Reading With or Without Technology

Here I sit in the airport waiting on a flight home after a two day meeting in Charlotte. At the moment, the flight is running 3 hours late.  I can deal pretty easily with these kinds of delays, as long I have reading material.

Yes, most things are bearable as long as I have a book. I was sitting here reading a Kathy Reichs novel on my new Samsung tablet, when I took a phone call.  When I went back to pick up my tablet, it had a dreaded error message: Kernel Panic Upload Mode. When that message appeared the first time, I couldn’t do anything to turn the tablet off; it was stuck.  By the time I got to the office that day, hoping I’d find a co-work more technologically adept than I am, the tablet was dead.  I plugged it in, thinking, “What do I have to lose?”  Voila, the tablet began to charge and worked like a charm in short order.
My biggest concern both times that I’ve seen this message has been not having a book to read.  I ordered the tablet through an awards program at work, so I’m not concerned about returning it. It will just have to go back if this continues.

While here in Charlotte, I encountered our technology partner and told him about my problem. He explained that he was a real geek and googled it while we were in our meeting.  Sure enough, he discovered that others had had this problem and that it might be connected to having the GPS system activated, so he turned that function off.  Well, that seemed to solve the problem, and I was able to read my novel all three nights at the hotel, thank goodness.

But now I’m at the airport having the same issue.  Imagine how happy I was to remember that one of my co-workers had given me a book during my stay, a book I promptly pulled out.  It is a true word nerd book, The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll Through the Hidden Connections of the English Language. If, and only if, you are a word nerd, it is highly entertaining. The author starts with a word and meanders through all its meanings, uses, and of course, its etymology.

I’ve read the first three segments—A Turn-up for the Books, A Game of Chicken, and Hydrogentlemanly—smiling all the way.  Consider the word “book.” You can read one, you can throw one at a criminal, you can even cook books. From there, the author detours into bookmakers and horse races.  Imagine having a conversation with this gentleman, and if you read the segment on hydrogentlemanly, you’ll learn where the word gentleman comes from.

This book, however, is not one you want to open and read through in one sitting, so I’ve continued to pull out my table to see if by some miracle it’s working once again.  This last time, the “gentleman” sitting across from me suggested I try rebooting it, which I’d tried unsuccessfully before.  Guess what?  This time it worked. 

So, now I am a happy camper once again.  I can resume reading my mystery novel, and dip in and out of The Etymologicon.  And the airline just announced that we will board shortly.  Life is good.