My mother in law is very generous. For her birthday she asked for a Kindle Fire, she now had a slight problem. She already had the "old" Kindle. (Oh dear, what a problem to have, right?) Well, going back to her being generous, guess who benefited from this? ME!!
One book I've been wanting to read has been The Help and now with the Kindle I was able to. Here's the thing, at first I was all anti-Kindle. I was on the side of the fence about "wanting to hold a book" and "that new book smell...can't get that with a Kindle, hu?!" Yeah, that all changed when I started using the Kindle.
First of all, I didn't have to hold a book. HA! Secondly, I was able to flip a "page" with the touch of a button. I'm right handed, but I hold my books with my left hand, and guess what? Those thinkers down at Amazon had the thought of putting forward and back buttons on BOTH sides of the Kindle, so no matter which way you held it, you could "flip"! Thirdly, I didn't have to turn my head (this sounds like I'm really lazy, right? But I'm not, its just annoying when you have to flip the page and then, turn your head. Uh, the pain!) And fourthly (yes, I just made that up) its just cool!
So I'm reading The Help, all about being a maid and telling your maid stories in a book. This got me thinking about what kind of stories we have, being in the design field and going to people's homes all the time. I was at a meeting yesterday with the guys at New View and asked them what kind of funny stories they had to add to our own version of The Help...
"...we walk into this one clients house for our initial appointment. She's in her forties or so, and leads us right into the kitchen. We notice, slumped over in a chair, with a blanket over her, an eighty year old-ish lady.
"Excuse me for just a second, I have to finish feeding my mother", she says, "but please ask any question you might have."
So I begin with my standard, "How long have you lived in the house?"
"Oh, about fifteen years. Mother, eat!".
All of a sudden the blanket talks back, "no."
"Mother. You. Have. To. Eat!" "I don't wanna."
"The doctor says you have to eat, now EAT!"
"No."
"...and what exactly would you like to redo in the house?", I ask trying to keep her on track with our appointment.
"I gotta poop!" the blanket says.
"You called us out to look at the laundry room, right? Which way is that?" Completely distracted the client says, "uh, through those doors. I gotta take my mom to the portable toilet over there, you can just see yourselves to the laundry room. I'll be there in a minute."
Yup, being a designer is totally glamorous. All the time!
