JoeyBahr.com

This past weekend I finally finished reading a novel in an eBook format.

eBook stands for electronic book. Right now the most popular of such books is the Amazon Kindle. Technically, the Kindle is a reader, or just the hardware that displays the files that are the actual books.

I have to say that I enjoyed the experience. I downloaded the book, First to Fight (StarFist Series #1) by David Sherman & Dan Cragg through Barnes & Noble’s eBookstore and onto reading programs for both my computer and BlackBerry.

I liked the fact that I could read the books either on my computer or my phone. The phone part came in very handy for those moments when any other time I would not have thought about reading because I didn’t have my book with me. I could become very accustomed to that feature.

Since my fairly positive experience with reading an eBook, I’ve been mulling over something, getting a dedicated reader. Right now two main readers exsist: the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes and Noble nook.

Both use an eInk display which does not act like the screen on your phone or computer. Instead it uses power sparingly by changing the text on the screen and then waiting for the next command to change.

Both connect to cellular data networks to download books onto the device.

The Kindle was first to the party and is already on it’s second revision. The Amazon Kindle Store has over 350,000 books available for download along with many magazines and newspapers. The Kindle uses a hardware based keyboard for typing in books to search for or adding notes to a book.

The nook started shipping last week and from the reports it is a worthy competitor to the Kindle, but needs some polishing still. The nook uses a color touchscreen LCD in place of hardware keys for typing and navigation.

The nook has two major advantages over the Kindle. In addition to the cellular modem, the nook also can access WiFi networks to download books.

Second, the nook is built to read content in the ePUB and PDF formats natively. This opens up more stores and websites to download or purchase books from than just the manufacturer of the reader.

The nook still needs to flesh out parts of store, but it definitely bears watching.

My dilemma is first do I need to get a reader and second which one?

Time will tell on that.

This is a test post to try out something for Saturday’s football action.

More to come later.

Eli Manning of the New York Giants commented that his injured heel “wasn’t aggravated” in Sunday’s game against the Oakland Raiders.

That makes absolute since given that the younger Manning probably didn’t even sweat in the game.

Honestly Oakland, could you even show some life in the game? KC at least gave Eli an injury.

What did you muster besides getting a weekend in the Meadowlands on Al Davis’s dime?

Seven Days to go.

Seven days until I get a key.

A key that will turn the lock.

The lock that has held me in place for three years.

Three years that ends in seven days.

Know hope.

Now it’s time for Kansas to put forth their say in who should be the Democratic Party’s Nominee for President.

This year I am in a position I haven’t been for a while.  I am a civilian essentially in the process.  I don’t work for the Party or an elected official.  I am capable of unleashing my talents for one of the candidates.

As you can tell from the title, I am choosing to support Barak Obama.  Two reasons why.

First, he is someone who truly can change not just the party in the White House but the nation.  We sorely need this.  America is reeling from 8 years of the Bush Administration.  The nation is fractured and standing on the edge of serious economic problems.  Add that to the existing problems with the military and our standing in the world and something needs to be done.

Obama is the person who can bring people together to get things done, not score political points.

The second reason rests with the fact that he was born in El Dorado, Kansas.  And the old partisan in me would love to stick it to the Republicans in this state by having a Democrat born in Kansas elected President.

Now it’s time for you to go and caucus for him on February 5th.

As some of you might know, I have a new job as an office supply salesman.  (Please spare the rest of us from your paperclip jokes.  Trust me, they aren’t funny…at all.)

With my job, I end up spending time in my car driving to call on my customers.  This windshield time has allowed me to notice something; on most Top 40/Hot Adult Contemp. stations, you are almost guaranteed to hear one of a few songs when you switch over.

Given this insight, I present you with the current list of songs you are bound to hear:

1. Avril Lavinge’s latest, ummm, I don’t even know the title of it, all I know is it is an annoying song.
2. Gwen Stefani’s latest, The Sweetest Escape.  Not a bad song, but it definitely has some strong annoying potential when over played, which it will reach that critical mass in about 1 week.

So their you have the first list of songs you are bound to hear.  I will try and keep it updated.

Only in the Great State of Kansas can the people worry about dodging a tornado one moment then hunker down for a blizzard in the next moment.

Proof in point is this Tornado Watch currently in effect until 6:00 AM February 24th. Followed later in the day by this Blizzard Warning. Both of these watches/warnings are for Barton County, Kansas.

Now you know why us Kansans will say if you don’t like the weather now, just wait five minutes, it will change.

This post is a test of using automator to ummm post posts to the blog.

Yeah, I’m sure that last sentence violated like 5 or 6 grammatical laws.

For many years now I have pursued the training of squirrels for world domination. I am pleased to say that my training is starting to bare fruit.

Soon my furry tailed minions will be going after more than bike riding opera singers. I won’t let you know where they will show up next.

Yeah, so I missed judged what that tropical system was going to do.  But, in consolation, I did nail the fact that gas prices were going up.

Yeah I’m not celebrating that fact either.