Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Welcome to the Dark Side

For Mother's Day, I hit the mother lode of swag with my custom, recyclable tote bag (complete with a poem that's seriously hilarious in that vein that only nine-year olds can write), breakfast prepared for me (tea, a boiled egg and toast) and a Kindle.

 All of my presents rate high on the awesome scale because I am a tote bag maven and have quite the collection ranging from my recyclables from both the last RWA national conference and my local public library to my sturdier canvas chic JASNA AGM bag. ( Does that make me a bag whore?  Hmm).    My pretty new bag has been tagged to serve as my library books/research materials repository.  Hopefully that will help to keep me a bit better organized on that front.  The breakfast goes without saying since tea and toast is perfection in the way of a morning meal for me.  The boiled egg was just icing on the cake as far as I'm concerned.  But where I'm really going to need an intervention is with the Kindle 2.  

A true test of my capacity to control my urges lies in the offing with my new eBook reader.  The features are all full of win for me:  the 3G wireless network that can be turned on or off and which makes either accessing the web or ordering books that much easier, the 2G hard drive capacity for up to 1500 books, the keyboard, the lack of glare when reading outside, the bookmarking and annotating feature and the 5 point controller for navigation.   If I had a complaint to make it would be that I would like it to be backlit.   I know that there are many features that I haven't mastered in the two and half days of ownership but I'm totally excited about having it.   I mentioned a while ago that I was on the fence about eBook readers because I'm a book lover from way back.  I love the way books feel in my hand, love that smell that emanates from the paper.   But I'm totally on board with being able to carry a boatload of books hither and yon all in the slim and sleek confines of my Kindle.  

I still haven't figured out how to send myself a document yet so if anyone has any tips on that or of any kind, I'm all ears.  

10 comments:

Marilyn Brant said...

Happy belated Mother's Day, my dear!!! Wow...a Kindle 2--I can imagine you reading everywhere, and I'll bet it's a wonderful thing! My lack of tech-savvyness holds me back a bit with new devices (hey, I'm still working on figuring out the features on my digital camera :), but I'm sure you'll master all commands in a few days. Everyone I know who has them LOVES them!

Pamala Knight said...

Thanks Marilyn. I hope your Mother's Day was lovely too.

On the one hand, I'm very excited and hope that my enthusiasm doesn't translate into me having to ask someone to sell my house back to me at market value over the Amazon bill *grins*. On the other hand, I kind of feel like a traitor because I DO love books that I can hold in my hand. I love seeing the covers (like your upcoming tasty morsel), smelling the paper and ink, feeling the spine, etc. I'm sure you know what I mean.

Let's hope I can find the middle ground between restraint and ruination with the new Kindle. Thanks for dropping by. Hope to see you again soon.

moonrat said...

i have NOT buckled yet on the Kindle thing. let me know how it goes :)

Pamala Knight said...

C'mon MoonRat! Fold already! Give in and come tumbling down like a house of cards already. I need a cohort to navigate the Kindle-related waters with me. ;-).

Nancy J. Parra said...

Oh, Happy Mother's day-

A Kindle, I am in awe- *sigh* what are you going to do with your bookshelves?

Cheers!

Pamala Knight said...

Hey Nancy!

Have no fear for my bookshelves--remember, I still have a plethora of books which aren't going anywhere. The Kindle will probably keep me from needing to install bookshelves in the guest bedroom, though. Or not.

~Sia McKye~ said...

I've been considering buying one just haven't yet. So I always enjoy hearing what people think of them.

What a sweet mother's day you had. Fortunately, we actually had electricity Mothers Day. We had a tornado go through our property that Friday. Very scary but all living things were safe, thankfully. But I got breakfast made for me, which was special. My son knowing I love silk floral arrangements go me one with some beautiful white roses. Both husband and child decided to treat me to a movie--Star Trek, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Pamala Knight said...

Hi Sia!
Sounds like your Mother's Day was great. I'm trying to make my way to the new Star Trek movie and might have to do a matinee if I don't get there soon.

So far, I'm still loving my Kindle. It's easy to navigate, the books download seamlessly and the battery has done what it was rumoured to do (lasts longer if I turn off the wireless function). I still haven't figured out the documents, but then again, I'm also not in a panic to work on my manuscript on my Kindle. I'm woefully attached to my notepads written out in longhand or my laptop.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you around again. *waves*

Robin said...

Hi, Pamala! I never thought I'd want a Kindle, but this past weekend I saw one for the first time, and was uh, very impressed. The screen was larger than I thought it was and the guy who had it had nothing but good things to say. I'll never ever give up buying actual books, but I can see the appeal of having lots and lots of reading material at your fingertips in one easy to hold device.

I hope you're enjoying it!

Pamala Knight said...

Hey Pam! I'm still loving my Kindle and haven't had to resort to bankruptcy court to settle my Amazon bill yet. The initial complaint that I wished it were backlit is still in place, but I'm trying to adapt and overcome. I bought one of those little clip on light things (at the Dollar store no less) and that seems to have solved that problem.

My book love still abounds too. I had a lovely outing with our Marilyn at Borders the other day and dropped some cash on books for my two boys and for a couple others that I wanted for myself and which were on sale. Bookstores should have no fear of the eBook revolution from me--I'll still line up with my coupon and membership card to purchase paper pages.

Thanks for stopping by!