Kindling fears

So help me, I think my next e-reader is going to be a Kindle.

I remain on the record as being leery of Jeff Bezos' avowed entertainment-brokerage-domination plans.  Which is why my last two e-readers have been Nooks - until this point, they've been more or less equivalent to Kindles in terms of usefulness, and while my growing-up-in-90s-suburbia self would have laughed at the idea of Barnes & Noble being the underdog business that needed championing...well, things have changed.  (This isn't to say I'm the biggest B&N fan, either, but variety equals adaptability equals better deals for customers, and is thus better in the business world just as it is in biomes.)  And for a while they were doing a pretty good job of staying competitive - the Nook Touch was a substantial improvement over the original Nook, and for the most part I've quite enjoyed using it the past couple years.

The problem being, B&N seems to have more or less given up on innovating.  Their successor to the Touch is basically the same one with a glowlight so you can read in the dark.  Which definitely fills a gap in the usability of the original, but compared to the new Kindle Paperwhite it fails on just about every metric.  The Paperwhite has a better-contrast screen, better light quality, and is reportedly less prone to freeze-ups.  Plus the Kindle has the whole direct-publishing community based around it, and (now that I have Prime) a lending library, and Goodreads integration (something I've wanted basically since e-books became a thing), and free 3G access so you can use Wikipedia/Goodreads/what have you on the go, and...

I have to give Our Friend Jeff (as Brian calls him - as in, "Has the package arrived from Our Friend Jeff yet?") credit.  He certainly has grasped the Jobsian model of "don't just make products, make them an ecosystem that works together".  Which, when you have a base product with the penetration levels of the iPod or the Kindle, works fantastically well for convincing customers to stick with your company.  People will do a lot for convenience, and when you offer an objectively better product than the competition as well, that makes the decision even easier.  Along those same lines, he also understands the concept of "make it as easy as possible for people to give you money".  Which you would think would be part of Running a Business 101, but lots and lots of companies don't seem to understand the concept.

Sigh.  It's not like I had any principles about the idea, per se.  But still, I can't help but feel a little bit like I'm giving in.

Thoughts upon the present moment

 Some random thoughts that are in that awkward "too big/too complainy for a Facebook post, too little for a blog post" zone:

• I'm not prone to squeamishness.  I can look at disgusting stuff (open wounds, rotting corpses, STD sores, centipedes, spiders), and not feel much more than a vague disgust.  (Once during my brief stint working at a vet clinic, I ate lunch while watching three doctors perform surgery on a dog through the observation window.  I thought it was fascinating, but several people who walked by were all "How can you eat while you watch that?"  Smells are a different beast altogether, but I don't think anyone's immune to them.)  My weak point?  Drug effects, especially nasty ones.  Of all the weird, strange things to have a physical reaction to, reading descriptions of drug effects is the one thing that will always raise my stress levels like crazy.  I made the mistake of reading an article on the use of and potential issues with nicotine gum on my phone while standing up, at a point when I hadn't eaten anything all day.  I actually had to sit down and put my head between my knees and breathe deep for a minute.  Weird.
• I got a letter from a friend of mine who just yesterday had surgery for ovarian cysts.  She is one of my oldest, dearest, and sweetest friends, and it was hard both hearing about the pain she'd been in (she'd written the letter last week) and the cost of the surgery (enough that she won't have any spare cash for the next six months, even with her insurance).  I think I'm going to have to see if I can visit her this year.  It might be a bit tricky to do so while sticking to our budget, but the last time I saw her was our first year in Arizona, and life's short enough. And in the meantime, at least I've got all sorts of fun cards to send her.
• If you're looking for something to read that's both edifying and elevating, I can't point you at much else better than the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Annual Letter for this year.  It frustrates me to no end to hear people endlessly kvetching about how the world is getting worse and worse, when in fact, by many objective measures, it's in fact getting better.  But of course, complaining is easier than actually doing anything about it, whereas taking the positive view that our efforts are having an effect means that we have to continue to make efforts.  So it's perhaps not surprising, even if it's frustrating.  (Ever-manic author and vlogger John Green also did a great video talking about, in part, how increasing global wealth benefits everyone, not just the countries in question.)  Possibly my favorite pull-quote:  "When pollsters ask Americans what share of the budget goes to aid, the average response is '25 percent.' When asked how much the government should spend, people tend to say '10 percent.' [...] Here are the actual numbers...For the United States, it’s less than 1 percent."  So...maybe we should give the people what they want?
• This week's writing has so far been...less good.  I'm still doing it!  But so far it's just been the minimum, and it's not feeling as easy nor as inspired as last week.  And I'm having a devil of a time figuring out this rewrite.  Sigh.  I wish inspiration weren't quite so ephemeral as it is.  (Me and every other writer ever.)  I am meditating heavily on today's Terrible Minds entry:  "It Takes the Time That It Takes".
• I miss my old hairstylist.  Well, that's not quite true.  I do miss her, but mostly I miss her prices.  I love my pixie cut but when we're trying to stick to a budget I just can't justify spending the $60ish every month to maintain it.  My old stylist was $18 to $22, though I usually gave her $30 because she did a fantastic job and was far-better-than-Bisbee quality.)  I'm trying to promise myself that when I start bringing in an income I can use that, but it doesn't seem to be working as a motivator.  Grump.
• I just realized I'm about to go to bed and I totally had nothing but bourbon and chocolate for dinner.  Huh.  Well, I'm a grown-up, and can have booze and candy for dinner once in a while if I want.  Besides, it was dark chocolate.  So obviously it was good for me.