5 Stilettos! - The 7" Kindle Fire HD

When I last wrote I had just ordered a Kindle Fire HD 8.9".  I had owned an original Kindle but got rid of it when I purchased my Motorola Xoom tablet. I wanted something smaller and lighter to carry in my purse for my daily commute to and from the concrete jungle.

Don't get me wrong, the Motorola Xoom is an excellent tablet, but it is not that feminine.  I mean it is a real geek's tablet, and unfortunately designed with a man in mine.  Not for us Diva-type geeks.   I did get a real cute cover though (Tuff-luv Eco-nique natural Hemp Brown, which unfortunately they don't make any more).

 (Jump at the Sun: Goldilocks and the Three Bears)

Well I kinda' feel like Goldilocks because it was ...

Too Big

The Kindle Fire HD 8.9" was nearly as big as my tablet!  And weighted nearly as much!

The next one was ...

Too Small

So, I ordered a 6" Kindle Paperwhite (one of my co-workers Paul had one and it looked pretty cool).   This one is just a reader, no bells and whistles. Which works OK in addition to a tablet, but certainly is not a replacement.  It fits great in my purse, but I made the mistake of getting the one with the advertisements.  Bad decision. It kept freezing up on the ad pages, and I had to reboot to get them off the page.  So back it went.  That was several months ago.  So if you decide to get this one, I recommend that you don't get the one with the special offers.  They are not that special.

Finally one that is ...

Just Right

Last week I decided to use some of my credit card reward points to try it again.  This time I got the 7" Kindle Fire HD, and I love it!  It is the perfect size, it lets me read my books AND listen to my audio books.  It is much lighter than my tablet and fits nicely in my purse.  I purchased a really cute case by Ionic that has a Bluetooth keyboard.  It makes it a little heavier, but still not as heavy as my table.  But I have a option to remove it from the case if I like.

I give the 7" Kindle Fire HD my highest rating !

The Art of Tablet Wars

Now Back to the world of high tech...

This week Amazon.com announced a series of new Kindles which includes the new  Kindle Fire HD 8.9", Dolby Audio, Dual-Band Wi-Fi, 32 GB  ($499) and WiFi Only ($299).  I almost lost my mind when I saw that they were going to offer 4G for $49.99 for a full year!

What a deal!  What a bargain!  I ordered one right away... then wait... oh heck, I didn't read the fine print.  The 4G only includes 250 MB of data each month.  WTF?  Are you kidding me?

My next move... canceled the order, might as well get the WiFi version and save $200.00.

In my opinion, (of which I have many) if Amazon wants to be the forerunner in the Tablet Wars, they need to have an unlimited data plan.  Like the Whispernet they offered with their original Kindle.  This would change the game of Tablets as we know it.  Of course all of the other big guns would have to follow suit, and we would live in the land of happy unlimited data forever more.

I currently own a Motorola Xoom, and pay $10.00 a month to have it added on my Share plan at Verizon.  My contract on it is up next month, and I am pulling it off the wireless plan too.  My phone is now a hotspot, so I don't need my tablet to be connected.  If I want to use it, I will use my phone's connectivity.  Thus saving myself $120.00 a year.

I am getting tired of the wireless companies (and cable companies) bleeding us dry.  They are "nickle-and-diming" us for every little thing.  In the end, the company that gives us a flat rate (not a mystery rate) is going to win this tablet war.

So Amazon.com, I am giving you the benefit of my worldly wisdom.  You should consider this your marching orders.  In the words of Jean-Luc Picard... Make it so.

I Speak Your Name

When I was young, it seemed to be a rare occasion for a friend to pass away.  Of course old people died, that was what they were supposed to do.  But people my age… not so much.  I lost my great grand-mother at the age of 5, my maternal grandmother at the age of 9, and my grandfather at the age of 10.  Strange thing is that I remember each one’s passing.  I remember how sad my mother was, and I remember not fully understanding I would not see them again.

When I was in junior high, the unthinkable happened, one of my friends died.  I still am not sure exactly what happened, but I remember her being in the hospital, and the next thing I remember is going to her funeral.  Her name was Thea Jones.  A few years later, I went to go visit my friend Jeanie, and there was a black wreath on the door.  Her name was Jeanette Fisher, and she had passed from complications of Sickle Cell.  We had been friends our whole childhood, and I never even knew she had the trait.

On to college, the passing of my friends Rodney, who we called “Bay Shay”, the night before he died, he and his best friend Andre came to visit Paulette (my roommate) and I.  We were in college, and considered them our little brothers.  They were so excited because they were seniors in high school, and it wouldn’t be long before their graduation.  We fed them, and stayed up all night talking about nothing and everything.  We literally had to put them out!  The next day Rodney and Andre went to play basketball and Rodney passed out.  He had a heart attack, he was 17 years old.  I will never forget it, I will never forget the call.

I only had one friend I knew that was born the same day and the same year as me.  His name was John Gunn.   He was 6’ 9”, and a center for the Memphis State basketball team.  John came down with what we thought was a cold, and it turned out to be a rare disease called Stevens - Johnson syndrome.  John died on December 21, 1976.  I couldn’t believe it.  He was not only my friend, but my exact same age.  We were too young to die.

Years went by, and eventually, my aunts and uncles began to pass away.   My mom’s oldest sister Geraldine (who we called Sister) was the first.  Her dying wasn’t a surprise to me because she smoked a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes (with no filter) each day.  So I wasn’t in shock, but she was the first of that generation.

 

In 1986, the same week as the Space Shuttle disaster, my only brother was killed.  The world as I knew it changed.  How could my baby brother be dead?  I just could not wrap my head around this.  He had a one year old daughter, and a 1 week old son.  He was only 23 years old.  His death, devastated my mother, and it took 20 years before she was the same person I knew growing up. Since then I have lost all of my aunts and uncles, my god parents, my mother-in-law, father-in-law, a nephew, my father, and many friends.

In 2010, I lost one of my best friends Karan.  My world was forever changed again. 

This week, I lost another friend Patti.  The circle of life continues. 

My ancestors believe if you speak the names of the dead, they will never truly die.  They will live on forever…

Flora, Almetta, Edgar, Sadie, Eugene, Cora, John W., Thea, Jeannie, Rodney, John G., Sister, Terry, Cathy, Met, Lucille, Pap, Nan, Frazier, Tootum,  Corbin, Ruth, Mallory, Stanley, Wendell, David, Reginald, Connie, Ethel,  Bernice, Georgetta, Tracey, Karan, Maeon, Arnita, Carrie Mae, Joe Jr., Reevis, Reesha, Reaumel, Coochie, Jan, and Patti.

 

I speak your name, I speak your name.


09/12/12 Update:

Since I posted this post, I have had many e-mails and phone calls from loved ones telling me their stories of lost and grief, and lending me their shoulders to cry on.  How blessed and I to be surrounded by this love.  And as my friend Debra reminded me how blessed are we to be able to speak the name of Jesus, the one that died for us.  God bless you all, and thank you for being my friend.

Farewell Ray Bradbury

As you may have noticed, I don't blog much anymore.   There is so much information being disbursed with so many different mediums, it is really hard to have anything important to say.  But I felt that noting the life and contributions of one of the fathers of Science Fiction was definitely worth a blog post.  

Known for Sci Fi, Mr. Bradbury did not consider himself a Sci Fi author, he thought of his work as Fantasy.  Even if you don't remember reading a book or short story by Mr. Bradbury (Something Wicked this Way Comes," "Dandelion Wine," "The Illustrated Man," "The Martian Chronicles" and, of course, his most memorable  work, "Fahrenheit 451"), chances are you have seen influences of his work in television and film.

Thanks for making my world a more interesting place.  May your soul soar through the stars to the ends of the universe.

Rest In Peace

Ray Douglas Bradbury 

(August 22, 1920 – June 5, 2012)

Video: Tracee Ellis Ross Has Style, and So Does Her New Character

Going Digital

I have been buying Music CDs since they came into existence.  I remember when I had to finally give up my cassettes and get a CD Player and try to repurchase every album that I had on CD, it was expensive.  Well here I am again, standing at that same threshold.  But this time it is deciding if I am ready to go completely digital with my music collection.

In recent years, I have been buying MP3s via amazon.com, but understand I still have a gazillion of CDs.  Yep, I was a member of the BMG music club, and I was a really good customer.  So right now, I am sitting on my patio with a truckload of CDs ripping them to my PC in an honest attempt to go digital.  This is not as expensive as going from Albums to CDs, but it sure is time consuming.  I have been sitting out here for a few hours, and I have not even put a dent in these piles.

I really wish they had a machine that I could drop all of these CDs into, and digital music would come out.   You know, like those machines at the bank that you put all of your change in to.

So, I know what I will be doing this weekend.  Hope yours is great!

Tablet Blues

With all of the hoopla about the $99.00 HP Touchpad, I realized that overall; I am just not a tablet fan.  This could be considered another installment of my “woes of an early adopter” saga, but really I just don’t get it. 

I owned a first generation Kindle, and was soooooooooo excited about the possibilities but overall, I wasn’t thrilled with the digital reader experience.  I decided to sit back and wait on some other alternatives, and boy did they come running.  I have friends with different readers, but other than the thrill of instant access, I haven’t been swayed to buy another one.

Thus comes the tablet... 

I started looking into Tablet PCs, and when the Xoom was announce at CES 2011 back in January, it instantly moved to the top of my wish list.  As soon as they became available I purchased on (via Verizon) with a 5 GB data plan.  Overall, I like the performance of the Xoom, but most of the features/apps that I use were already available on my Droid. 

Now don’t get it twisted, it is sexy as hell, but I still much rather be on my desktop rocking my two humongous monitors.   Also, to me it is very heavy (aka not real girly).  But since I “had” to have one, I am please with my choice.  And… after searching high and low, I finally found the cutest Xoom cover by Tuff-Luv (it was the third case I purchased, but I love this one!)

So overall, I am waiting for the tablet phenomenal to grow on me.  I finally broke down and loaded a game, Angry Birds, and I must admit I do like it (but don’t tell anyone!)

Of course, had I been able to snatch up one of those $99.00 HPs I would have done so, in a New York minute!  It is much like a shoe sale, you just can’t walk away empty handed.