Picture of a pleasant evening.

[tslex]

After a very busy Saturday -- IDPA match, barbecue -- the family is all tucked safely into bed.
The heat of the day has lifted, leaving only a soft Miami summer night.
Dad's time for a good book and smoke.
The pipe is a basket pipe I've had 15 years or more. It remains one of my favorites, despite the fact it cost about a tenth of what some of the others cost. I love the shape and the wide bit. Smoked judiciously it's good for an hour.
The tobacco is some nameless Virginia and cavendish tobacco store blend that is easy to smoke for an hour.
The book is Morris' "Theodore Roosevelt Rising." Alice Lee has just died in childbirth and TR has thrown himself into his work.
I am much blessed.

 

[hobie1dog]

Nothing like a picture to let us know exactly what you're talking about. :clap:

 

[bubbadreier]

I love my Kindle!!!!! I read on it every single day!

 

[wallbright]

I bought my girlfriend a Kindle this month for her birthday. She loves it. She never goes anywhere without it in her purse. I am thinking about getting one myself.

 

[admin]

Nice photo capturing a wonderful type of moment we all enjoy.

 

[tslex]

Wallbright, if you are a READER get a Kindle or similar device.
I always have a couple or three books going, and get through certainly a book a week. Just from the standpoint of lugging around all those books (the TR biography is 950+ pages) it's great.
Also, new books are at most about $10 -- many classic are free. I had paid for my Kindle (which was $240 at that time) in the first three months.
Plus the ability to preview a book in depth before buying.
Two-week battery life is amazing.

 

[papipeguy]

A perfect evening. I just got my Kindle for Father's Day and really like it. I also received a reading light that attaches to the top for reading at night in the yard with my pipe.

 

[rickpal14]

papipeguy... I have been enjoying those same type of nights this summer also!! My kids gave me a Kindle for Christmas with the retractable light in the case....... SWEEETTTT!!!!

 

[jankomatic]

I love my Kindle, but I don't get two weeks battery life out of it. Of course mine is on about 11 hours a day in general. I sit on my lanai outside every night with the wife and a pipe, the most relaxing part of the day.
EDIT: I just noticed that looks like the same table I have outside as well.

 

[portascat]

how did the IDPA go?
I am an occasional shooter now, at one time was a very avid and constant three gun one. Never went the match route, but ran plenty of scenarios back when I had free access to an LEO range.

 

[bubbadreier]

I am the same way.... I read three or four books at a time and I usually finish one or two a week, the Kindle has made my life so much easier! I bought the first version of the kindle when it came out and I have had the same one you do since they released it!

 

[fredvegas]

I don't think I'll ever want one of those things. There's something about shelves full of books that is too attractive for me.

 

[portascat]

I don't think I'll ever want one of those things. There's something about shelves full of books that is too attractive for me.

I have both. Shelves full of books, and a "Nook".
The Nook doesn't replace a book, for me. But it does allow me to carry a library of things, from novels to technical manuals, plus email and internet access (if I want/need it) all in one place.

 

[tslex]

@Jankomatic: be sure your wireless is off except when you actually need it on. With wireless off, the device only uses power when it re-writes a page. 10-14 days of battery life is usual for me, but of course YMMV depending on font size, which affects how many re-pages it has to do.
@Fredvegas: I HAVE shelves and shelves of books -- at last count the total was about 6,000 (mixed hard/paper, purchased/inherited) and both the living room and the library/den are covered wall to wall. That's part of the reason for the Kindle -- I'm tired of building shelves. Believe me, nobody is more old-fashioned or gets the "smell/feel of a real book" thing better than I do. But if what you love is to READ -- as opposed to collecting books -- e-readers are a great tool. I've started culling the shelves to recover some space, keeping the volumes that are special to me or valuable, selling or giving away LOTS of paperbacks and less distinguished hardcovers.
@portascat: Good day at the range. It was hot (pushing 100) and humid as heck, but you do get used to it -- hydrate like mad and find some shade when you need it. We had a lot of new shooters, which is a mixed blessing. But we screen and train them pretty carefully, and have a system for integrating them into the flow. We shot 4 stages with 75 (!) shooters (a dozen new shooters) so it was a lot of work. But good to see the gang and send some rounds downrange. I shot fairly well. Not too many points down, for NTs or FTNs -- but I'm never terribly quick about it.
We have a great subsidiary club for carbine matches/drills (see my avatar). Requires a an O&Q to join and we do some fairly advanced stuff. Three gun we have had more trouble getting working. IDPA World Match (first ever) is coming in Sept. and I'll be SOing for that.

 

[taoist]

Wonderful moment to present........the last thing I would spoil it with is some electronic gadget.

 

[jankomatic]

When you read 5-10 books a week, having shelves of all the books you read just isn't possible. I do have quite a lot of books at home, but they are collectible 1st edition type things and military history. The Kindle saves me a lot of money and trips to the library, most useful device I have ever owned.
@tslex Pretty sure my Kindle is on its last legs. This is my 2nd one, I did the beta testing for the original Kindle 1st generation, the ugly one with spreadout keyboard and SD card slot in 2007 and its battery ate it last year even though I was rarely using it any longer. My 2nd generation, which is the other creme colored one, just doesn't have the battery life it once did. I read in the normal book font, which is small, so no excessive page flips, but again I read a lot.
Lots of eBook users here, check out Calibre if you haven't already for book management, conversion etc. No room on the Kindle for all your books, so this keeps the library on your computer. I have about 18,000 books converted to MOBI format that I just put a few hundred on the Kindle at a time to read.
The only type of books the Kindle doesn't replace for me is history or the few books that I know I want in hardcover.

 

[collin]

Five to ten books a week!?! Holy Evelyn Wood Batman!! 8O
I bought my wife a Kindle for Christmas and she likes it,....I just can't get into it.
I love the smell of a book...not only a brand new one, but the really old paperbacks too it's a wonderful smell that reminds me of and takes me back to reading those old comic books in bed late at night when I was supposed to have been asleep two hours ago.

I love turning the pages of a book, the feel of the book, and knowing where I am in the book with relation to the end...or even just the next chapter.
Can't get those things with an ebook.

 

[jankomatic]

I love the smell of a book...not only a brand new one, but the really old paperbacks too it's a wonderful smell that reminds me of and takes me back to reading those old comic books in bed late at night when I was supposed to have been asleep two hours ago.

I love turning the pages of a book, the feel of the book, and knowing where I am in the book with relation to the end...or even just the next chapter.

I will show my true geekiness now I guess. I felt the same way about books as the above quote, I wanted to feel them and the smell of the old paper was part of the process of reading. There is nothing I can do about the feel of holding a real book, but I am quite used to holding the Kindle in its cover with one hand now. For the smell though I fixed that. I have some old paperbacks that got silverfish damage at some point. I tear a few pages out of them every so often and put them in my Kindle cover behind it, so when I am reading I still smell old books.

 

[fredvegas]

What is silverfish damage?

 

[teamhavoc28]

Tommy, I definitely have to agree with you on the books. The tactile sensation of flipping through the pages dog earring some and losing forgotten papers as book marks. One of my most prized possessions is a 1954 RSV concordance that I picked up for 5 bucks. Can't be an old book or a good pipe.