Breakfast Cappucino No Sleep Book Signing

Lately, due to some personal life schedule changes and morning tiredness I have been driving to work. This affords me the convenience of making a Starbucks run so I can grab a grande caramel cappuccino (non-fat and wet) and one of those small protein breakfast kits that consist of a grapes, boiled egg, a mini bagel and slice of cheese, along with apple slices and a peanut butter packet. I can’t tell you how much I look forward to the peanut butter and apple slices. What a combo.

For the last couple of days I have had trouble sleeping in. Basically, this amounts to waking up somewhere around 3am to use the bathroom and then having a difficult time forcing myself back to sleep. I think I have too much running through my head and as a result my brain will not relax. Creativity seems to be compatible with sleep; analysis, not so much. You would think this getting up early would make me more awake when the real morning rolls around... think again.

My job requires that I do a lot of programming and problem solving. Be it balancing creative resources for web work or just flat out figuring out the best approach to building some Flash or JavaScript widget I need for an e-learning project, I am employed to be systematic and analytical (not necessarily in that order.) Some days I feel like I am in the middle of five speed-chess games and I have only two arms and one brain!

At 3am, if I turn on the light in bathroom my brain seems to say, “time to make the donuts” and before I can lay my head back down it is off to the races problem-solving that days agenda. This is where my Kindle comes in.

Currently I am reading the newest book by Nick Hornby. For the uninitiated, Nick Hornby has written a number of books which have been turned into movies: High Fidelity, Fever Pitch, and About a Boy. My personal favs are: How to Be Good, A Long Way Down and Slam. His latest book is entitled Juliet, Naked which is about a woman who’s boyfriend is obsessed with a musician-turned-hermit. It is more complicated than this but Mr. Hornby is an amazing writer. The pages just fly. In his books he often references the music culture namely because he began his career as a columnist reviewing and writing about music. Reading his writing on music makes listening a far better experience.

For me, reading fiction is like a laxative for sleep. I don’t mean to say that it puts me to sleep. I think it just helps me to dream rather than problem-solve.

Today I have fallen succumb to my early rising habit and while I can now put myself back to sleep for a few more hours I seem to be able to rest until at least 5:30am. So, to save a few bucks I have broken out the old Italian stove-top cappuccino maker and having recently purchased some apples and Omega-3 fortified Jif peanut butter… mmmm.



I figure if I bought a grande caramel cap + protein kit every morning from Starbuck, five days a week, but replaced it with this little 5am treat, I will save nearly $20 per week… waking up early has its benefits.
So, now I sit and read the Washington Times e-edition on the iMac, watch a few interesting videos on YouTube, and read some Nick Hornby on the Kindle all while gobble and slurp my breakfast. It works for me.



As a final note, as I was writing this I made a visit to Nick Hornby’s websites where I just learned that he is on his book tour right now for the book I am reading and will be at a signing tonight here in DC! That couldn’t have worked out any better! Now, how do I get him to sign my Kindle?

Kindle Book Reviews

So I am thinking about buying a Kindle. I love reading and spend a good portion of the week commuting on the DC Metro so maybe it is time to invest in a Kindle.

What I enjoy the most is the fact that while I could continue to buy lots of books I will no longer have the drawback of the weight and expense of having to move from apartment to apartment with a huge library.

I even found out recently that a few of the publishers who have published my favorite books are selling electronic copies to people at a discount if you can prove you own the book by naming a few obscure facts from within the pages of the text. Interesting!

So the million dollar question for me is, "Will they have the books for which I am looking?" To answer this question I checked out the Amazon.com Kindle store. This was also very interesting. You can see the complete supply of books which range from very obscure goofy texts to extremely popular books that are currently riding the waves of the New York Times bestseller list.

You can annotate the pages, bookmark each book you are reading and if you buy the crazy expensive version then you can even put any PDF from anywhere on the device and read it as you go (I currently own a number of book PDFs and I could include those books in my library.)

At the moment the larger Kindle claims to be able to store about 3,500 books at a time. I feel safe in saying that this is more than the number of books I am typically and concurrently reading, so that would suite me fine. In addition, if I were to hop into my car, I can plug the Kindle into my car stereo and the Kindle will read my book to me. Wait, it gets better. Kindle will also play MP3s for you, so you can throw a few tunes on the device and listen to music on the go while you are reading.

It works in daylight, it is crazy thin and amazingly lite. Have I sold myself yet? I hope so. Now I just need to find a few hundred dollars to get my "kindle" on, if you know what I mean (what? I don't even know what I mean.)

As a side note, as I was reviewing the Amazon Kindle book supply I came across quite a number of interestingly opinionated reviews. I came to a book entitled "Glenn Beck's Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government, Inspired by Thomas Paine." Now I have heard of Glen Beck but I really don't know what he is about other than the fact that he seems to be this slightly goofy conservative commentator. Not that I have a problem with that: I am goofy and I am conservative. I digress. I don't know Glen Beck or his material.

I started to review the synopsis of his book and decided that the Thomas Paine history part sounded interesting. Then I wondered if other people had left comments. Well, of course they had. Here, without permission is a copy of one of those comments...

This is America's eleventh hour! Our democracy is morally, politically and economically bankrupt. I suggest we stop hiding behind "trashy best-sellers" and pore over Glenn Beck's "Common Sense." If for no other reason, at least to grasp a sense of ominous reality and sobering history.

As a former Cuban immmigrant (50 years ago) I see so many similarities between my former country before Castro's revolution and the US today, that sometimes I think I'm re-living a nightmare.

Andrew J. Rodriguez
Author: "Adios, Havana," a Memoir

Here is a link to the commentator's book on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Adios-Havana-Andrew-J-Rodriguez/dp/1598000489/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248395449&sr=1-1

I am hoping that this serves as a reminder that not everyone concerned with the state of the country is a white middle-aged card-carrying Republican. Food for thought, people.

Now, where did I put my credit card?