Wouter Weylandt Part 2

Here is a tiny follow-up to Part 1.
I got my awesome Road ID in the mail today and absolutely love it. Road ID is donating all proceeds of these bands to Wouter Weylandt's family. If you would like to order one or make a donation to the family, please go to Road ID.
You will also get a nifty little keepsake box. =)
For those of you who aren't familiar with Road ID, I urge you to look at their website. They carry various bands that you can customize with your contact information. This is especially great for athletes because there may come a time where you will need help and you are unable to speak for yourself. Whether you are a cyclist that has been run off the road or a runner that has collapsed, your ID will speak for you. Personally I think these are great for children too, in case they get lost. You can either choose to have the information imprinted on the metal plate OR you can make it available online or over the phone. The band will just show the website and a 1-800 number that people can call to get the information....this is great in case you aren't comfortable to with everyone seeing your personal info.

If you are interested in ordering in the next 28 days or so, you can use this coupon code to save $1 on your order: ThanksVikki5704390.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's to all the women out there! I hope everyone had a wonderful day today!
I got this nifty little gadget for Mother's Day. I was eyeing it in the Brookstone Catalog and saw it in pink on Amazon so...seeing as it was in pink....it HAD to be added to my wishlist. =)
The Boogie Board is basically a glorified White Board....ummmm, except that it's black. I love it! I wish you could save files and erase specific things as opposed to the entire page , however, I knew it's capabilities ahead of time so I'm happy. I mean c'mon! It's a gadget and it's pink, what's not to love?
This is the case. Works great so far.
For Mother's Day our family went to Mom and Dad Hughes' house for dessert. I decided to make vegan cupcakes. UNHEALTHY yummy vegan cupcakes. It took me twice as long because I accidentally forgot the sugar in the first batch. DOH! I seem to have a problem with leaving out ingredients lately, salt in bread and sugar in cupcakes. They actually didn't taste too bad...basically fluffy biscuits. Because the frosting was made with powdered sugar and orange juice, it was sweet enough to put on the "biscuits". I packed 20 normal cupcakes and 4 frosted fluffy biscuits.

Isn't my carrier cool? We bought it a few years back in a breast cancer awareness display.
NOM!

The Netbook Story comes to an end

Well, it's finally over. The Netbook is gone. Here is what has transpired as of January.

A few weeks later my Netbook, once again, had to be brought in. All of a sudden it would not power up. I believe it was my 5th time using it since I had gotten it back from Best Buy.

When I got to the Geek Squad desk I was greeted and asked how things were going with the Netbook. By this point most of the Geek Squad recognized me from my previous trips. They said that they thought it was the motherboard and had to send it in to be fixed.

A week or so later I got a call saying that they would do a "junk-out"....very telling phrase, "junk-out". Yes, you did sell me a piece of junk. They told me that I could get another Netbook that was the same cost. Of course, they don't normally carry that model so....I was told I could trade it for something comparable. I asked if I would have to pay anything additional since I had only used it a whopping 5 times since Black Friday because it has been in their possession most of the time. I was assured that I wouldn't have to pay as long as it was basically the same model. I was told to wait for the salesman so I did....for literally 35 minutes. Apparently the only guy in the computer department was also working the customer service desk. Thank goodness for Netflix on my iPhone. Woot! He showed me three models that I could choose from and helped me decide. We got to the paperwork part and then I was told that I owed $109. Ummm, huh? I thought I wouldn't have to pay anything additional. Sorry, not paying around $300 for a Netbook when I already have a laptop, desktop and iPhone. I was ok spending $170 + tax but not another $109 for something that I really didn't need. It was more of a convenience so...I got store credit instead.

With that credit I decided to get a Kindle to add to my eBook reader collection. I still have credit left to spend but I think I'll just hang on to it for now.

My latest eReader Dilemna

Before I you proceed, if you haven't read my blogs about my eReader experience, please read Part 1 and Part 2.

OK, so now that you are all caught up, you know that I now own a Nook. For the most part I have loved it. I have even re-purchased books, for the 3rd time, for my Nook. I have a few books that I like to read repeatedly and I HAD to have them at my disposal. I definitely like the Nook the best out of the readers that I have owned. I like the fact that I can purchase things via wi-fi and I also like the physical look of the reader. I wasn't too keen on all of the dials and buttons on the Sony, or the weight and shine of the metal. It is a tad heavier than the Bookeen but not by much. It is very easy to use and I do like the touch screen on the bottom. I will admit that I haven't really played around with the web or games feature that much because I have my iPhone for that.

I am running across one major issue at the moment. At the time of my purchase, the books that I knew that I wanted to purchase were available through Barnes & Noble. Since then I have tried to purchase a few random books or new releases and I can only find them on Amazon. *sigh Perhaps I should have gotten a Kindle. The main thing that held me back from the Kindle was the look of it and the fact that the Nook enabled me to borrow and loan books to other Nook owners. Apparently the new Kindle is now implementing the Loaning feature. Hmmmmm
I just looked at the details of the loaning and I guess you can only lend a book out one time. That's kind of stupid in my opinion.

The questions that I have now are:
1. Can I get past the buttons on the Kindle? I don't really like the look of them.
2. Can I change the format of all the books I have purchased on my Nook so that they will be available on the Kindle? Will I need to re-purchase these books yet again?
3. Should I just keep the Nook because of its ability to borrow eBooks from public libraries and still purchase a Kindle? or should I sell my Nook and use that money to buy a Kindle?

The only other option would be to purchase the books from Amazon and somehow find a way to change the format so that I can read it on my Nook.

Any opinions or wards of advice are welcome.

My Netbook Drama

It all started on Black Friday. I decided that I wanted to get a netbook so that I would be able to blog more frequently and efficiently. Yes, I have a small laptop, but I figured this would be easier to bring to the theatre. Also, because it was such a great price, I could bring it to the theatre without having to worry about one of the kids accidentally destroying it. (Yes, that is a valid reason)

So....after our Thanksgiving Festivities I decided to run to Michael's to stock up on yarn and then make a quick trip to Best Buy to check out the line. Several members of my family were planning on going there later to stand in line but I figured I should check to see if there was a line forming. A lot of the teens in our family were planning on getting the same netbook and we weren't sure how many were actually going to be available.

When I got there I saw around 10 people in line and decided that I should hold our spot in line. I can not even describe to you how FREEZING it was out there. I wasn't prepared to stand in line for a couple of hours. I did have a jacket and a scarf however, had I known I would be out there, many more layers would have been worn. The first people in line had a tent with a space heater inside of it. It was THAT cold. I have to admit, it was pretty funny when the family pulled up. They brought the motor home so that people could take shifts warming up and taking naps. I still think it would have been great to bring the Tour Bus. LOL

Long story short, I got my netbook. YAY! ....or so I thought.

This was going to be my Chrsitmas present from my parents so it was going to be wrapped up and put under the tree. Luckily I decided to try it out and make sure that everything was working. NOPE. I had a burned out pixel. Loooovely. Back to Best Buy I went. They were sold out of the Netbooks by that time and apparently this is an item they don't normally carry. It is something that was made for the Black Friday sale. They told me that it had to be sent back to the manufacturer and it would probably just take a couple of weeks. HA! It took 4 weeks to get it back. When it was back they called over the phone said that they had run tests and everything seemed to be working fine. HA....AGAIN!

Silly me, I trusted them and took it home without testing it in the store. As soon as I got home I fired it up and....another dead pixel PLUS the screen wouldn't even turn on if it was tilted all the way back. Lucky me, now I had a dead pixel AND a short in the screen. Back to Best Buy I went. Once again I was told that I had to send it back but that they would expedite it. Fancy way of saying that it would be shipped out quickly but that it would still have to go through the same process as last time.

Needless to say, it did not make it under the Christmas Tree. I just got it back a few days ago and for now it's working great. I'm hoping it'll stick this time.

Ok...so as I was editing this post my netbook decided to randomly shut down and update. Hmmmmm

Vendor Fair prize

This year's vendor fair at the Chateau was filled with even more vendors than last year. If you have never gone to a vendor fair in Branson...it's like one-stop shopping. You can get everything that you need for your show there. There are people that sell things from air conditioning to graphic printing to food and more. We have even found a plumber for our home from this fair.

One of the other perks of the vendor fair is the fact that you can win prizes! YAY PRIZES! This is what I won last year. VERY COOL! We don't drink coffee so we use it for herbal teas and my brother's family used it for coffee when they visited.

This year I won this nifty wreath. As you can see, Kahlan is already having a blast with it.

Hope our luck holds out next year. =)

Birthday Goodies

Here are the belated pictures from my belated birthday. This year I was sick and couldn't really celebrate my birthday until the following weekend. The cake was YUMMY and Vegan. Gotta love Whole Foods. Hopefully there will be one near Branson someday. Adam picked this one up when he was in Tulsa.
My brother already got me the awesome jersey for my birthday that I blogged about earlier. He surprised me with yet another gift....a Tour de France Jersey and keychain. WAHOOO. I have the best big bro!
Kahlan is a cycling fan too. =)
I finally decided on a Nook as my eReader. It has taken me quite a while to come to this conclusion and so far I am happy with my decision. Even better....my parents got it for me as a gift. =) The one that was initially sent was defective and we had to exchange it. So far this one seems to be working fine. At the moment I am just trying to figure out which of my previously purchased books will work on it. I'll post more about the Nook after I have had a chance to play around on it more.

WAHOOO iPhone 4 in hand!

Meet Bobby. I love Bobby. Perhaps not as much as his girlfriend loves him, but....there is a feeling of love there. I'm sure my husband will allow me this because he helped us get our brand new beautiful phones. Wahooooo! 32 GB iPhone 4 in hand. =)

On Saturday I was outside in the garden and came back inside to a message on my phone. It was from our local AT&T store...hmmmmm. I listened to the message and then gave a shout of joy. Adam and I were expecting the phones to come in next month because that is what the store was told, that the 32GB phone would not be in until next month. Well, apparently they got 2 random phones in on Saturday afternoon. GRIN. BIG GRIN. He said that he only got 2 phones in and that I was at the top of the list so....did we want them? There was a note that I wanted a white one so he wanted to know if I would prefer the black one. Both phones were on hold until he heard from me, we just had to let him know if we wanted 1 or 2 phones. I had to think about it for a bit. I really did want a white one however, I decided to get a black one too. I mean, c'mon...like I was going to be happy watching Adam play with his phone while I waited for another month. Uh huh.....Riiiiight.

THANKS BOBBY! YOU ROCK!!!

iPhone 4 Update

I talked to the local AT&T store that I am on the list for. They had not received their phones by closing but they will be coming in tomorrow morning. HOWEVER, they are only getting the black 16 GB ones in. BOO

Looks like we will both be waiting until next month to get our phones. ARGGGG

iPhone 4 Madness

I decided to blog about the insanity that I went through when trying to pre-order an iPhone 4 for Adam and myself. Ahhhh, the 16 hours of insanity...gotta love it.

I decided to call a couple days ahead of time to make sure that we qualified for the phone upgrade. I knew that we did, because we bought them almost 2 years ago ( on my birthday 7-11)....but I wanted to play it safe. Adam and I had our phones as individual accounts but last year we created a small business account for several of the phones at our theatre. I wanted to make sure that the change in our account wouldn't cause a problem. I was told that we qualified so...all was well, or so I thought.

Then came Tuesday the 15th. At midnight I kept checking the site to make sure that we would be one of the first to order the phones. After a little while I decided to call AT&T to see if they got an update as to when we would be able to order. I was told that we could start ordering online at 3 AM CST or over the phone at 6 AM CST. She also gave me a 1-800 number to call in case I had any problems registering online with the Premier account. Around 1 AM I decided that I should make sure my online account still worked so that the order would go smoothly. I was able to log into my account but then it kicked me over to the Premier accounts, which I assume is for businesses. I kept trying to log in with my password and even tried creating a new account. Nothing would work. For the most part it kept just "precessing". Eventually it just said that I could not register my individual number for a premier account and that I needed to contact our businesses account manager. Ummm, hello? That's me. Argggg. By this point it was around 2:15 AM. The phone number I was given would not be up and running until regular business hours...of course!

So 3 AM rolls around. I decide to try ordering the phone on the AT&T site first, hoping that I would be able to do it without the Premier thing being an issue. Again with the processing and forever being stuck on the same page. I kept hitting refresh and then left it to process on my Firefox Window. I Also tried on my Safari window in case one worked better. Nothing. Nada. Then I decided to try the Apple site. I got as far as I could on their site. As soon as I entered my phone number to check if we could upgrade it got stuck. Both Adam and I tried this until around 4:30 AM. Tired and frustrated, I decided to set my alarm for 5:45 AM CST to call in my pre-order.

5:45 AM and I'm on the phone. On hold. Finally around 6:30 AM I get to a person. She checks all of the information and is verifying everything and trying to place the order. Then she starts putting me on hold several times for 5, 10 minutes at a time. Finally around 7 AM she tells me that she isn't able to place my order for some reason. Each time she tries, it keeps kicking the order out. She then tells me that she sent a ticket in to the IT department and that I would hear something by the 18th. ( Incidentally, I still haven't heard anything and it is now the 18th) She said that she would call me personally so I left it at that.

I tried to go back to bed but couldn't fall back asleep. I decided that I would try online again, just in case. After that pointless attempt I then decided to try calling Apple to see if they would be able to place my order. Silly Vikki. So I'm on hold for literally 1 hour and 1 minute before I talk to someone for a whopping 30 seconds. As soon as I mention that I wanted to pre-order the iPhone she tells me that orders aren't going through and that the one she just tried placing is still processing. She then tells me that I should try ordering online and asks if I needed help with something else. AHHHHHH. Do you honestly think I would be waiting on hold if I could place an order online?!?! REALLY?!?!? Oh yeah, and also.....Why yes, could you tell my about some calling plans? Thought I would wait an hour to ask THAT simple question. Arggg.

SO I finally try going back to bed again around 10 AM. Around noon I begin my efforts again. I decide to call that 1-800 number to see if they can help me with the Premier registration to see if that might work. Again, I am on hold for about 45 minutes and then am transferred to the online tech department. Finally, I think I am getting somewhere. Surely the tech will be able to tell me what is wrong and can help me. Ummm, NOPE. This is the wrong phone number he tells me. He says that I need to contact customer service. WHAT?!?! I pester him a bit because this is the same customer service that was unable to place my order earlier and I know I will be on hold forever. This is also the same customer service that gave me this number to help me register my Premier account. I am not even trying to order the phone at this point, just register. He then tells me that the only thing he can do to set up a premier account is sell me another phone. Huh? Huh? That makes absolutely no sense. Like...really makes no sense. Random comment type of makes no sense. I ask him how in the world that would help me register online. I try understanding his gibberish and think well, maybe he thinks I only have 1 phone on my account and I need at least 2 to make a business account? I told him we had around 20 phones on the account if that is what he is referring to. Nope. Not what he meant. Huh? OK FINE. I am so lost. After getting a tad snippy with him, he finally says he will transfer me to customer service so that I would not have to be on hold for several hours.

So on to customer service. I will admit that at least the lady I spoke to was nice. She tried to look at the situation and saw all the documentation of my attempts and is seemingly on my side. She then notices that my account seems to be locked out for some reason and unlocks something. After a few tries we still arrive at that same wall. That wall that keeps preventing me from ordering. I get her promise that she will follow up, even if they don't make any progress, she tells me that she will call me in 1.5 hours, 6 PM. If she is on the phone she will have someone in her department call me. I hang up feeling like at least I have someone that will follow up. Alas, I still haven't heard from this person.

I decide to check Twitter again so that I can read about my friends' frustrations with ordering. I also see a few that have been able to get through. SO happy for you ( sarcasm, heavy sarcasm). Then a friend mentioned that they were able to do it through Best Buy. SO, I then call our Best Buy and am told that yes, they can place orders. I am thinking, WOW, finally! So he proceeds to check my account and then...WALL. It again shows that this individual account can't buy a phone. ACK. ACK. ACK. Very close to throwing something.

A couple minutes later I decided to call the local AT&T store to see what is going on with our account. They are the ones that set it up so I figured that they might have a bit of insight. At this point it is now around 5 PM. As soon as I mention what is going on she tells me that people with small business accounts aren't able to pre-order phones. I told her that I was able to order phones in the past for our account for various employees. She points out that yes, you can do that but not PRE-orders. Seriously?!?! I had called the store earlier that week and was told that they were getting the iPhones and that it would be first come first served so I mention that to her. I asked her if that was the only way I could get a phone, to get there early with the other crazies, and wait in line? She said, no. They are taking names and putting phones on hold for people. *crickets Excuse me? What? She repeated what she had just said. I am close to tears as I slowly begin to realize I could have saved myself 16 hours of madness by simply calling their store to see if they updated their policy. She told me she would put me at the top of the list because of all the crap I had been through and just to remind her of what color phones we wanted. She told me they should get plenty because they are the HUB in our area. Ironic seeing as they didn't even start carrying iPhones until this year.

I went into the store yesterday just to confirm that I am on the list for 2 phones. She pulled it out and sure enough, there was our name. She said I would get a phone call on Wednesday and to get there at 8 AM on Thursday. There will be a line but they will call those names out first. WAHOOOOO

So....VERY long story short....too late, hehe...We are going to get our phones, barring any other complications. Fingers crossed. Knock on wood.

My eBook Reader Dilemma

I have now gone through 3 eBook readers. By "gone through", I don't mean that I ruined them or ran them into the ground. I just wasn't completely satisfied by any of them. Sure, there were things that I absolutely LOVED about them but....alas, they have all gone the way of eBay.

The Cybook from Bookeen was my first love. It was all new to me. So nice and so simple. Something that was portable and held hundreds of books. What's not to love? Then I learned about the different formats and files that various readers could accommodate. *sigh Unfortunately the Cybook didn't recognize all PDF files. =( I was under the impression that it did.

Next was the Sony 500 that I won in a blogging contest. It was shiny and red and new. This one read all PDF formats BUT did NOT read all of the mobipocket books that I had already purchased for my Cybook. I sold this one right away to so that I could get the full value back. Free money since I won it in a contest. =)

Actually, as I stated in a previous posting, I sold both of them because there was an even newer and "better" Sony....the Sony 700. THIS one had an internal light so that I could read in bed and not disturb Adam if he was sleeping. WHAT?!?! Are you kidding me? Absolute genius!!! or so I though. This is a definite plus as I am someone that tends to stay up night in order to finish a book. I figured that the money from both of the readers would help me buy and replace a lot of the books that I had already purchased.

Sadly my hopes and dreams were shattered because of the glare from the screen. *sniff sniff. In order to accommodate the internal light, they had to add an additional piece of glass to "sandwich" it in. Big mistake. BIG! (BTW, you need to read that last comment like Julia Roberts says it in Pretty Woman). Due to the glare I found that I barely used the reader. I tried holding it at every conceivable angle but there was always a glare. The Sony was sold on eBay the last week of December.

So....now I am at a loss. I am seriously temped to go right out and replace my eBook readers but am torn. I have read a lot about the Kindle but I don't like the fact that you HAVE to purchase everything through Amazon. I already have books that I have purchased twice and do not relish a 3rd purchase of the same books! The Nook also looks pretty nifty. They are pretty comparable from what I can see. The Nook is much newer and needs a few more updates but...it looks promising. At the moment I am anxiously awaiting Apple's new announcement on the 27th. I am hoping that their new release will be an eBook reader and not a notebook. I figure I may as well find out if they will have a reader to see its pros and cons. I am also trying to force myself to wait for the next updates for the Kindle and Nook. If anyone owns the Nook, Please let me know what you think of it!

My new computer

Well, I finally did it....I finally bought a Mac computer again. I was in need of a new computer because mine has been slowly dying. I am a die-hard PC person. I have had an iMac before, one of those alien purple pod looking things. I absolutely hated the operating system. Easy to operate...yeah right! I know the ins and outs of a PC. I know where to find things and how to fix things. Macs? Not so much.

So...Adam and I were price shopping online and the best deal was an iMac. *sigh. With all of the rebates and offers that we got online, we couldn't pass it up. I have warned Adam that he better hope that I love my new computer because if I hate the Mac, he will NEVER live it down. Oh, in case you aren't aware, Adam is a die-hard Mac person. Honestly, the man should be getting a kick back from the company because he talks them up so much. He has sold a lot of Macs to people because of his knowledge and love for the brand.

Here is a picture of all the new stuff that my lovely FedEx and UPS men brought me. Yes, you do see Six mice in the picture. The five mice that are lined up were free. Each one of them has a $20 rebate. Wahooo! Free $100 right there. We are giving the mice to the theatre for them to use in the offices. The majority of the other programs had full rebates on them too.


So far I am not loving the Parallels program. It's doing something funky with my AOL and is starting to annoy me. Granted, it was a free program but STILL, it should work. Grrrrr
I am liking the speed for little things like playing Farmtown on Facebook. YES, it is a stupid game but I LIKE IT! The entire game is Flash and is much easier to play on the iMac...the 24" screen doesn't hurt either.

Sony 700 Reader Review

Well....I've now had my new Sony 700 reader for about two weeks and I have mixed feelings about it. I'm always wishing I could create my own "thing" by mixing and matching features from different items to make THE PERFECT product.

The Sony 700 IS pretty cool. It has a touch screen that works similarly to the iPhone. The only difference is the fact that it isn't quite as sensitive and needs a tad more pressure. I like the fact that they did away with that ugly wheel button thingy. Yes, that is the technical term , "wheel button thingy". The smaller buttons are more convenient and look much better.

My favorite feature is the light. VERY COOL. It's great for reading late at night or in my car during my show. Because of the light and the new technology, the reader is twice as thick and twice as heavy. BOO!

The thing that is driving me insane and I that literally HATE is the glare. Ugh...huge glare on the screen that is virtually impossible to avoid. I have to keep tilting the screen to stop the glare. I think it is due to the fact that the glass is raised, in a shadow box type of way, so that the light can be used. *sigh* Honestly, I don't use my reader as much because of it. You can literally see your reflection in it and you just can't avoid being blinded.

My perfect reader would be as light as the Cybook, be able to read both PDF AND Mobipocket formats, have a light and touch screen and the look of the new Sony 700, OH... and would have NO GLARE!!!

Selling my Cybook on eBay

I finally took the time to list my Cybook on eBay tonight. It's hard to let it go but.....I have to do it. Here is the link in case any of you are interested. I am selling it with 79 books loaded onto it. I have a list of the books in the auction, as well as details on the Cybook itself. =)

and the winner is...

THE SONY

I finally made my decision. Honestly, I'm not 100% sure of my final decision but....there it is. I decided that I wanted to keep the Sony because, well....I WON IT! I figured I should keep my prize. I do like the side button functions that allow me to get to my library of books faster. The page turn is also faster than the Cybook. I still think that the bottom right circular button is useless. It is supposed to be a history button or something like that. I plan on using a hack so that I can use that as a page turn button. Hopefully the hack will work because it is where the page turn button is on the Cybook and I am used to that location. Frankly, it makes sense to have it on the right side as opposed to the left side, which is how it is configured.

So...my plan is to sell my beloved Cybook on Ebay along with the books that I have already bought for it. Hopefully I will make enough money back to replace some of those books on my Sony. That being said...I still may hang onto the Cybook because it is so stinking light! I'll be sure and post if I sell my Cybook.

Sony Digital Reader VS. Cybook

Decisions. Decisions. Bookeen's Cybook or the Sony Digital Reader? Quite the dilemna. I have been trying to figure out which one I like better and frankly, I'm still stumped. There are pros and cons to each of them. For those of you that don't know...I bought the Cybook in September and won the Sony this past month. I am trying to decide if I need to keep both of them. Well, need is such a STRONG word. Here are a few of the pros and cons that I have found. Maybe you can help me decide or offer up a few more points.

Bookeen Cybook

Pros:

• Lighter
• More protective padded leather case
• It reads more formats including Adobe and Mobipocket
• I have already spent close to $200 on books that will not transfer to the Sony
• There are more free Mobipocket books online than Adobe format
• Cleaner look because of the fewer buttons
• Different fonts are available

Cons:

• Does not read all formats of Adobe
• Harder to toggle through the menu
• Made of plastic so perhaps not as durable
• Limited menus so it takes a while to get to your books if you have a lot loaded onto the reader

Sony Digital Reader

Pros:

• It's RED!
• More durable because it is metal
• I actually won it...which hello? What are the chances?
• More buttons allow easier access to menus
• More functions because of the buttons
• Able to purchase a leather case with a night light attached to it
• Comes with 100 free classical books from Sony
• You can make "collections". These are similar to your playlists on the iPod

Cons:

• Will need to re-purchase the books I have already bought for the Cybook because it does not read Mobipocket
• The metal may get scratches
• Heavier
• Reads only 2 formats, Adobe being the main one. However, it reads all Adobe formats
• Fewer free Adobe books online
• The 100 free books from Sony are mostly available for free in the Mobipocket format
• Not as clean of a look because of the buttons
• Bottom right button is pointless, however, I did find a hack online to change the functions
• The cases aren't as protective

Hmmmmmm, any opinions?

My Sony Digital Reader Arrived!!!

OK...please excuse the bags under the eyes and the fuzzy pjs. It's been stinkin' cold out here and I had just gotten back from a long day of rehearsals. The awesome Sony Digital Reader prize arrived on Saturday. Well, actually, it arrived on Friday but I wasn't home to sign for it. I was....of course...at rehearsals. So, before rehearsals on Saturday I had to drive to the post office to pick it up. I decided to wait until I got home so that Adam could take pictures of the joyous occasion.

At the present moment I am faced with a slight dilemna. Do I really need TWO digital readers? Can I justify keeping the both of them? I am going to compare the Cybook and the Sony Digital Reader and make a decision in the next few days. While I would love to keep the both of them, it just doesn't seem very practcal. *sigh Do I HAVE to be practical?

I'll let you know what I decide after I play around with my new cool toy!

Wahoo!! I WON I WON!! I LOVE booksonboard.com

Yes, yet another Wahoo!! Sorry folks, but I'm pretty stinking excited. I just found out that I won a contest for a new Sony Digital Reader in ... Sangria Red (ohh la la). It was a blogging contest of sorts. If you missed my blog entry for the contest, you can read it here. You will also see another blog about booksonboard.com at the bottom. Hmmm, a lot of free advertising going on around here. I was a little nervous about my entry because I wrote it in about 10 minutes. The contest slipped my mind until about 20 minutes until the deadline was about the expire... So...me being me...I started rambling. LOL Anyway, here is the e-mail that I received today. I hope they are ok with my putting in on my blog. If not, Lee....send me a message and I'll delete it. =) ________________________________________________________ Hi Vikki, Congratulations! You won First Prize in our Sony Reader Contest, and will soon be receiving a shiny new Sony PRS-505! Would you prefer a Sony Reader in Dark Blue or Sangria Red? Which address would you like us to send this to? Also, our Public Relations department was extremely impressed with your blog entry, and would like to use an excerpt in a press release in the future. May we have your permission to use excerpts in future press releases? Congrats again, Lee BooksOnBoard Support _________________________________________________________ Of, course I said "yes". Wahooooooooo

eBooks

For those of you that do not know me...I am a pack rat by nature. It's just something that has been part of my persona since I was a little kid. I actually have a few random things around here from when I was in grade school. In addition to that, I tend to collect things...with a passion. For example, I have a rather large collection of key chains of the places I have traveled. Another fact about myself, I love reading. I am a self-proclaimed bookworm. Now....add those two things together and you can only imagine my book collection.

I have literally over 1000 books in my collection. I have my own little library in our basement. Of course, some of these are children's books that I had from my childhood ( I told you I hoard things). I still remember reading a lot of these books as a child with my mom. Reading always brings back wonderful memories for me. Also, I am the type of person that must own every copy of a series if I like that series. I can't just read a book in a library and call it a day. Noooo, I need to go out and buy it for my collection. It needs to be there in case I want to read it again.

This past year I found a solution to my growing library. I love having my books but, let's face it, they take up a lot of room and goodness knows how fun it will be packing up these books if I ever move. This year I discovered eBooks (queue angels singing). What a wonderful invention!!! Now, instead of buying a book that will eventually collect dust, I can just have it as a file on my computer or digital reader. How cool is that? If you have a digital reader you can bring it with you anywhere. It's been great for meetings and appointments. I was raised to show up early to appointments so....what better way to spend that time waiting than by reading? It strengthens the brain and is much more impressive than playing on your phone or bringing a Nintendo DS around with you.

The best place that I have found to purchase my eBooks is Booksonboard.com . They have great prices and a great staff. I have had a few questions with a few purchases and have received responses on the same day. Amazing huh? You can also purchase gift certificates ( hint hint) and they also have fun contests on there. They had a great contest with Breaking Dawn. I actually won a prize on that one. wahoooo. Not only are eBooks more convenient, they are more affordable. Right now they have a few books online that are free, as well as several books on the New York Times Bestsellers List that are $9.79 or less. I don't know about you but I am a little short on cash after the holidays and I still need my book fix. =)

So, if you haven't looked into eBooks and you love reading as much as I do, you need to check them out. Booksonboard is a great place to start. Let me know if you have any questions at all. I'm all for helping someone else in sharing my addiction.

Best Gadget for a Bookworm

Actually, forget the title of the blog. This is the BEST. GADGET. EVER. OK, so I may be a little biased seeing as I love reading so much. I have loved reading since I was about six years old...well, at least that is my first memory of reading. My mom used to take me to the library to check out books and I remember being able to check out as many books as I was old. I was so excited when I was about to turn seven because it meant that I could check out one more book each time. YEP...I have been a nerd since a very young age. I think I liked reading because I was basically an only child. My brother is 15 years older than I am, which basically made me an only child. I wasn't allowed to watch TV during the weekend, and only a few hours on the weekends. Add that to the fact that I was always at one lesson or another when I wasn't home...well, you get the picture. Books became my best friend. You can always bring them with you where ever you go and yes, as cliche as it sounds, they do open you up to an exciting new world.

Now, reading is great because it helps you with your spelling and vocabulary but...did you know that it can also be bad? I'm one of those crazy people that can read a book a day, sometimes two. Now, this tends to be a very bad thing when you are staying up at all hours trying to finish a book. I always tell myself, " OK, I'll just finish this chapter and then I'll stop." Yeah, right! I get to the end and then think "I'll just start this next chapter" and then the cycle continues. This was especially bad in college when I was supposed to be reading my actual course books. What were my teachers thinking? Did they not KNOW that I had much more exciting things to read? Sheesh! Needless to say, in college I had to force myself to stop reading "my" books until after finals.

OK, so the gadget....it is The Cybook by Bookeen. SO COOL! It's one of those digital readers that there are so many of. Amazon has the Kindle, which you may have heard of. However, that thing is ugly and you are forced to buy the eBooks from Amazon. I found some online comparisons and settled on the Cybook. The Cybook allows you to buy eBooks from anywhere and also reads PDF files. You can also bookmark different pages in your books. I bought mine from Booksonboard.com . They had a great price and also added store credit to the deal. I think they sometimes have a special where they also throw in a memory card that has a lot of clssics loaded onto it. The Cybook is nice because it is so compact and also has a cover. I can fit it into my purse and take it with me everywhere. You can load hundreds of books onto it and can also buy a memory card to hold more (I also have a 2GB card). It's about the size of a paperback but is only 1/2" thick. The screen is nice because it uses e-ink and is not back lit. There is no strain on your eyes like when you read your computer screen. It's like you are reading a regular book but much lighter. I love the fact that I can choose from any book and just read at my leisure. It's great when I am early to a meeting or am just sitting around.

Now, don't get me wrong...I'm still a book nerd at heart. I love my tangible books and have literally over 1000 books. Yep, I've got my own library! Some are I loved my from my childhood. I will still continue to buy hard back books of my favorite authors but will also buy the eBook versions of those I think. Case and point, the Twilight series.

So...if you love reading like I do you should check out that link that I posted. It is the BEST GADGET EVER!