write (only because I bugged him about his box still being unopened). My Kindle already has 21 books, and book collections, on it, as I pre-ordered a bunch of them a month or so ago. The book collections include the Complete Works of Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Aristotle, Jules Verne, etc. All of these collections cost less than $5.00 each. I also got Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass for $ 0.25. Yes, that's right - 25 cents for one of the greatest collections of American poetry ever written. I even got several books for free. Amazon and several major publishers have been putting together some limited time offers on selected books by lesser known authors. Yes, unknowns can be risky, but, at that price, I can afford to experiment.

So, what does the Kindle 2 look like? I'm glad you asked. Here's the basic view:



Here's a view that shows how thin it is:



It's very lightweight - about 10 ounces. That's the first thing Dave said when he opened his. Version 2 also handles images better than version 1 did, although they are still just grayscales. The font sizes are adjustable and the text is very easy on the eyes, as the display is not backlit. Other than that, I don't know too much about how to use it yet. I won't be subscribing to newspapers, blogs or magazines with it, as I can get a lot of that content for free on the Internet. I also don't anticipate using it to play audiobooks or MP3 files either; I can play music on my iPod. So, I may be a Luddite about cell phones, but when it comes to reading materials, I can say that I've moved into the 21st century and am well on my way to the Star Trek universe.

February Odds & Ends

My goodness! I have no idea where time has gone this month! Dave and I have been so busy with work, we've barely had time to catch our breath. Since I don't have anything particularly exciting or newsie to share today, this post will offer miscellanea that has no logical connection to anything else in the post.

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I found a few minutes to do some macrophotography a week or so ago. I got one decent photo out of the bunch:



Yes, it's the old "milk splashing in colored water" trick. This sort of photography is fun, but it's also tedious, as I frequently snap the shutter too early or too late to get a worthwhile shot. In this sort of photography, as with most things in life, timing is everything.

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Did anyone else watch "Countdown" last night? One story that I thought was pretty funny said that beer sales are down about 9%. The current recession marks the first time in American history that beer sales have fallen. It seems that everybody is hanging on to their money these days.

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With a nod to Christian, who recently upgraded his cell phone, I offer an iPhone story:

A legal battle has erupted over two iPhone applications that feature the sound of flatulence.

Air-O-Matic of Florida, the company that created the "Pull My Finger" app for the phone is seeking $50,000 from the company iFart, claiming that iFart's application is a ripoff.

iFart reportedly makes about $10,000 per day in download fees.

Christian, you did well by buying a Blackberry rather than an iPhone.

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I came across a page of Funny Facts recently. The choice morsels of intellectual food they offer include the following:

Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.

People spend about two weeks of their lives at traffic lights!

The ant, when intoxicated, will always fall over to its right side.

Fewer than half of the 16,200 major league baseball players have ever hit a home run.

In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all of the world's nuclear weapons combined.

Walt Disney was afraid of mice.

Close to 80% of people who watch the Super Bowl on television, only do so to view the commercials.

Male and female rats may have sex twenty times a day.

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I was about to close off the post when I realized that, whatever western movie Dave is watching on AMC is playing Shenandoah. I think every western filmed in the 40s, 50s, and 60s includes that song, because I hear it every Saturday morning when Dave watches the westerns - something he's being doing for at least ten years. At least Shenandoah is a pretty tune. It would be awful if every genre movie played something really gross, like Shake Your Booty.

On that note, it's probably a good time to say, So Long, Farewell, Auf Weidersehn, Good Day/Night.

The Visitor

Dave and I had a surprise visitor tonight. Ally persuaded Maggie and Jonathan to let her come over to our house and play. She's grown a lot since we saw her a few weeks ago and even has a leash now. She's still chewing things, but I'm sure she'll get that under control soon. She's a beautiful dog, still very friendly and still welcome to come over anytime.

I guess Jonathan and Maggie can come too.