What follows is a random travel rant about a choice I had to make out of convenience and a morning at the US Embassy in Delhi.
For those who love their Kindles, I still love you. And don't get me wrong, the Kindle has served me well by providing something other than crap-novels that are left behind at hotels and such. It is still a means to an end for me though.
But its habit of being all electronic can be really annoying at inopportune times.
For one, I have to shut it off on airplanes when we're taking off and landing. (shhhh, don't tell them that I, and half of the rest of the plane, didn't turn my computer off, though) If its e-ink downs the plane, I think the robots have won. But, fine. I get it.
More annoying was what happened this morning:
Needing new passport pages for the rest of my journey, I made my way to the US Embassy here in Delhi to get it sorted.
I figured I was all set with my iPod and Kindle for what was supposed to be about a 2 hour wait for the pages to be sewn in.
When I get there though, I'm told I can't take them in. "They're not allowed".
Not allowed into a nondescript room, that could just as easily be in Tulsa, with no AC and 15 screaming children. And, as a kicker, I had a hugecut-out of a smiling Obama welcoming me to this experience staring at me the whole time.
I voted for you, man. Can't you cut me a break on the reading materials? I'm not doing this by choice, it's just the only way.
Maybe he's pro-real book too.
Maybe if I make a big enough stink, we can get this changed.
Who's with me?! Maybe we could even get his press office to send out a photo of him reading to prove that he's not anti-book reading on government property.
Or maybe, just maybe, it is a statement about how the Kindle really is inferior to how we've read books for hundreds to years.
God, I can't wait to get rid of this thing and continue holding out until they don't print books anymore (gasp!)
PS - There's no photos to accompany this post, because those nifty little contraptions are also banned from the Embassy. Use your imagination like I did for 2 hours. You can thank me later.
For those who love their Kindles, I still love you. And don't get me wrong, the Kindle has served me well by providing something other than crap-novels that are left behind at hotels and such. It is still a means to an end for me though.
But its habit of being all electronic can be really annoying at inopportune times.
For one, I have to shut it off on airplanes when we're taking off and landing. (shhhh, don't tell them that I, and half of the rest of the plane, didn't turn my computer off, though) If its e-ink downs the plane, I think the robots have won. But, fine. I get it.
More annoying was what happened this morning:
Needing new passport pages for the rest of my journey, I made my way to the US Embassy here in Delhi to get it sorted.
I figured I was all set with my iPod and Kindle for what was supposed to be about a 2 hour wait for the pages to be sewn in.
When I get there though, I'm told I can't take them in. "They're not allowed".
Not allowed into a nondescript room, that could just as easily be in Tulsa, with no AC and 15 screaming children. And, as a kicker, I had a hugecut-out of a smiling Obama welcoming me to this experience staring at me the whole time.
I voted for you, man. Can't you cut me a break on the reading materials? I'm not doing this by choice, it's just the only way.
Maybe he's pro-real book too.
Maybe if I make a big enough stink, we can get this changed.
Who's with me?! Maybe we could even get his press office to send out a photo of him reading to prove that he's not anti-book reading on government property.
Or maybe, just maybe, it is a statement about how the Kindle really is inferior to how we've read books for hundreds to years.
God, I can't wait to get rid of this thing and continue holding out until they don't print books anymore (gasp!)
PS - There's no photos to accompany this post, because those nifty little contraptions are also banned from the Embassy. Use your imagination like I did for 2 hours. You can thank me later.
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