Saturday, November 6, 2010

Book Packing

Welcome Patti C. as my latest follower.  I can't tell if you have a blog or not for me to plug, so I'll just say welcome.

I haven't scanned any pictures yet today because I had appointment at the Apple Store to help me with my new external hard drive.  My one hour appointment turned into a two hour appointment and Brian, the young man who helped me, was the best helper I've ever worked with.  We've scheduled another get together for next week.  I've had my Mac for two years and I know I haven't been using it to its full potential, but I haven't enjoyed the previous helpers and kind of drifted away from the One to One sessions.  Unfortunately, the store is located in a mall and I usually avoid malls like the plague, especially on weekends.  It was hard to find a place to park, it was crowded and noisy, so I made sure to schedule our next appointment during the week.  

FYI to other external drive owners.  A couple of you made comments on previous blogs that you are also using external drives and I want to let you know what Brian, Apple Store, said about external drives.  He said that it's also a good idea to download pictures to a DVD-R.  Reason?  Because they can be stolen along with your computer (happened to a customer of his) and they can also go bad like hard drives on our computer.  So, DVD-Rs are on my shopping list.  Maybe that's the way I should have started, it would have been cheaper.   

So what did I do instead of scan pictures?  I sorted through books.  I went into this project telling myself that I can't hang onto all the books I have, they won't fit in the RV, and many of them haven't been opened in forever. That alone is a good reason to get rid of them.  Aaaaand, I'm retired now and the books that are job related are no longer necessary, which most of them are.  It's still a hard thing to do...get rid of books.  I also found quite a few more pictures to scan.  When I was in the garage looking for boxes to put the books in to take to the second hand store, I managed to locate the box with all the slides in.  

Speaking of books, I have a concern about books and RVing full time.  I'm always reading a book and I'm wondering what to do when I'm on the road. Now I get all my books from the library because it's so much cheaper. At home I read books and in the car I listen to books on tape.  I'd like to continue with the books on tape when I'm driving to my next destination and I go through withdrawal if I don't have a book.   Any ideas or suggestions?

I think I'm feeling brain dead from all the computer knowledge I packed into my brain today. So, I'm going to close for now.

More sun please,

Jeana


6 comments:

  1. Jeana,
    When I went full-timing, I donated a LOT of books to my local library so I feel your pain.

    I kept a starter stash of unread paperbacks. Then when I hit a campground, the first thing I would do after registering was ask if they had a book exchanged. Most do...you leave a book and take a book. Most have a surplus so don't mind if you take a couple or even if you leave none. A few are borrow and return, I never used those.

    Now that I have my Kindle, I still pick up paperbacks from time to time though...LOL!

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  2. I have that same concern. The Kindles are tempting, but $10 for a book is not the way i roll, and how many free classics can a girl stand? Maybe we'll stumble upon library sales from time to time, or a free pile or two, like Donna mentioned.

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  3. I never thought about donating them to the library. I'll have to think about that. Thanks for the suggestion. As for the Kindle, I have to be brand loyal so if I were to go with something like that I'd stick with the Mac and get an iPad. But I could buy a lot of books for $400. Oh, the decisions we have to make just for the pleasure of hitting the open road!! Poor us.

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  4. I have hundreds of free books on my Kindle. It's not necessarily the money, but the weight and space books take up. Plus I always know where my book is. There's also a Kindle app I downloaded for free on my computer and on my Droid phone. I can read my books anywhere. Also... I have a library card for my local library. There is a website you can access that has e-books and books on tape that I download onto my MP3. I listen to books on the MP3 while I'm walking, driving, waiting, etc. The e-books have a 2-week limit (you might be able to re-new), but the MP3 books I have for months, until I listen to them, then I delete them. You can download 10 at a time, and I always have my MP2 loaded to it's max. I don't think I'll ever buy another book, unless I really want something current - then I'll get it for my Kindle.

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  5. I'm not sure if they still do this, BUT back when I commuted >hour each way I rented books on tape at a nearby Cracker Barrel restaurant. You buy the first one and then return it and pay lots less on on the next one. It worked for me, but note that it was so long ago that it was books on TAPE, not books on CD or books on MP3 LG

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  6. Just found your blog and I am saying hi. I am a Mac person and have an iPhone 4, iMac, and iPad. iPad now has a Kindle app! I have a Kindle, too, but am probably going to sell it now that I can get the books on iPad. I think I have 3 book apps on mupy iPad. Yet I find myself listening to FREE podcasts of about a dozen public radio programs that I love. I download through iTunes on my iMac then plug in my little Nano (oh I have one of thses, too :-) the most recent ten I haven't listened to yet (that's one option on iTunes). There are also free public radio apps so you can listen to in real time stations anywhere in the nation. For example, I love WAMU in DC area that I came to enjoy when I lived there for 3 years. So I can listen to that, or I have one for Michigan public radio and listen to WUOM out of Ann Arbor. I play all of these on my Nano through my car stereo. In my RV I bought a portable stereo to do the same.

    BTW, I am new to RVing, have small Class B fully self-contained motorhome named Ecovision that I love, and keep a blog for the Great Lakers chapter of RVing Women. I retire on Nov. 30th (! Yes just a few more weeks!) and will be RVing with my dog Henry circling Lake Superior next summer. I have one son and two grandchildren living about an hour from me so I don't plan to full-time. Anyway, I have added your blog to my Google Reader and will enjoy following your "travels"!

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