Two years ago, when we renewed our cell phone contracts, we added unlimited texting.  Until then, we scoffed at the need to text anyone.  As our use of social media expanded, though, sending status updates on the go seemed more and more doable.  Plus, the ability to send photos to people on the fly was just too tempting.  So we bit the bullet and upgraded from simple flip phones to more complex texting-capable phones.

Still, we decided against getting smart phones.  While it would have been nice, we balked at paying an extra $30 per phone per month.  However, as the months passed, smartphones were talked about more and more.  People were getting them, posting social media updates from them, taking photos from them, checking e-mail from them, playing games on them, and browsing the web with them.

I have to admit that I began to get some tech-envy.  Part of me felt like a fraud.  Here I am, TechyDad, and I didn’t have the latest and greatest technology in my hands.  My "why would I ever need this" attitude was giving way to "I really, really want this."  I also began hearing rumors about family data plans coming.  Instead of paying $30 per device per month and getting a set number of gigabytes for each phone, you would pay a certain amount and share your data across all phones.  This seemed like the ideal plan, so we watched and waited.

Then, B won a smartphone.  And we were invited to the 2012 Disney Social Media Celebration.  Suddenly, we began to wonder about how long we could hold out.  The rumors of family data plans persisted, but nothing concrete was emerging.  (The latest is maybe in the summer… perhaps.)  We began to explore providers and plans.

After this past weekend, we believe we’ve made our decision.  There are a few more pieces to get into place, but we are officially smartphone bound.  A whole new world of technology is about to be opened to us.  Here’s hoping my final "non-smartphone" week passes quickly.

Our DVR has really changed how we watch TV.  In the dark ages, aka the days of the VCR, if we wanted to record a show we needed to first find a VCR tape with enough space for the show.  Then, we needed to set the time and day.  After recording, when we wanted to watch our shows, we would need to remember which tapes held which shows and then would need to fast-forward to just the right spot to begin our show.  If we completed a show in the middle of the tape, we often needed to wait for more shows before and after it to be watched before the tape could be reused.  It was so inconvenient that we would often simply opt not to watch a show at all.

When we got the DVR, that all changed.  We could pick a show to record from a listing, hit record and have it ready to go.  We could even tell the DVR to record all new episodes of a particular show.  When we were ready to watch, there was no tape-position-juggling.  We just selected it from the list and we were watching it.  When we were done, we could just hit delete and the space was available for new shows to record.

Recently, however, our DVR has developed a mind of its own.  It started slowly, recording a rouge program here or there.  It wasn’t consistent and, frankly, I thought it was NHL trying to record new shows to watch.  Then, the DVR began recording old episodes of shows when we had told it to only record new episodes.  Finally, it started branching out into completely new shows.  The shows wouldn’t appear in any listing, but would wind up being recorded anyway.

I’m not too sure what our options are.  Check that.  I know exactly what our option is and I don’t like it.  We’ve had DVRs go bad before and they were replaced.  This is nice, but it means that we lose all of the recordings that we had before.  Apparently, there is no way to transfer them from one box to another and no way to export them.

I’m not worried about the average recorded show, but there are some recordings on there that have sentimental value.  Things that won’t ever be replayed, released on DVD or streamed via Roku.  I’d rather not lose those if at all possible.

So, until we figure out a solution, it looks like we’ll have to put up with our crazy DVR.

There’s another woman in our lives and her name is Kimberly.  We met Kimberly just eleven short days ago and she’s already turned our routine upside down.  Before Kimberly, B used to knit or browse on her computer at night until she fell asleep. Lately, when it comes time for bed, B snuggles under the covers with Kimberly until she (B, that is) falls asleep.  I will find them there laying side by side and I will need to move Kimberly out of the way before I can get into bed.  I get a bit of time with Kimberly also, but mostly B has claimed her for herself.

In many ways, I just can’t compete with Kimberly.  She’s much thinner than I am.  Than I’ll ever be.  And the stories she tells!  I have about ten stories I can tell.  Ask me to tell more and I begin to repeat myself.  Kimberly, last time I counted, had over fifty.  She’s pretty decent at games too.

So who is this invader of our home and our bed?  What does she look like?  Here’s a photo:

This, ladies and gentlemen, is Kimberly Kindle.

See how thin she is?  We’ve already loaded her up with 50 eBooks and a few games like Jigsaw Words.

But why name an electronic device?  B started it by saying she wanted to come up with a name for our video camera.  I agreed that it needed a female’s name.  I had my reasoning.  (Let’s just say that I argued that the cheap, Flip-style camera we also had needed a male name.)

Meanwhile, I had won a Kindle Keyboard and we both took to it.  Except B seemed to claim it as her own.  With the video camera getting a name, it seemed only natural to give the Kindle one as well.  And as I’m a fan of alliteration, Kimberly seemed to fit perfectly.

And that’s how Kimberly Kindle invaded our lives.  Maybe tonight, I’ll change things up by laying down on the couch with Kimberly and having some fun… reading Peter and Wendy, that is!

Do you have a Kimberly Kindle (or perhaps her cousin Nancy Nook) in your life?

Last week, I found out that I won a Kindle.  Not only a Kindle, but I was getting a free eBook (up to a $25 value).  This put me in a quandary.  I used to be a voracious reader.  I’d go into the library, get out a dozen books and read them before they were due back.

In recent years, though, I haven’t done much reading like this.  Nowadays, I still consume tons of information, but I get it from blogs, online articles, web comics, Wikipedia, and the like instead of a series of big, thick books.

So what book should I get?

One of the first ideas to pop into my mind was a cookbook.  One of the first to spring to mind was The Happy Herbivore Cookbook.  However, the Kindle version of this book costs a mere $4.49.  It seems like a waste to use an “up to a $25 value” offer on a book that costs under five bucks.  I also looked at 1,000 Vegan Recipes or 1,000 Vegetarian Recipes.  These were closer to the price point, but I decided that I have a ton of cookbooks already.

Next, I stumbled on The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking.  As a physics geek, I loved A Brief History of Time, so perhaps I’d enjoy this.  Then again, maybe I’d be better off with a science fiction story such as Earth Abides by George Stewart.

My final option, which many people have recommended to B, was The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins.  This is supposed to be a really good series and being able to pick up all three books for the Kindle in one purchase seems nice.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: What book would you recommend that I get?  Feel free to either pick one of the ones listed above or a completely different book.

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #108

I was going to write a review post today, but that will need to wait for next week.  Last night, I got the news that Steve Jobs passed away.  While I might not own any Apple devices (B has an iPod Touch that her parents gave her when they didn’t use it anymore), Steve changed the way I use computers many times.  He designed computers with graphical interfaces when needed to type in commands.  He saw a future in computer animated films and helped make Pixar what it is today.  He saw a digital future for music and pushed the music industry towards this future at a time when illegal file sharing was seen by the industry as pushing them to ruin.  He innovated in smart phones, tablet computers and many other areas.

Steve wasn’t just a technologist, though.  He had some pretty wonderful views on life in general.  Here are some quotes from a commencement speech that he gave in Stanford in June of 2005.

Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Of course, for full effect, don’t just read his words, but watch and listen to them too.

Rest in Peace, Steve.  You will be remembered for changing the world for the better.