miscellaney

[bedlamsbard]

One of those days when my computer is making me froth at the mouth; I have had to shut it down and reboot it five times today because it's gone unresponsive. I should have just bought a new computer yesterday while we were at Costco. (Yeah, I'm still on the Dell Inspiron 1525, it's functional most of the time, except for today, apparently.) This weekend, I guess. *pets laptop hopefully* Don't die, baby!

My cousin and her kid were here all weekend, which was...trying. K. is about a year and a couple months, and I've never been in sustained proximity to a kid that age. It's really not my thing. (And of course, my parents and cousin are all, "Oh, Katrina, doesn't this make you want to have a baby?" "NO. NO IT DOES NOT." "Ka-chan, you're not going to be one of those only children who doesn't have kids, are you?" "YES. YES I AM. AND THAT'S OKAY." *parents look doubtful*)

Am watching Hornblower, since my local library has the DVDs. BABY JAMIE BAMBER AND IOAN GRUFFUDD OMG. Gruffudd has such an expressive face, it's really amazing. And is occasionally really sexy, I think it's my usual competence + duty kink. (And for some reason I've been getting all hot and bothered about cute dudes, this isn't typical for me. I blame The Avengers, because have you seen those guys? homg. /shallow)

I'm thinking about buying an eReader to take to England, since I obviously can't take my usual collection of books with me. I'm not very keen on eReaders? But it seems like a good idea. Texas has a Nook Color, which she also uses as a tablet, so that's what I'm thinking about. But I don't know a whole lot about eReaders.

Comments

[lady_songsmith]

I have a Kindle Fire, which I very much like. Whether you want the tablet functions or not depends on whether you want basically a library substitute or something to keep you busy on train rides, etc.

I'd be happy to answer questions?

[cursor_mundi]

I have a Kindle, and it's great -- wi-fi and free 3G, which I got for free since I didn't want a Fire tablet and was happy with the older model. I have a friend in London with a Kindle (same make and model as mine) and she uses it to check email and whatnot. Less smooth than a regular phone/tablet interface, but serviceable, and you can get a lot of free books from Amazon (there are sites that collect the free ones and provide summaries, etc.). Customer service is solid: mine had a mysterious ailment, I called, we chatted, and within an hour a new one was heading my way. Another friend has a Fire, and it is significantly heavier than the regular models, but it's pretty darn awesome.

Anyway, I like the Kindle, and I got it because I was shopping for an ereader just as Borders went under, so I am wary of Barnes and Noble. I can guarantee that Amazon is not going to crash any time soon. B&N has a lot of perks if you bring your Nook to a store, so while this isn't useful for UK travel, it might be something you'd want to consider for long term use. That said, I have absolutely no complaints with my Kindle and I think it's a better device for international travel because of the link to Amazon.com. You can also read PDFs on the Kindle, the screen's big enough.

[iopgod]

Smartphone might be another reaonable option: Personally I have no problem reading ebooks, emailing, internetting, or even watching videos on the smaller screen. Android powered phones should have ebook-reading apps for the full variety of formats, and the newish ones such as the Galaxy S2 have quite large screens, though older ones probably work just as well for most tasks. Plus they let you "talk" to people on the "telephone", old fashioned as that is! Disadvantages are cost (for new, high spec, large screened phones) and reduced battery life. Possible point to consider: UK mobile works on different band than US: might need a new phone anyway.