I'm Kindling

I bought a Kindle from Amazon a couple of weeks ago and it is fantastic. Reading has become more difficult for me over the last couple of years, partly due to the optic nerve damage and nystagmus from my MS. I have a hard time tracking words on a page, especially when I'm tired, so often I have to re-read passages to get everything. I've started so many books in the last couple of years and not finished them because it was becoming so frustrating and difficult to read.

Sam and I had been thinking about picking up large print books but that just seemed depressing. And there wasn't a good selection of books from which to choose.

When the Amazon debuted the Kindle in November 2007 I was intrigued. I added it to my Amazon Wish List and took it off a couple of times over the last year. It seemed like a lot of coin to pay for an ebook reader and I wasn't sure if it would help. Well, I took the plunge a couple of weeks ago with the help of a $50 coupon and a couple of gift cards and I'm back to the books.

Some of the great Kindle features are the variable text size options, built in dictionary that you can access from the page you're reading, built in web browser and access to Wikipedia, and an MP3 player so you can listen to music on headphones while you're reading. The books are delivered wirelessly to your Kindle within a minute of ordering them from Amazon's website or the Kindle store on the Kindle. If you have Word, text, jpeg, tiff, gif, or PDF files you would like to view on your Kindle you can email them to Amazon and they will format them for the Kindle and send them to your device. How cool is that?

One of the best features is being able to download the first chapter of any book so you can see if you like it. There's something nice about being able to thumb through a book in a bookstore and being able to read the first chapter of a book is a pretty good substitute.

There are several online sources of free ebooks and you can download those to your PC/Mac and transfer them to the Kindle via USB connection. I've found alot of the classics on Feedbooks.com and now have dozens of free books on my Kindle. The Kindle holds about 200 books so I'm fine for now but if I start to run out of space I can insert an SD card to add storage.

There are dozens of newspapers and magazines that you can subscribe to for regular delivery or individual issue download. I'm enjoying a two week free trial of the New York Times delivered every morning. I'm not sure if I'll keep it but I may download the Sunday edition if we don't pick up a paper copy.

The Kindle screen is easy to look at for long periods of time. I've spent a few hours reading several times over the last two weeks and haven't experienced any eye fatigue or headaches. Yea! I'm about halfway through The Story of Edgar Sawtelle and am thoroughly enjoying my reading time.

I'll post an update on my Kindle use in a month or two. So far it's love at first Kindle.

Phonebanking for Obama

A few days days ago Sam & I signed up to phonebank for Obama. We had a morning soccer game to watch yesterday morning (Arsenal vs Stoke at 10am, miserable result) so we signed up for the 1pm to whenever shift. We were going to meet a fellow Arsenal fan at Jovita's Mexican Cafe on South 1st to make our calls, with mobiles and chargers in hand.

We arrived at Jovita's just after 1pm to find an empty parking lot and Jovita's doors locked. I thought, "You've got to be f'ing kidding me!" We decided to head over to the Obama headquarters on I35 to find another way to help out and when we arrived I asked to talk to the person who organized the Jovita's phonebank. When we found her she said she was surprised that there were people showing up with the same obervation, that they'd gone to Jovita's only to find that it was closed. She had listed the wrong day on the Obama sign up site, it should have been Sunday.

Come on people. There's too much at stake to make this kind of clerical mistake when people are signing up to spend their weekends trying to help out.

But I digress. We got our phone call scripts, tips on what to say and what not to say, and lists of registered voters in battleground state North Carolina. I called area codes 910 (the Fayetteville area) and 828 (the Charlotte area). I mostly got voicemails and I left detailed messages reminding the voters that if they hadn't yet voted that yesterday was the last day of NC early voting and reminded them of NC polls' hours on Tuesday.

About half of the people I spoke with had already voted which was great to hear. Three of the people I spoke with were McCain supporters; one woman's reponse made me chuckle to myself. I'd called to speak with her daughter who was out but when I said that I was a volunteer with the Obama campaign she almost gasped and said "Oh hon, we're really not interested at all. No, but I thank you for the call." She was trying so hard to be polite, which she was, but I could hear the disdain bubbling up. I thanked her for her time and wished her a lovely weekend.

The voters on the list were listed by address so couples and families were grouped together. I got to one couple and asked for "John" or "Jane". It was John who answered and after I got through my introduction he said that he had already voted but his girlfriend hadn't and he said that I needed to speak with her. He passed the phone to her and she sheepishly admitted that she hadn't voted yet and she sounded surprised when I told her that this Tuesday was election day. She committed to voting and we verified her polling place so she knew exactly where to go. I asked her if she would need a ride but she was fine, they were within walking distance. Yea, one more vote!

We may go phonebank again this afternoon although I'm tired and behind on house chores. We may try Jovita's this time since we know they'll be open this time around. The final push... we've got to do it.

Si, se puede.