Patience is a virtue

...or so they say.  Myself, I have none, so my opinion doesn't count.   Today I definitely don't have any, and it's resulting in a grouchy Shel.   Our DSL connection has been going out every 24 hours or so.   Thursday night I spent an hour on the phone with tech support, to have the guy tell me it's probably the modem.  Chris and I made plans to go to the nearest Comp Usa/Tiger Direct store to pick one up.  But then, it went out again last night while Chris was home.  HE got on the phone to tech support, and must have put the fear of something in them, because at the moment I'm waiting on a Saturday tech call.  Chris is convinced the problem is somewhere either in the box on the side of the house or on the pole, both of which would be the company's responsibility.  He's also determined that if he doesn't get a satisfactory answer to the problem, we're switching internet providers.  This doesn't exactly make me happy, as the only other high speed provider here is Comcrap, soon to be known as Xfinity.   I have several deep seated philosophical differences with Comcrap, but since both Chris and I do school online, a reliable internet connection is a necessity - and the DSL isn't doing it. 

The other thing I'm very impatiently waiting on is the new book releases for March 2.  Tuesday can't come quickly enough for me at the moment...

Kudos (and a rant)

Kudos to Kim Harrison, author of the Rachel Morgan "The Hollows" series.  This is one of my favorite paranormal series.  Kim is one of the many authors struggling with how to balance what her fans want, and what her publishers decide in regards to timelines for releasing ebook versions of her books.  Unfortunately, Harper-Collins made the decision to delay the ebook release of her newest title, "Black Magic Sanction" for two months after the hardback release.

So, why kudos to Kim, you ask?  Because she's set up a whole page on her blog for comments from her fans who want to share their opinions on that decision by her publisher.   Kim had less than no say in the publisher's decision, although I'd be willing to bet she'd have preferred her fans that choose to read in electronic formats to be able to have the book at the same time as the hardback release.  But she's willing to listen to the ranting from her fans, like me, who can't get their hands on the book until April 6th, even though she had nothing to do with the decision process, and is taking the flak that should rightfully be directed at Harper-Collins.

My own opinion?  Harper-Collins would have gotten the same money from me for an ebook version priced the same as the hardback if they'd released it on the same day.  To be blunt about it, they screwed Kim out of sales in that critical first week that might cost her a spot on the bestseller lists.

Macmillan did the same to Heather Webber during the "late unpleasantness" with Amazon.  Those Kindle "buy" buttons for Heather's new release, "Truly, Madly", were gone during that crucial first week, and to add insult to injury, Macmillan didn't distribute the book to any other online retailer so her fans could have gotten it elsewhere.  They screwed Heather out of sales figures that might make the difference on whether the series is continued or not.  And I'm betting they aren't going to take their own actions into consideration when making that decision, either.

The other issue here is:  I choose to read books in electronic format (ebooks).  I see the delayed release of ebooks to be nothing less than discrimination by publishers because of my preferred delivery method for reading material.   I wonder if  a lawyer might want to look at it in that light?  There'd be a hell of a lot of participation in a class-action lawsuit on those grounds...

Ooohhh!! Author Goodies!

A few weeks ago, Elizabeth Lynn Casey, author of "Sew Deadly" and the upcoming "Death Threads", asked for Facebook friend's opinions on promotional materials.  She got some good suggestions, and mentioned that some of the items were mailable, and if we would like, to send an address and she'd send us some of what she chose.  I might not have been first in line, but I'm betting I was pretty darn close to it!  I got some very sweet replies to my initial email enclosing my address, and in the process, she pointed me to her blog, which I now follow, and told me about Printer's Row Lit. Fest in Chicago - which I'm planning to attend assuming the stars align correctly and Chris doesn't have to work that weekend. 

Anyway, today an envelope arrived in the mail from an address I'm not familiar with - containing author goodies from Elizabeth!  A magnet, a bookmark, and a signed bookplate!  How cool is that? 

Spring Fever

I may be acclimating to wearing less clothing in lower temperatures, but one thing I can't seem to get over is Spring Fever hitting way way too early for Illinois.  We have at least another month of cold/snow/rain/slush/yuck.  It's currently 28 degrees F. here, and what do I want to do?  Open the windows!  It is sunny, and of course the sun coming through the glass is warm, but I know the second I open that window it's going to be FREEZING.  Doesn't stop me from wanting to do it anyway, though.

The cats have Spring Fever too.  They're back to yowling at the front door wanting out on the enclosed porch every morning when we get up.  We keep telling them it's still cold, but they just give us those feline stares that seem to say, "And so what if it is?  It's all your fault, fix it!". 

Another symptom of Spring Fever for me is wanting to start Spring cleaning.  NOT a good idea, when everything outside is still snow-covered, and every time we come in from outdoors, dirty snow comes in too.  I'm craving baby lettuces, and radishes, and green onions, and lots of veggies - mostly the stuff that it's way too early for here. 

Hurry up, Spring!!  My patience weareth thin...

Not a lot going on...

We didn't get the foot of snow they were predicting.  The roads are perfectly clear, and it's above freezing out.  I just did errands in sweatshirt and jeans, no coat.  I can tell that this Native Texan is acclimating to Illinois more and more - I had to turn off the heater in the Tracker and roll the window down today!  I think if it gets above 40 degrees anytime soon I'll take the Tracker down to the car wash and at least rinse some of the road grime and salt off. 
Got refunded last month's insurance payment, because we switched companies right after I paid the old company.  Which means I bought a couple of books!  
I got "Sink Trap" by Christy Evans, and "A Slice of Murder" by Chris Cavender.  I wouldn't have gotten "A Slice of Murder" if I hadn't had Rewards money at Books on Board, because the darn thing went from $7.99  when I added it to my wishlist to $15.30!   I ended up getting it for $8.30, but it blew most of my Rewards doing it.  Oh well.  I've noticed a lot of stuff on my assorted wishlists having huge price jumps.  Another piece of fallout from the Macmillan/Amazon fuss, I'm assuming.  Dont even get me started.
I have to work tonight, 5 - 10.  Not particularly looking forward to it, but it's a lot better since the CSA from hell left.

Today's news

The cold is to the stage where it feels like my sinuses are filled with sludge.  This is, however, a definite improvement over my nose running constantly, so I'll take it. 
We are under a Winter Storm Warning.  They're calling for up to a foot of snow - this on top of whatever we already have out there.  It's been steadily snowing since about 5 p.m. and my driveway is fast disappearing.  I'm really not looking forward to having to get out in it tomorrow.
Finished up both classes for this session.  I got an A in one, and probably a high B in the other.  Not too bad, though I'd have liked A's in both classes, of course.  Next up is Business Law and Critical Thinking.  Nine weeks until they expect me to do the impossible - the session where I have Accounting 2 and Database Management at the same time. 

Meet Li'l Bit

Before I introduce y'all to my newest companion; a bit of background explanation is in order here. I'm a geek, and I read ebooks.  The reason I went to all ebooks, all the time (well, most of the time, anyway, unless something just flat isn't available in ebook, and there are still some holdouts - a pet peeve of mine),  is a disastrous move from Texas to Illinois five years ago that resulted in me leaving an extensive book collection behind because of lack of money to ship them.  When I heard about ebooks, the sheer portability is what sold me, even more than the shiny new gadget factor.  I'd never have to worry about moving boxes of books again! And I'd never have to worry about lack of space for more shelves, either.  That last wasn't a huge concern, even though we live in a small house - Chris has told me from the beginning if I wanted the walls lined with bookshelves, all I had to do was say something and out would come the saw and wood.  But it's still a nice convenience factor. 

So, last year at tax time, Chris bought me an Astak EZ Reader.  I got a deal on it, it was a model that the company had ordered for the Consumer Electronics Show to display the device with colored shells.  Due to being a Mobile Read member, I had an inside contact in Robert Barry from Astak.   An EZ Reader is like a Kindle or a Nook or a Sony Reader.  It's an e-ink device, solely for reading ebooks and listening to audiobooks with.  I did extensive research and got lots of opinions from the fantastic people at Mobile Read before I made my decision.  And once I got it, I loved it!  2009 was quite a year for dedicated ebook reading devices.  Two different versions of Kindle came out, Barnes and Noble announced the nook, and  Sony announced and implemented a whole new line up of their Sony Readers.  Even the EZ Reader line got some upgrades, and switched to supporting a different DRM format.  The big problem with most e-ink devices is that they only support one or at the most two of the DRM'd formats.  If you want to read everything DRM'd, you'll have to use a PC.

Another huge feature of note about most dedicated ebook reading devices such as the Kindle, the nook, the Sony, and the EZ Reader/Pocket Pro is that they all use e-ink technology.  This is a technology that mimics ink on paper, and is not backlit.  In other words, you still need a light to read on one of these devices in a dark room.  Supposedly, e-ink is easier on your eyes than LED backlit LCD screens, but I have to say that personally, it makes no difference to me.  This technology (so far), only displays black and white.   Several companies such as Mirasol and Pixel Qi are working on this, but no devices on the market at this time have that technology.  The other big differences are that e-ink screens can be read in direct sunlight, and they get incredible battery life.

So, why, after all that, did I end up this year with an Asus T91MT convertible netbook/tablet? 

Well...I'd been looking at the Archos 9 tablet for awhile.  Drooling over it is closer, *laugh*.  I really liked the idea of being able to read every format natively, even without removing DRM, and I also liked the idea of a color screen for reading comics.   LCD vs. E-ink has never bothered me, as I've said, I personally can read on anything without a problem.  I very seldom need to read in direct sunlight, and battery life isn't much of an issue for me, either.  Every comfortable place to sit in this house is near enough to an outlet that I can plug in if needed.  I *might* run into a problem if we ever go on a long car trip, but since I don't know of one of those in my future, I'll cross that bridge if I need to.
But - the Archos 9 kept getting delayed (it was supposed to debut October 22, coinciding with the release of Windows 7), and it only comes with Windows 7 Starter Edition, which lacks several key touchscreen features.  It also got a price increase along the line. 

In November, Chris ran into a deal on an Acer Aspire One netbook.  Little workhorse, 11.6 inch screen, 2 gigs of RAM, 250 gigs of hard drive space.  He bought himself one, and then I tried it.  Decided on the spot that it would work admirably for an ebook reader, and was a ton cheaper than the Archos 9.  We went back and got me one, too.  And even though I loved the netbook, and it made a pretty good ebook reader, I found I still wanted a tablet form factor, or at least the option of one.  So, back to the drawing board.  

Chris and I researched, and debated, and researched some more.  Tax time came again, and it was decided that we'd sell my netbook and get me some sort of tablet.  It came down to the Asus T91MT for less than $500.00, or the Gigabyte 1028T for right at $700.00.  The Gigabyte had better hardware, but the Asus had multitouch and a lighter price tag.  The deciding factor was when I called over to the Tiger Direct store in Naperville and found that they had them.  To Naperville we went, *laugh*.   I've now had Li'l Bit for about two weeks, and I'm still discovering all it can do.  I installed an 8 gig SDHC card for book storage, and installed Calibre for ebook viewing.   Works like a charm. I can put it in tablet mode to read with, or swivel it into netbook mode for surfing.   I have color, and the ability to read any DRM'd format out there without converting hassles, if I so desire.  Christened "Li'l Bit" by Chris,  here's my new reading machine.

And here she is, in action, tablet form, running Calibre's ebook viewer.

News of the day

Well, I just found out some pieces of news that probably aren't as exciting to anyone else as they are to me.

Number one:  Nevada Barr's newest Anna Pigeon mystery will be released August 3, titled "Burn".
Number two:  Paint Shop Pro X3 is finally out.  They're offering it for $69.99 through the Corel website.
Number three: Handwriting recognition on my Asus T91MT (named Li'l Bit, for future reference) works like a dream.  I found this out completely by accident, I've had the device over two weeks now and never managed to play with that feature.  But I needed it to write down a phone number earlier, and didn't want to go find a piece of paper.  (Next post is a review/brag on Li'l Bit).
Number four:  The cold I've had since Wednesday night seems to have about run its course.  I think the worst of it was probably yesterday - now it's to the nuisance stage.
Number five:  I've just added my work-in-progress list of new book releases for 2010 as a new page. Look to the right to find the link.

Why am I reading three books at once?

...and am I getting the most out of any of them by doing it this way? 

In my typical backwards fashion, I'm going to answer the second question first and tell you that I don't have an answer!  Considering that I'm fighting a cold while attempting to keep up with the plots of three books, I suspect that the answer is probably "no". 

The "why" is a little easier.  I received my ARC of "Truly, Madly" from Goodreads last week.  I love Heather Webber's other series, and I've been hearing about this new one with Lucy Valentine for months, so I was eager to start it so I could post my review on Goodreads, which is requested if you win from them.  The day before "Truly, Madly" arrived, though, I had already started 'Town in a Blueberry Jam" by B. B. Haywood. I didn't want to just abandon that one...so then there were two.  And THEN... Dana Stabenow's 17th Kate Shugak novel, "A Night Too Dark" was released before I had time to finish either of the other two books.  Anyone who knows me at all knows that that one wasn't going to wait over two seconds from the time I got in my hot little hands.  So, that's why I'm currently reading three books at once. 
At the moment, all I can tell you is that "Truly, Madly" is a delight, and that "A Night Too Dark" had me laughing so hard last night that Chris (who was in the shower at the time) thought something was seriously wrong with me.  Once I convinced him it was all Dana's fault *evil grin* he was content to finish his shower and let me laugh.  

I'm not good at book reviews.  I know what I like, but as for critiquing writing styles and plot strategies, no thanks.  So y'all will probably hear about what I'm reading and what I like or don't like about it, but please, by no means take it as a definitive review!

Reflections

....on reading, technology, crocheting, cats, and life in general.  I don't guarantee regular posts, nor do I guarantee entertainment (other than my own).   But maybe, just maybe someone will find something worth reading once in a while.