You have a package waiting

Semi-compulsively watching the package tracking (boy, I wish USPS would institute a real package tracking system) made me pretty sure that the Kindle would be there when I got home last night. I also knew from the UPS tracking that the Onkyo receiver was supposed to be there, but maybe not; there was a call suggesting it needed a signature, and I wouldn't be there to sign for it, so maybe not. But I wasn't worried. No reason to get it urgently when the speakers weren't due until next week anyway, not to mention the cables.

The Kindle (which we've named Babbage; when we get a second one, it'll be Lovelace) was, indeed, there. There were two small disappointments. First, though Amazon said it would come already registered, it wasn't. No big deal, you just have to put in an email address and password. Second, as I had expected, we have no coverage out at the house for the network it uses. This isn't nearly as crippling as it seems; in fact, it's no problem at all. The Kindle works fine off the network, it just can't wirelessly pick up new books. But you can still grab them with a PC and transfer them with a cable. This doesn't work for samples, though. But once you get to where there's coverage (a few miles from the house on the way to work this morning) stuff starts to flow in. Right now I have about 50 books and samples of 20 more on the Kindle, so I don't think it'll be a problem not to be able to load new ones from the device in some places (which happen to include my house). About all I can't do is use the "experimental" web browser there.

As for the receiver, it had, indeed, been left for us. Along with all the speakers. There was a huge pile of boxes waiting: subwoofer, four tower speakers, center speaker, and the receiver. Even with a cart it took two trips to get them all into the house. Maybe the UPS guy left it all because it was so much stuff and he didn't want to have to haul it all again!

Unfortunately, the cables aren't here yet, and it's even odds whether they will before the weekend. If they do, I'll be setting the whole system up this weekend; if not, next weekend. I'm waiting on four components: the 250' spool of speaker wire, the powered subwoofer cable, the HDMI cables, and the second remote. If I only get the first two, I can still set things up. And then get to hear how awesome the sound is!