Author: Christie Koehler

software engineer, geek, yoga practitioner, bike commuter, zen buddhist, queer, vegan, legion of tech board member, osbridge planner, engineer@ShopIgniter

First Tattoo

I finally went and did it — I got a tattoo.

For a handful of years now I’ve been considering a tattoo. But I never quite worked up the gumption to go and have one done. When ever I thought about a needle puncturing my skin over and over again I’d cringe and put the idea off for another day.

However, earlier this week Scapegoat tattoo announced they were doing a fundraiser for the Let Live conference: $30 flash tattoos, all with vegan themes. Sherri re-tweeted the announcement and I didn’t give it much thought at first. While we were planning our day over breakfast on Saturday, Sherri reminded me of the fundraiser and it suddenly hit me that I was ready. It was for a good cause and, I thought, a good way to honor and celebrate Atari’s life as well as my commitment to veganism.

So off we headed to Scapegoat, with a quick errand before hand. It turns out we were lucky to only have a quick errand before stopping by Scapegoat. We were the last ones to be accepted on the list. And, as it was, we didn’t start getting our tattoos until at least 9:45pm. John, the tattoo artist was wonderful. He didn’t bat an eye when I nearly chickened out and talked me through the whole process. It actually hurt less than I’d imagined in my mind. My friend Amy said it was similar to someone poking you over and over again with the tip of a sharp mechanical pencil. I think that’s pretty accurate, though some spots definitely hurt more than others. And don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t want to endure that feeling longer than necessary. But it was manageable. Towards the end, I started to feel a bit faint, but I think more due to nerves than anything else.

Here it is:

Vegan Heart

A few more photos, including of Sherri’s tattoos are on the flickr set here.

Atari the Wonder Cat

Cat in a Box

Atari, my cat, passed away this afternoon shortly before 4pm. He was young, only 7. Sherri and I made the hard decision to euthanize him two days ago, after a few agonizing weeks of consideration.

For the last four years, Atari had chronic lower urinary tract issues, which continued to worsen over time and never really stabilized. Treating these issues involved many trips to the vet, invasive procedures, a major surgery, and a near constant regimen of anti-anxiety and pain medication, steroids and antibiotics. Recently Atari began to show signs of diabetes. In addition, he’d grown increasingly fearful of being treated at the vet and at home, to the point of displaying significant aggression. During the last couple of weeks I had to face the difficult truth that no amount of care was going to make Atari well and that it was time to let go, time to let him be at ease. I spoke with the vet at length on Wednesday and she agreed that I was making a good decision.

Atari was a great cat, despite all of his medical issues. He gave the most wonderful cat kisses. He’d nuzzle your face repeatedly and even on command. When you pet him he purred and drooled profusely. One of his favorite toys were those plastic jelly bracelets. He loved to play catch with them and chase after the ones that rolled by him. Sometimes he’d fetch one and bring it to you, especially if you hadn’t been paying attention to him. He talked all the time. When he wanted something or just to greet you. He spoke back if you spoke to him. He had a couple of nicknames: Atari the Wonder Cat, Mr. Meowgi, Baron von Wineypuss (or simply, the Baron), Mr. Stripey.

Atari came to me in 2003 when he was just about a year old. He was my companion through some very difficult occasions, including a divorce and the death of my grandmother. Together we moved 11 times, across 5 counties and two states. I am ever grateful for the time we spent together. I’m grateful that I was able to be with him until the very end. To pet him and lay down with him just one last time, give him those final kisses and watch him slip peacefully away.

There’s a verse from the Diamond Sutra that I’ve been reading to myself all day:

A star at dawn,
a bubble in a stream,
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.
So is this fleeting world.

With this I am reminded that as life is impermanent, so too is my grief. Even in my grief I feel a great sense of relief and peace that Atari will no longer suffer.

Thanks to everyone who has messaged and called me with condolences, best wishes and kind words. I’ve felt the healing energy of your thoughts all evening.

Also many thanks to North Portland Veterinary Hospital, who’s entire staff treated us with great compassion.

So Much Happening in June

Whoa, so the calendar turned over to June and my list of events and todos exploded. Below are some of the things Sherri and I have in the hopper for this month.

(And, yes, I’m referencing my Google Calendar as I write this post. It’s the only way I manage to keep track of everything.)

Open Source Bridge

The Open Source Bridge conference is third week of June and I’m participating in a number of ways. First, I’m speaking. My two talks are titled: Open Source Tools for Freelancers and Re-Factor Your Brain: Meditation for Geeks. Though I have no idea what to expect, I’m excited about giving both of these talks. I love sharing what I know with others, particularly when I’m sharing information that has really helped me. The second talk on meditation is one of the early evening sessions and I’m not sure what the turn out will be. But then I think it doesn’t matter. If only a few folks show up, I’ll have an opportunity to have an even more direct, intimate experience with those people.

In addition to my speaker and attendee role, I’m serving as on-site volunteer coordinator for the conference. This means recruiting and organizing volunteers ahead of the conference and then managing them on-site during the conference. We had a volunteer orientation tonight which was well attended. Tomorrow I’ll be wrangling even more volunteer’s during Lunch 2.0.

Friends and Family

Two really good college friends and one of my brothers are visiting from California at the same time during the second week of June. I’ve seen all three of these people since moving to Portland in 2007, but this will be their first visit here to see me. It’s been hard to live so far from my family and close friends. I’m very much looking forward to seeing everyone and sharing Portland with them. Sherri and I still have boxes everywhere that we have to deal with, but we’re happy to be able to provide a comfy place to stay.

Zen Community Stuff

Originally I had planned to attend my first Beginner’s Mind Retreat this month at Great Vow Zen Monastery. However, once the events and family visits started to pile up, I made the tough decision to postpone until early Fall. But there’s still plenty of ZCO things going on in addition to our weekly group meditation and dharma talks. I’ve been working on a new website for ZCO which we’re hoping to launch this month or early next (after some delay due to me being sick and moving). In addition, we’re having a founder’s dinner and benefit for Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple on June 21st. Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple will be our Portland center. We’ve outgrown the space we share with Dharma Rain at the Portland Dharma Center, so we’re avidly looking for an appropriate property (and avidly raising money for the purchase said property).

Birthday and Sacramento Trip

My birthday is in the fourth week of June. I haven’t quite decided how I would like to celebrate. Traditionally I take a trip for my birthday, which Sherri and I are doing. My birthday falls in the middle of the week, so we’re going to Sacramento to visit with my folks the weekend directly following. I’ve thought about seeing Rent, which is in town for just that week. Or having a dinner out. I’m still undecided.

I’m not looking forward to visiting Sacramento during the summer when it’s sure to be sweltering. But, it will be nice to see my mother and step-father and to show Sherri around a bit. We’re probably going to take a mini trip to Davis (my alma mater) show I can show her the campus and the town. We might even do the farmer’s market thing.

Other Events

There are a few other events that I’d like to attend, if possible: Northwest Pride on June 13th and 14th; the Portland Buddhist Festival, also on June 13th; the Sumer Coder’s Social on June 20th.

Bronchitis, Moving, and Gardening

Life since early March has been a bit of a blur. A large part of this was due to the fact that I came down with a bad cold that turned into a lingering case of bronchitis. I’m  new to this kind of respiratory distress and so I waited way too long to go to the doctor. Eventually I did and my doctor diagnosed me with a mild case of bronchitis and sent me on my way with a handful of new prescriptions. Albuterol, a steroidal inhaler and even vicodin for the cough. On top of my normal regimen of allergy medications, I feel like a walking pharmacy. But the drugs appear to be working, albeit slowly. I’m feeling more energetic, am able to breath clearly and an coughing.

In the middle of all this bronchitis stuff, I moved in with my partner Sherri. I do not recommend moving while sick if it can be helped. I hired movers, but even then it took me forever to pack my tiny studio and even longer than forever to get it unpacked (we’re still opening boxes and sorting through stuff). But I love living in a house again (for the first time, really, since leaving my parents home when I was 17). Having all the extra space available is wonderful. Having a yard is a privilege I adore. Though, I’m realizing how expensive home ownership and maintenance can be. We spent several hundred at Home Depot this month just to get the yard and garden in shape. And we’ve still so much to do.

But the garden is simply lovely. The state of the yard when I moved in was fairly over grown. The blackberries emanating from the corner of the yard were threatening to take over. The raised beds built last year were either unfinished or completely full of weeds. The first sunny weekend available to us, Sherri and I attacked the yard with furry. I demolished the insidious blackberries. We yanked weeds out of the beds. We bought dirt, lots of dirt. So much dirt in fact that Sherri did not think it would fit in my little Toyota pick up (it totally fit, barely). We filled the beds and mixed in compost. Because it’s already so late in the season, we opted to buy starts, most of which came from the Portland Nursery. In fact, we went a little crazy with the number of starts we bought and had to get creative about where to put them. We have a half dozen varieties of tomatoes (including one called pineapple that I’m very excited about), peppers, summer squash, some heirloom eggplants, bush and pole beans, winter squash, a melon and an heirloom cantaloupe, and various greens. I take great delight in watering everything each morning, looking for signs of new growth. I August and September we’re going to have more fruits and veggies than we know what to do with! We also planted a handful of annuals and perennials in the front yard.

During Memorial Weekend, Sherri and I were supposed to attend a couples retreat together at Great Vow Zen Monastery. But, Atari is in the middle of treatment for a urinary tract infection and may also have diabetes. I didn’t feel comfortable leaving town while his diagnosis was still up in the air. So, we elected to stay home. Knowing that we were now going to be in town, a good friend from college decided to visit. We ended up taking two mini road trips, one to Hood River and the other to the Coast, with a detour to pick strawberries. Sherri good some good photos and also wrote about it here and again here.

Somehow during all of this I managed also to give a talk on CodeIgniter at the April meeting of Code ‘n’ Splode and I volunteered at this year’s BarCamp. I also finished a volunteer project that I’d been working on — the website for a friend’s NGO, the International Cardiovascular Health Alliance.

Things aren’t going to get any quieter anytime soon. Next month I’m volunteering for and speaking at OSBridge, a conference for open source citizens. My Zen community is also holding a founder’s dinner for our Portland Center. Sherri and I will be attending and helping out with that. Because I haven’t seen my family since Christmas, Sherri and I are going to Sacramento the weekend after my birthday. I’m not looking forward to the sweltering Sacramento heat, but it will be nice to see everyone and get to show Sherri my old ‘hoods. We’ll probably take a side trip to Davis so I can show her the campus and town. I’m sure it will be a shock to me how much Davis has grown since I left (it always is).

And all of that is happening in June!

Update: Here’s a photo of the garden:

DSC_3605

How I Became Vegan

I recently joined the Vegan Freak forum and in order to be a full member there you are required to post an introduction stating why you are (or are very close to becoming) vegan. Here’s what I wrote (the intro bit about where I live and my hobbies has been left out).

It’s actually my practice of yoga and Zen that brought me to veganism. I had been a “vegetarian” for environmental reasons since 2005. I put “vegetarian” in quotes because I occasionally ate fish. I just couldn’t give up my sashimi and my tuna melts. That reasoning seems so silly to me now, but at the time I was ignorant about animal rights issues and wasn’t ready give up something that seemed important at the time. Even the form of “vegetarianism” that I practiced was quite a stretch for me at the time. I had a rather turbulent upbringing and it took me a while to recognize the inherent value of my own life, let alone the life of another non-human creature. In college I had a bumper sticker that said “I Eat Vegans.” It’sembarrassing to think about that now, but I think it’s important to recognize just how far I’ve come in my own journey. When I run into acquaintances who knew me back then, they are usually shocked that I am vegan.

A couple of years after becoming “vegetarian” I moved to Portland and met my current partner. She was already a vegan (for five+ years) and apractitioner of yoga and Zen. This was exciting and intriguing to me as I had been wanting to learn more about the two for some time, but didn’t quite know how to get started. I asked her lots of questions and we talked a lot about Zen and yoga. After a bit of time we started doing yoga together and I started sitting with her Zen group, which has now become my Zen group as well.

During this time, the meals we shared together were always vegan. My partner is a wonderful cook. The MacGuyver kind who can whip up amazing dinner when you think there aren’t any usable ingredients in the house. After a short while sharing these meals, it occurred me that a nutritious, healthful and delicious vegan diet was not only very possible but not difficult at all It simply required an extra bit of mindfulness and sometimes a bit more planning (e.g. to make sure you bring vegan food to an event that isunlikely to provide it).

For those who don’t know, both Zen and yoga have ethical guidelines. In Zen they are called “precepts” and in yoga they are called “yamas.” The first precept/yama is that of non-harm and non-killing. I have seen the precept worded as such:

“I will be mindful and reverential with all life, I will not be violent nor will I kill.”

And as a further directive:

“Avoid killing or harming any living being.
I undertake the precept to refrain from destroying living creatures.
I shall endeavor to protect and take care of all living creatures.
Do not do harm to other beings.”

So, with small foundation of these two practices under my belt, I started to realize that my version of vegetarianism simply wasn’t consistent with my values or my practice. I now knew that being vegan was possible and healthful, as I had been eating vegan 98% of the time for the last few months. I knew it was time to commit to being vegan. This was April of 2008. Now,veganism is an essential, inexorable part of my daily practice.

Since then I have been exploring the specific animal rights issues in more depth. I’ve been listening to VeganFreak Radio and acquiring and slowly reading through the seminal books on animal rights (Singer, Sustein, etc.). I’ve been reaching out to my Zen and tech communities (neither of which are vegan and both of which have vegan minorities) about vegan issues. I hope to growveganism within these communities. At times it is discouraging, but I do think change is possible.

Preparing to Take the Precepts

I’ll be taking the Five Grave Precepts this coming October. I worked up the nerve to ask my teacher Hogen this weekend (after a bit of prodding from Sherri). After asking why I would like to take the precepts and considering my response, Hogen said he’d be happy to give me the Precepts.

A bit of background is necessary here for non-Buddhist readers. The five grave precepts of Buddhism are as follows:

  1. I will be mindful and reverential with all life, I will not be violent nor will I kill.
  2. I will respect the property of others, I will not steal.
  3. I will be conscious and loving in my relationships, I will not give way to lust.
  4. I will honor honesty and truth, I will not deceive.
  5. I will exercise proper care of my body and mind, I will not be gluttonous nor abuse intoxicants.

During the Precepts Ceremony you state your intention to whole-heartedly abide by the above precepts. You do this publicly in front of your teacher, your parents (when they can be present) and the Sangha (Buddhist community). The Precepts Ceremony is a pretty big deal. It serves as one’s first major commitment to Buddhist spiritual and ethical practice. In addition, it’s the first step towards receiving and becoming part of the thousands-year-old Buddhist lineage. This is why it was necessary I ask permission to receive the precepts. They aren’t simply available for the taking. A teacher must evaluate his student and determine if he or she is ready to receive the precepts.

I should take the opportunity to distinguish the Five Precepts ceremony from that of Jukai. Jukai is the ceremony in which one receives the 16 Lay Precepts and formally becomes a Buddhist (complete with dharma name). The Jukai and Five Precepts ceremonies are very similar and often occur at the same time (in receiving Jukai you also re-take the Five Grave Precepts). But Jukai is more extensive and more significant. I’ll write more on this topic at another time (either when Sherri takes Jukai this fall, or when I’m closer to taking it myself).

Now that I have permission to receive the Precepts, I have a number of tasks to complete over the next six months. The first is to really study and sit with the Five Precepts. Part of this study includes writing a brief statement about what each precepts means to me. Another part of this study requirement is to participate in dicussion groups about the Five Precepts.

The next requirement is to hand sew my wagessa. A wagessa is a thin strip of fabric symbolizing the kesa. The kesa is the “bib”-like outer robe worn by Zen priests. Lay people who have taken Jukai wear something similar, called a Rakusu. Both the wagessa and kesa symbolize the original robs worn by Buddha. I will sew my wagessa and then turn it into my teachers who will present it to me during the Precept ceremony. Afterward, I’ll wear it during zazen and other Sangha functions.

And the final requirement is to attend a Beginner’s Mind Retreat at Great Vow Zen Monastery. A Beginner’s Mind retreat is a weekend retreat that serves as an introduction to Sesshin practice. A sesshin is a period of intense meditation that usually takes place over 5 to 10 days and includes 8 to 10 hours of zazen each day. Sesshin practice is essential to Zen Buddism. The idea behind sesshin is that it takes a signifcant amount of sustained, continuous meditation in order to quiet the mind sufficiently to experience deep awakeing. Sesshin also includes work practice, dharma talks, breath practice through chanting and is typically conducted in noble silence.

Taking the Precepts is not a requirement for studying Zen, having a skillful meditation practice or even participating in a Buddhist community. I could do all of those thing without taking the Precepts. So why am I doing it?

I’m taking the Precepts specifically to uphold, affirm and support my practice. In Buddhism, there is something called the Three Treasures: the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. The Buddha is, of course, the original Buddha, but also represents that each of us has it within us to be a Buddha, to be an enlightened being free of suffering. The Dharma is the whole body of Buddhist teaching from the Buddha and subsquent great teachers. And the Sangha the community of practicing Buddhists. It’s essential to Buddhist practice to take refuge in, up hold and seek guidance in these three things.

Taking the precepts, for me, is a way of taking refuge in these three treasures. By taking the precepts I’m taking refuge in and showing respect for the all three of the treasures. For the Buddha by recognizing my own buddha nature and attempting to obide by the ethical guidelines inherent in this nature. For the Dharma by recognizing the dignity and being humbled by the tremendous lineage and teachers offered to me during the ceremony. And to the Sangha by publicly stating to my own Sangha that I will be an ethical member of that community.

In short, I see taking the precepts as an essential next step in my spiritual development.

I’ll keep writing here about my process in working with the Five Grave Precepts and my experiences with the Beginner’s Mind retreat (which should happen mid-June, just before my 29th birthday).

Ada Lovelace Day 2009: Sherri Montgomery

In January, I signed a pledge to participate in Ada Lovelace day by “publish[ing] a blog post on Tuesday 24th March about a woman in technology whom I admire.”

Early on I decided to write about my girlfriend, Sherri Montgomery. Perhaps picking my girlfriend is “cheating” a bit, but I wanted to highlight and make public her accomplishments in a way I know they haven’t.

Sherri is a true renaissance geek. She’s been involved in technology since her college days and has done a bit of everything: Perl hacking, shell scripting, NOC setup and management, *nix administration, project management, etc. Additionally, Sherri a gifted teacher and synthesizer of information. These two skills have served her well in her current System Analyst position at Qwest, where she facilitates communication between non-technical end-users a technical programming staff. Sherri is also a Yoga teacher and Zen practitioner, the effects of which she brings to her interactions in the tech world.

Below is a brief interview that I conducted with Sherri earlier this week.

How did you get your start in technology? What different positions led you to you current job?

I would say I was drawn to technology as a kid. I was generally fascinated with the way things worked, the history of places & things, and knowing the names of things like stars and rocks. I remember asking for a chemistry set as a kid and wanting books about astronauts.

When computers started to show up at school I enjoyed learning a little bit here and there. In college I finally tried out a computer science course and enjoyed it a lot. After college various jobs in secretarial positions gave me greater access to computers, eventually ending up with a group that developed GIS software. It was a small group and they wanted to have me help test so I was encouraged to learn about unix since the software was developed for various implementations of this operating system. The office had systems from Sun, SGI, and HP, among others and I really interested in how unix worked.

By now I had my own computer at home, a very early Macintosh I bought used from an employee. It had no hard drive, but I had an extra floppy drive and could run most stuff that way. I also had a dial-up modem by this time and was investigating the world of BBSes. As the Internet began to shape up I spent a lot of time on MUDs. I began to pick up both HTML as it was emerging and simple C programming for creating things for an AberMUD based in Sweden. I also took community college classes on networking technology and unix shell scripting at night.

I finally made a jump in technology in 1997, joining a small, local call center where I did telephone support for ISPs and a company manufacturing network hardware. After a few months there I was hired by Metro One Telecommunications to work in their NOC. I moved onto managing the NOC for a while then on to the senior sysadmin team where I did 6 hardware (Sun) upgrades at call centers around the country.

I left Metro One to work for Amdocs as a support engineer for the Sleuth Fraud Management System. I performed hardware, OS (Solaris), and database support to customers across the US. Eventually I also took on setting up web servers and configuring business intelligence reporting platforms for clients. When Amdocs closed their Oregon office I was hired by Qwest, one the clients I had previously supported.

You work as a Systems Analyst at Quest. What does that job entail?

I am the “subject matter expert” for the Business Objects Enterprise/Crystal Reports business information area. This covers a few hundred report objects providing automated data to over 100 users. I implement standardization of data connectivity, compliance issues, and report schema. During upgrades I act as project manager for teams that span across IT, Technical Clients, and Business Clients. I also help test, release and write user documentation for upgrades.

I am also the subject matter expert on the unix operating system and a suite of web trouble ticket tools developing using DB-MAN. When I joined Qwest in 2002 I began learning Perl to help support these tools. I’ve since implemented a simple back-up process using unix shell scripts to keep a second production server in sync with a primary product server. I managed both the project and primary development of migrating tools and scripts from Sun/Solaris to Linux Red Hat. Currently I’m learning basics of PHP.

I also work across teams to help identify processes clearly, define requirements for both client and technical audiences, write technical documentation for teams, and coach people on unix, business intelligence, and other tools such as HP Quality Center, Caliber from Borland, and Sharepoint. I am a primary tester for emerging releases for the Windows laptops and desktops used by my team as well as coordinator for hardware upgrades.

I understand you are also a Yoga instructor and Zen practitioner. How do you think this informs or affects your role in the technology field?

When I am frustrated, because that happens when you have teams unable to understand one another, both practices help me contain the frustration. I am able to more clearly understand why I get frustrated and am able to maintain a calmer perspective. Yoga & Zen have really developed my compassion for all beings, I think this helps me to listen to people more carefully since I want to clearly hear what needs they are trying to meet. When I am stuck on a project (flow of documentation, defining business requirements precisely, some troublesome bit of Perl…) sometimes just stopping and stretching mindfully will help. I move around, increase my breath, feel my body and let my mind settle. Sometimes this will help me get unstuck!

What do you see as the biggest barrier to women succeeding in technology? What can/should the tech community do to lower these barriers?

When I was getting into technology in my 20s I had to present a fairly tough persona. Not just “one of the boys”, but showing I could be just as hard and competitive, mentally and physically (since I was on the hardware side of things, moving around 250 servers). I always felt like I was on my guard, at times even more so with women co-workers or superiors. I can recall in 1999 finding out I was being paid $20K less than my male co-workers (with less than 6 months on the job) after 2 years with the company I worked for. When I brought this disparity to the attention of my male superiors, citing it for entertaining a job offer, they essentially shrugged and wished me luck.

The barriers have improved over the years, grown shorter, but there still are so many more men in technology than women. I see and hear men in the community trying to work to reach out to and include more women. I hear the voices of women in the community doing all they can as well. There are so many more programs now to encourage women and girls into technology than ever before. It seems like there shouldn’t be as great a difference now, but for some reason the ratio hasn’t shifted hugely.

I personally would like to see more collaborative projects and less competitions. Events that encouraged people to foster and share their strengths and differences, creating synergy.

Where do you see yourself in the future in regards to tech?

Programming less, managing more — something I would not have thought I’d have said 5 years ago. I have come to see that my knack with seeing how things fit together, finding patterns, and understanding flow is best suited to helping projects run smoothly through to implementation and beyond. I have come to enjoy the “people” side of things more and find especially rewarding helping seemingly disparate teams communicate in a way that they can find understanding and the ability to work together. Because of my technology background I know I would be valuable in managing technology projects since I understand the both the technical and business sides.

Kindle 2: First Thoughts

After stewing over it for quite some time, watching Amazon’s marketing videos more than once, and seeing that I had just enough Amazon credit to cover its purchase, I decided to order a Kindle 2. I know that over the holidays shipments of the Kindle 1 had been delayed, so I was quite surprised that the Kindle was delivered on time this Wednesday after having ordered it only over the weekend.

The Presentation

The Kindle 2 packaging is entirely black on the outside and stark white on the inside. The quick start instructions are in the form of an accordion-style foldout that is also black on one side and entirely white on the other, where the instructions are printed. The secondary ink color on the quick start guide is copper and just doesn’t seem to match. I can’t imagine why it was chosen.

But nevermind the quickstart guide, because I didn’t actually read it. Because the eInk technology doesn’t use any power to preserve what’s been drawn on the screen, beginning instructions for use are right on the Kindle 2 when you open the box. Underneath the Kindle is the power cord, which can alternately plug into a standard AC outlet, or a USB port on the computer. I’m not sure how long the Kindle took to charge initially as I plugged it in and left it charging (it was fully charged when I woke up).

The Kindle 2 feels very solid. The front is crisp white. The back is mostly brushed metal with about 1 inch of grey plastic at the top (where I imagine the cellular antenna is). The buttons feel sturdy and it takes a fair amount of pressure to engage them (but not too much, just enough to avoid accidental pressing). The off switch is a small metal slider and I find it to be a bit on the small side.

Turning it On and Reading

When I powered on the Kindle 2 it had already been pre-registered with my account information and name. I enjoyed seeing “Christie’s Kindle” when starting it for the very first time. I’ve heard that Kindle 1 owner’s materials are transferred automatically to their Kindle 2, which seems like a pretty nice feature.

I haven’t done much reading yet on the Kindle, probably about an hour’s worth, but thus far it’s been very pleasant. The eInk is definitely easier to read than my laptop screen. When turning pages, there is a slight delay and a near-solid flash of black while the display redraws. At first I found this a bit slow and annoying. But now I’ve become accustomed to it and it’s become far less noticeable.

User Interface

The user interface of the Kindle 2 is not superb, but it’s not horrible either. During my first session with the Kindle 2 I got a bit lost in the menu system. I’d hit Menu or Home and end up somewhere other than expected. I found myself thinking a few times after a misstep, “Oh, that’s where the Home button goes, I’ll have to remember that.” So for me, the navigation takes a bit getting used to.

I like the buttons on the Kindle 2. It’s nice having “Next Page” buttons on either side of the device so that I can hold it in either my left or my right hand. The joystick control, which is essential to menu navigation, is functional for the most part. I’ve pressed down on it accidentally only a few times. For someone with less dexterity this could be more of an issue, however.

Content

If you’re a new Kindle user, the only piece of content you’ll have on your device at start up is the user guide. I scanned through this quickly, mostly to get a feel for the Kindle’s navigation. Then I launched the Kindle Store and subscribed to the New York Times. The process of subscribing to the Times was nearly effortless and I’d say in under a minute I was reading that day’s issue. As with the overall user interface, I found myself wishing the user interface for the NYT to be a bit more robust. For example, you’re able to see and navigate through a list of sections for each issue of the Times, but you aren’t able to see a list of the articles in each section. Instead, you have to jump to the start of each one sequentially. This isn’t a deal-breaker for me, however, as flipping through each article is quick.

I did encounter two disappointments with the content available on the Kindle 2. The first is the unavailability of my Amazon Wishlist. I have tons on books in my wishlist and it would be nice to see, on my Kindle 2, items from my wishlist that are available in Kindle format. The second disappointment is that blog access is not free. Slashdot, for example, requires a monthly subscription of $1.99 (or $2.99, I forget which). It makes sense, of course, as these subscription costs are part of how Amazon pays for the cost of Whispernet (the cellular connection from Sprint via which the Kindle connects to Amazon content).

I do love the dictionary look up feature. You simply navigate to any word that you see, press the joystick down and the definition instantly appears at the bottom of the Kindle’s screen. Very handy.

Overall

Overall I am happy with my purchase, though I do think it will take a bit of adjusting to really get into using the Kindle. Not because it’s not easy to read off the Kindle (it is, quite). It’s because it doesn’t quite have the same feel as a book and so I feel slightly disconnected from the material. However, I feel this disconnection much less intensly than I do when trying to read on my laptop. I think with time the Kindle’s ease of use, portability and additional features like instant dictionary lookup will trump this disconnect.