Electronic Euphoria

Back during the June Fathers' Day celebrations, I mentioned that Barnes and Noble had sent me an email to say they had put the various Nooks on sale at drastically cut prices.  They were even lower than I had paid for my beloved Nook Color when it was new.  I promptly forgot the conversation.  I had, months previously, mentioned that my battery in the reader was holding less and less charge and I was going to have to do something about it.  As usual, until it became an annoyance instead of a problem, I procrastinated.

For my birthday, I received a brand new Nook HD Plus.  Oh.  My.  Word.  I am so happy with it and for good reason.  J mentioned what a good picture it has.  Yes, HD will do that.

One of he best parts of the whole experience is that there is no more hooking  up of cables to download e-library books.  There is an app for that, too.  Overdrive Media Console is its name and it comes in flavors for the iPhone, Nook, Android, and who knows what else.  It is free and worth every penny!

I belong to our local library (of course) and it has a large e-book collection.  With Overdrive, all I had to do was to find/select our library and make it a favorite.  Overdrive opens the library web site right at the media I want.  One can then select E-Pub or Audio books.  The Nook HD screen is the size and shape of a page in a book.  I have a cover for it that folds back comfortably.  With portrait mode selected, I can read in bed using the "night" color which is white on black.  Less light is emitted causing other sleepers not to wince at the light level in the room.

Thank you to Zeta20, MagicCityKid, Ub2ta11, S, & Piccpiper who pooled resources to make me the happiest camper in our city.   Or county.  Or state.  

And to J for the cover.   

Window? What window?

We have suffered rains.  To illustrate, we have been so overcast and rainy that our high temperature on Wednesday was 78 degrees.  The rest of the country ran high nineties to triple digits.  Taking into consideration that our state has the southernmost city in the country, things have been upside down on the weather map.

This week, we had to put hurricane shutters on a west-side window because a ball hit it, shattering one section of the glass. We have no idea who did it but we did find the culprit ball.  A couple of days later,  J removed a matching glass slat to use as a template.  Then BigEd and I took it to a "Glass Doctor" for replacement glass. 

We had to wait at the glass place because the cutter was working on a mirror which he had just begun to cut.  While this was happening, the rains began again in earnest.  Of course the umbrellas were in the car.  One would think that such experienced southerners would have brought them inside along with the glass template.  One would be wrong.  

As usual, the weather almost cleared after twenty minutes.  This is a feint of the weather, down here, to lure the unwary outside without a wetsuit.  We were not fooled.  I scampered out to get the missing rain gear.  By the time our glass was cut, wrapped with something that looked like Saran Wrap, and paid for, the rains were back.  The area where the glass shop is located is often on the news due to local flooding.  The proprietor told us that the drain in the back parking lot, where their trucks park and where deliveries come in, is slow.  So they flood back there.  We were in the front lot and left without encountering much standing water.  Our water was active with windshield wipers to match .

The glass fit exactly.  But the shutter is still up.  One never knows . . .