Faceless Blog

Pros

• Comfortable in the hand
• Sharp display
• Long battery life
• Easy to transfer media on to device
• Expandable with microSD card
• Web browser (Beta version) now included
• LendMe feature allows you to lend a book to another Nook user for 14 days.

Cons

• Touch screen is a little laggy
• eInk display refreshes slowly (compared to LCD displays)
• Can be a little touchy connecting to WiFi
• LendMe feature, apparently allows you to lend a book ONLY once.

Can’t Decide

• The weight - It’s a solid feel, but I don’t think it’s heavier than a normal book would be, and certainly not unreasonable for a device that contains a battery.

It’s been a while since I’ve done a Life on Wheels entry, and I figure I better get them in while they’re still relevant!

I tend to be a morning person, nearly always getting up before my wife. Now, ever since I did my time in the hospital, I don’t like to be in bed any more than I have to be, so as soon as I wake up, I need to get out of bed. It was this morning, as I was sneaking around trying not to wake her up, that today’s topic popped into my head. Being sneaky in a wheelchair is totally different from being on foot.

You’d think, with wheels on a carpeted surface, that I’d be pretty quiet. For the most part, that’s correct. However, in the still of the morning, before the normal background noises of the day start to intrude, you have to be a little more careful. First, I have to use only the tips of my fingers and thumbs. This doesn’t make sense at first, but trust me. When I’m moving around normally, during the day, my wedding ring clinks against the metal rim of my left wheel on every “stride.” It also helps that I know my chair very well by this point. I know that if I move in certain ways, it will creak. I have a very good “wheelchair sense,” so I can avoid running into other objects in the room and making a racket that way.

Interestingly, I’m going to have to learn how to “sneak” all over again, once I start walking again…but I couldn’t be happier about that prospect.

Ok, folks.  I’m looking for opinions on this one.  I was talking with a buddy of mine this morning about my new foot.  For those of you who don’t know, I recently had my right foot amputated and will soon be getting a prosthetic replacement.  He jokingly asked if I could buy just one shoe at a time from now on, or would I be forced to buy pairs of shoes.  (as if it were some sort of discrimination against the one-footed)  We shared a laugh, then I started thinking…there have to be a bunch of people out there with only one foot, or those who have differently sized feet for whatever reason.  Those people, in theory, would end up with a closet full of extra shoes over the years.  My thought was to start up some sort of spare-shoe-matchmaking site.  

People would sign up to the site and be matched with someone…a shoe partner, if you will.  (They would have to be the same gender and shoe size, and have spare shoes of the correct foot to be a match.)  From then on, when one of them buys a pair of shoes, the spare shoe is sent to the partner.  Partners can stay in touch via the web site, or select a new partner if the individual they’re paired up with doesn’t match their shoe preferences.

Now, what I’m trying to figure out is…Would this actually be a valuable service?  I’ve done research after the initial idea, and found out that people with prosthetics are supposed to wear a shoe at all times on their cyberfoot, so I suppose I won’t be using only one shoe at a time…but could I, or others in a similar situation, use a service like this?  (It’s entirely possible that my prosthetic won’t be the same size as my left foot, meaning that instead of buying only one shoe, I would, in fact, have to buy four.  This means I’d have two extra shoes every time I bought new ones, making this service even more valuable.  

So, what do you think?  I welcome any thoughts and opinions on the topic through Twitter at @Facelesscog or through my email.  Whether you’re an amputee who wants to chime in or just someone who wants to throw their two cents in, just let me know.