Preemtive Cleansing

Now that we're in the hunt for a new vehicle, my weekend task is to clean out the right half of our garage. The van was too tall to fit under the door, our new car will not be a van.

Words To Go

Day two with the Kindle.

Cool things: We were stuck in traffic. Mari pulls out her kindle and in moments is happily reading today's Washington Post. Later she was really into this new book she's reading. So instead of putting it down to cook dinner, she turns on the very well done reader (a computer voice that speaks out lout and surprisingly smoothly.) Thus while she cooks, she can listen to her book.

Not cool thing: Once you really start digging into the library, you'll find it disappointingly limited. Research returns that most publishers are trying to catch up, and in a year or so much of their back libraries will be e-book available. But for now, you aren't going to be replacing your books anytime soon. On the plus side, every book on Amazon now has a link just below it where you can request it to be made into an e-book. I don't know how effective that link is, but at least it's something.

You Win This Time Oprah, This Time

After playing with it for a half hour now, our early impression is that it lives up to the hype. I was a skeptic. Now I want my own. The thing is flat out cool. Amazingly crisp screen and great features. With very little setup it linked to Mari's Amazon account wirelessly, found a book she was looking for, and had it downloaded and on the screen before we could finish saying "It's downloading now." It screen saves to various pictures of famous authors.

Kindling Interest

Out of the stylish packaging came the second generation Kindle. Mari's Christmas gift only two months late. But it turned out for the best, we were supposed to get a first gen and got "upgraded" for no extra cost.

Amazon Arrival

A mysterious package with the Amazon logo was on our porch. The only clue to it's contents, the words "once upon a time" written on the pull tab used to open it.

The Scene

Our first People issue, complete with glossy cover. Very popular in other markets so we decided to do it here and it turned out nicely.

Whimsically Webbing

Coming soon to an internet near you (blur-O vision not required.)