Electronically Tethered Part Deux

I love to read. I love it. Anything. Everything. Yes, I was the kid who always read the back of the cereal box and each and every sign on the road. Aloud. (And my mother let me live, so that was kind and giving of her). I read new books as fast as I can get my hands on them and even have to have DSD hide them from me if it is a time I should be reading school books or studying for a test. I usually have a book in my purse, in my car, and in my backpack, with stacks as yet unread at my house.

When I was younger (read: more poor) I borrowed books from the library and I bought at used book stores. Then, of course, I returned those books to the used book store for credit for MORE used books. There were a few that I owned and carried through each successive move, but less than 5 probably. I did check out books (occasionally) that I had already read, but I thought everyone did.

Somewhere, however, I realized that I was no longer living paycheck to paycheck, that there were a few dollars left at the end of each month and (brilliant idea!) why couldn’t I actually buy a book or 2? (or 200?) This happened to coincide with my mother’s foray into
!Book Clubs! Buy 1, Get 10 Free! *You must then buy 1 book a month at OUTRAGEOUS PRICES for the rest of your natural life*

Ok, it wasn’t quite that bad, but she started buying and I started buying, hard covered books, some in Large Print and then we would get together and trade books.

And there were a lot of books.

One Sunday, several years ago, I decided to catalog all of my books. Sort them. Put them back on the shelves in alphabetic order after placing them in an Excel spreadsheet. What a fun way to spend an afternoon. DSD was not home at the time, but when he returned he almost had a stroke, because there were books strewn across the entire living room.

We have a pretty large living room by normal people standards (as opposed to billionaires or Royalty). Our living room has allowed persons under 5 feet tall to perform a series of acrobatic moves, like cart wheel, back flip, split. But I digress.

At the end of the day all of the books had been categorized and returned to the shelves in alphabetic order and I had an Excel spreadsheet of over 300 books.

So I got rid of a couple (maybe 4 or 5) paperbacks that I wasn’t going to read again and I continued to buy books.

I don’t keep all of them. Some I receive from my mom and I pass on to others or donate them to the Senior Center and Goodwill or I give them to her and she passed them onto various relatives.

But the numbers grew. And grew. And grew.

Until finally poor DSD had a choice to make. Should he call that show “Hoarders?”

Or should he just break down, cough up the money, and buy me a Kindle? For my birthday in April. It was incredibly unexpected and I was speechless for over 30 seconds. And then I cried. And he was very proud of himself. My husband rocks.

So now I own a Kindle. And I don’t have to have books on every surface anymore**. I have them all in my purse. The technology is simple. The reading is easy. The purchasing is easy… too easy, I can spend $30 in less than 3 minutes without ever getting up from the computer.

But there are many, many authors whose work I would never have tried had their books not been Free for download. I have read many books, then purchased the author's next book because the first one was so good. I have downloaded over 100 since the end of April. I have not read even close to that many, but I am loving the freedom that having all (ok, some)*** of my books on the eReader brings.

And DSD is loving the fact that he no longer fears huge stacks of books will fall on his head.

**Ok, they are all hidden behind the loveseat, which is not pushed up against the wall. But I am out of books shelves (and space for bookshelves) and I will eventually read and pass on all of those paperbacks.
***My plan is to eventually replace many of my hard backs with downloaded books, but I will never give up all of them.

Electronically Tethered

BabyBoy, as befitting his status as the only child that I gave birth to, has always been a little spoiled when it comes to new and exciting electronics. For his 19th birthday, I gave him my latest upgrade to get him a very expensive cell phone and I took the freebie. He broke his fancy phone on more than one occasion, including last summer, when it could not be fixed and the insurance had replaced it the maximum number of times. Well, Mom was eligible for an upgrade at that time, so he used it. Thanks, kid.

Flash forward several months and I realized that I wanted a new phone. I DESERVED something nice! The Blackberry Curve was available, giving me a full key board for texting and a little track ball. I hate track balls. What about the Blackberry Storm? All touch screen. Was this Verizon’s answer to the iPhone? Because most people I know hated it. I debated. I pondered. I touched everyone’s phones. I promised myself I would buy until after Finals in December, because Hi! Finals.

Then I saw it. One night while watching TV with DSD



And I had my answer.

I did wait until after Finals to get one. Merry Christmas to me!

I didn’t pay full price for it, but I did pay more than it costs now.

I also had to start coughing up the money for a data plan.

But I love this thing.

New apps every.single.day.

Music and videos and Facebook and, NOW! Blogger also. (Although I did have to add that picture of my reunion from the computer; it didn’t work from the Droid.)

I know many who scoff at being tied to electronic devices. I know many who think we should step away from the keyboards and be social.

But I have the world at my fingertips, all the answers that Google can provide, trivia games on history, U.S. Presidents and college football, plus a light saber (Really) and a Schott Gun to use on unsuspecting motorists. (Pump action. It must be loaded and it has a kick. I don’t hurt anyone and I relieve stress).

So don’t sneer at my Droid.

And I won’t sneer at your little free phone.

Product Review: The InStyler

Two weeks ago my bff, P, called me and told me I had to turn the TV to a certain channel and watch the infomercial on the Instyler. "It is amazing!" she said. "It will work for both of us."

How is that possible? We have almost exact opposite hair. Mine is thick, coarse, full of body and FRIZ! Hers is baby fine, straight and difficult to style.* Plus, as I have mentioned before, I wasn't going to fight DSD for the remote.

So I looked at the Instyler website. Sure it looked nice, but they aren't going to show you how difficult it is. And they aren't going to show you the failures. And the blasted thing isn't cheap.

So I googled "Instyler reviews" and was amazed at the number which showed up. These reviews are EVERYWHERE. And most of them are great, although there were complaints about burnt ears, burnt fingers and HOURS of work for straight hair. Mainly I read of a revolutionary new 'flat iron' that left your hair staight, but with body, no friz. Then I went to YouTube and watched many people style their hair with the InStyler, leaving them with straight, no friz hair.

Finally I said, "Eff it" and ordered TWO from Ebay. (I owed P money, so I bought her one to pay her back). They both arrived on Wednesday.

Now on Wednesday I had worn my hair in a ponytail (as I normally do) and my hair was fairly straight except for the ends. I straightened the ends in less than 5 minutes.

On Thursday after work, I took a shower and let my hair air dry.

This was the result.

After heating the Instyler (about 5 minutes) I worked for 9 minutes and ended up with this.

Sorry the picture is a little fuzzy; the hair is obviously straight though.

I love it. I have never been able to get my hair straight.

The above picture is without any product at all, so there is still a little frizz. But I added product before going to bed last night and a little bit more this morning and there is very little frizz. Of course there is very little humidity right now, so that will be the next test!

Recommendation? If you struggle with too much POOF in your 'do, this product is for you!

*Most days I would prefer to have her hair.