Top down

We hit 60º today for the second afternoon in a row, which is the reason I didn't get all the work I was planning to do today done. I was out walking around soaking up some sun and I saw my first top-down car of the year. I saw two cars with open sunroofs yesterday but I'm not sure that counts. Top down does.

While I was out walking around I went to the library to return a book and noticed the new Richard Russo novel, "That Old Cape Magic," on the best-seller rack, so I brought it home. Turns out it's a one-week book so I'll have to read it next, right after the one I just started this morning, "A Helmet For My Pillow." "Helmet" is a memoir written by a marine who served in the Pacific during WWII, a guy named Robert Leckie, and one of the books the new HBO series, "The Pacific," is said to be based on.

I'm reading it in its ebook version, mostly on my iPhone but on my computer too using Barnes & Nobel software on both devices. Turns out I really like having a good book on my phone - the best book being the book you have with you, after all - and I find it comfortable even for relatively long sessions, and perfect for a quick read over a cup of coffee, that kind of thing. But then I'm the kind of guy who compulsively reads everything in sight, even the backs of breakfast cereal boxes, and also I just got new glasses so hey, bring that small type on.

I'm still clinging pretty comfortably to my decision not to buy an iPad, at least not until next year some time, but the new Apple device has got me thinking again about ebook readers and the "nook," Barnes & Nobel's answer to the Kindle, is looking pretty attractive at the moment. Its about the same size as the smaller of the two Kindles, costs the same, and uses the same digital ink technology, but it includes wi-fi as well as wireless connectivity (Kindle - at leas the smaller one - is wireless only), which seems like a good feature for those of us who live outside 3G land. (Yes! That's right! We're still using the EDGE network the Pilgrims built.)

Whatever. I do need to get some work done - plan a class on resume formatting in Word and another on basic, introductory Windows and I'll get around to it, Boss, I really will, soon, but who could work on a day like today?

Right. Except you.