Thank you to all hands for the birthday wishes! I received all kinds of comments, emails and phone calls. I feel the love!

So an early birthday present to myself is the Amazon Kindle. One of the things about living on a boat and cruising is the lack of storage. This situation is a double edged sword. For folks who value a simpler life or for someone who has accumulated to much crap, the best way to downsize is to move aboard a boat. Daily, you will be forced to pick up your stuff and stow or face the consequences. A sailor simply cannot go out and buy new cloths or new gizmos or really bring anything aboard without storage considerations. For beer and wine drinkers the problems of storage grow very thick. Just ask anyone who has smashed a bottle of wine in the bilge while in a seaway. Serious problems not to mention a sea sickness inducer.

Now I don't drink so my liquor storage is a moot point. My thorn is books. In fact most sailors have succumbed to the this healthy "affliction." Up until recently several of my coveted storage areas have been crammed with reading material. Most of the books I have aboard I've read and I just can't part with them. Many are reference in nature and should not be parted with. Enter the Amazon Kindle pictured above. It is an electronic book/periodical reader that can store massive amounts of reading material. Amazon is rapidly converting its entire collection into e-format. It works on the Sprint cellphone network. So I can sit on the boat and shop Amazon and instantly download books for purchase or I can download samples. But there is more. It also has newspapers and magazines and hundreds of blogs, all available instantly. It is designed to have the fit and feel of a paperback book. It does not feel much like a paperback, but is the same size and works like a champ. This gadget mitigates much of my book storage issues. You can store books on the Kindle itself or leave it on Amazons servers.

Check my daily routine, which is full of leisure to say the least! I usually arise at sunrise, between six and six thirty. The mornings are a really special time here in the tropics. The wind is usually very light and out of the north. It is the coolest time of day. I pop out of bed, toogle on Sirius Sat Radio, turn on the Kindle and make coffee. Then I climb into the cockpit with my coffee and read the New York Times or Wall Street Journal or whatever newspaper I have downloaded. I will then read the newspaper. Now for you old school enthusiasts, I really do understand that a part of the enjoyment of reading the paper is the physical flipping through and cutting out an article to tape to the frig to covey how much wisdom you've culled. But try folding the NY Times even in a light breeze and you'll quickly be cussing instead reading. Not an issue with the Kindle. Then again the other day when I was poolside, some little brat splashed water on my Kindle and I damn sure almost started cussing!

Anyway, the Kindle has been one of those devices that has greatly added to my life. Like the iPod which replaced about a tractor trailer full of CD's, I think I will remain faithful to this gizmo. Ideal for those on move, be it from home to work on public transportation or or me, from the boat to the pool.

Capt Chris