My 2 day adventure of being an eReader owner is at an end. And I actually feel I have regained my integrity.

I got it because, I wanted a tablet, it was cheap, it ran Android, so I can run my fave apps on it and Gale wanted to be able to read magazines on it.

It was cheap(ish), compared to other tablets. Because it’s not a tablet. It’s an eReader made by a company famous for their ground breaking work in digital picture frames and just happens to use Android to run the 3 apps it comes with.  As for the processor, I don’t know what it is but I can hear it ticking.

It had a REALLY cut down version of Android that didn’t have Market Place on it! So I couldn’t download Gmail, Kindle, Angry Birds or pretty much anything else. It did have Barnes and Noble, but not the cool Nook app.

The magazines that Gale really wants to read are graphic art and they are not available electronically. The one thing we did download didn’t have pictures, but rather a URL which opened up the picture.

I did manage to hack it so it was rooted, had the market place, kindle, facebook, gmail and was Android 2.0 rather than 1.5 it came with. But damage done. It’s slow, low resolution (my phone is a quarter the size and has a higher resolution screen and even with the nice discount I got (40% off off half of the retail) it’s still a POS. And I don’t mean Point of Sale.

So, back it goes. Of course, it’s my department at work, so I have to resell it. So I won’t mention any of this when I sell it. I will say that it’s a good budget e-reader that lets you surf the web.

That said, it’s still rooted and has Android 2.0, has the full marketplace and Kindle installed on it. So it’s actually better than when I got it. I’m doing them a favour.

Back to my trusty netbook that has a bigger screen, runs windows 7 and has a keyboard. I’m so sorry, why did I ever consider pushing you aside for something that had a veneer of glossiness about it? Please forgive me.

Now once a Xoom comes into the store…….

Not quite art, or photography, but I’m happy with this result and wanted to share the past 4 days work in one blog post.

The plan is to remove our ceramic tile from the foyer and kitchen and paint the concrete floor.   No small undertaking especially when you’re not sure what you’re doing.   So we decided to do a bathroom first as a proof of concept and to find out how much of a pain it is.

Here is the yucky old lino floor:

I’ve already taken the toilet off the floor and for want of a better place to put it, it’s in the tub.  Where it will stay for the next 4 days.

Next was the process of ripping up the old floor.    This was more of a pin than I expected since it was pretty much stuck down and would only come up with some persuasion and a lot of elbow grease.

I found a tip that if you poor boiling water onto the edges of the lino it makes it easier to get off.   But still a pain in the neck.

And finally it was all up and revealed the concrete floor ready to be cleaned.   I scrubbed it hard with TSP and then mopped and vacuumed it ready for the paint.

Our original idea was to use acid stain.   I was slightly worried about the word acid and the fact you have to stop the acid reaction.  Not to mention all the warnings on the package.  Thoughts of the Alien movie came to mind with stain burning through my arms.    SO we decided to use paint instead.   But as a stain rather than a solid colour.

Off to Michaels we go and buy all the terracotta acrylic paint they had.   9 small bottles and 1 large one.    Gale’s arty knowledge of acrylic came into play and we watered down one small bottle to about 1:1.5   and I started to apply it to the floor.   Amazingly one tiny bottle covered the entire floor.    I ended up putting on 3 coats.

I can’t be sure which coat this was after.   You can see the texture of the concrete coming through the wash, which was exactly the effect we were going for.  I wanted it to end up looking like a stone floor.

To give it bit more WOW I decided to have a border.   Masking off about 5 inches all the way around, I used another bottle of acrylic mixed to about 1:1 and painting a border.

All done.   But it was very flat looking. I was also worried about how tough it was.   It needed glossing up and hardening.   Off I went to Lowes and asked their advice about what I could use on an acrylic artist paint.   “Nothing” said the guy.   Fine, I replied and trotted off to Sherwin Williams.    He also wasn’t sure, but sold me a paving sealer that he said should do the job.

This shows the border, texture and shine I got.   The imperfections of the concrete still show through, which was intentional.   The texture also helps with any slipping problems we may encounter.

So here it is all done.  There you have it, a terracotta stone floor made with nothing but three bottles of artistic acrylic, some sealant H&C paving sealer from Sherwin Williams and a few days spare.    Next we’re going to paint the vanity wood black and then maybe in a year or two tackle the kitchen floor.

We have two under counter lights which we got from Ikea (if I remember correctly).  Kinda expensive, but nice.  Except the bulb don’t last an amazingly long time.  And the replacement bulb cost $5 each!   We decided to not replace the bulb as they blew and finally we got down to just one being lit.    So we’re on the lookout for a cheap replacement.

We were in a dollar store and I found some of those wardrobe lights.  Battery operated and for a dollar!  And 12 batteries for a dollar.   Essentially I can replace both expensive lights for maybe six bucks.     Even if they only last a month, that’s still a saving.    I brought three lights as a test and when we got home set about putting them up.

I broke the first one by putting Velcro on the back.   But carefully put the other two in place and switched them on.    The light they give off, and I’m being generous, can only be described as subtle.   We couldn’t actually tell if they were on until it got dark outside.

Later in the evening we decided to really test them out.  So I left them on and we sat down to watch a movie.    By the end, and possible by half way through, they were both dead.

The moral of the story is, not everything at a dollar store is worth a dollar.