I'm not one for devices. I could lose my cell phone tomorrow and not miss it. Sometimes I leave it in my purse and forget to check it for hours. HDTV? It's very nice, but I was fine with LDTV. I will, however, admit that I do love my iPod. And now I have another love. I got an Amazon
Kindle Fire (birthday gift). This morning it was 11:45 and I was still in dressing gown and
jammies. You know that engraving by
William Hogarth, "
Gin Lane"? Okay, see that woman on the stairs who looks quite inebriated and seems to have dropped her baby over the railing (the parallel does not continue to her exposed bosom, however--it's a cold morning and I was in flannel, thank you very much)? That was me this morning. But instead of a tin of snuff in her hands, imagine that she's holding a Kindle Fire. Kerchief askew, hair in disarray, goofy smile on her lips, environment a shambles...yup, me (well, maybe not the kerchief). Although I was not loaded on cheap gin (this time), I did have a dirty coffee cup on the table, a full dishwasher, and kids wandering around, wondering what was for breakfast ("I don't know--a cookie?"), while I browsed. I reserved two books at the real library, borrowed one book from Amazon's library,
and got a free 90-day subscription to Architectural Digest. I listened to some of my music (it's hooked up to Amazon's Cloud, so all my music is automatically on my Kindle) with the surprisingly good speaker. A waste of time? Perhaps. But so fun! If you are thinking of getting one, at this point I certainly recommend it (it's not been 24 hours yet since it arrived). No, I don't have any information on how well the battery lasts, etc. But it feels good in your hand--kind of heavy, kind of solid feeling. I've never felt an iPad, so maybe that's how it feels, too, but I don't know. It is intuitive to use (which is part of why I like the iPod so much), even for someone like me who isn't a techie person. So while some of its attributes (good hand-feel, ease of use) may be borrowed from Apple, the price is much better. I will use it for surfing, some reading (don't think I'll ever give up on paper), and playing on Amazon and the library website. With usage like that, $500 seems a bit steep for a notepad, which is I think about where the price starts for an iPad. The Kindle is $200, which is more manageable. Alright, well, I must put away the metaphorical rot-gut gin and attend to my duties, so that I can get back to doing...uh...other...things.
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