{"id":3467,"date":"2012-06-08T12:24:34","date_gmt":"2012-06-08T17:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/?p=3467"},"modified":"2012-06-08T12:24:34","modified_gmt":"2012-06-08T17:24:34","slug":"audiobooks-the-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/2012\/06\/audiobooks-the-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Audiobooks: The Return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuesday, 05 June 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, I am once again capable of listening to audiobooks in my car again.<\/p>\n

Actually, I never lost the capability. As has happened a dozen times in the past, technology marched triumphantly into the future, while I stood here, in the present, shaking my fist and cursing whoever and whatever passed me by.<\/p>\n

In the early days (where “early days” is defined as “approximately 2001-2009”), I rented books on tape from the local libraries. Ah, those were some good times! Driving to college or to work, or from one to the other, getting lost in a great story regardless of what else was going on or how bust I was…<\/p>\n

But as those early days progessed, I noticed an unfavorable development: the number of books on tape was dwindling. By 2008, I estimate that 95% of all cassette tape books at the library were on one of three topics:<\/p>\n

1) Empower yourself in the business world!<\/p>\n

2) Learn this language!<\/p>\n

3) An epic tale of romance, romance, and romance!<\/p>\n

…Yeah, so not really much that I wanted to listen to.<\/p>\n

The libraries were moving towards books on CD.<\/p>\n

I wasn’t really excited about this. Primarily because my car does not have a CD player. But also because CDs don’t hold their place. See, when I listen to a cassette, as soon as I eject it, or shut off the car, it stops right where it is. But with CDs, I have to find my location everytime. A few co-workers have told me that they have audio systems in their cars that hold the spot on the CDs for them. I call those co-workers ‘overpaid.’<\/p>\n

I used to have a tape adapter, too. It plugged into a Discman, and it allowed me to listen to my music collection (which is mostly CDs). But, eventually, the Discman pooped out on me, and I think the adapter broke, too.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve finally caught up with 2012. Well, to the extent necessary. Using an Amazon.com credit – which I received by selling a textbook to them – I bought a new Discman and adapter.<\/p>\n

Today I began listening to The Swerve: How the World Became Modern<\/a><\/em>, by Stephen Greenblatt.<\/p>\n

Wednesday, 06 June 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

This afternoon, I left work early to attend a program put on by Owen’s first grade class. The class recited several poems, then each student presented a brief book report endorsing a book they particularly enjoyed during this year. Then the adults got to look at samples of their kids writing and drawing from the year. There were snacks and beverages, too.<\/p>\n

When I got to the school, I joined up with my wife, daughter, and mom-in-law. Owen thus had four guests, which I believe was the most any student had.<\/p>\n

In contrast,\u00a0several students had no guests. This was kind of strange to me: is there no one in those kids’ lives who can find 45 minutes out of their day to show up at the school? As it is, I rearranged some tasks at work, arrived at work early, then left work early, just so I could be there on time. I realize not every parent has a decent supervisor, fleixble hours, the autonomy to come and go as they choose, or oodles of sick and vacation time to squander on whatever suits their family…but, come one – doesn’t anyone in the kids family have some mid-day availability? Isn’t grandpa retired? Or what about an older sibling who’s already done with school for the day?<\/p>\n

To paraphrase what I said to my wife and mom-in-law after we left: No one sits on a rocking chair on their porch, thinks back to fifty years earlier when their children were young and says, “You know, I never should have left work early that one day.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday, 05 June 2012 So, I am once again capable of listening to audiobooks in my car again. Actually, I never lost the capability. As has happened a dozen times in the past, technology marched triumphantly into the future, while I stood here, in the present, shaking my fist and cursing whoever and whatever passed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3467"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3475,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3467\/revisions\/3475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}