A Far Second...

Well I blogged about the best Birthday present I got this year, but what about the second best?

Put the boy aside, and this gift was absolutely shocking and probably the best out of the blue gifts I have ever received! I came home one day, found a package with this inside:
If you don't know what it is, it is an Amazon Kindle. No one in my family makes a big purchase like that without me first requesting the item, so I could not figure out who would have sent it.

Let me give you a little background info on the Kindle. Just a few days before I received this gift, I had been in New York and my aunt showed my brother and myself her Kindle. She showed us all the features and how to work it. I told her she did such a good job that she should consider working for Amazon selling the Kindle. I also randomly had a guy at the airport show me his Kindle. I was thinking, what is the deal with all these Kindle owners? They won't leave you alone about this thing!

But I knew neither my aunt or my brother would send me a Kindle for my Birthday. So I had almost accepted it as being a mail delivers mistake and was looking for a way to send it back when I found the name of the sender.

One of my brother's best friends, that lived with us when my dad was sick, Greg (Rachelle, I know you are probably in about as much shock as I was) sent the Kindle! I could not believe it. This is a guy that lived in someones closet in Spain for a few months to save a few bucks. Very uncharacteristic of this guy. I called my brother immediately, and he confirmed that Greg had gotten my address to send me a gift. But my brother also thought that Greg had accidentally sent me the wrong item, because he would never send something like that!

So I finally talked to Greg, and it turns out that was exactly what Greg meant to send. He said that it just looked like something that would be right down my alley and that he just had a feeling that it was exactly what I would want. He said he also felt bad that for all these years he hadn't been sending me a gift and decided that if you added up all the money that would've cost, it would amount to be the same.

But how kind of him! And what random luck, just DAYS before I had fallen in love with the Kindle. Had that had not happened, the present might not have had as much significance. The way things are timing out in my life right now is starting to freak me out...

But let me take a few moments to share with you the awesomeness of the Kindle. I have officially turned to that other side...the side where people are shoving it in your face showing it to you. But I am okay with that!

So not only can you download an entire book for a quarter to maybe half the price, but you can do all of this in about a minutes time! The ink they use is the same ink they use in books and newspapers. The best I can explain it, it's like an Etch-A-Sketch. Meaning, it uses little to no battery to keep the words and/or pictures on the screen. It has it's own wireless internet, not the kind where you have to have WiFi present, the kind that can get internet where ever, when ever. So with the wireless internet, you can have your newspaper or magazine sent to your Kindle before it even hits the stores! You can also go to websites; like google, wikipedia, weather.com, CNN, ESPN, allrecipes.com, fandango.com, and blogs (so I can continue to blog stock on vacation)! You can really go to any website you want, it just isn't made for doing it, so it's not the best in the world (but do-able, just like smart phones). And I know what you smart phone people are thinking, I can do that already! But this is all for FREE, no monthly data plan fees!!!

It's amazing, but I won't bore you with more details. But I do encourage you to try it out sometime. I thought I was the type of person that would always have to have the actual book in my hand, but apparently, I am not! I have to admit, when I went to New York, I brought three books (and read from all three). This would've made it so much more convenient!

Well, anyhow, this is the second best gift I have ever gotten in my adult life (cause nothing will ever beat out the toys as a kid). And I know I've gotten technology gadgets that are equivalent, but those were gifts I told my family to get me. There is something that makes a gift extra special when get it totally by surprise! Add on top of that someone that totally didn't need to get you a thing, and yet they got you just the perfect gift!

Well second most amazing, only to be trumped by a boy you met on your Birthday that makes your heart flutter with joy...