The E-Reader and the B-M-T-R List

I won a prize at the Greater Merced Chamber mixer the other night.

I try to attend a few of the Chamber’s monthly networking events during the year.  As many of you may know, I am the former Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber.  Going to the Greater Chamber's mixers help me reconnect with Chamber members, local government office holders and staff, as well as new folks interested in promoting their businesses through the Chamber.

The event sponsor was Comfort Keepers, a home health care company.   It’s customary at these events that a raffle be held.  I bought some tickets when I learned that the proceeds from that night’s raffle would benefit the local Food Bank and Catholic Charities.

Both are among the many human service agencies that help our community. Comfort Keepers chose these two organizations and solicited local businesses and their suppliers to provide prizes for the drawing.

Besides knowing that 100-percent of ticket sales would benefit these two charities, the raffle boasted some pretty nifty prizes.  And as luck would have it, I won an e-reader.

Now I can read books without paper.

I spent the weekend getting my e-reader ready to go.  It was surprisingly easy for a technically challenged person like me.  Within an hour, I had downloaded the Complete Works of Mark Twain.

Within a few days, I had finished reading A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.  I chose that novel as my first e-read because it was available and because I often feel I don't read enough of the classics.

Having enjoyed The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in grade school and Huckleberry Finn in high school, I thought it would be fun to go back to basics.  Mark Twain is getting considerable renewed interest in recent months following the publication of his autobiography some one-hundred years after his death.

Reading with an e-reader has been a real adventure.  I tap the screen when I reach the bottom of the page.  If I tap too lightly, the page won't turn.  If I tap too hard, it turns more than one page.

Lighting was always an issue when I read a book on paper.  I need to be in a well-lit room or outdoors.  With the e-reader, the book itself is lit like a computer screen so a room light is no longer necessary.

Outdoors, the model I have does pretty well in sunlight, although it hasn't really been tested until it comes up against a San Joaquin Valley summer sunshine day.  I'll let you know how that works in July.

Most importantly, the e-reader has allowed me to read classic literature on my terms.  Many classic books are available for free through the e-reader manufacturer.

Others, such as a Bible or the Mark Twain collection I purchased, are just 99-cents.  Best sellers, such as former President Bush's autobiography Decision Points, cost about ten to fifteen dollars for an e-reader edition.

I'll probably fall into a routine of continuing my weekly trips to the Merced Public Library for the latest books, while picking up an occasional book at a bookstore or church sale. I plan on using the e-reader for my self-described BMTR books.

BMTR books are books I’ve “been meaning to read”.  Last year, I promised myself to concentrate on classic literature.  That focus resulted in only one classic (A Picture of Dorian Gray) among the nearly fifty books I read in 2010.

With my e-reader, I can load up many more at low or no cost.  I may actually have a better shot of completing more of the classics this year.  Let’s hope so.

At any rate, I'll probably end up reading more thanks to my newest option for enjoying books.  And I haven't even started to explore the possibilities with getting newspaper and magazines through the e-reader.  It will be one step at a time for me as I expand my digital horizons.

I won more than just a prize the other night at the Chamber mixer.  I also won a new way to enjoy one of my favorite pastimes: reading.  I entered the digital age for books.  And I couldn't be happier.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

Volunteerism

My good friend Jim North invited me to speak before the Merced Kiwanis at the club’s February 16 meeting.  He asked me to prepare some comments about volunteerism as the club is trying to attract new members. Currently, I am on inactive status at another Merced service club.  My work demands take me away from regular club attendance so I asked my service club to put me on that status. 

What that means is that I remain linked to the organization, but am temporarily relieved from such membership requirements as regular meeting attendance.

I believe in volunteering for a number of reasons.  First of all, the Merced community needs it.  Any community with unemployment as high as Merced’s rate ~ certainly has more than its’ share of challenges. 

Volunteers can help identify needs, and rise to the occasion to meet these needs.

Volunteering benefits the person giving his or her time to a good cause.  Just ask the men and women of Merced Kiwanis about how they feel as they plan and work on a community project. 

Whether it’s their thirty-plus years as bell-ringers for the Salvation Army’s holiday fund drive, preparing turkeys to help feed over two-thousand people at the Thanksgiving dinner at the Merced Rescue Mission, or serving up pancakes at their annual fall breakfast, these volunteers are having a good time and feeling good about their community.

Merced Kiwanis also helps children in our community through scholarships, the Zoo-Boo Halloween event, the Junior Olympics, and the Special Olympics.  Club members feel good about the work they do.  Our children benefit from these volunteers, who also serve as role models for community stewardship.

I wrote about volunteerism as one of fourteen soft skills in my 2009 book Soft Skills for Hard Times. I wrote the book as a means to give credibility to employers who often tell me they could train an employee on a specific job, but that it was hard for them to teach someone on such soft skills as attitude or showing up ready to work. 

I took these common soft skills, added a few that I thought were relevant, and compiled a quick read on what gives employees an added advantage in today’s economy.  Naturally, I think volunteerism is an important soft skill.

In the chapter on volunteerism, I share the story of a friend of mine who had passed away at the age of eighty-four.  I first met him when he was on the interview team for a job that I was up for at a chamber of commerce. 

He took me to task for not having any volunteer activities on my resume.  I defended my resume by saying I was too busy working to have time for civic activities.  He didn’t like my answers and he let me know it. He was right.

Somehow, I was hired by the organization and I stayed there for ten years.  But I made it my business to inject myself into the community.  One sure fire way for me to do that was through volunteering.  I joined a civic club, stepped up my church related activities, and said, “yes” more and more when called up to serve in the community. 

I have my friend George to thank for showing me that volunteering matters.

There’s a country music song that George Strait, one of my favorite singers performs regularly.   One of the lines in that song goes like this:  “You don’t bring nothing with you here, and you can’t take nothing back.  I never saw a hearse with a luggage rack.”

The person who wrote those lyrics for George Strait is onto something.  We come to this life with nothing, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave.  What really matters is what we do during the time we’re here on this earth.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced