My latest obsession

Amazon started selling this ugly little device a while back called the Kindle. It's an e-reader, basically an electronic book. This isn't a new concept, it's just a concept that's largely failed. People don't like reading books on computers or computer like devices. They hurt the eyes.

Well, I've done some obsessive research on the Kindle and it turns out that it doesn't use a traditional computer screen where pixels turn different colors to create an image. Instead, it uses electrified pigments that are basically ink, which can be arranged to create an image that looks just like a page in a book. There's no backlight, so it's easier on your eyes, and you can read in the sun, or with the light in your room because there's no glare.

Okay, so what's the big deal? Why not just buy the book? Here's a few reasons:

• With the available memory the Kindle will hold 200 books. With an added memory card, you can hold much, much more.
• You can browse the Amazon library and download any book within a minute. Every purchase is backed up online so if you delete the book, you can redownload it later for free.
• You download the book directly from Amazon to the Kindle without the need for a computer, using Sprint's high speed data network. And you don't have to pay for the download service, just the book (of course, any data charges are probably hidden in the price of the book, but that's better than having to pay just to browse the store).
• Most book prices are cheaper than the hard copy book. Hardcovers are mostly $9.99, books that have been out a while can be $7 or cheaper.
• You can have up to six Kindles registered to an account. That means that me and Emily could both have one, and any purchase we make gets shared between the Kindles. So if I buy the next Stephanie Plum book, she has it for no extra charge on her device and we can read them at the same time.
• If you're on vacation, at an airport, or at home and have just finished a book and want it's sequel, you can buy it right then. No waiting, no trip to the store, no shipping and handling charge.
  

Why I will wait to buy a Kindle:

• Even after the recent price drop, the Kindle costs $359, or about a hundred more than I paid for my iPod (or $40 less than the iPhone).
• Most the books on my wish list aren't yet available on the Kindle. I'm sure Amazon, just like Apple, is having to negotiate with publishers to get books available on the device. The nice thing is they have a little "I want this on Kindle" button under each title so you can request the publisher make the book available.
• Rumors are that the next version of the Kindle will come out some time next year at a price of $249-$299. That seems a much better price for the device.

And finally, what will make or break the Kindle. Well, I think it's like Apple and the iPod. Apple didn't really anything unique with building an MP3 player. Sure, the first generation iPod had more memory and a screen you could read, but it was an MP3 player. What really made the iPod work for Apple was the iTunes store.

With the iTunes store, you could buy almost any song for 99 cents, or, an entire album for $9.99. That's much cheaper than going to the mall or even Wal-Mart for the CD. But the price drop wasn't what made the iPod fly, either. Even if you're saving $5 per CD, figuring you just spent $250 or so you wouldn't pay for the device until you'd bought about fifty albums.

But you could fit those fifty albums on one device that you could take anywhere. Apple bought loyalty to both the iPod, the store (iTunes), and more people than ever are buying Mac computers.

What will make or break the Kindle is the store. If Amazon can convince publishers to make books available in the electronic format for less than the paper version, they'll be able to lock in a certain demographic of customers.

Critics have said that the book market is not a growing market and Kindle won't create more readers. Well, duh. I doubt the iPod created more people willing to buy music rather than listen to the radio. What Kindle has the chance to do is get the people who read to read more, because it'll be more convenient to access the material.

I love reading, and I even like going to Barnes and Noble to browse books. I'm irritated, though, having to search for titles they may have in stock or try to determine whether or not I'll like the book. The business model that works for Amazon is that I can read the description of a book, read customer reviews, and even get suggestions on other books I might like based on what I own and what I look at on the site. The downside is shipping, which even on a used book is $3.99, and having to wait. Kindle takes out the shipping cost and the delay in getting your book.

So, ask me next year when the next version comes out, and I might let you take a look at mine.

Little things that can really screw up your day

We have a Sonic not too far from our house. Just about every time I try to go before work the line doesn't move for five minutes so I have to leave and be upset that I didn't get what I wanted. So today I left half an hour early so I could get an orange slush. It took ten minutes to get my drink, and what do I get? A Coke. I hate Coke. I was so pissed I cursed. Several times. And I'd already pulled out of line so I would have had to sit in line for another ten minutes to correct my order. So I got to work and poured it down the drain and now I get to slurp on water all night.

Grr.

What you can buy with $700 Billion (a semi political blog)

The US government is debating a $700 billion buyout of our financial lenders. To understand how much money this is, here is a list I found on the internet of what you can buy with that much money:

What does $700 billion actually buy?

It is tough to wrap your brain around how much money it is, so we've tried to put things in perspective for you. (All figures are estimates)

You could buy 21 new Marlins Stadiums for EACH COUNTY in the state of Florida

You could buy braces for everyone in Great Britain.....and France!

You could buy all 32 NFL teams - 27 times

2 cups of Starbucks every day for a year for every person in Brazil

Gasoline for a year for every adult in America. (175 billion gallons of gas)

You could literally buy the world a Coke. One 2-liter bottle per week for a year.

You could buy a 60-inch HDTV for every man, woman and child in the U.S.

Sounds like Monopoly money? It should. You could buy 10 Monopoly games for each of the 6.7 billion human beings on planet earth.

You could buy 7 Mac laptops for every school-age child in U.S.

You could buy every adult in Miami-Dade County an average priced house

Rolex watches you could buy 1 for every woman in the U.S.

You could buy everyone in America 2200 McDonalds apple pies.

Disney tickets: 8 (3-day) passes to Disney for the entire U.S. population

10 four-year degrees from the University of Florida for every child under 18 in South Florida

You could buy 373 basketballs for every child in the U.S.

Sun Sentinel newspapers Two and a half years of 7-day subscriptions for every person in India

You could buy a brand new Hummer for each of the 11 million people on the island of Cuba

You could buy 2 mountain bikes for everyone in China

You could buy every winner of the MTV Video Music Awards 10,000 Lear Jets

You could buy 438 pounds of rice for every single person in Africa.

You could buy 200 four-packs or Play-Doh for every child under 14 on the planet

You could buy 400 trees for every one of the 7 million homes in the state of Florida

You could buy a Caribbean Island for every single person in the state of South Dakota.

1.5 million lightbulbs for every person in Alaska

Entire population of South Florida could cruise around the world continuously for 8.4 months

Rent

After fourteen years, the little musical that no one thought would make it is closing on Broadway. They filmed the last performance and are viewing it at some select theaters nationwide.

I'd never seen the stage version before. Rent has always been important to Emily but she never let me watch the movie with her because she thought that I wouldn't like it and even more, that I'd make fun of it. Well, I'd heard the soundtrack a few times, but that doesn't really do it for me. I need to see a show to like it or not.

This previous Valentine's Day I had to take Emily to our capital, Jefferson City, for Nurse's Day. She had hurt her ankle and couldn't walk, so while she was at the capital, I was tooling around putting together a little Valentine's Day celebration. One of the things I got for her was the movie version of Rent. We watched it that night, and let me tell you, I loved it.

But again, I'd never seen the stage show. It came to Starlight last year for two shows but I had to work both nights. When I heard they were viewing the last performance from Broadway, I was excited. Even if it was $15 a ticket. Let me tell you, except for the song Contact (which you can close your eyes and hum through) it is a really good show. There's just so much energy and you can really relate to these people.

So if you've ever seen the show or movie and want to see it again, or even for the first time, it's showing at some theaters the 25th, 27th, and 28th of this month (tonight, Saturday, and Sunday).

And, some exciting news, Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp (the original Roger and Mark) are taking the show on tour starting in January. So we're thinking we'll have to go see it live. Some of the cities it's going to are: Chicago, Dallas, Austin, St. Louis, Charlotte NC, and Tampa FL. The whole list is at www.siteforrent.com and some tickets are already for sale.

Tipping: A City in China

I went for my semi-monthly haircut (I really need a cut every two weeks, but only go every six, but that's another matter) and was faced with my old dilemma. The tip.

You see, I understand tipping at a restaurant. You pay for your food, you tip for your service. So you can give instant feedback on bad service. You punish through your tip, or lack thereof. And you don't have to fill out your tip until you're ready to leave, so it's passive aggressive too.

I don't understand the need to tip a haircutter and for years I didn't even know you were supposed to. After enough expectant, and even some dirty, looks I realize that yes, they want a tip. But why? I'm paying for the service. I don't tip my mechanic. Why do they want more money? What extra am I getting? Conversation? That's not worth the money.

But I do tip. When you're dealing with someone who holds sharp instruments near your head, you should treat them right. And I've seen Sweeney Todd, so you should also bring your family.

I guess I could take the more aggressive route that was suggested by Dwight on "The Office". I could only tip for things I can't do. So waitressing? No tip, because I can do that. Though I'd be a waiter because I'm a guy. But I would tip for a proctologist, because I can't, or more accurately, WON'T, do that on my own.

Last night I met Alice Cullen

Last night I had a dream about Alice Cullen. The details are pretty hazy, but I think we were in some sort of diner. She wasn't eating, of course. Like most dreams, when you wake up most of what actually happened dissolves pretty quick, leaving only impressions. So these are my impressions.

Alice is just as nice as you'd think she'd be.

Alice is just as attractive as you'd think she'd be.

I figure a lot of people probably dream about what they read, but I don't seem to. In fact, I rarely remember dreams and they usually involve people I know in person. Except those dreams I have of Rhia hating me (okay, I finally had one where you liked me, Rhia :)

As many times as I've read the Harry Potter novels, I think I've only had one dream in that world. And It's been a few weeks since I finished the Midnight Sun excerpt. Maybe my brain is just that far behind on filing away information.

So do any of my readers have dreams about fictional characters?

Oh, and is Stephenie Meyer working on anything else? I know she was working on Midnight Sun, but I wonder if she's working on anything else. I really liked The Host, but that didn't seem to be a novel that would inspire sequels.

No Means No

I'm reading Pride and Prejudice right now and I'm about 1/3 of the way through. Mr. Collins has just asked Elizabeth to marry him, to which Elizabeth said no. He persists saying that most women reject a man on his first attempt to build his anticipation or get them to try harder or just because rich girls from 18th century England were silly. Elizabeth is a very blunt kind of woman. She doesn't play games.

Mr. Collins just doesn't get it. When a woman tells you no, that's exactly what it means.

If I ever were in the singles game again and asked someone to marry me, if she said no I'd get the point and move on. Of course, I'm so terrified of rejection that the woman may be the one proposing to me.

When I was dating Emily she asked me more than once when I was going to propose to her. I told her I wanted to take the time to make the decision right. I mean, we'd been dating less than a month.

My problem was that every girl I had ever dated I wanted to marry. Of course, I'd never dated a woman longer than a week before. I generally could figure out pretty quick that a relationship wouldn't take me to where I wanted to be and didn't waste time and trauma on it.

So yeah, Elizabeth is not one of those women who are playing hard to get. She just doesn't like you. And that's okay because she falls in love with Mr Darcy. And she's your cousin. And you're her minister. But that's another issue altogether.

What do you want the country to be (A political blog)

In this election there are quite a few differences among the two presidential candidates. I just want to illustrate a few along the lines of what the government should be responsible for.

In a recent speech, Barack Obama said he wanted to make government cool again. He said that it was government that gave us the Civil Rights Act, Interstate highways, and national parks. Okay. The government may have passed the legislation enacting the Civil Rights Act, but it was the citizens, men and women like Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa Parks, who fought for those rights. Ordinary citizens fought and forced the government to act. Just like ordinary citizens worked for Women's Sufferage (right to vote) in the 1920's.

And sure, Dwight Eisenhower got the interstate system started, but it was paid for by citizens. The same as the park system. Obama shouldn't pat the government on the back too hard. It's us, the average tax payers who have paid for these things, not a couple hundred greedy idiots (Congress) that did it for us.

Here are some of the things Obama wants the government to spend money on, and my response afterwards:

• A $65 billion-a-year health plan. This is socialized medicine. This is the same plan that has failed everywhere it's tried. Sure, your healthcare if free (if you don't count the fact that your taxes are going to jump), but will you actually get in to see a doctor? If you want to understand how socialized medicine works, look at Medicaid patients. A Medicaid patient will typically go to an ER for a minor cough because the ER is free to them, Robitusson costs $5. If you don't have to pay, you won't take responsibility.
• $15 billion in green energy spending. This is a hoax. All the "green" stuff you see is just the corporate world buying into the global warming theory. Did you know that to create a hybrid battery for a car you actually cause more pollution than that car will ever save? The parts for these batteries come from all over the world, get shipped to Japan or wherever, then shipped back to the sales lot. More pollution to make you "think" you're saving the world. This also includes wind power which is much more expensive than traditional power. You think your heating and cooling bills are bad now? Just wait. And I notice Obama doesn't support nuclear power, which is safe and clean. John McCain does.
• $85 billion in tax cuts and credits. Great. I like tax cuts. The credits, on the other hand, will probably go to the lower class who don't pay taxes anyway. The problem with this is that with all the extra spending Obama proposes, you'll never get a tax cut, even if you're in the middle class. Bill Clinton promised a middle class tax cut too. Instead, he raised taxes on everyone. But people like Obama know they can't expect to be elected if they tell the truth. They can make promises to help the middle class and punish the wealthy, but that's not how it will happen. I notice Obama doesn't even talk about balancing the budget. But then, the mess our budget has gotten into over the last eight years probably makes that impossible at this point. At least John McCain wants to combine tax cuts with cuts to spending.
• A $25 billion-a-year increase in foreign aid. In other words, more money to people who will hate us and hurt us if they can. Money to tsunami victims who hate the US and blame us for their suffering. I'm not saying we shouldn't help others around the world, but maybe we should cut back on helping people who take our money while spitting in our faces.
• $18 billion a year in education spending. I have a plan to help improve education in our country. Get rid of "No Child Left Behind" because it punishes school districts for not doing well. I also think teachers should be given competitive salaries. By the time you go to school to become a teacher, you may realize that with the same time and skill set, you can make much more money than a starting teacher. In fact, I may quite a bit more than starting teachers in Missouri, and that's with no college degree. But we have to be careful where the money goes because some of the school districts with the highest budgets have the worst records.
• $3.5 billion for a national service plan. National parks are great. We preserve our future by...something, something, something. Do we need to spend more on parks? Can't we just raise the price to get in or something?

So, this is a plan that will cost $800 billion dollars over the course of four years. How can we pay for this? Raising taxes on the wealthy? Okay, so the taxes go up for your boss, the people your work buys supplies from, the people who sell you your clothes, food, car, and gas. You don't think that tax won't be dumped on you, the struggling middle class American?

Beyond that, every time in US history taxes has been raised, the money the government brings in goes down. Why? Taxes kill productivity and hurt Americans that may otherwise spend money. When taxes are cut, government tax collections go up. More people spending money and an environment where businesses can flourish.

Just think about that when you vote.

The evils of Seseme Street

When you have a young child at home and wish him to self-entertain for a while, and especially if you don't have cable, you turn on PBS. I have to tell you, there's some things I've noticed about that show that I just dislike. I don't remember it being this way as a kid. I watched all the time, I even learned how to whistle and count to ten with that show. But it's changed. Seseme Street has become a darker place.

First off: Elmo. I cannot stand that kids voice. It is high pitched and whiny and I really just wish he'd shut up. And I really think celebrity has gone to his head. With all these Tickle Me Elmo dolls he's gotten really cocky. He's got his own Elmo's World segment (I'll get to that later) and he even seems to get a lot of the celebrity interviews. It's just not right. Elmo, I think you need to go away and let the other characters shine. Whatever happened to Snuffeluffagus? Now that guy was cool.


Second, the deplorable way they treat Mr. Noodle. You have an older man who comes onto the show during the Elmo's World segment to teach children how to do things. This is an older man who has given up any chance at being cool so he can help children. And what do they do? They mock him and they laugh at him when he fails. He's really trying, people. He's done more to help kids than Tickle Me Emo has ever done (as a side note, google Tickle Me Emo and watch the MadTV spoof. It's great). Primadonnas like Elmo should be nicer to Mr. Noodle before he remembers his real name and gets a job where people will respect him.


I have to say, though, that while I have a few issues with Seseme Street, it's not as bad as Barney. I've always wondered who the creap is in the purple suit. **Shudder**

Good things on a Sunday

The weather in Kansas City has been reallly nice for the last week. I was able to get my leather jacket out of the closet for some of the cooler nights, some lows even in the 40s. We've been able to keep our air conditioner off and it's just been great.

We went to church and sang a song by Eliza Snow that didn't suck. I noticed that the person who wrote the music was not George Careless this time, so it was actually enjoyable. At the end of the song, Will cried out "Yeah". It was our sacrament hymn. Oops.

The Chiefs played the Patriots in their regular season opener. They lost, 17-10, but that's a lot better than it could have gone. A lot of people thought the Patriots would score four touchdowns in the first quarter. Instead, we gave Tom Brady a possibly career ending knee injury. So, to the rest of the league, your'e welcome.

I'm reading Midnight Sun, Stephenie Meyer's uncompleted draft of Twilight from Edward's point of view. I have to say, I really like getting into his head. A lot of Twilight was Bella trying to figure out what he's thinking and not really getting far. Breaking Sun exposes his motivations, why he did the things he did, and why he loved Bella. And it shows Edward trying to figure out what Bella's thinking, and not really getting far. It's often really funny. Oh, and most of Bella's friends suck.

I started Pride and Prejudice the other day. I figured I should read some of the classics. I'm not too far in, but I like Elizabeth's character, much better than anyone in Sense and Sensibility.

I've also started Emily's birthday gift and am glad to say that everything is working so far. What am I doing? I can't tell until after the 17th when we celebrate. But it's going to be cool.

Dr Horrible's Sing-along-blog

I was watching the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson last night (the best late night show, in my opinion) and he had Nathan Fillion, a hero to us Firefly fans, on the program. He was talking about this little internet show he had done. During the writer's strike Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly) called him and asked if he'd be interested in doing this little internet program with Neil Patrick Harris. They'd have no producers, no distribution, just have fun filming it.

So they put it together and its this musical sort of video blog cataloging the story of this evil genius, Dr Horrible (played by Neil Patrick Harris) who is trying to get into an exclusive bad guy society. During the course of it he falls in love with a homeless advocate, but is trumped when his nemesis, Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion) sort of saves her and starts dating her. Captain Hammer is a complete jerk and is only taking the girl to hurt Dr Horrible. Through the story they battle each other and break into hilarious song routines. If you have 45 minutes to spare, check it out at drhorrible.com.

The Creepiest Thing Ever...including Facebook

The other day I was tooling around on the internet while at work. I decided to do a map search on my own house because it's one of those nerdy things you do when you're bored. And it's kind of cool to see the satellite view of the top of your house. I mean, I'm afraid of heights, when am I ever going to end up on the top of my own house?

So I punched it up and zoomed in (I'm always curious how up to date those maps are, maybe I'll see my car from outerspace, or the top of my head). So I zoom in and I see this little box that has a little image of my house with an option for "Street View". I'm like, hmm. I hit Street View and up comes a picture of my street, at street level. The picture is a little off so I have to go down the road a few houses, but there it is. My wife's car on one side, my car in the other. I figure the picture had to have been taken around October of last year because I have my new car, the leaves are changing, and I can see the pumpkins outside the door.

CREEPY!

I'm really not okay with this. Besides the fact that someone came down my street snapping pictures, anyone can pop in my address and get a picture of my house. Talk about the ultimate stalking tool. And I thought Facebook was bad. At least you have to volunteer for that. At least you can ban people and block out your profile. ANYONE can do a search and find me. Ugh.

So, anyway, if you want to creep yourself out, pop in your own address and see what you find. If you have an apartment, you're probably okay, but put in your parent's address just for kicks and giggles.