Kindle Keyboard 3G

Also, for today, wanted to note that a little less than three years later I now have the Kindle Keyboard 3G, and I love it. I actually got it probably toward the end of December. Also got M a Kindle and he loves it, just loves it. We get so many free books there will rarely be a time when we have to spend money to read.

Just got around to reading this ...

One of my new year's plans is to read EVERY DAY my 365 Tao Daily Meditations book. Finally got around to the last few days' worth, and the entry for 21/Skills is just ... beautiful.

... He realized that his cultivation was not merely for the acquisition of skills. It was a path to the innermost part of his being.

Love that. The Zither cannot play itself, the chess board was nothing without players, a book needed a reader, brush and ink could not move on their own accord, and a sword could not be unsheathed without a hand.

Sigh.

I refuse ...

To use Google Chrome to do my blog; I just read on a internet forum that you can only use Chrome now, so had to come over and test this....

American Customer Service Sucks!

This past Friday, I was at a Target in Richfield, Minnesota, returning something. The clerk had just asked me "Is there anything wrong with it?" and I started to say (note: I started to say) that no, there was nothing wrong, but before I could even get my mouth fully open and engaged, her co-worker came up to her and started talking about her own customer's issue. I just shut my mouth. My clerk handed me my money and thanked me and turned back to her co-worker. I was flabbergasted.

Three issues here: First - do not interrupt your co-worker when she is actively engaged in a conversation with a customer. Second - if your co-worker interrupts you while you are listening to or talking with a customer, tell your co-worker "Hold on, I'll be with you in a minute, I'm assisting someone here" and turn back to your customer. Third - hell, I don't even know anymore. It just boggles my mind.*

OK, then Sunday ... Sunday. My husband and I are at a Sam's Club in Bloomington, Minnesota, and he's putting gasoline into my car. I am talking to him through the open window. I have my head out of the window, it's obvious we're talking. The Sam's Club employee monitoring the area walks up to my husband and starts talking about the weather, wants to know if he needs anything, how's he doing.... And I say, RUDELY, NO, we don't need anything, we're talking here. NOPE, we're good. Kthnxbye. GAH. I don't have to tell you the issue here. Or do I? Just ask, I'll tell you. WAIT, interrupt me first, and then I'll tell you.

And finally, the trifecta -is three a holy number? Monday. Yesterday. There is man with a toolbelt working on a door lock at a local business I am going to enter. I wait until the door is apparently able to be used and do so - as I'm talking through the door I nod and speak to the gentleman - "Hey, nice weather to be working outdoors, good to see this mall has maintenance on hand" and I smile. He. completely. ignores. me. Completely. COMPLETELY. Granted, he's not an employee of the business I was going in to. He's not providing me a service. But he's in the business of fixing things for the people who own the building that contains the business that provides me a service, and due to his non-response, I think whoever he works for is a total jerk and I wouldn't do business with them if my life depended on it. SERIOUSLY. Lesson here: You are the face of your company, no matter if you are the sweeper of the crap in the basement in the building that contains the store. YOU represent. SERIOUSLY. And this man was old enough to know better. GAH!

That's it for today. Thanks for reading.

*I got it! THIRD - pay attention to your surroundings. Do NOT walk up to somebody and just start wagging that tongue - check to make sure whoever you're talking to isn't already talking to somebody else. Especially when you're working BEHIND THE CUSTOMER SERVICE DESK OF A BUSY RETURNS AREA. Get your head out of your arse.

Sony Vaio P Series

Thanks to wonderful folks whom I will document later, I have decided to get the Sony Vaio P series tiny notebook - because I can 'downgrade' it to Windows XP. Yeah, like that's a downgrade - I will have Vista off this new PC so quick your head will spin ... reports from all fronts indicate that the P is a fast little fella once Vista has been removed...

1.5 pounds, can you imagine? The size of a business envelope? 2 GB of RAM? Yowza. This is the machine I've always wanted.

I've got the external USB DVD+RW coming from my favorite used-to-be-brick-and-mortar computer store, CompUSA, just won an auction for Windows XP Home Edition (full retail box version) (why did I ever sell mine???) and hopefully will be purchasing the P next week. No rush, right? No rush.

Gotta get XP in my hands, slipstream SP3, create the ISO image disk ... download all the XP-compatible drivers for the P, and ... well, then ... time to make my order, hmm...

I'm getting him in garnet red ...

And, of course, the P is a he ... and why not?

Kindle 2

I bought the Kindle 2, but of course I did ... had it almost two months now.

This gadget is a thing of beauty.

People complain about the cost of e-books and the Kindle and Amazon, but if they'd spent any amount of time driving around from bookstore to bookstore trying to find a book, or waiting for one to arrive via snail-mail, then they'd quit bitching. My time and my gasoline (as well as the wear and tear on my Mini Cooper) are worth more to me than some piddly amount I'd pay for a e-book from Amazon for my K2. Instant delivery, all without having to do a thing except press a few buttons.

I haven't spent more than 9.99 on an e-book, and have received several free books - and discovered a new author (to me) in the process. Robin Hobb, anybody? FitzChivalry and Nighteyes (dumb name, IMO) are my new best friends ...

Jaysus! On Easter Weekend, Too!

It has been so long since I logged in to my shift.click account I couldn't do it - oh noes! OH NOES!

But I did, and all is well now.