It's Not Always About the Kids!

Today's post is 99% unrelated to the things that have consumed my life for the last 2 years... Frenchies, Adoption, Babies, China, and Adoption... or worded another way, Adopting a Frenchie and a baby from China. It pretty much sums up what I've spent my time thinking and doing.

Today, I'm bringing you an almost Ian free blog post to talk about my newest baby...My brand new Amazon Kindle!

Now that we've been home for 3 months and are starting to settle into our comfy little life, I realized it was high time that I get back into some of my "pre-Ian" habits. That means exercising a little bit more (made easier by the Bowflex and free weights we bought right after coming home) and having more "me" time, which I don't really give myself very often. Now that Ian gets up at 5:30am, he's asleep no later than 6pm...giving me about 4 hours before bed to do things without little fingers in the way... Quiet chores, internet surfing, email, extra work left over from the day...and my #1 habit from my old life: reading. I used to put away a couple of books a week, typically with a fiction and non fiction book going at the same time. After we returned from China I didn't turn a single page.

One thing I can't resist is new technology, so with the release of the Amazon Kindle, I became very interested in reigniting my reading habit with what I think will ultimately be a huge step in making e-readers mainstream. I've been close to buying other e-readers in the past, but was afraid of changing file types, DRM, and lack of best sellers for something that would ultimately become obselete. With the Kindle backed by Amazon, the best online book reseller (among other things...I buy tons from Amazon), I felt confident that I wouldn't be left with a bunch of worthless files in 5 years. Think IPod but for books. Most people said MP3 players would never get off the ground. Apple changed all of that. I think Amazon has the ability to do that for books, too.

Once I'd decided to make the leap and buy one, I found that the backlog for the Kindle is huge. I decided to get on the waiting list and wait it out, but impatience got the best of me and I found myself on Ebay and in an auction for a brand new sealed, unregistered Kindle... with less than 5 minutes left to bid. I placed a bid with a minute to go, fully expecting one of the two top bidders' reserves to immediately beat me. 30 seconds later, I refreshed and saw the "Congratulations!" banner. I'd snuck in and won the auction for $6 over the Amazon price with $15 shipping and no tax, meaning I got my Kindle for $3 less, net, than if I had placed my order on Amazon. That was Monday and it arrived today!

I put it down long enough to log on and write this post, watch Survivor and Lost...and then I'll be back to it. It truly is the addiction everyone promised it would be.

Amazon has a great description of it's features, but essentially, it's a 10 ounce, paperback sized device that uses E-Ink technology, meaning I'm not reading a backlit monitor style screen, which is what kills my eyes about PDA's and monitors. It is truly a words on paper-like solution, which revolutionizes reading digital media. It's also just as easy to read in bright light, which makes it great for vacations (when I actually get one...where I'm not chasing a toddler around the whole time).

It's onboard memory holds approximately 200 books and can support added memory for more if necessary. Amazon has almost 100,000 books for it so far, most for less than half the list price available for download. It's a little hard to essentially re-buy books I have already, but haven't read...and buying books can be done instantly and wirelessly directly from the device, which makes it almost TOO easy to buy books. The coolest thing, in my opinion, is that I can browse on the Kindle for any available book and get a free 3 chapter sample within a few seconds...from almost anywhere in the US... So, if I'm in the grocery store waiting in line and see a new book on an endcap...think it looks interesting... do a quick search, in a few seconds for it on my Kindle... read a review... and download a sample. Before the checker scans my first item, I'm starting the first chapter of the book. Cool.

What I will miss is the feel of turning pages. There is something about holding a book in your hands and watching the left hand side get thicker than the right, slowly but surely. Some books that are purchased with much anticipation have a different feel than casually purchased books. I'll miss those. Also, I do fear that I will forever feel like I'm on page 1. It is hard to tell how I'll gauge my reading progress.

There are a bunch of other features I haven't mentioned, and it has a few cons, but after only having it for a few hours, I already have 5 books purchased and about 40 samples loaded. It will be an amazing change to lugging books around on vacation and will make taking a handful of half read books anywhere with me a snap. Now, I'm not sure how I'll read in the hot tub at the gym...or in the pool at my parent's house, but I'm sure they'll come up with some kind of cover given enough demand for one. Otherwise, a zip lock bag might be my best option.

That's my Ian-Free rant... Now, if you've still reading, here's an Ian/Polli tidbit:

Polli is normally really good about going about her business as usual after Ian goes to sleep, but tonight, she kept going to his door, sniffing under it, and then whining and scratching at the door. At one point, she looked at me with panic in her eyes and all I could think of was Lassie. "What's that girl? Ian's trapped in the crib slats?". So I took the risk and we went in his room, looked around in the dark, saw that he was sleeping soundly and still breathing, and I ushered her back out in the hall before he could wake up and see me standing there, which wouldn't make a fun night for anyone. The picture below is what Polli has been doing for the last hour. She misses her brother, I guess... Either that or Ian's Diaper Genie needs to be emptied!