A Retirement Playlist?...And a Kindle Tip

This morning the American Hospital Association came out against the new health care bill, asking congress to protect patients as well as the elderly, ill, and infirm (the new bill does just the opposite. Hopefully the politicians will listen to the experts, but these days who knows.

Now, about that Kindle tip!!!! Recently I learned a Kindle secret!  Since most libraries don't renew kindle books, and we don't always get our books read in the two or three weeks allotted, it can be frustrating. Well, there is a solution, depending on what you are "reading on". Most kindle books are downloaded through Amazon. If you have the ability to put your device on "airplane mode", Amazon (or whomever) will not be able to pull the book back. And there you have it: How to get extra reading time on your kindle!

One of the many, many mystery authors I read is John Sandford. His series of Prey books rarely get old or repeat themselves, and the characters have stood the test of time. In 2005, I was taking a Scandinavian cruise-Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki.  Along with the cruising in the land of the midnight sun, there were a few inland trips requiring long boring bus rides, during which I read my mystery. And then my husband read, and then my 16 year old son read. Let's just say the book was a topic of discussion.

Our talks were not about the plot, but rather the sub plot of this book (which I promise will give nothing else a way). You see, in the sub plot of this particular mystery novel, the wife of our protagonist had given him an MP3 player, along with a $100 credit. Enough to purchase 100 rock songs. And so, along with tracking brutal serial killers, Lucas and his cohorts spend their "down time" trying to agree on the best 100 songs of rock. The eventual list contains two versions of a single song (Knocking on Heaven's Door) and has nary a Beatles song in sight.

What has all this got to do with me?  When it comes to technology, I am trying to enter the new era. Looking ahead, I have a long Texas road trip in May, and a train trip in August/September, as well as all the normal short weekend getaways. I don't know about other travelers, but my road trips take me into some true radio dead zones. Either that, or places I have to scramble and scan to find a non-country non-farming radio station. I do take books on tape, but find that I prefer music as I drive. I also prefer to walk alone, with music.

Traditionally, "in house", I either have an itunes play list on my laptop, I listen to Pandora (and spend time doing thumbs up or down), or once in awhile the music on my cable channels. None of which are very mobile except for Pandora (and that uses data), and I've not been too successful and making disc play lists. So, my daughter has given me an old Ipod so that I can download music and take it with me. I am hoping that I can also do audible books.

But what to put on my Ipod, at least for starters. When it comes to music I am eclectic. Rock, blues, classical, bluegrass, the list goes on. My itunes downloads are in the hundreds. So, should I make multiple play lists, or should I put Layla, White Bird, and The Hungarian Dances all in a row?  Decisions, decisions!

Meanwhile, what would be on your play list, should you have one?