Fiber Fool

It seemed it was a reading/relaxing/self-care sort of Christmas for me this year. And to my knowledge no one communicated with each other about what they were getting me. Drew got me a 6″ Kindle! I’ve been *loving* reading on my iPhone over the past year or so, but lamenting how frequently I have to “turn the page.” I’ve also been bummed out at my slower reading pace (I’m about 10 books behind my average). I expect it slowed mostly due to how busy 2010 has been, but I’m hoping having so many books so handy might get me back to my usual pace for 2011. Drew did decide to leave the personalization aspect up to me. So, for now it is living in a padded mailing envelope.

Mom and dad got me this lovely ruana which I think of as a snuggie/slanket for the more sophisticated. It keeps my upper body nice and toasty while giving me complete freedom to knit or read. There was also a handy table that has legs to allow you to bring it in close because they slip underneath the furniture. It is fully adjustable too so I can have it at the right height for computing or for reading while knitting or even sketching designs. To top it all off I got some much more natural make-up. I bought some of it in early December and the combination of using it and my homemade face wash and a weekly homemade mask has my skin in the best post-high school condition I can remember it being in - despite being uber stressed with holiday and book stuff! That is quite the feat!

I follow a couple blogs that keep me up to date on free Kindle and other ebooks as well as good sales and I took advantage of a nice $5 post-Christmas sale and grabbed the first Richard Castle book and the second Stieg Larsson book. With the phone I was able to keep my book buying in check. I can see it’ll be a bit more of a challenge now :-)

I know several of you out there have Kindles and I’m wondering what you are doing for cases? Obviously, the padded mailing envelope is a temporary solution. My original thought was to get some sort of skin (contemplating getting a custom one, perhaps with this pattern or one of my photographs) and a slip sleeve case. With my pain issues weight is key and I was concerned that a more book-like case might add too much weight to the device. Though after looking at some of the M-Edge options they had at Best Buy I’m thinking I maybe could go with something in that direction. I suspect most of my reading will take place either at home, on the reading pillow like above or just held in my hands or on the treadmill or bike at the gym. There will be some travel, but only 1-2 times a year most likely. I don’t anticipate carrying it in my purse at all times since it syncs with my iPhone and I can still read via that for unexpected reading opportunities. I’m just not sure what way to go. I do love the Burnt Orange Amazon case, but their packaging was such that I could not judge the weight of it at Best Buy. And if I go that route, do I get the lighted case? I don’t anticipate needing to light it too often, though having the ability to could be nice, especially when traveling. Not to mention, clipping a light to the frame of the Kindle kind of freaks me out.

So, Kindle users, what do you have a case? Would you choose a different one now after using it for a while? How do you most use your Kindle?

I’m also thinking I need to dive into the features of Calibre more. I set it up about 6 months ago or so and haven’t really touched it sense. Are there any blogs dedicated to tips and tricks of using Calibre?