Gotcha

I should have seen it coming. But it's here...perhaps not quite here, but coming close.

When the Kindle became the "gotta have it" toy of two years ago, though I did not buy one, one of the appealing things was that I could buy "new" books and wouldn't have to pay new book prices. The Kindle editions were generally $9 for new books that were selling for >$20 in the stores. Such a deal!

Gradually, as the number of Kindle sales have increased, I've seen the price of new Kindle books creep up too. Now it's not uncommon to find only a couple of dollars between the hard book price and the Kindle price. Amazon managed to sucker thousands of people into spending ~$300 (that was the initial price) for an electronic book reader and then began to remove the reason why many of us would prefer an electronic book reader in the first place.

I buy most of my books, whether electronic, for my free iTouch Kindle app, or paper books at Amazon or Borders. My friend Alison (a book store owner in her own town) rolls her eyes at that, but we have only one locally-owned book store in town (the rest left when Borders moved in) and I just happen not to like that store, for personal reasons. So it's either Borders or Amazon for me, mostly Amazon because I'm lazy--buying at Borders involves actually getting out of the house and walking around a store.

With Amazon you can buy new, at a discounted price (which, even if you pay postage, is still less than a regular book store) or there are options to buy used from other vendors. I was amused the other day to see Jon Stewart's new book, "Earth" (which I will probably buy from Borders, if I buy it, because I want to look at it first) selling new for $15.10 and used for $18.85. Now that's just plain silly. Why pay >$3 more for a used book?

Book stores, whether hands-on or on-line, are to me what shoe stores are to a lot o women. I know my way around bookstores and am hopelessly lost (and disinterested) in shoe stores! Though I recently heard of women paying more than a thousand dollars for a pair of shoes or a handbag. Even expensive Kindle books seem like dirt cheap in comparison!

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The fall television season has started and I am in hog heaven. My DVR is filling up faster than I can watch the shows. In addition to old favorites returning for a new season (NCIS, House, Criminal Minds, Law & Order, Glee, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, etc.), there are actually new shows that show promise, like Outlaw and The Event.

I was initially put off by all the hype for The Event and afraid it would not live up to press, but the first episode made me look forward to the second, so we shall see.

I even started recording NCIS-LA, now that it seems to have found its own footing and isn't trying to be an NCIS clone any more. It's worth it, if only for the enigmatic Linda Hunt.

I'm a sucker for reality competitions, too. I have no interest in the housewives of anywhere, or bachelors or bachelorettes of anyplace, but I love all those cooking competitions and, of course, am sticking with Survivor and Amazing Race.

When Top Chef ended (I was very happy with the outcome), Top Chef: Desserts started. This is a brand new cooking competition and I thought that since it features desserts, I would love it because I could live vicariously. I've only seen 2 episodes and so far I don't love it. This past week had perhaps one of the weirdest events ever, with one contestant breaking down in hysterical tears during the Quick Fire challenge, so much so that he had to be held in the arms of and comforted by the celebrity judge (who then voted his dessert as one of the least favorites). He then went off on all of his fellow contestants more than once. During a "shopping" spree behind a liquor bar, he stuck the pouring spout of several fruit bottles in his nose to test for the flavor.

It was when he draped spring-form pan frames over his head and topped them off wth a big bowl so nobody would look at him that I just shook my head and hoped he would get voted off. He didn't this week, but he's obviously not long for the competition. His mother may be very ill and have thousands of dollars worth of medical bills and he may love her more than life itself and want the prize money to help her, but he lost even my sympathy vote by his bizarre behavior (and I'm a sucker for a hard luck story).

Survivor this season is pitting the "old tribe" against the "young tribe" (and how depressing it was to hear that the "old tribe" consisted of anybody older than forty. My CHILDREN are older than forty!)

I don't know whether Survivor has been on too long and people are behaving differently because they've watched it so long, or whether the mixed age tribes worked better because the older people mellowed out the younger ones, or whether more age-group specific groups just bring out the worst in everybody, but with very few exception on either team, I don't like anybody. They are all behaving like jerks.

I just hope that there is going to be somebody worth rooting for when Amazing Race starts on Sunday.

Addicted to TV? Why yes, I am. Why do you ask? (be quiet, Jeri)