My Nook has arrived!

I have to admit, I've been like a little kid at Christmas lately. I can't remember the last time I was so excited to get something. Although I like gadgets and electronics I don't generally spend the money on them. I saved for the better part of a year so that I could buy myself this Nook. Those of you who know me know saving money is not something I am good at......This was a pretty big deal for me.

My Nook, hereby known as Gatsby, arrived on Thursday after a month long wait. I didn't have time to do more than get it out of it's packaging (which was a bit tricky) and charge it up.

I brought Gatsby with me to work on Friday. It was my last day at the VA and a couple of my friends there are thinking of getting one and wanted to see it. I didn't have it fully up and running so we couldn't play much but they were able to see it in person and get a better idea of how it's suppose to work.

I was done early so I stopped at the local B&N, hopped on their Wifi and got registered. Here is where the fun started. After I registered, the books I had previously purchased didn't show up in my library nor was I able to purchase anything while I was in the store. I went to the Customer Service desk to ask for help. The first person I talked to, although nice, admitted to knowing "absolutely nothing" about the Nook. He called someone else, presumably a manager, she came up and told me she "was the most electronically challenged person around". Again she was nice but could only offer to call CS. (this much I could have done) The guy I talked to on the phone explained to me how to "side load" the books that I had ordered. Now I don't mind doing this but am thinking it takes a little of the fun out of having a gadget. To top it all off, Gatsby had a tendency to freeze up on me. (typical man) I'm getting a bit worried at this point.

I went home, sideloaded the books I had. They still didn't show up in my library but were there as documents so I could still open and read them. Connected, without incident, to my home Wifi but still wasn't able to purchase things on line. I was able to get to the online shop, go through the order process but kept getting an error telling me it didn't go through. Now at this point I am nearly in a panicked state....what have I done! I've given up my BOOKS for this......THING! UGH!

I then went to B&N's web site. Watched a few tutorials, read more of the manual, got on the boards & searched for answers. While on the nook web site I found that a new update was released yesterday. During the next week it would automatically download to my Nook however, if I wanted, I could manually download it now. I decided to manually do it. This process went easily and painlessly and I'm happy to report ever since the update all of my issues have gone away. My books showed up in my library, I was able to scroll through the covers, I made a purchase from the unit and nothing froze up. Gatsby and I then settled in for the night. When I woke up this morning my copy of the New York Times was already waiting for me & I read it in bed.

As of right now I love my new toy. I am looking forward to a weekend of reading and getting to know Gatsby better. We are planning a trip back to B&N to check out the "in store experience" as soon as I'm done posting this.

I hope Gatsby & I continue to be happy together and are able to go on many amazing journeys!

Until next time, happy reading!!

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
--Groucho Marx