I’ve been down with a probable case of norovirus. I never even HEARD of norovirus until I called in sick Tuesday on account of I had diarrhea and fever. I wouldn’t have even called in about the diarrhea, probably, but the two things that cause me to call in without if’s, and’s, or but’s are vomiting and fever. Call me crazy, but folks who are already sick do not need a sick nurse spreading her own contagion all over them. When I called in they were all, “Norovirus is going around so you have to work with employee health.” And employee health said I can’t work for 72 hours after my last bout in the bathroom. So I bought myself not just one but a few nights off—”bought” because I don’t have any paid time off until NEXT week. Of course. I didn’t really feel that sick (not as sick as many accounts would lead me to believe), so I’m not sure I had it, but hey, I learned something new. Two things, actually. The other one was that Pedialyte, although extravagantly disgusting, rehydrates me much better than Gatorade. Or “G,” as it is now called.
Body functions aside, several people have asked why I bought a Kindle 2 when I can get the Kindle reader on the iPhone for free. It’s a legitimate question because when I saw that app appear, I thought, “Man, a bunch of people who just dropped a ton of money on a new Kindle are gonna be pissed.” I’ve read e-books for a really long time, starting on early Palm devices, so my tolerance for backlit screens is pretty high. I probably never would have gotten a Kindle except I treated a patient who had one and let me toy with it, and the screen impressed me so much I resolved to get one. The e-ink or whatever they call it is nothing short of revolutionary for e-reading devices, and the size is much, much better. It fits perfectly in my hands, including the necessity of balancing appropriately in one palm so I can read and eat at the same time. I can read on it for, literally, hours without eye strain, and despite the depths of my love for my iPhone, I can’t say that about it.
It IS cool that I can sync back and forth between the two, too. I don’t necessarily take the Kindle everywhere, but I do always have my phone, so I can open the Kindle app and instantly be at the place I stopped reading on the Kindle. When I get home, I instruct the Kindle to catch up with the program, and it does. Very very handy. The books are cheap and sometimes even free, and the combination of the facility of purchasing and reading materials has caused me to increase my already devout appreciation of the written word.
So, that’s why I don’t think it’s totally moronic to have a Kindle and an iPhone.
