personal technology:Kindle 2 is too two to ignore???

I'm loving it!

OK, so I'm the book woman . . . Every gift to a family member has "a book" at the top of the guesswhatitis response list. The youngest grandbaby is vocal about her expectation that I arrive on her doorstep with books in my bag, every time, without fail. The second oldest said to me, just before Christmas, "Nonny, you won't believe this but there's this book I want . . ."

A Kindle was on my Christmas list but not under the tree. My children laughed at me. How could I--the catalyst for their own paper and ink book addictions, the very reason none of us has bookshelves enough, ever--want to read on a technothingamabob? a Kindle?

They were right. That part of who I am is imprinted in indelible inks on the pages where they keep their mother's perpetual profile. But some things change. Even mothers change. Even mothers old enough to be comfortably set in their ways change.

I ordered my own Kindle the day I discovered that generation 2 had arrived. I figured, backordered as it had been and still was, my Kindle would arrive with spring, or later. I was wrong. It arrived last week.

At the moment, the Kindle is charging--for the third time. I've bought three books, finished reading The Graveyard Book, am now somewhere in chapter 3 of By a Slow River (have ordered the print version too, but in the original French :).

Of all the personal technology that has come my way in this last year or years, this was the most natural transition from old ways to new.

It could be that being a book woman transcends physical form and substance.

It could be that being a book woman is all about having access--anywhere, anytime, any book--at my fingertips.

Could it be that both the book and the woman understand that change is the flip side of survive?

Or . . . could it be that, together, we're saving a tree or two or three???

personal technology update 1: the car

I finally did use that rear window wiper one dewy morning last week--without reverting to the print manual. Just punched a button with a promising symbol and got lucky! But it's the old technology that has me puzzled.

Thanks to emerging technologies, I get car diagnostics via email every month. Each month, noticing the tires had lost yet another psi, I've resolved to find or buy a tire gauge and maybe replace my ancient tire pump.

A couple of weeks ago, one of those dashboard lights came on and stayed on for a while before giving up on my paying appropriate attention. I was paying attention. After two days in the depths of the manual, I learned the universal (?) symbol for low tire pressure--which I will remember more for its location on the dash of this car than I will for its shape (so much for the universal concept :-/ ).

Last weekend my son, with his also ancient pump (but it did have a gauge!), helped me get the tires back up to standard--or so we thought. The monthly diagnostics, received on a Thursday, look not unlike last Saturday's readings. Delayed email? Leaky valve stems?

So I've done some upgrading. Tomorrow my 3K-miles-driven all-but-new car goes in for its first factory recall service--a possible power steering fluid leak which would, by the way, explain the way it complains when I back out of the driveway and head out in the mornings . . . With the price of gas, there's much to be said for one-stop shopping. I added getting the tires checked out to my personal technology recall list for tomorrow. I scheduled both appointments online . . .

BTW, I do now own a high-tech tire gauge that can be programmed to remember different settings for front and rear tires--serious technological overkill since 30 psi all around is easy enough for my brain to hold onto for now (kind of like the home thermostat I've never programmed beyond the 68-degree heating and 78-degree cooling absolutes). The new pump--a leaner and meaner version (but hopefully with some ooomph!)--also has a gauge. Both tire gauge and pump are still in the box/shrinkwrap/house . . .

Guess I should be grateful for the 3-month break from automotive repair waiting rooms. . . This one has popcorn (can't eat any until my current dental adventure is finished [hoping for Thanksgiving . . .]) and wi-fi (but I'm opting to spend my time with something of substance, of paper and ink).

In some, maybe many, ways, I'm a digital settler. It's good for the resume, for job security, for exercising the brain. But on my own time? Very much the immigrant, delighting in my native language and culture in the quiet spaces I call home.

what this page is about

We're winding up this year's study group. Our focus has been on writing but, as always, I'm trying to sneak in a little of the technology too. Last year we used Think.com, an online learning community, to communicate and showcase our literacy learnings. This year (well, maybe just this month!?) we're exploring/using our school websites (new this year) and wikis and blogs. Next year?!? All things are possible, virtually speaking. After all, it's April and we have all the way to August to do our dreaming.

So that's why the sandbox (borrowed that idea from my wiki provider)--a safe place to experiment with new tools and maybe even new ways of thinking about the teaching of literacy.

my "protected" wiki (April 24 update)

So the link doesn't work?

I've actually deleted this protected wiki because being a member of three totally private "work" wikis is wiki enough for me!

Maybe this summer, or whenever, I'll play with a more public wiki about a topic I'd like to write about some day. Rivers I have known comes to mind . . .