Kindle Review

Hooray! My Kindle arrived this morning. I've been reading Kindle books on my iPhone and laptop since Christmas but this is my first dedicated eReader device.

I was a little worried when someone on the Kindle forums mentioned that the screen was very dark in comparison to a backlit screen and being use to a backlit screen (and not having any eye strain from it), I was concerned I wouldn't like the eInk. But it seems perfectly readable in the daylight even with half the blinds in our living room closed and no other light on it. I can certainly see how people who get eye strain from backlit screens would greatly benefit from eInk, it's very easy on the eyes and not like a computer screen at all.

I did not have as much as an urge to touch the screen for navigation as I thought I would but I DID feel like the navigation was slow in comparison to a touch screen. Especially with the screen or part of it flashing to black every time I click something (you get ghosting images if it doesn't do this), compared to the iPhone, I feel like it's regressive technology. I'm hoping that now that I've set it up, I won't need to do much in the way of navigating any more anyway.

I've managed to accidentally bump the turn page button 3 times already. I hope I just have to get used to where the buttons are and that won't continue to be a problem.

Combined with the cover, it's a little heavier than I expected - definitely heavier than an average paperback book, probably more the weight of a hardback even though it's dimensions aren't bigger than a paperback. One of the reasons I switched to ebooks was because of the strain holding a book open was putting on my hands (the other reason being that we don't have room to store many books in our tiny apartment) so I'm a little concerned about the weight but I usually rest my book/phone on a pillow while reading any way so hopefully it won't be a problem.

For the most part, it's really cool. The main reason I bought it was because the iPhone screen was kind of small to ideally read on (though it didn't strain my eyes, it was annoying to have to try the pages every 3 seconds) but my laptop was too big to "curl up with". This is the perfect size and even though I don't need it, I'm impressed with the eInk. Although having to charge my iPhone battery everynight never seemed to bother me, it is kind of a relief not to have to do so with Kindle too. Because of how eInk works, it only needs to use the battery when you click something - this means the battery can last for weeks, possibly even months.

I also bought the official cover with a built in light so it's all protected and I don't have to worry about reading in the dark. Very, very cool. I suggest anyone who reads frequently to at least check it out.

I'm going to go read!

Desperate Need of an Update

Sorry for being neglectful. Here's some updates:

1. Steve and I saw Inception and loved it.

2. Steve and I had our anniversary and loved it (not on the same day we saw Inception). We went to a restaurant called Gio Ristorante Italiano - we took James and Ange there once but hadn't been in a while. It was just as good as we remembered. Definitely the best Italian food in England.

3. I bought a Kindle. I've been reading Kindle books on my iPhone and PC since the beginning of the year but Amazon announced a new Kindle with a great price so I jumped on it. It's supposed to arrive tomorrow.

4. Photos from the latest game:

The New Camera

I can not believe how awesome the 7D is! It's SO fast and much more responsive and accurate! The autofocus system is out of this world. I can't believe how many usable photos I came away with compared to before. Unfortunately, with the bigger file size, I really could have done with my second camera card which I stupidly left at home (thought I put it in my bag and I didn't). But I managed by going to the office at one point to unload the pics so I could clear the card.

But the camera is amazing. I'm on cloud nine. Oh, aside from the fact that we lost. But at least it didn't rain!



Above is a sequence of events (click for larger versions) in which one of the other team members fouled one of ours and some shouting and shoving resulted, followed by a discussion with the ref. Everyone was calling it a "fight" but of course anyone who has ever watched hockey knows it's not really a fight unless punches are thrown.

"Genuinely Stunning"

Apparently, I have "genuinely stunning photography"!

Good weather, bad game

We've been having nice weather lately - so far, it's been the nicest summer I've spent here in England! Of course by "nice" weather, I mean it's above 70.

Unfortunately, Salford lost their game today. But I got good pictures and it didn't rain so it wasn't a total loss for me, lol.

Happy Birthday Me!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! Today was a great day - I spent all morning doing a fun photoshoot in the sunshine and then Steve and I went to lunch at the Red Lion, the place that does the awesome carvery.

The photoshoot I was working on was for the posters we're doing as a "countdown" to the new stadium. There's 18 home games lefts in our current stadium so we've decided to use numbers on the backs of the playing shirt to represent how many games are left. You can check out the first image and read more about it here. So this morning I was doing the shoot for 17. I can't reveal it yet, it's top secret!

You may also notice I slightly changed the blog template... that olive green background was starting to look a little more like puke green to me.

Thank You Rain God

So, last night we had a game - don't get excited, we lost. But I got some good pics despite having a bit of a panic before kick off that the rain wasn't going to stop. You see, all day - pretty much all week - the weather here has been nice again (this is our 3rd "nice" phase, thrown inbetween "bad phases" of highs in the 50s). And when I checked the forecast, there was no rain until Sunday. So I left my rain cover for my camera at home, thinking it wasn't going to rain and the lighter I can make my bag, the better.

Well, 2 hours before kick off and it literally starts POURING down. This is unusual for England, normally our rain is just a depressingly slow drizzle. And if that were the case, I could get away with covering my camera with something else besides my rain cover. But a down pour? I can't shoot in that without something designed for it. And by this point, I can't go home and get the cover because the pre-game sponsor shots were already in flow. So for the next hour and a half, the rain would let up but then pour down again and I was anxiously looking out the window hoping it would stop.

Amazingly, because my luck is usually not this good, about a half hour before kick off, the rain stopped and the skies cleared up. PHEW! So here are the photos I got thanks to the rain god who decided to favor me that day (click for larger versions):