Monday (22 Aug) - On A different Subject

Monday (22 Aug) - On A different Subject

The World of Warcraft has been a dull place for the last several days, with very little transpiring in Wild's world. Wild's last raid was Friday night last and we did NOT kill the final boss, Cho'gall, in Bastion of Twilight - again. We will not be starting over again this week, as the raid leader saved the raid so that we could start with Cho'gall on Thursday and spend the whole evening with him. Tea and crumpets, and then we kill him ...

Wildshard has managed to avoid pvp since he beginning of the Cataclysm, but, being bored to distraction on Monday night, Wild found himself in Tol Barad at the Horde encampment of the Hellscreamers faction. Wild did the six dailies available to him. Guildies blinked in surprise and offered limp "Gratz" when Wild made it to Friendly reputation (every other level 85 in the guild are already at the max rep of Exalted). Wild has a vague plan of collecting enough pvp honor points to exchange them for Justice Points to buy a new helm or pants, the two pieces of gear that Wild still needs to upgrade.

Now that I've caught up on what little news there is, it's time to go off on a tangent.

I don't know if anyone out there has an ereader device, like the Kindle, Sony, or Kobo. I read quite a bit, and have always loved the feel of a book in my hands. I was pretty skeptical about these ereader devices, but I was tempted by the ease in which books could be downloaded and be instantly available, not to mention that I could have hundreds of books on that one device. When I travel I usually bring 4-5 books with me to make sure I don't run out of things to read. In our one walk in closet, half the space is taken up with boxes of books I that knew I would want to read again someday.

So, a few months ago, I hinted strongly to the Mrs exactly what I wanted for my birthday - a Kobo ereader. I chose Kobo for two reasons - I wanted a basic reader that excelled at just letting me read. I didn't need a color screen, or a keypad, or 4G connectivity, or other bells and whistles like playing games - I just wanted to read books.

Oh, that second reason? My favorite bookstore was Borders, which was allied with Kobo and I could buy my books directly from Borders, even using the wireless connection to buy them online while actually in the store. Neat!

You probably know that Borders recently went out of business. Kobo didn't go under with them, though, as Kobo is it's own company (in Canada). Kobo provided a transition from the Borders site and desktop apps to the Kobo site and desktop apps. Unfortunately, that's when things went very wrong.

In a nutshell, the transition was poorly done. While I didn't lose any books, I lost all my bookmarks. Since I am often reading more than one book at a time, losing my place in all of them was pretty irritating, and there are no folded down pages to get me close to where I was. Even worse, the Kobo desktop app that I now had to use to order books for download to the Kobo is about the worst I have ever seen. No "shopping cart" to put books I might want to buy - each book must be purchased one at a time. The Search feature is so laughable I want to cry. Imagine NOT being able to search and sort by author. I can't. Kobo Support is by email only - no phone support at all. When I complained about a synching issue recently, it took three days to get a response.

Don't get me wrong, I like my Kobo ereader, even if it is slow to load and sometimes randomly changes my font. But not Kobo the company. Not long after I got my Kobo, I got the Mrs the ereader SHE wanted - a Kindle. She loves it. I love it, and I'm jealous. Christmas is a long ways off yet. Sigh.

In a final bit of news, we went to a San Diego Padres game on Sunday. Trevor Hoffman's Number 51 was being retired and we had a chance to go see it. The team did a really superb job and it was great fun. There were a lot of players, managers, and coaches all the way back to his earliest days in baseball that came to pay tribute. Both of his brothers were there, and all four of the other players who have had their numbers retired by the Padres were there as well - Steve Garvey, Randy Jones, Tony Gwynn, and Dave Winfield. They even had a clip of Trevor's father singing the National Anthem at one of Trevor's minor league games. What a treat! Trevor made a very nice speech and of course the team gave him a car - a 1958 Cadillac convertible. The only flaw in the whole ceremony was Bud Selig's taped congratulations - mind numbingly long and boring.

The game itself was against the Florida Marlins. The Padres are a pretty bad team this year (last place going into the game), but they have brought up virtually all their young talent and it was fun to watch the youngsters play. The Pads had won all three of their games against the Marlins so far in the four game set. Lead-off hitter Will Venable smacked a line drive homerun in the first and we entered the 2nd inning with a 3-0 lead. That ended Padres scoring, the Pads being so shocked at scoring three runs they remembered they weren't supposed to be able to hit. In the top of the 9th the score was 3-2 Padres, closer Heath Bell was on the mound, and he'd struck out the first two Marlins hitters. Mike Cameron, formerly a loved Padre, was in the box for the Marlins. He ripped a "no doubt about it" homerun into the left field bleachers to tie the score. Bell got the third out.

Things got really interesting in the bottom of the 9th. The first batter, catcher Nick Hundley, ripped a triple that hit the 400 foot sign in centerfield. With no outs and a runner at third we needed only a big fly to win it. With the #8 hitter at the plate, manager Jack McKeon brought in a lefty reliever and then ordered him to walk the batter. In the pitcher's spot, manager Bud Black brought in a righty to hit. McKeon ordered him walked as well. We now had the bases loaded and no outs. With lead-off left-handed hitter Will Venable waiting on deck, McKeon put a wild shift on. He moved his shortstop AND an outfielder to the right side of the infield at infield in depth. There was no one in centerfield and only the third baseman on the left side of the infield. Virtually everyone in the stands figured that Bud Black would pinch hit for Venable, who regularly platoons and starts mostly against right-hand pitchers, and who generally hits to the right side. McKeon was going all in for the double play ball.

Bud Black sent Venable to the plate. That had to be one huge confidence builder for Venable, given a chance like this. Venable fouled off the first pitch. He drilled the second pitch - to the right side - but over the heads of the infielders - AND over the head of the leaping right-fielder. Game over, Padres win 4-3! It was that much sweeter later in the day when the Dodgers lost their game, and coupled with the Padres fourth straight win, we are now out of last place. What a beautiful day for some baseball.