Today was just your average, garden variety Wednesday. We had a meeting at work this afternoon to discuss e-books and, more accurately, e-inspection/examination copies. (That’s when a professor asks to see a book before potentially adopting it for a class. There are restrictions built in, and sometimes it’s a physical copy and sometimes it’s electronic. But if it’s a legitimate course, and we think there’s potential for course adoption, the book is free.) An informative, if not exactly exciting meeting, though I did find myself joining in when the discussion turned to this whole Macmillan/Amazon kerfuffle and e-readers.
I keep meaning to post something more in-depth about the whole thing, about e-books in general, and Amazon and the new Apple iPad more specifically. But, for now, the short version is this: I’m still honestly thinking about buying an iPad, despite some misgivings about what is (and isn’t) available in the initial version, and I’m learning to like Amazon a little less every day.
But, honestly, nobody has any clue about the future of e-books. We’re all just trying to muddle through and guess where things are headed.
We also got a surprising e-mail at work today from human resources, informing us that the company will be offering summer hours from July to September. What that means is, we work the same number of hours, but a little more on Monday through Thursday. Then we get to leave at one o’clock on Friday. I don’t have to let them know until May, but I’m definitely thinking about it. I’d most likely work 8:30 to 5:15 four days a week, which wouldn’t change my schedule too much, and it would mean my weekend would start three hours earlier.
And who doesn’t like a few extra hours in their weekend?