Monday, May 09, 2011

Lifestyle Notes

Technology is destiny department:

  • It has been my habit these many years to go round with a backpack dangling from my right shoulder.  Trekking around Washington with the grandboys this week, I found myself leaving the pack at home.  In retrospect, I understand the reason: I always needed to lug books, or anticipated buying books.  But with Kindle and smartphone, who needs it?  Sidenote:  for a quick bit of downtime, I ducked into the Barnes & Noble on 12th Street near the National Press Building.  It was crowded--packed--but it seemed a bit shabby and shopworn.  Or did it always?
  • I realize that when I get home, I do not need to rush pellmell to check the my email.  After all, I've been checking it all day.
  • I am blessed/cursed with the capacity to read the smartphone Kindle app on that little tiny screen.  And it's backlit, so I can flip it on in the middle of the night without bothering the missus.   Which means I can entertain myself at any idle hour of the night with a few  minutes' reading-diversion.  I am not at all sure that this is a blessing.
 

1 comment:

Ken Houghton said...

"I am blessed/cursed with the capacity to read the smartphone Kindle app on that little tiny screen. And it's backlit, so I can flip it on in the middle of the night without bothering the missus. Which means I can entertain myself at any idle hour of the night with a few minutes' reading-diversion. I am not at all sure that this is a blessing."

I am. Of course, the difference becomes between "well, I can read for five minutes and try to sleep again" and "oh, no, I've just spent the past hour reading and now will never get REM sleep tonight." Late-night reading has to go from the latest Colm Toibin novel to the latest JEP paper--or short stories, as they become more available for Nook/Kindle. (The old Penguin 69p booklets--I think there was a US equivalent--would work well. See Amazon Singles as a sign that the company knows this.)