Two Weeks with the Kindle and Counting...

I've had my Kindle for slightly more than two weeks now, and it has left my side only a few times. Well, during waking hours at least. Thanks to the brains behind this wonderful device that has made it very handy for people to read.

I simply love it, love it, LOVE IT!

Although I do not see myself completely forsaking the traditionally printed books, I am really having fun reading on this nifty little gadget of mine. Since I started using it, I've managed to polish off nine books already (on top of the engaging, albeit unauthorized, paperback version of Oprah: A Biography by Kitty Kelley, that I managed to finish in between):

• Three Weeks with My Brother by Nicholas and Micah Sparks -- part travelogue, part memoir, I found reading this quite restful. Maybe because I appreciated their descriptions of their travels to Guatemala, Peru, Easter Island, Cook Islands, Australia, Cambodia, India, Ethiopia, Malta and Norway.  And I could relate to the obvious close ties that the authors had with their family.
• Dark Secrets of the Vatican by H. Paul Jeffers -- there have always been conspiracy theories surrounding the Vatican and its inhabitants, from shady goings-on to naughty priests, to power plays and espionage, to Opus Dei and even the Nazis. It was actually quite entertaining.
• The Mango Season by Amulya Malladi -- this gave me an insight (however small it may be) into Indian society and the pressures put on younger people in how they choose their mates. In this day and age, we tend to take for granted that not all people have the freedom to choose who they marry. I am thankful for this freedom of ours.
• My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares -- this is the haunting story about a man taking up the threads of a line of lives through the centuries, always with his memories of his past lives intact, always coming back to loving a certain person, who unfortunately does not have the same strong recollections of him. How they meet and part through the centuries becomes the central theme of this poignant book.
• High on Arrival by Mackenzie Philips & Hilary Liftin -- a controversial book by a former child star and singer, who chronicled her unchecked upbringing, her rise to fame and fortune and her descent into the dregs of a life tainted by drink, drugs, and unhealthy relationships including one with her own, rock-icon, father. One wonders how parents could actually be so self-absorbed as to not care how these things affect their kids.
• Is It Just Me? Or Is It Nuts Out There? by Whoopi Goldberg -- a tongue-in-cheek book which lays out Whoopi's pet peeves in current society, running the gamut from being crackberries, to talking on the phone in public so loudly that everyone knows their story, to elevator etiquette. And yes, I do think that it is actually nuts out there.
• Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, books 1, 2 and 3 -- these are very, very easy to read. I used to snub them, but I wanted to try book 1 out at least. I finished it in about 2 hours. The next 2 books followed in short order. The series follows the lives of the unlucky Baudelaire orphans Violet, Klaus and Sunny, and their misadventures as they try to escape the clutches of the sinister Count Olaf. I still have 10 books to go in the series though.

It's so easy on the eyes as, thankfully it is not backlit, and quite light to carry. When I had to stay at home for a day last week due to severe colds and a wracking cough, I had my Kindle with me to keep me company when the kids were occupied somewhere else.

And now I seem to have started a mini-Kindle rage in the office. After seeing my Kindle encased in its gorgeous purple casing, and me singing its praises of course, four of my colleagues decided to go and order their own units. They're now waiting breathlessly.

You really gotta love the Kindle!

Thankful for Family

This weekend I  was again reminded of the importance of family, and spending time with them, and that children are kids only for a short while; so as parents we should grab hold of these fleeting moments as soon as they come. I am thankful for two little angels; and a husband who reminds me that my life has been so blessed.

My Kindle Has Arrived!

My Kindle 3 has arrived!

Yes, I finally buckled down and decided on a Kindle 3, after countless hours swinging between the Kindle vs. Nook pendulum. After placing the order on Amazon for the graphite, latest-generation 3G + WiFi Kindle I was on tenterhooks waiting for its arrival, tracking the package status via DHL. And it did arrive relatively quickly -- after only 4 days of waiting (seemed longer than that to me though) it was delivered to our house.

The Kindle can be charged in either of two ways: via a USB cable attached to a computer, or via the same USB cable attached to a power adapter. I've tried charging it via the computer; I'll try the power adapter option next, when the battery drains out.

Since I didn't want the Kindle to be scratched or dented (I'll probably hyperventilate when that happens), I chose a casing to protect it. It's in purple, of course -- what other color would I have chosen, hmm?

Once I had it in my hands I wasted no time in transferring my e-books and starting to read through one. When I showed it to my father, he was amazed that such a slim unit could hold upwards of 3000 books. Times have indeed changed, thanks to the exponential, year-on-year advances in technology.

The screen is so easy on the eyes, and looks like ink on paper. No glare, no squinting. Of course I can't read with it in the dark as it is not backlit, but the trusty bedside lamp is there to help.

I'm also amused by the screensavers -- the sketches of some of the world's literary giants (including Virginia Woolf, John Steinbeck, Alexandre Dumas, among others), as well as what appear to be random black-and-white images. Some Kindle users hate these images, preferring to have the flexibility to customise their own screensavers. That would be great indeed, but as far as I'm concerned, the literary stalwarts work just fine for now.

Here are the unboxing photos:

I'm extremely happy with my Kindle. It's such a handy gadget to have, esp. when travelling or on the road, one that lets me indulge in my love of reading without me having to lug around those extra volumes.

Will it totally replace my old-fashioned, printed books? Probably not, esp. for those books I would want a real, physical copy of. I'm just thankful for both options.

I've just found a new format that supports a more mobile lifestyle, but nothing still beats the feel of holding a printed book, the smell of paper, the crackling of the pages.

Now excuse me while I go read.

Being Thankful for My Mother

I had not cleaned up the Sent Items folder in my mobile phone for a week or so, which led to it becoming full. Which led to the system automatically deleting the oldest text messages in the folder. Which then made me a tad bit upset.

Not because I am unnaturally attached to my sent messages per se, but because those deleted items held a deeper meaning for me: they were messages I had sent to relatives the day we last had our mother here with us. Those messages somehow gave me a continued connection, albeit a tenuous one, to the events of that day, the 18th of May 2010.

From the time when I let my aunt know that our mother, her sister, had just about stopped responding, or appeared to stop responding, to words and sounds and touch... to the time when her breathing changed patterns... to when her blood pressure fell to 90/60 but the nurses could not get a pulse reading... to when we were asked by the doctor if we wanted extraordinary measures... to the time when we prayed the rosary by her bedside and she peacefully left this world right around the end of our prayers.

These are all still so clear in my mind.

Some might think that it's unhealthy for me to cling to memories of that day, or that those text messages were just ephemeral symbols. Maybe so, but they represented something that I can never have again, not in this lifetime. They were my connection to that last day when I still had a mother, here, on earth, living.

I'm feeling nostalgic and sad and regretful all at once. I keep thinking that I should have moved those messages into a separate personal folder in my phone. But that's all water under the bridge now.

Whether I have those messages in my phone or not, the memories will always remain. And I believe that Mama would not have wanted me, or my sister, or our father, to feel sad whenever memories of her come to mind.

I am thankful that we had her as a mother; with all her quirks and sometimes-overprotective manner, I appreciated her all the more when I became a wife and a mother myself. I realized it was not as simple and easy a task as I had imagined it to be.

I am thankful that she got to know her two granddaughters, even though the toddler was still so young when our mother passed on.

I am thankful that we were given the gift of time to spend with her in her last months, in her last days, in her last moments.

I am thankful that she passed on in a state of grace.

I can't help missing her still.

Kindle or Nook?

Kindle or Nook?

Ah, a very serious question for me indeed. One that has consumed the better part of my Internet surfing hours this weekend.

Bookworm, bibliophile, bookaholic. Yep, that's me. I had seen a Kindle in the past, and read about the Nook as well, but I always maintained that it would be next-to-impossible to replace the feel of an actual book in one's hands, its solid weight comfortingly real. E-books held their own attraction, but nothing could pull me away from the good old-fashioned book.

Then I started to pore over the specs of these e-readers. I was hooked, the quasi-techie that I am. Each has its own pluses and minuses: Amazon's Kindle has its much-vaunted Pearl E-ink technology, with a display very closely approximating the printed page, and this goes very easy on the eyes, literally. Reviews state that downloading books is a cinch, even in the Philippines, there is free 3G access, and that battery life lasts for 3-4 weeks. Of course, all of these are over and above the fact that the Kindle is Amazon's #1 bestseller at the moment, with the most number of 5-star reviews. As it aims to replicate the physical-book reading experience, the display comes only in black (and shades of gray) and white. There is no expandable memory, although 4 GB is certainly nothing to sneer at.

The Nook Color is a beauty, no question about that. With full-color display and an expandable memory (up to 32 GB), this would've been a hands-down choice for me. These features come at a slight premium over the Kindle's price though. The big downside for Barnes & Noble's product though is that B&N do not ship internationally to the Philippines, and that downloading Nook-Books requires a credit card with a US address, something that I definitely do not have. I'm still trolling the Web for work-arounds.

And so I sat browsing the Amazon and B&N catalogs for the e-readers, covers, and available books.

Ah, my self-imposed snobbery on e-readers appears to be crumbling now.

This is a Good Evening

We just had a lovely meal of beef burgers (made by my sister and brother-in-law) -- the homemade kind, mind you, complete with do-it-yourself trimmings: mayo, mustard, catsup, sweet onions, lettuce, tomatoes, grated queso de bola. Lip-smacking indeed! The hamburger buns that were supposed to go with our dinner suddenly sprouted molds though -- before the expiry date! Arrgh! No matter, there was trusty white bread anyway. Yummy!

The kids are happily splashing away in the tub for their bathtime, playing with some toys and sloshing water at each other.

Hubby and I managed to get home quite early, with some time to rest and read and do whatever tickles our fancy.

This is life. Thanks be to God.