Kindle Lesson #1

My Twitter followers will know that I recently purchased a Kindle 2--it has been mine-oh-mine for about two weeks now, and I use it everyday. I love it.

Today, I contacted customer service because I was having some issues with finding my New Yorker subscription (the new one wasn't showing up on my device!) and a PDF file I had converted and uploaded vanished without a trace, even after I'd read a bit of it and examined how well the conversion worked. I discovered that the PDF file was still on the device when I attempted to re-add it, but somehow I couldn't find it when I searched my items.

Enamored as I was with my Kindle, I did not react with anger. Perhaps something was merely awry, I thought. Maybe the device wasn't accessing the information, or maybe I uploaded it wrong. I e-mailed Amazon; they promptly replied that I should call their customer service number. I did; after about a minute I was greeted by a helpful gentleman who attempted to re-send my New Yorker issue to the Kindle. He then had me restart the device and transferred me to tech support for assistance with my PDF file.

By the time the Kindle restarted, I was chatting with a friendly woman. I described my problem--I can't find my converted PDF document! Oh, and I still can't find my New Yorker current issue!--and she quickly directed me to the top of the screen. If I press the navigation key to the left, I suddenly see that I can display "all items". Somehow, somewhat inexplicably, I had changed my selection to display only books.

"I feel stupid," I told the tech support woman. She expressed satisfaction that she was able to so quickly solve my problem, and I hung up pleased that the Kindle was working perfectly (and armed with new knowledge about display settings).

I blame the folks who played with my Kindle the weekend before last (you know who you are*).

So, Lesson #1: be careful how many individuals fiddle with Kindle's settings unsupervised. Also, Kindle has many, many hidden menus that I'm still locating, despite the ease and intuition with which I have so far operated my beloved device. More Kindle gushing soon!

*Don't worry--I don't actually blame you. Either way, I now know a new, nifty feature!

Bad Weekend for Technology

Technology and I have not been getting along lately. (Because of that, I've backed up the paper that I've been working on in a multitude of ways). It all started on Friday, when I glanced over at my cell phone lying on the counter, and realized that it was lit up. When I picked up the phone, it was acting as though the volume key on the side was permanently pressed in, rendering the phone useless. I couldn't operate the phone, and although I could receive calls, there would be a persistent beeping while talking.

Lance played with it in a variety of configurations, but nothing worked. So I was phone-less, which felt weird because I'm used to being able to use a phone whenever I need to (and have access to all of my phone numbers). Luckily, the phone is still under warranty, so my phone company is sending me a new one in the mail.

In the meantime, Lance had an old phone that I could pop my SIM card into. It's really old, but it functions. Or did, until I left it in my gym bag when I went for a run on Saturday. I had also tossed in a bottle of shampoo with the intention of showering after my run. However, the bottle of shampoo opened, and leaked all over my phone, and though I tried to clean it off, the keys got messed up. Useless phone number 2.

There were other small incidents involving my use of computers, my iPod, and other technologies, so I threw my hands up in the air and prayed that I could get my work done, since I seem to be cursed. Technology can be openly hostile at times...