Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Alien Landing


Remember way back when, when I told you I was making some major decisions that would be updated later. Well, call it hell freezing over, my age 30 freak the F out, or just pure insanity, but T and I decided reproducing would be a good idea. You’re thinking we were drunk at the time because that would make more sense? Nope, we had many, many, many sober conversations.

I decided that as our lives progressed I’d like a new job and a baby in whatever order they decided to come in and well the baby came first, and the job is another to be updated on later subject. But no, I will not be a stay at home mother.

And just so you know I’m not going to go all sentimental baby crap on you. I’m not like that. I actually dislike pretty much everything that is too babyish cutesy. I’ll never be that person in Babies R Us going ‘awwww’ or ‘oohhhhh’, I’ll be going “does it serve a purpose? Will it make the baby stop crying or sleep? And how much space is that going to take up in my house?”

Being pregnant has been pretty easy on me. I never experienced morning sickness, or many food aversions, and I’d often forget I was pregnant. So far all I’ve experienced is sleepiness after midnight, an increased appetite, and some pretty intense cravings lately. Also, if you talk to T, he’ll tell you I’ve been a little lot on the emotional side lately. Any patience I did have is gone and I’m starting to have to wear fatty clothes. I call them that because I have yet to find anything that I would normally buy to wear if I wasn’t pregnant. Maternity fashion does not exist.

The baby from here on out will be referred to as ‘The Alien’. Did you ever see the movie 'Men in Black' where the human-like person was controlled by the little alien inside? That’s me. We are not finding out the gender because if I’m going through medicated hell at the end of this I damn well better get a surprise at the end, AND a rye & pepsi – what I would do for a rye & pepsi!!!!

Speaking of the end, The Alien has a sick sense of humor (probably mine)- my original due date was Jan 1st. It’s like it’s going “hey, you know how much fun you used to have on New Years, remember how much fun Mexico was? Haha screw you!” Not cool Alien.

However, The Alien is measuring a little further along than scheduled which is impossible in my books, and when my OB told us this T stated “I better have not been on the road”. Good thing the OB has a sense of humor. I signed up with her for the end of it as wit is something I’m going to need a whole lot of. Anyway, as of last appointment The Alien is now scheduled to land Dec 27th, and this will probably change again next week.

I could go into all the fun details of the instrument they use to determine all of these lovely dates, but I’d hate to put the fear into those of you who wish to have children in the future.

So that’s it, that’s kind of why I’ve been MIA. However, I’m still the same J9 with a little less filter.

Friday, July 15, 2011

eReader Fail.

I love books - no secret there. This might stem from the fact that my mother has read to me basically from birth on. I love the children’s Dr.Seus and Robert Munsch books that I have read and re-read a million times over the years. I love “chick” books as T calls them. I’ve read every book by Emily Giffin or Marian Keyes. I also love autobiographies of random people such as Nikki Sixx or Eric Clapton. I loved the Steig Larsson trilogy.


I also love the physical book. I love that you can stick it in your purse, or beside your bed, or next to the bathtub or basically anywhere that isn’t flammable. I love the smell when you walk into a library and millions of aging books line the shelves. I love that after you read a book that you absolutely loved that you can hand it to someone else who you know will love it also and discuss it later. I love how you can tell your favorite books from the creases in the spine.

I love creating endless summer reading lists and losing hours in a book.

I do not love eReaders.

I read my first and probably last book ever on the ipad2 over the last long weekend. I had seen the trailer for ‘One Day’ at the theatre and decided I wanted to read the book before (as always) so the quickest way to get this book was to download it. The cost was supposed to be around $10 through Kobo - $10 for a book I wouldn’t physically have, that I couldn’t share, and would just end up being a $10 file on my computer? No thanks. I could swing by Walmart or Costco and find it there when last minute a coupon arrived in my inbox.
(If you are female read this book and see this movie!)
$8 and a few handfuls of hair later the book appears on my bookshelf on the ipad. Perfect, toss it in the purse and off we go.

My first impression is good. The screen adjusts to the light and I can adjust fonts and can be beyond lazy and just tap the screen to turn a page. However, I still have to prop the ipad up to read it and that can be awkward after long periods of time.

Something flashes – what an email coming in? A distraction out of the corner of my eye that pulls me from what I’m reading, and oh wait another flash the battery is dying and needs to be charged. So now I have to either get to an electrical source soon to charge my book to continue reading or call it a day. Not cool.

After a full charge we hit the beach the next day. I’m terrified of sand or water getting on the ipad and on previous tropical locations we would often leave our books on our chairs and go for a swim. Someone steals a book – so what? $10-$30 later you got yourself a new one. Someone steals your eReader and it gets pricey real quick. So taking an eReader to the beach, or on a cruise, or to a park – probably not your best idea.

Realistically I can only see these being good for people who only ever read in their homes or on planes – just make sure you don’t leave it in the pocket of the seat in front of you.

So there once again in my opinion in which I like to share and it probably makes no difference that I also love a physical copy of Saturday’s newspaper in my hands.

Then again I am getting old and probably not embracing all the new technologies like I used to back in the day….in my twenties J