Tech From an E-booker’s Viewpoint

I have survived the second week of American Literature.  I think at this point I could start using my e-book reader.  Practically everything is available online at Project Gutenberg. Also the companion CD that came with the book has some of the text and a quick Google search finds the rest.  So now it is a matter of convenience and time.  The print in the textbook is too small for me and downloading and converting stuff from the Internet takes up a lot of my time.  This would have gone better as an experiment if the syllabus was available prior to the beginning of class.  What I have found myself doing is simply reading the stuff online using Internet Explorer’s  zoom feature.  I take my notes by copying and pasting stuff into Word.  It’s more convenient that way.  I get writer’s cramps easily and these notes will make it easier to study for exams.  However, in class I have found that it is essential to have the text book with me. The instructor constantly refers to page and line numbers.  It takes a while for everyone to search and find the passage.  E-books would make this so much easier.  I have noticed that the students do not make any marks in their textbook.  I ask some of them why and it’s because they all plan to sell the book back to the bookstore.  In light of that, I believe it would be hard to convince them to use e-books, unless they were offered at substantially discounted prices.  The companion CD also has note taking capabilities.  When text is highlighted and copied a notepad application pops up.  If only they had their entire book on this CD. I thought that taking this class would be fun, but it has ended up being more work than I had anticipated.

My cable went out Friday afternoon and I spent the next seven hours trying to get someone to come out and fix it.  Apparently, when it was installed they never covered the cable outside.  The guy who cuts my grass also cut my cable.  Time Warner said that was a very low priority in the world of repairs.  My you I also have digital phone service along with TV service and Internet.  So my being without a phone wasn’t their concern.  It wasn’t until I told them to cancel my service that I suddenly became a priority.  So suddenly instead of one week they were at my door yesterday.  I have had enough of Road Runner.  I am changing to a new service called Embarq.  Satellite here I come.  My only reservation is that I will have DSL.  If any of you have it, let me know how good it is compared to Cable (Broadband).