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 |   A tentative blog to test the temperature. |
| Amazons and Archaeology Today has been all about archaeology. Not the usual sort involving spades and fine brushes but lots of digging around in my virtual history. It all began at 2:30am when I faced the fact that I wasn’t going to get any sleep until I went to the computer and started some research into a book that I needed to read before I could venture on a project for a particular WdC contest. Obedient, as ever, to these late night urgings of my brain, I rose and staggered through to the computer. The next few hours were spent in reading other people’s thoughts on the particular book that formed the object of my quest. Ultimately, it appeared that, contrary to my hopes, it was not yet out of copyright (in which case I would have been able to find it for free on the net). It had been interesting learning about others’ opinion on the book, however. I gave up and went back to bed just as the world outside was growing light again. Later this morning, I was tapping away dazedly at my computer when Andrea, my wife, enquired about my early morning adventures in the book quest. I explained and she became annoyed. Although she is always aggressively economical when it comes to her own desires and needs, she does not like it when I display the same thrift. “I’ll buy you a copy,” she declared. “It can be an unbirthday present. How much is Amazon charging for it?” “About three bucks and a few cents,” I replied, “but there’s no need…” “Oh, for goodness sake,” she muttered as her fingers flew over the keyboard. “There you are, the Kindle version only costs a dollar.” “You know I don’t get on with that Kindle thing,” I said feebly. “”Kindle version - any device can read it.” “You mean even my computer?” I was a little surprised at how technology had progressed since I bothered to look. She said nothing, apart from announcing that she could get it for nothing since she had some credits from an earlier purchase. In a few minutes I was advised that I should have a new email from Amazon about my present. And so my adventure with Amazon commenced. Click here to download your present from Andrea, maintained the email. I did so and was presented with a pleasantly designed page with the details of the relevant book and another button that promised to deliver said book. I hit the button, only to be advised that This item is not available in your region. That was ridiculous since it had been sent from exactly the same region. After some pondering, I realised what the problem must be. I must somehow have found my way into my old amazon.uk account and it was assuming that I still lived in Old Blighty. Andrea suggested I start by forcing it into my later American account. After a bit of struggling and getting extremely annoyed with Amazon, my computer and life in general, I managed to get the thing to look at my more recent version. It still came up with the insistence that I couldn’t open my present in my region. It seemed impossible to make Amazon forget anything it had once learned. I updated my address. It made no difference. It was clear that Amazon had decreed that I was never to receive my unbirthday gift. I gave up and began to consider what other book I could use in my WdC project. At which point, Andrea took over. She sent another, identical, gift to herself, then threw it from her computer to mine and opened it on my computer in some weird Kindle-reading device that lived in the cloud, apparently. Or maybe the book now resided there. At any rate, I now have access to the darn thing and can read it without even leaving my beloved friend, my computer. You know, I used to be pretty “up” with these technological matters and, at one point, even built myself a couple of computers. But I was lost in the very different American computer world and fell behind on the latest developments. My growing ignorance was exacerbated by my refusal to have anything to do with cell phones. So now I am dependent on my wife’s considerable expertise in that area. I can keep up in the basics but, when it comes to the really advanced stuff, I have to yell, “Andrea!” Where would I be without her? Word Count: 752 |
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