Author: awmalloyadmin

I’ve had my Kindle for about six months now and have to say it’s one of the best gadgets I’ve ever bought. It took me a little while to get in to it, even though I could see how good it was but now I’m a confirmed Kindleite. The conversion has come about as I make my way through all of Ian Rankin’s Inspector Rebus novels, in order, and on the Kindle. I started reading Rebus at about the half way mark of the series so my understanding of his timeline was way out. Rebus’ history is making a lot more sense now and, who would have thought, reading the books in order gives you a real sense of growth of in the recurring characters. I’ve just read the 5th of 17 novels. Number 6 will come after a short break while I tackle a non-fiction work on the prohibition era in the US.

What do I like about the Kindle? Glad you asked. I love that’ it’s so slim and easy to take with me, although I don’t have to take it out of the house to keep on reading if I don’t want to. It has a fantastic form factor and is so much easier to hold than a book. The pages are as easy to read as a book, it really does feel like you’re reading on paper. It’s so simple to buy a book and within 30 seconds it’s been delivered to the Kindle ready to read. Indeed, with one click purchasing it can be too easy to buy a book at times. And books are cheap, cheaper than books from Book Depository.

I especially like that books purchased from Amazon synch across a range of devices. I generally buy the book on my Kindle and then have it sent to my phone or (soon) to my tablet. No matter where I finish reading it syncs automatically so I can just pick up the story on my phone and when I get back to the Kindle a quick sync and it will pick up where I finished on the phone. This is especially helpful because a lot my reading time comes when I’m waiting to pick up Bert from school. I can just whip out the phone and have a good 15 minute read.

I like the count at the bottom of the screen that tells me the percentage I’ve read, love that I can tweet extracts and it automatically encourages me to leave a tweet when I finish a book.  The built in dictionary has also come in handy for some of the more esoteric Scottish words in the Rebus books.

I’m not sure why, and would love to hear theories, but I find I read quicker on the Kindle and seem to take more in. Can’t for the life of me think why that would be.

Of course there are some drawbacks to the machine. One is it’s not backlit (although that’s a plus as it’s no strain on the eyes) so you have to have a light source handy and while not a complaint or problem I’m so accustomed to touch screens on digital devices it seems odd to have to use the arrow keys for navigation.

The biggest complaint I have, however, is that not every book is available on Kindle and not every Kindle book is available in Australia. The book I’m reading before heading back to the mean streets of Edinburgh is Last Call and it hasn’t been released as a Kindle yet. Same with The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. There have also been a couple of books I wanted that weren’t available to Australian readers, a ludicrous situation in this age..

I wouldn’t swap the Kindle for the world, and when I get my knitted TARDIS Kindle case from mum it may just be perfect.

I love working from home, it’s something I always wanted to do and I hope that I’ll be able to continue until they (well, Rae) trundle me off to a retirement home. I love it for all the usual reasons but there’s one that most people wouldn’t have on their list.

School noise.

Today I had the door open and could hear the sounds of the kids running around, screaming, laughing, just generally being kids at play time. It’s great knowing that Bert is contributing to that general hub bub and before long it will be even louder. I’m sure I’ll be able to pick Moo out with no worries.

We’ve been offering Bert the treat of a lunch order for a while now but he hasn’t been interested, even though his friend James gets one very Friday. Today it was just Bert and me in the afternoon and a little voice pipes up from the back seat “Dad, can I please have a lunch order tomorrow?”.

So tomorrow Bert is having his first lunch order and it will be :

Two party pies
A strawberry Big M
A jelly cup
A lunch order bag (‘cause we weren’t organised).

And that will come to princely sum of $4.75

I just confirmed his order and the smile on his face was worth a million times that much.

Tonight I’m off to see Baraka at The Astor.

I first saw Baraka on VHS, I guess, about 15 years ago and it was mind blowing, even in letterboxed tape quality. When I bought my first DVD player (it was a drive for a computer) Baraka was the first DVD i purchased. Again it looked amazing, even on an old analogue. I still haven’t invested in a BluRay drive, don’t see the point really with digital copies being the way to go but if someone gave me one Baraka would again be the first disc I purchase.

I can’t wait for tonight, to see this movie in 70mm on The Astor’s wonderful screen is the ultimate way to see this masterpiece. Hopefully everyone in the cinema will be as enthralled as I am not notice that yet again I’ve dropped chocolate on my jumper from the choc top.

It’s the long weekend and rather than spend three days at home not doing anything we jumped in the car and headed up the highway to Shepparton. It was a perfect day for a drive and Shepp really turned the weather on. It’s not how I remember Shepparton in June from my youth. We were able to sit outside in the sun, the kids ran around until they were ready to drop, did some shopping at the SPC-Ardmona outlet,  got to see Helly and the boys and made it home in time for Rae to see Gia on Before The Game. All in all a perfectly relaxing way to spend a perfect Winters day.

Honestly, what have I ever done to Toll? Do they have a god I have offended? Does an unknown archenemy work for them? Twice they’ve said they tried to deliver and said no one was home, an outright lie on both occasions as I work from home. Another time I ended up going to pick up the item from them to save further hassles.

Today I was waiting for my new Android tablet to be delivered (no mum, it’s a small computer, I’m fine). In their online tracking system it showed as at the depot last night and then again this morning. By 1.30 I knew it wasn’t coming today so I called them at 1.45. It was a bit of a mystery to the person on the phone, she got my details and said she’d forward the query as to what was happening to their investigation team, who would call me back.

Hands up who isn’t surprised that I had to call them back at 3.50. I got put through to the investigation department who only then called the depot. I was on hold for a while to be told that they weren’t sure where it was. I said “so, it’s lost?” to which I got the classic reply “it’s not lost, it’s just not where it’s supposed to be.”. In short it’s at the depot somewhere. Just not on the dock, not in the delivery van and very much not in my hands where it belongs.

Yesterday was my birthday and I had one of the best birthdays in years, 2nd to my 80s do last year. This year it fell on a Saturday which meant I got to spend it with Rae.

Lucky for me Zita (Mother In Law Of The Year 10 years running now…) offered to look after the kids so my birthday started Friday afternoon, A quick goodbye to the three young ones and I was free, free! Rae was still in Sydney so I had a few hours to myself and went to the movies at The Sun. The less said about the only film that suited time-wise the better, it was a shocker but there’s still something great about getting the opportunity to go the movies.

After the movies i headed down to Williamstown where Rae and I were staying the night. I took myself off to Tai  Hong Cafe on Nelson Place for some noodles and people watching. I love sitting in windows just watching the world go by and this night proved just how old I had become. Two lovely young ladies walked by in micro dresses, dressed to kill. My first and only thought was “oh, go home and put something warm on, you must be freezing”. I think that makes me officially over the hill.

The Quest Williamston apartments were lovely, although the bed was like sleeping on a rock. I don’t think I’ve slept in a bed before that has absolutely no give. We woke up to lovely peaceful views across to the city, the gentle clanking from the boats in dock and sea birds calling. It was early so we wandered on down to Nelson Place looking for some breakfast. If you’re ever in Williamstown for breakfast we highly recommend Accents. The coffee was perfect and the breakfast was without fault. It was an amazingly mild morning for winter so we could sit outside and eavesdrop on the cyclists who had stopped for a coffee and watch one poor seagull try to protect a triangle of toast.

Then I got to do one of my most favourite things – a walk around Queen Vic market. I have no idea why I love this so much but nothing makes me as happy as strolling along the aisles of the Queen Vic, ever since I first visited their as 14 year old on holiday with mum and dad. We spent two hours meandering and apart from some pens for the kids walked away empty handed.

We finally headed home and after an unscheduled detour to the local shops Rae got to see the kids for the first time in two and a half days and I continued to be spoiled rotten with gifts and attention. The night was topped off with my favourite dinner, Rae’s home made chicken parma and a movie on the couch. It was a perfect day, Thank you Zita for taking on the kids overnight and thank you my love for making feel like the only person in the world. Mwah.