utenzi

Actually it's more of a black letter day now that I think about it. Amazon just shipped my Kindle 6 minutes ago and the lettering on those critters is black. Yep. 2:32am on September 1st is when they sent the Email and I read it 5 minutes later. Gotta love this instant knowledge stuff. I bought one of the new generation $139 Kindles that don't have the 3G connectivity. Since I don't think I'll be buying many books on impulse, I'm willing to give up the roaming capability to save some money. Fifty bucks! And until I decide if I like it or not, I'm only downloading free books ---mostly old classics--- only some of which I'll be willing to read. But this is more about deciding if I like the feel, sensation, experience of reading an electronic tablet. I really do like holding a heavy paper based hardcover book so this electronic gadget is iffy. Well, we'll see... it's supposed to get here tomorrow!

This past Friday I bought a camera on Amazon. In fact the nicest camera I've bought since the one I purchased while in college for a trip I was taking to Greece. I've been very slow to move over to a digital SLR. Part of the reason is that since I use glasses I find it liberating to be able to use the back of the camera for framing the shot and focusing and such. With SLRs you use the viewfinder since it's a single lens system. SLR = single lens reflex The light enters through the lens and goes to the film computer imaging chip. So what you see is what you get. Of course it's not quite that simple with digital SLRs but it's still close. So that means I have to peer through that nasty little viewfinder. As you can probably tell, it wasn't the camera that sold me on upgrading to a dSLR. In this case it was the printer that was bundled with the system. Or more accurately, there was a $400 rebate if you bought the printer with the camera and since the printer was...

My birthday was a few days ago but it was today that I got toys. Wheee. After work I went to Occoneechee Park to go around the mountain twice. That's around 5 miles. Even though it was only around 70f it didn't take long before I was soaked with sweat. This getting old business isn't good for ones health. Of course being dead is no picnic either. Anyway, the first trip around I saw 5 snakes and was upset that I didn't have my camera. I generally don't bring it with me these days because I go slower when I'm carrying it 'cause I keep taking pictures. So on the second loop I had retreived the camera from my car and carried it with me. Of course I didn't see one damn snake. The bastards! At least I saw this deer as a consolation prize. But I can't pick up a deer and take a picture of it so it's just not as good as a snake. Back to the topic of toys... When I arrived home I found that I'd gotten 3 packages from Amazon, all ordered at different ti...

I was reading an article on ZD net the other day--that's the website for the Ziff Davis publishing house--about how Amazon is currently fighting the state of North Carolina over the state's desire to access Amazon's database of customer's and their purchases. Amazon has filed a lawsuit against North Carolina’s Department of Revenue to prevent the state from getting the names of every resident that bought anything from the retailer since 2003. The ramifications could be huge. As you may recall, Amazon has been dueling with a few states over taxation issues. States, which are struggling to balance bloated budgets, are mulling over taxing out-of-state Internet retailers. Since I live in NC I take a large interest in this fight. Should Amazon lose, any resident of NC that bought anything from Amazon in the past 8 years could be forced to pay state sales tax on their purchases, if they hadn't already done so. That can add up to big bucks for some people. Take the typical...

Gotta love Amazon this time of the year. Once you get to the Xmas shopping season those orders are shipped out fast. I ordered the 4th season of House on Friday and it arrived today. Sweet. Usually on that free shipping deal they make you wait a week or two. Bastards! But for the next 3 weeks as soon as you order something they ship it---they can't afford to get behind. I love it. And today I ordered the third season of Dexter . That show is amazing. When I first got my HD set I had HBO and Showtime free for 6 months and I really was impressed with the first two seasons of Dexter ---but I'm too cheap to keep Showtime for the one series so I've been waiting for the shows to come out on DVD (at a decent price). Now that there's only a few weeks before season 4 of Dexter wraps up season 3 is affordable. The Blu-ray is about 3 bucks a show, 50% more than the regular def, but this show just begs to be seen in high definition. In case anyone else is watching it, the second...

Weird weather so far this May. We've broken century old heat records more than once this month but we've also had a number of unusually cold days and overnight lows approaching the 30s on several occasions. And a lot of rain. It's been quite a roller coaster so far. My job has been reflecting that up and down pattern. My lab published an article today in Cancer Research and we should be writing up our next one around the end of the month. If we submit it in June it might see print before the end of the year. On the downside, my position doesn't look like it's going to be funded for next year so unless we get some last minute money I might be hitting the streets in July. But that's the way it goes in academic research. The money is never guaranteed, that's why we refer to grant supported jobs as being reliant on "soft money". And I unfortunately seem to be in a Amazon mode and keep buying things on there. Yesterday I bought a relatively inexpensive...

What do you think of this necklace on "Gold Box" sale at Amazon.com today? To me it looks like a dog tag. Not something I'd want to give to a girlfriend. (the "Fifi" part I added, in case that's not obvious) Do women want something this chunky looking around their neck? And would a woman want it monogrammed or personalized with a name? Perhaps a contact phone number on the back too? I'd hate it if my girlfriend got lost and wasn't able to find her way home. True, Alzheimer's is at least a year or two away--but it's good to be cautious. Seriously, does anyone like this? Maybe it's just me that thinks it looks like a dog collar. I'm still thinking about Nena and that armpit hair thing. Unlike what Bob-Kat said in comments, I thought it was an appealing look.

Lee made a challenge to me last night. She wants both of us to not buy a single thing from Amazon during the month of May. That's good for the planet since directly and indirectly consumerism is such a plague on our biosphere. (So that's my Earth Day plug.) Of course Amazon is aware of that and is doing a big "Green" push to make consumers think they're doing the planet good by spending more. So, this should be easy, right? Not so much. Normally I'm very careful with money and except for a few months at Christmas I rarely buy consumer goods. Unfortunately this year I never stopped spending money. Eeeek! So this challenge that Lee is making is just in time. I need to stop shopping! (sorry, Chris--I know that's against your religion) Adding a little background stress to the month of May is that I want to cut soda out of my diet for the month. I do this several times a year but it's always difficult for me 'cause I LOVE soda. Carbonated sugar water...

You want to talk about conspicuous consumption? Or at least an attempt to encourage it? Well, if you do then this offer I was Emailed by Chase Bank under their Amazon.com co-branding is for you. I like the card since you earn 1% back on all purchases which is paid off in Amazon gift certificates. I can ALWAYS spend money on Amazon! When you buy stuff on Amazon you get a better rate but I can't remember what it is. 2% or 3%, I think. This ad they sent me makes it sound even sweeter. DOUBLE the point earnings! How can you not like that, I ask you. Well, when you get to the second paragraph you see that you have to spend more than $450 in a month within one of 5 categories . Hell, I don't like to spend more than $450 a month in ALL categories . I can't imagine spending more than $450 in a month on just groceries, for example, or dining out. *whew* I suppose someone in sales might easily make it in the dining category if they're putting meals on their own card, and a b...