To Kindle or not to Kindle? That is the question.
It looks like I’ll be going back into the field when I return from vacation. Honestly, I’ve run out of tasks to keep me busy at the office and I don’t like make-work tasks. I don’t mind handing them out to other people 
, but I hate coming up with things for myself. I don’t create from scratch. I solve problems. Present me with a problem and I’ll find a solution. That isn’t the same things as someone who can come up with problems we didn’t realize we had and find new solutions. I’m not the pie-in-the-sky idea man. I’m more of the grimy fix-it dude.
Anyway, I like books. I love books. This can be a problem. 1) I almost always have one, possibly two, maybe even three reference books in my laptop bag. Carrying around these books gets very heavy. Hard on my body when they are strapped to my back. Hard on my gear. 2) The woman poo-poos my reference book collection. I have a large rolling cart jamb-packed full of books in the office closet. I removed the bar for clothes and rolled in my cart. 3) Airlines charge by the pound. If I don’t take 3 or 4 big books with me, our travel gear would be considerably lighter. 4) Ad-nausuem.
I’ve been waiting for the e-book thing to reach critical mass. I think the time has come. We are leaving on vacation tomorrow. And I want to take 3 or 4 reference books on Enterprise Architecture and Design Patterns or I could buy the e-versions and keep everything on my laptop. Hmm…
I downloaded the Kindle for PC utility. I’m still hedging my bets but I think I’ll drop the cash for Fowler, Metsker, and Evans. This way, I can limit my paper books to mindless fiction for reading on the plane.
The woman has already consented to me buying the Kindle DX. I try not to spend large chunks of change without consulting her. We have a rule, that I don’t “have” to talk with her so long as my purchase is under 4 figures. Yes, I have a $999.99 authorized purchase cap. That rule didn’t come about until I bought her the Ducati for her birthday, two years ago. I kinda blow the cap on that one. At least, she has stopped being annoyed about it. She even rides it on occasion. Although any jokes about the topic still illicit a sideways glare and possibly a “not appropriate for children”-type comment. OK. She calls me a “fuck-tard.” I laugh. She glares some more. It’s all kind of cute.
Needless to say, she has learned to NEVER walk into a dealership and say, “I want one of those, with Carbon pipes, a lowered saddle, and bar-end mirrors.” Why? Because I actually listen and one appeared in our garage exactly as she requested. She was not pleased. I never have figured out if she was mad because I was listening or because I had the balls to drop the cash on a $15K bike without talking to her about it. I know if I did understand, she’d change the rule so that I wouldn’t. <shrug>
I digress…
- Kindle DX.
- Some kind of case, because life with me is full of bumps, drops ad crashes.
- Extended warranty, see above.
- E-books!
I need to think about this… After all I could buy <insert shiny toy> for that amount of money. Actually, I don’t really see a choice at this point. I buy books. I need a better way to manage them. A DX is really the best option.
My only “big wish” is that is was color. Reading code samples is so much easier in full color…
