I'm feeling mentally fatigued today. Since I just returned from vacation, that's funny but not surprising. I woke up this morning thinking that I have no idea what to do with Ian today. Another day of housework while he plays at my feet, perhaps? Isn't that all we ever do?
The most tiring part about each day all the messages I have in my head about what I need to be doing with Ian. Is he getting enough attention from me? Is he bored? Is he tired of the same activities everyday? I should do housework...no, wait....I should spend more time with him. I should be finding new and exciting activities every single day.
It IS good for me to keep general tabs on we do each day. I tend to be a workaholic, so I try to make sure I don't spend my entire day on projects while Ian plays by himself. But the constant second-guessing and "shoulding" in which I engage can be another divider that takes my attention away from the little guy.
For today, I am going to try to live a little more freely and just see how things go. Maybe the balance will be off today, and maybe it will correct itself tomorrow. I know Ian will have a happier mommy -- and I'll have a happier me -- if I can let go, even just a little bit.
4.28.2010
4.24.2010
Home
Finally home after a whirlwind trip to Europe. Actually, we were gone for 10 days, so it wasn't all THAT whirlwind, but 3 countries in 10 days with a 1-year-old is a little hectic.Paul's sister has lived in Vienna for the past year, so she hadn't seen Ian since he was a few days old. Thanks to Paul's parents, we got the opportunity to fly to Austria to see her. Awesome! Plus, my cousin Jessica just moved to Italy, so we added a quick weekend trip to Venice to the itinerary so we could see her as well. On a lark, we added Bratislava, Slovakia, to the plan since it is a great day trip from Vienna. So yeah. Crazy times, but wonderful times.
It was great to see Ian with Amy. He took to her so quickly that we're pretty sure he recognized her from Skype. We loved getting to see Amy's apartment (free lodging for the win!) and learning about the Viennese culture. I'm definitely in withdrawal from chocolate and pastries, though.
We arrive home to thunderstorms and the Country Music Marathon. Ah, Nashville in spring! Seriously, though, while I miss Amy and the excitement of Europe, it is truly good to be home.
Picture courtesy of Amy's Facebook page, taken by Jessica Goodman.
4.05.2010
Babies
Okay, have you guys seen the trailer for Babies? It may reduce you to tears or giggles. I first saw it when I was about 8 months pregant with Ian, and I thought my heart would explode with all the baby-ness. I wouldn't say it's the cuteness, exactly-- it's the beauty and cycle-of-life type of thing ADDED to the cuteness that makes it so powerful.
I had forgotten about the movie until I got an email from BzzAgent.com asking me to promote the movie on my blog. They're running a contest where mommies can win diapers and strollers and such by publicizing the movie. I pretty much have all the diapers I need, but I figure the movie is so fun that I would tell you guys about it anyway. Oh, and if you want to write your own blog post for a chance to win, go to BzzAgent.com and sign up.
Okay -- disclosures out of the way, watch the trailer and enjoy:
I'm really curious about this movie. I'm wondering if it will have some sort of political or social statement to it or attempt to remain an impartial observer. I'm also curious about my response to these scenes -- will I enjoy and learn from the differences of how a baby in Namibia is raised, or will I mourn that they don't have the luxuries my little boy possesses? (I'm guessing a little of both.)
What do you guys think about this movie? Are you going to go see it?
I had forgotten about the movie until I got an email from BzzAgent.com asking me to promote the movie on my blog. They're running a contest where mommies can win diapers and strollers and such by publicizing the movie. I pretty much have all the diapers I need, but I figure the movie is so fun that I would tell you guys about it anyway. Oh, and if you want to write your own blog post for a chance to win, go to BzzAgent.com and sign up.
Okay -- disclosures out of the way, watch the trailer and enjoy:
I'm really curious about this movie. I'm wondering if it will have some sort of political or social statement to it or attempt to remain an impartial observer. I'm also curious about my response to these scenes -- will I enjoy and learn from the differences of how a baby in Namibia is raised, or will I mourn that they don't have the luxuries my little boy possesses? (I'm guessing a little of both.)
What do you guys think about this movie? Are you going to go see it?
4.02.2010
Tech Happy: Barnes and Noble Nook
Thanks to the generosity of my family, I received a Barnes & Noble nook for my birthday. A nook is an e-reader (perhaps you have heard of Amazon's Kindle?), a sort of paperless book. Perhaps a better description is a paperless bookshelf, since the nook can hold thousands of books.
When I first started hearing about the Kindle I remember a vague feeling of "ooh, shiny," but it wasn't until I saw a Kindle owned by Paul's aunt that I started wanting one of my own. Then, when the nook debuted with its awesome trifecta of WiFi, the LendMe feature, and support for the epub format, I knew I had found my e-reader.
I've had my nook for about 10 weeks, and I would describe it as half-baked, but still yummy.
The Awesome
I think e-readers are made for people like me. I tend to read four books at a time and take all of them on a weekend trip even when I don't know if I'll have any reading time. I tend to be compulsive, deciding that I need this or that book RIGHT NOW. So a device that allows me to store thousands of books in my purse and enables me to add to that collection within seconds sounds pretty perfect.
One of my favorite features on the nook is the fact that it supports the epub format and can also read PDFs. Practically speaking, this means I can borrow books from my public library's ebook collection. The PDF support also means that I can create my own PDFs and "sideload" them to the nook, although so far I have had formatting issues when attempting this.
The epub/PDF support also means that the nook can read Google Book files. Google has been busy scanning and uploading thousands of public domain books to their servers, and now I can access them all from my nook. It's also worth noting that epub support means I don't have to buy books from Barnes & Noble...I can purchase from Kobo or fictionwise or any other ebook store that sells epub. However, generally I want to stick with B&N because.....
...books I buy from Barnes & Noble can be lent to friends with nooks! Not every book I purchase from B&N can be lent, but quite a few of them can. I can send a book to a friend's nook for up to two weeks, and when they are done they send it right back to my device. Even better, I can also lend books to friends with the nook application on their computers or smartphones. Kudos to Barnes & Noble for adding this bit of freedom to the ebook format.
I love that the nook can work over WiFi, which means that I don't need to worry about cell coverage when I need to shop for a book. It has 3G through AT&T as well, but I like not being dependent on it. (The paranoid part of me is worried the wireless providers will get tired of providing the bandwidth someday.)
The Meh
Unlike the Kindle, the nook does not have an internet browser. (Apparently the Kindle has a limited browser that focuses on Wikipedia, but I haven't played with it.) Personally, I don't miss that feature on the nook, although I do occasionally wish I could tweet about something I'm reading without changing devices. Honestly, I think it's good for me that the nook doesn't have a browser; I'm able to focus on the book rather than flit from task to task. However, since the nook is based on Android, it would be fairly simple for B&N to add that feature at a future point (I've heard that someone already hacked the nook to add Pandora to it.)
LendMe gets a few sentences under the "Meh" heading because, while I can lend ebooks to friends, I can only lend each ebook once. Not once to each person, just once period. So if I lend a book to my mother-in-law, I can't lend the same book to my sister-in-law a few weeks later. That's very strange.
While the book selection for nook is excellent, the periodical options are quite limited. Like, limited to 30 newspapers and magazines total. Barnes & Noble is hoping to expand this soon, but for now I'm fairly disappointed with the meager selection. My bedside table is stacked with about 10 magazines waiting to be read, and I would love to move that entire collection to my nook. Maybe someday....alas....(Real Simple, I'm looking at you....)
The Unfortunate
Barnes and Noble seems to have released their device before everything was truly ready for the mass market. It's a great device, but some of the most highly touted features don't work. For instance, a huge part of the buzz around the nook has been the ability to browse through any ebook while inside a Barnes and Noble store (the idea being that if you are someone who spends your Saturdays in the store sampling book, you can still do that with your nook). However, nook owners are still awaiting this feature, which has been "Coming Soon!" since October. The skeptic in me is wondering if B&N promised something that their technology simply can't handle.
Another unfinished feature seems to be the More in Store option. At my local stores, I can view the free content available to nook owners, but I can't actually download it (I get a network error message). Apparently certain B&N stores have this feature set up incorrectly, resulting in a frustrating experience for many hopeful nook owners. I did finally get the More in Store feature to work when I was visiting a Barnes & Noble in a different state.
Overall, though, I am very happy with my nook. No, it's not the same as a trusty vintage hardback detective novel or a freshly published paperback (ah......the smell of the ink....), but there's a good bit of room in my heart for this new format.
When I first started hearing about the Kindle I remember a vague feeling of "ooh, shiny," but it wasn't until I saw a Kindle owned by Paul's aunt that I started wanting one of my own. Then, when the nook debuted with its awesome trifecta of WiFi, the LendMe feature, and support for the epub format, I knew I had found my e-reader.
I've had my nook for about 10 weeks, and I would describe it as half-baked, but still yummy.
The Awesome
I think e-readers are made for people like me. I tend to read four books at a time and take all of them on a weekend trip even when I don't know if I'll have any reading time. I tend to be compulsive, deciding that I need this or that book RIGHT NOW. So a device that allows me to store thousands of books in my purse and enables me to add to that collection within seconds sounds pretty perfect.
One of my favorite features on the nook is the fact that it supports the epub format and can also read PDFs. Practically speaking, this means I can borrow books from my public library's ebook collection. The PDF support also means that I can create my own PDFs and "sideload" them to the nook, although so far I have had formatting issues when attempting this.
The epub/PDF support also means that the nook can read Google Book files. Google has been busy scanning and uploading thousands of public domain books to their servers, and now I can access them all from my nook. It's also worth noting that epub support means I don't have to buy books from Barnes & Noble...I can purchase from Kobo or fictionwise or any other ebook store that sells epub. However, generally I want to stick with B&N because.....
...books I buy from Barnes & Noble can be lent to friends with nooks! Not every book I purchase from B&N can be lent, but quite a few of them can. I can send a book to a friend's nook for up to two weeks, and when they are done they send it right back to my device. Even better, I can also lend books to friends with the nook application on their computers or smartphones. Kudos to Barnes & Noble for adding this bit of freedom to the ebook format.
I love that the nook can work over WiFi, which means that I don't need to worry about cell coverage when I need to shop for a book. It has 3G through AT&T as well, but I like not being dependent on it. (The paranoid part of me is worried the wireless providers will get tired of providing the bandwidth someday.)
The Meh
Unlike the Kindle, the nook does not have an internet browser. (Apparently the Kindle has a limited browser that focuses on Wikipedia, but I haven't played with it.) Personally, I don't miss that feature on the nook, although I do occasionally wish I could tweet about something I'm reading without changing devices. Honestly, I think it's good for me that the nook doesn't have a browser; I'm able to focus on the book rather than flit from task to task. However, since the nook is based on Android, it would be fairly simple for B&N to add that feature at a future point (I've heard that someone already hacked the nook to add Pandora to it.)
LendMe gets a few sentences under the "Meh" heading because, while I can lend ebooks to friends, I can only lend each ebook once. Not once to each person, just once period. So if I lend a book to my mother-in-law, I can't lend the same book to my sister-in-law a few weeks later. That's very strange.
While the book selection for nook is excellent, the periodical options are quite limited. Like, limited to 30 newspapers and magazines total. Barnes & Noble is hoping to expand this soon, but for now I'm fairly disappointed with the meager selection. My bedside table is stacked with about 10 magazines waiting to be read, and I would love to move that entire collection to my nook. Maybe someday....alas....(Real Simple, I'm looking at you....)
The Unfortunate
Barnes and Noble seems to have released their device before everything was truly ready for the mass market. It's a great device, but some of the most highly touted features don't work. For instance, a huge part of the buzz around the nook has been the ability to browse through any ebook while inside a Barnes and Noble store (the idea being that if you are someone who spends your Saturdays in the store sampling book, you can still do that with your nook). However, nook owners are still awaiting this feature, which has been "Coming Soon!" since October. The skeptic in me is wondering if B&N promised something that their technology simply can't handle.
Another unfinished feature seems to be the More in Store option. At my local stores, I can view the free content available to nook owners, but I can't actually download it (I get a network error message). Apparently certain B&N stores have this feature set up incorrectly, resulting in a frustrating experience for many hopeful nook owners. I did finally get the More in Store feature to work when I was visiting a Barnes & Noble in a different state.
Overall, though, I am very happy with my nook. No, it's not the same as a trusty vintage hardback detective novel or a freshly published paperback (ah......the smell of the ink....), but there's a good bit of room in my heart for this new format.
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