Thinner

A week out from Odd Couple rehearsals, my preflight list of takings-with and must-do-befores is quite short. I can get along without just about everything except my laptop, cell phone and backpack.
Speaking of essentials, I’ve been test driving a friend’s Kindle Touch, using it to read public domain books that I might not have read otherwise (War of the Worlds and Our Mr. Wrenn). The convenience, I’m sorry to say, is addictive. Project Gutenberg alone offers almost 40,000 free e-books. Point, click, download, read. Instant gratification. Almost weightless, too.

I’ve been helping another friend shop for tablet computers, which is how I discovered the Asus Eee Pad Transformer (10.1″ 1280×800 32Gb running Android 3.2), belle of the CES ball this year and one sweet little machine. That low rumble you hear is my paradigm shifting.

But don’t I have enough technology? My laptop is less than a year old. My phone less than a month. On the other hand, wouldn’t it be nice, once in a while, to walk downtown wearing a backpack that weighs only two pounds, instead of twenty?