Coffee and Kindle - Replacement Received

My new Kindle 3G and Coffee

I finally received my replacement Kindle, the new Kindle 3G, yesterday afternoon after waiting practically forever. It was lost enroute and eventually arrived after eleven days of shipping and lots of phone calls and emails with Amazon/Kindle. So here's a photo taken this morning of the new Kindle and my morning cup of coffee.

If you've read my other posts about my problems with Amazon/Kindle, it's been a long haul to get a new replacement for my three month old defective 2nd Generation Kindle. First they sent me a "refurbished" one as a replacement and it didn't work. Duh! It took lots of complaining and unpleasant words before I got a new one as a replacement. I'm still waiting for my refund, which they claimed to have processed over a week ago, but which still isn't showing up on my credit card account. When that finally gets straightened out, I'll have to deal with the issue of getting a refund on my warranty for the original Kindle. You see, they want me to pay for a new warranty for the replacement Kindle, even though I already paid for a two year warranty and only had my Kindle for less than three months when it went on the fritz.

Since I've had both the 2nd Generation Kindle and now the Kindle 3G, I can give a few comparisons. The new one is smaller, lighter weight and has darker print and better contrast. I like the switches better on the new one. Also, the vents are on the back upper corners of the device instead of the back bottom corners. This should prevent overheating, which I think was part of the problem with my 2nd Generation Kindle. Since I've only had this new one for 24 hours, it remains to be seen how it will hold up to steady use.

Don't get me wrong, I do like the Kindle. It's a great concept for an avid reader who always wants to carry his or her books around at all times. My complaint is primarily with the warranty that allows them to replace a defective Kindle with a refurbished one at their discretion. I think that's a rotten policy and if I'd "read the fine print" before I bought my original Kindle, I wouldn't have bought it for that reason. On the other hand, since I didn't find that said "small print" before I bought my Kindle, after I bought it, it was too late to turn back. I really liked my 2nd Generation Kindle until it went on the fritz after only ten weeks of use. As I've said before, the Kindle is great when it works and not great when it doesn't work.

The other major problem with Amazon/Kindle is the poor customer service. I spent a horrible two weeks fighting with Amazon and Kindle support in order to get my replacement Kindle 3G. I tried to explain to them that their customer service is the worst I've ever encountered. But I don't think they cared one way or the other. I've been a satisfied Amazon customer for over five years, but I'd only bought books, CDs and DVDs. I only once had to return a book, when they sent me the wrong one. So I had no idea that I would have such a big problem in purchasing my Kindle.

Even though I've had a rather unpleasant experience with Amazon and Kindle Support, that doesn't mean everyone else will have the same problem. My adult daughter got her 2nd Generation 9" Kindle last January and has not had any problems. I'd like to think that what I encountered was an exception to the rule.

Do I recommend the new 6" Kindle 3G? So far, I think it's great! Considering the price, I hope it works for a good long time. If it does, then I'll be a very happy Kindle owner. All I can say is, if you want to buy one, please be sure to read the warranty, including the "fine print."

About Coffee and Coffee Mugs - Part 2

More of my coffee mug collection

Last night I dreamed about coffee and woke up craving a cup of Jamaica Blue Mountain. Of course, I don't have any of that coffee now, but I still remember the taste from 22 years back when my husband and I took two vacations to Jamaica. We wanted to go to the most exotic locale that we could afford. Fortunately, the young travel agent at AAA told us about a trip he'd made to Jamaica and before we knew it he'd booked a trip for us.  We had so much fun on our 4-day trip that July (over my 36th birthday) that we went back again the following November for a whole week. Both vacations were great!

Anyway, the trips I'll save for another post, but let me say that Jamaica Blue Mountain is the best coffee I've ever had in my life. Both vacations we brought back several pounds of  Blue Mountain at the then price of $8.50/lb. We put it in the refrigerator and saved it for weekends and special days. Now it costs around $38.50/lb. (at least that's what I found on the net this morning), so it doesn't fit our fixed-income budget at the moment. But that doesn't mean I won't end up buying some down the line. On the other hand, it would make a great Christmas present, hint, hint.

Back when my husband and I were both working, before he retired, our budget allowed us to try different coffees. We even joined a coffee club, Gevalia, a couple different times. One Christmas my brother bought us a gift pack of a dozen different coffees. They were all great! Other times one of my sisters-in-law brought us back some Kona Coffee whenever she made a trip to Hawaii. So good. I can still taste that one too. Plus, our daughter and her new husband brought us back a pound of Blue Mountain when they went on their Honeymoon Caribbean Cruise. Don't we have the best daughter in the world?

Now I just stick with 100% Colombian. It's a good every-day coffee and I can drink several cups a day without breaking the bank.  So I sip my Colombian and dream of other coffees now and then.

This morning I lined up some of my coffee mugs for a quick photo op. I snapped a handful of pics which I'll add to these coffee posts. Like I said yesterday, each coffee mug has a memory attached. So this morning my mug is the one from Busch Gardens with the elephants. I'm remembering a trip there with our daughter, when she was young enough to still enjoy vacationing with her parents. When she got into her late teens I think she didn't want to be seen with her "crazy" parents, but that too is another story.

I look at this coffee mug and also think of the few times as a kid that I got to ride an elephant. Mostly I remember doing that at Knotts Berry Farm in southern California. I ask myself now what elephants were doing there? I wondered if the elephants minded carrying little kids around on their backs all day long. I remember that I told mine that she was beautiful and  petted her thick neck. I like to think she didn't mind giving me a short ride. I have pictures of that particular elephant somewhere in my "treasure chest."

I think tomorrow I'll have my coffee in a Planet Hollywood, Key West, mug. Then I can day-dream about our many Key West excursions through the years. I uncovered a couple of those old photos the other day. We were defintely younger and sexier back then.  Hmm! Where did all those years go? I swear it was just yesterday! (Read more on Part 3.)

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About Coffee and Coffee Mugs - Part 1

Part of my coffee mug collection

Last weekend my daughter and her husband decided to reorganize their kitchen cupboards to make room for new kitchen items. So my daughter decided to part with some of her coffee mug collection. Now I'm rather partial to both coffee and coffee mugs, so I sat down on the floor and went through the plastic bin holding all those coffee mugs looking for a new home. I picked out 13 mugs to take home with me. Five black and silver Planet Hollywood mugs, one each from Key West, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Atlanta and Ft. Lauderdale. We were vacationing together when she bought the ones from the first three locations, so those mugs have special memories attached. The other two were from cities I've been to, but I wasn't with her when she bought them.

Anyway, just holding one of those mugs brings back magical stories of other times and other places. So I had to rescue those mugs from going to the Goodwill or some such place. I selected a Royal Caribbean mug with dolphins on it, from one of their Caribbean Cruises. I've never gone on a big-ship cruise, but I've always thought it sounds romantic and exotic, so I had to take that mug too. Plus, I love dolphins. One mug is decorated with elephants, there's even a tiny one inside the rim, and is from Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay. I have fun memories of Busch Gardens, so I needed that coffee mug too. And I happen to love elephants.

One mug is festooned with voodoo dolls and says "Voodoo New Orleans." Well, voodoo happens. It's called "life" and it happens all around us and not always the way we want things to go. New Orleans is one of my favorite places, so this mug brings back memories of the French Quarter and Mardi Gras, where my husband and I fell in love many many years ago during Mardi Gras.

Another mug,  from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, says "I Need My Space." That is a definite truth. My daughter and I each bought one of those mugs on one of our many vacations. I still have my own mug from that trip, so I'll just add hers to my collection. Another mug is festooned with brightly colored Las Vegas casinos trimmed in gold from the time my daughter and her husband, then newlyweds, visited us in Las Vegas. Funny thing, we lived in Vegas for years, but I never bought a coffee mug from there. Go figure.

Other mugs are from places I've never been, but the mugs are too cool not to add to my collection. A deep-navy-blue mug with a fish logo from "Mr. Carlos' n Charlie's" in Cozumel. I've never been to Cozumel, but it's on my "I want to go there" list. A black mug with yellow cat's eyes from the time my daughter and her husband saw the Broadway production of "Cats" in NYC.  I've been to NYC, but I've yet to see "Cats."

The 13th mug has a picture of a wild eyed cat and says "So much stress, so little time."  That used to be my daughter's every-day-mug. Maybe by giving away the mug she's giving away some of the stress?  Not likely though, because she works full-time as a CPA and has my three little grandchildren to raise and her marriage to maintain. So stress will always be a part of her life. Welcome to the world of being a daughter and a wife and a mother and, hopefully someday, a grandmother. Yep, stress is a way of life. It slows us down sometimes, but usually motivates us to do other things to alleviate that stress. Anyway, that's another "story" altogether.

So I came home that day with 13 new coffee mugs and my husband groaned. Yeah, he always groans, because he doesn't understand lots of the things I do. His response, "You already have more mugs than you can use." He's wrong about that. When you collect things, there's never enough. He has things he collects too, but not coffee mugs. I quickly rearranged my cupboards to find room for the new additions.

I have a favorite coffee mug that I use most mornings. It's from "The Zoo" just down the road from us in Gulf Breeze. It's a tiny zoo which is always financially struggling to survive. I have mixed feelings about zoos. The animals are confined and would most likely be happier in the wild. On the other hand, most of those animals would probably have been killed and skinned or eaten in the wild long before this, so for many zoo animals it's a choice between life and death.

Sorry, but I'm getting a little heavy here, so bear with me for a second. This zoo is important for a small community like ours. If it wasn't here, many of our kids might grow up never knowing what a real lion or giraffe or hippo looks like. They would only be pictures in books or a film clip on "Animal Planet." Because of the zoo, one of my grandson's earliest words was "giraffe" and he would tell everyone that a giraffe has a "loooooong neck." He also tells how a giraffe has a long sticky tongue when it eats out of your hand. So as I hold that coffee mug each morning I think of my grandson and our latest trip to the zoo.

I'm digressing here, so guess I'd better get back to the subject in hand, coffee and coffee mugs. I thought this would be a simple little post, but I realize now that this, like the giraffe's neck, is a loooooong one. (Read more in Part 2.)