A Dedicated E-Reader

One of my Christmas gifts from my wife was a Kindle Fire or E-Reader. It is something I wanted and appreciate her getting it for me. On Monday I headed to California and used it instead of bringing a number of books and other reading material. I have to say that I really appreciated having a small electronic book. Had I brought paper copies, I would have added a lot of weight.

My wife and I are preparing to hike Mt. Rainier in July and the recommended training guide can be found in a book called "Training for the Uphill Athlete." My wife purchased the Kindle version of the book and because our Amazon accounts are linked, I also have access to it. It is a rather hefty book and I am glad I didn't have to carry the paper copy. I started reading the book while waiting to depart Salt Lake and made great progress before even getting on my flight. I continued reading while headed to Los Angeles. Then I read on the way back home. I am now about half way through and have enjoyed the experience.

While in Los Angeles I had some other personal reading that I like to do at breakfast. I brought my e-reader to the hotel buffet and enjoyed a leisurely pace while I ate and read. I liked not having to carry a second book with me.

Now there is a problem with using an e-reader before bed. The Kindle Fire is really a small Android tablet and I am concerned about blue light keeping me up and making it difficult to sleep. While reading on the flight home, the screen seemed to almost have an e-paper look to it. This leads me to believe that the device shouldn't keep me up any more than reading a book. I will have to do some more testing though.

I feel like I had a successful first trip with my Kindle and look forward to using it more often. Any time you can cut down on the stuff you need to bring on a trip, you should. I always try to carry just a small computer bag and a small backpack. If I could condense everything down to a single bag, I would. The Kindle is a small step towards that direction.

Technology Can't Replace Mom and Dad

I have an international flight today as I head from Salt Lake to Tokyo, Japan. That means I had to be at the airport 2 hours early. I showed up and expected to spent time in lines. Just 15 minutes after I arrived, I am checked in, have gone through security, and have an hour and 45 minutes to kill before I leave. I figured I would add something to my blog today in the hopes of killing a little bit of time.

I was leaving the office on Thursday and was having a conversation with one of the department admins. She has two young kids and a mother that loves to play Grandma. The admin's mom wants to buy a Kindle Fire for each of the grandkids. The oldest is only 4 and the youngest isn't quite a year old. I am someone that embraces technology but can't see the logic in that purchase. The admin explained that her mom thinks the young kids can use it to watch videos or be read to. We both agreed that it is a bad idea though.

One of the joys of being a parent is reading to your kids. I used to read to my own kids every night. We read the complete Harry Potter series as well as a good chunk of the Hardy Boys mysteries. One of my kids favorite series was Swallows and Amazons. Research shows that while it is important for a mother to read to her children, it is also important for Dad to do so as well. So while we have technology that allows machines to read to our children, that doesn't mean it is a good idea. Trust me on this one.