Magazines: Old School vs. Digital.

I miss Borders.

We in the yarnyMarni household used to go there on a weekly basis, to browse the stacks, to sit and read books to our daughter, to drink coffee and eat chocolate chip cookies as big as our heads, and to buy magazines.

Oh, how we love our magazines in this house.  My husband’s tastes run from The Economist to Mojo to Four Four Two.  My daughter enjoys the kid version of National Geographic and is starting to get into American Girl Magazine.  And me?  Well… isn’t it obvious?  😉

So now there’s no more Borders (yes, we have a Barnes & Noble, but it’s not as close.  And it’s not as comfortable and familiar and friendly and… well, “Borders-y”.), and therefore, not quite as many magazines are making it into the house.  My husband found a way around this:  almost everything he reads now is delivered via iPad.  But I’m having a more difficult transition.  While I like the slickness of iPads and Kindles and e-readers, I can’t seem to let go of the old-school concept of holding a book or magazine in my hands, turning actual pages, marking my place with paper bookmarks, packing them into The Bag Your Bag Could Be Like to share with others.

That’s not to say that I’m not trying to go digital – I downloaded Interweave Knits (via Zinio), Knitscene, and Knit.Wear (via my hard drive) so I can try to get comfortable with this e-reading concept, but I’m not sure if it’s working.  I do like Zinio a lot – it’s easy to use and the pages really look gorgeous.  And I love how every link is live, so I can just !click! and another window opens to something interesting. The other magazines aren’t on Zinio, so I’m trying to adjust my PDF reader to make it more Zinio-esque.

 

The verdict?  It’s… okay.  Maybe it just takes some getting used to.  Maybe I just like holding a magazine in my lap more than my laptop.  Which do you prefer?

 

Hurricane Preparedness Tips.

If you’re addicted to social media/news/smartphones like me, you already know that today, there’s only one thing on everyone’s minds: how to prepare for Irene‘s imminent visit.  May I offer my own suggestions?

1. Go to the supermarket and stock up on the necessities.  These include, but are not limited to:  ice cream, Oreos, potato chips, Kraft dinner, beer.  Corona is a good choice for achieving that late summer, hurricane vibe.
2. Put some gas in the car.  Be prepared to actually have to wait to get to a pump (unbelievably, here in Central PA, there were lines at the pump.  I don’t get it.).
3. Go to your local Borders bookstore, which is in the process of closing, and pick up whatever’s left of the knitting books for a song.  You’ll need something to read if/when you get tired of knitting.  Notice the word “if” is italicized… for extra emphasis.  ‘Cuz, y’know, it’s not likely this will occur, but stranger things have happened.  Like hurricanes in Pennsylvania.
4. In order to wait out the storm comfortably, make absolutely sure you have what you need for long-term knitting.  Otherwise, get thee to a LYS.  The money you saved buying only junk in #1 above will be put to good use now.
5. Get a gas generator.  In the event of a power failure, let’s face it:  no one likes to knit by candlelight.  And forget flashlights – they’re only good for finding your way to the bathroom without tripping over the cat or your child’s shoes.

I hope this was helpful.