42 is the new [insert something culturally relevant here]

 
Yesterday was my 42nd birthday. I'm not one of the "29 again" people. I was born on Palm Sunday 1967 and it is what it is. I like where I am in life right now. Somedays I feel years younger than my chronological age and other days I feel decades older. It kind of comes with the territory of being "middle aged" I guess.

A few weeks ago I read on BoogaJ's blog about her new Kindle2. I had heard and read a few things about the first generation Kindle but it didn't really interest me at the time. But once I started reading the information and reviews about the new one I was very intrigued. I downloaded the Kindle App for iPhone/iTouch to my Touch to try it out. Pretty cool but I couldn't see myself reading a lot of books on the small screen.

It just so happened that Steve received an email from Amazon about the new Kindle at about the same time I had mentioned it. After 20 years together he's gotten VERY good at picking up my hints! ;) So on Monday evening I got to unwrap my very own addicting book geek gadget. I've already read my first book on it (John Grogan's The Longest Trip Home). It fits nicely into my purse, weighs next to nothing, and doesn't lose my place when I fall asleep reading it in bed at night. It is really easy to read and the font size can be changed which is really cool.

There are a lot of neat features that I haven't had time to really explore yet. It runs on a 3G network so I can download books anywhere and at any time. It also has a browser function so in theory I could go online with it but the screen is text only black and white so it would really only work for text based websites. I'm going to experiment and see if I can access and manage my etsy shop with it.

Will it replace paper books? Probably not. There is definitely a tactile connection missing that you get with books. But for travel reading or books you may be "embarrassed" to be seen reading in public (Twilight I'm looking at you!) it is perfect. It also has the ability to read aloud to you. So you could have it read to you while you are driving. (It also has an earphone jack so you can have it read to you without bothering others.) I think I can also load mp3's onto it and listen to music while reading. It also allows you to upload documents and pdf files to it so it could be used as a paperless knitting pattern.

 
Something else that I get a little kick out of is that when it goes into "sleep" mode it displays a line drawing of a famous author. Yesterday I also saw it go to an exquisite image from the Book of Kells. I haven't had it go back to that one yet so I don't have a picture of it. It seems to prefer Charlotte Bronte and Lewis Carroll.

  
I also tried to engineer and make a carrying case for it but it was full of fail. It did not turn out like I had envisioned AT ALL. I may just end up supporting a fellow etsy seller and order one of these.