yoga, books, movies, tv & too many crime procedurals – not necesarily in that order
Probably the only thing I talk about as much as yoga and TV is gadgets. One of my friends is at a conference and re-tweeted two things that interested me:
1. The iPad is designed to entertain your finger, an e-reader to entertain your eye.
2. The Kindle isn’t a superior reading experience, it’s a superior delivery experience.
These things are tied in my mind because the iPad was billed as a Kindle-killer. Admittedly I am a non-Apple geek (They make nice stuff but it’s wicked expensive. I’m looking for the alternative that fits my budget.) but I wasn’t all that interested in the iPad. I HAVE a Kindle (which I love and will get to in a minute) and a Droid Eris by HTC. From what I’ve seen, my Eris does all the stuff that an iPhone does – at least the stuff that I WANT it to, as I’ve got no interest in watching TV/movies on my phone – and cost a fraction of the price. Not only that, but Verizon never drops my calls. Never. And I live in the Timbuck-3 mountains.
So if I’ve got a touchscreen phone and all the apps I can stand and an mp3 player that holds a ton of music and movies, as well as an e-reader that checks my email and surfs the web – the iPad is obsolete FOR ME. I get that there are people who want everything in the same gadget but I really don’t. I like having a separate mp3 player because it means I’m less likely to break it – my phone has to withstand a lot of abuse. My phone is built for portability and wicked web access, so I don’t need a laptop hardly ever – unless I really want one.
All of this brings me to the Kindle. Yes, it’s a superior delivery system. I can get a book (including a whole mess of FREE books) from pretty much anywhere, anytime. I’d argue about it not being a superior reading experience though, and for a couple of reasons. It’s much a lighter than a regular book. It’s far more portable and allows me to do everything a regular text would do (bookmarks, notes) as well as things it can’t (email, web). Not only that but I can carry up to 1,500 books around all the time. I’ve got 207 on there currently and I love that if my attention wanders, I can just hit the Home button and switch to something else. On a plane or roadtrip, this portability is invaluable. It’s great for waiting rooms, lunch breaks and coffee stops.
As to the experience – I know that Spouse loves the fact that he can increase the text size whenever he wants. It makes reading in low light easier. The auto text-reader is also nice, if a bit robotic.
I don’t miss turning pages. It always surprises me that I really ENJOY reading on the Kindle. I’m an English major. I’ve been reading voraciously since the age of 3. I LOVE books. Yet I find that I don’t miss the feel of paper in my hands or even the smell of the pages – things I would have sworn at one point were integral to my reading experience. In fact, when I HAVE to read a paper text now (for classes) I find I’m annoyed with how cumbersome and unwieldly they are. I don’t like having to lug them around and having to flip back and forth rather than just click a bookmark is irritating. The lack of backlight makes my Kindle page just as easy to read as a printed page, but better for the environment.
So yeah – when people talk to me about how they love books and can’t POSSIBLY like an e-reader, I call bullshit. Read a book on a Kindle and if you’re not converted, I’ll believe you. I just don’t think it’ll happen.
You lose track of what day it is. My workout schedule has been derailed by full shifts of heavy lifting as well as epic redudancies in work tasks. Last night I had beers and bitchfest with some coworkers and it was SO OVERDUE. As a general rule, sitting around and complaining doesn’t help anything (and can frequently make it worse) but when you get to the point that you can actually laugh at all the crazy, you reach the win point. I think we all left feeling much better.
Michigan roadtrip is rapidly approaching. It’ll be nice to have a little break but I’m not looking forward to the humidity.
I got my hair trimmed yesterday and do you ever have that feeling where maybe it would have been a better idea to take the scissors to your own hair? Yeah. I was lazy and in a hurry so I went to Costcutters. The stylist sprayed down the edge of my hairline and starting snipping. To be fair I’ll have to wash and dry it to see what the actual results are but I’m not what I’d call “optimistic”.
I don’t remember it being such a pain in the ass to grow out my hair the last time.
Work fun fact:
The cantaloupe is apparently one of the world’s deadliest fruits. Because it is harvested and packed in mostly third world countries, without sanitation benefits in the field, and has a porous rind it is very hospitable to e coli. and a bunch of other delicious bacteria. Add to that, many places that prepare cut fruit don’t scrub the outside of a cantaloupe with a scrub brush before cutting into it, the awesome bacteria get into the fruit. YUM. I will never buy cut fruit again.
First, no blogging because I’ve been working like a dog – if a dog would climb up and down ladders all day carrying incredibly heavy cases of things like laundry detergent. Workouts have been rendered obsolete.
Second: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest came out this week.
It is no secret that I am a huge book nerd. That said, I cannot remember a time when I’ve been so anxious for a new release. This series of novels has been brilliant, intense, engaging and thought-provoking. You can’t say THAT about your average mystery book – which is what makes them brilliant. They are, on their face, a great series of mysteries. They are, but they’re SO MUCH MORE – incredible social commentary on prejudice, social justice and journalism. They are a bit like what The Wire was aspiring to in its last season of journalistic commentary, just as hard-hitting and tackling a wildly unpopular topic in abuse/mistreatment of women.
There are very few books I’ve recommended in the last several years as much as I’ve recommended these. I’m glad to hear there may be another manuscript floating around (despite the truly terrible treatment of Larsson’s partner) and I’ll be keeping an ear to the ‘net to see if it’ll be emerging.
First video attempt – let me know if it’s helpful or what I can do to make it better!
Yoga Journal has added video to their site that goes along with the issues! Check out this master class. Now the awesome is totally conditional: if they start charging for this in addition to subscriptions, it’s whack. That said, I wouldn’t be opposed to them making it subscription only but the best of all worlds is that they keep it free.
