Plastic Logic finally unveiled their Que Reader today at CES 2010. It was the final eBook Reader I had been waiting on to see if I should get one. I had been reading books on my Windows Mobile phone which was not ideal but I already owned it, the software was free, it was portable, and it had a light so I could read a book in bed while my wife is sleeping. Of course there is the Kindle for $249, but I never like devices that lock you into buying from their store such as Amazon. I’m a big open source supporter, but all of the bookstores use some sort of DRM (Digital Rights Management). Plus, none of the books I had already purchased from ereader.com could be read on the Kindle. I’m not sure why I thought that was important. Upon reflection, I realized I never read a book twice anyways. The Sony Readers did not have a way to wirelessly download the books until they released the Daily Edition in December 2009 for $399. The Nook at $249 was appealing from Barnes and Noble. B&N owns eReader and Fictionwise and the Nook would support those formats, but delays in production and reviews about slow page turning turned me off. None of these devices had everything I wanted.
While waiting on Plastic Logic, I bought an iPod Touch which you can currently get at Walmart for $183.99. This supported all the major bookstores except for Sony. It has a backlight. It is bigger than my phone, but still small and light. You can put it in your pocket and take it anywhere you go. It can do things other than read books such as check email, search the internet, play games, etc. The only drawback is that you need to be near a WIFI connection to download a book, but if you are clever enough, you can connect to the internet through your phone. If you have an iPhone, you have it all. I have been pretty pleased with it so far. Once I heard the price of the Que Reader today, I knew I had made the right choice, $649 for WIFI and $799 for WIFI and 3G. That’s just crazy. Rumor is that the Apple Tablet is going to be near that price and you will get much more bang for your buck. Let’s see if it’s impressive enough to take the place of my iPod Touch.
My wife flirted with disaster today. She has often told friends and family that her husband (that’s me) would leave her if she ever cut her hair short. I have to admit her long hair was really beautiful and probably the only reason I married her. Ok, there were a few other reasons like the time she took me dancing on our first date. Wow. I had never seen anyone move like that.
A few weeks after we were first married she cut her bangs and didn’t tell me. When I came home from work and opened the door, there was a different person standing in front of me. Needless to say my look of shock was probably not the response she was looking for. That was probably the moment when she realized I’m not really good with “change”. I know what I like and I’d prefer it stay that way pretty much forever. My wife however needs to change everything all the time. If it were up to her, we’d have a different house in a different state every week. This of course makes me nervous about when she is going to change me.
So we made a deal. She would give me plenty of warning before making a drastic change in hair color, but agreed not to cut her hair short. This way I could have time to prepare and practice my reaction. I really want to be supportive. I’ve been through all the colors several times. Blonde, brunette, and red. Her hairstylist refuses to cut her hair short since my wife has convinced her that I will leave.
Earlier this week, my wife cut my daughter’s hair quite short and didn’t warn me. My daughter was born with very long hair. It was her “thing” that made her stand out and we kept it long like her mom’s hair. She should have been doing commercials for baby shampoo. Well, ever since then I knew it was coming. If I don’t know my wife by now, I never will. Gabi’s haircut was a trial balloon to see how I would react. I have to admit my baby girl is still gorgeous. So of course when I got home today, my wife called out from the other room to prepare myself for a surprise. She was actually a bit worried and had called her entire family before I got home because she was so nervous. Little did she know I had been secretly preparing myself all week. She looked fantastic and my reaction was genuine. I really like it. She got the same haircut as my daughter. I did warn her though that one inch shorter could have been a tragic mistake. She had actually gone to a new salon this time. I had planned to get her a gift certificate tomorrow for Christmas to her old salon so at least that saved me a trip.
Here’s a picture I took of my wife the day I met her at her cousin’s house when she wasn’t looking. Heh heh heh I couldn’t resist. I think I decided to marry her right then. I still don’t think she knows I took this picture.
So here are the girls today with their new look:
Since I promised the billing representative I just talked to at Directv that I would blog about this, here we go.
OPEN LETTER TO DIRECTV:
I recently switched from Directv to Dish Network. My bill dropped from $140/month to $66/month and I get all the same channels. When the promotional period ends after 1 year I will still be paying less than $100/month. Despite Directv’s best efforts to keep me by giving me 3 months free and then reducing my bill to $120/month for the next 9 months at which point it would go back to $140/month (Yes that’s what they really offered. Don’t laugh) I just couldn’t be convinced to stay and switched to Dish. Directv sent me a bill saying a would be receiving a $30 credit for service. I promptly sent back the HD DVR receiver with the card inside as required. Next thing I know I receive a new bill and a collection notice on the same day from Directv saying I owe them $65 for a PPV boxing match I supposedly ordered 7 months ago plus a $15 “billing adjustment” charge whatever the hell that is. That’s a new net bill of $50 Are you kidding me?? When I call to question it, they said that the order was still sitting on the receiver card somehow and was never billed to me. So let me get this straight, you can order a ppv event, they can deliver the event to your tv somehow, yet they are unable to know that you ordered it until you send the card back to them? That sounds like b.s. to me. Funny how these things happen after you cancel. Of course they say this happens all the time. So logically they must have people really unhappy with them all the time. Apparently you can have dozens of charges stored up on this damn card for years and they will hit you with them all at once when you cancel. Of course I can’t locate my May bill to see if I paid for it already.
I thought I left Directv on good terms. I was basically happy except it cost too much. Now I’m pissed. I will never go back and I will make sure I tell everyone I know (and don’t know) how I feel about it.
Here’s some free advertising for Dish Network. Nice and big too. Screw you, Directv.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the EPA (Obama administration) is going to classify Carbon Dioxide as a dangerous pollutant next week so that it can be regulated even without Congress passing any climate change legislation. This is the same Carbon Dioxide that we exhale when we breathe. This is the same Carbon Dioxide that is used by plants for photosynthesis to produce the Oxygen that we breathe which in turn produces the Carbon Dioxide the plants use to produce the Oxygen… I believe that’s called the Circle of Life.
This is outrageous. These people need to be stopped. Pretty soon you and all your gaseous emissions will be declared a danger to the planet which will give them to right to tax and regulate everything. Isn’t it funny how this is going to happen right after Climategate has exposed these so-called scientists as snake oil salesmen. This is the biggest con, theft, and hoax ever perpetrated in history. How many people have been fooled? How many billions have been spent on a lie? How many personal empires have been created and how many jobs lost? Sadly the global warming believers are invested so deeply and have committed so completely to their cause that there is no way to save face and retreat from their position so instead they push ahead against all reason and force this change upon us for our own good.
Sadly people voted for this.
Last I heard, there are now 10 women who have been identified as mistresses and I wouldn’t be surprised if that is just the tip of the iceberg. When Tiger married Elin, I thought she was about the 2nd hottest woman I had ever seen. My wife of course being FAR ahead in 1st place. Now he’s in the deepest bunker of his life with only one shot to chip out and save par. He needs to rewrite that pre-nup so that Elin gets 100% of his assets should he cheat on her again. That’s really the only thing he could do to convince her that he’s serious. So far he’s been willing to risk $300 million for some side action and apparently that was worth it for him. He could probably make $300 million in a week easy if he set his mind to it. I’m surprised he hasn’t claimed Wade Boggs disease, that he’s a sex addict and check himself into “rehab”. I saw a funny clip where famous Boston athletes give him the “C’mon man!” treatment about making them look bad. “No girlfriend phone? C’mon man!”
Now most experts would claim Tiger is a better golfer than I am. That has never been proven since he has avoided playing me so far. However, it can be said without a doubt that I am a far better husband than he is. In your face, Tiger! Quite frankly I think he is getting what he deserves. What a dope.
My favorite Tiger joke so far? “Tiger changed his name to Cheetah”
The title is its own punchline.
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