Are You in a Hurry? Average Wait Times Might Drive You Crazy but You Can Still be Productive

Are You in a Hurry? Average Wait Times Might Drive You Crazy but You Can Still be Productive

 

Anyone who knows me will probably tell you I am on the fast-moving side.  I don’t like to wait in long lines or in traffic.  I recently had a doctor make me wait over 3 hours just to see him.  Because this just happened, I found the following chart listing some average wait times to be interesting:

What’s the Hurry

A look at average wait times:

  • Hospital emergency room: 4 hours, 7 minutes
  • California Department of Motor Vehicles: 42 minutes, 32 seconds
  • Main security line at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport during Monday morning rush: 25 minutes
  • PRIMARY-CARE PHYSICIAN: 22 minutes
  • McDonald’s drive-through window: 2 minutes, 54 seconds

Sources: Press Ganey Associates; California DMV; Transportation Security Administration; QSR Magazine

via online.wsj.com

Before Ipads and other portable devices, it was a lot more frustrating for me to wait.  Now I can actually be productive while sitting in that doctor’s waiting room for 3 hours. I can multi-task and not simply read their latest copy of Fly Fishing. 

Many may think that some of these devices are too expensive and not worth the investment.  I think for some people, the cost of our time must be factored into the equation.  How much is your time worth?   Many people travel, carpool or do a lot of activities where they are just simply sitting doing nothing.  Some people like the downtime.  For me, I get a little antsy.

The beauty of having audio books, educational seminars, and access to the Internet, can not only make the frustration of waiting more bearable, but it is the ultimate way to multi-task, allowing you to actually learn something and be productive as well.  This can be important when you are forced to sit and wait and wait and wait . . . did I mention my doctor made me wait for 3 HOURS?

E-Textbooks and Ipad

In a previous blog, I wrote about e-books vs. traditional books. I personally have been happy with using an Ipad to view books and texts.  I guess I am not the only one.  Cost is still going to be an issue though for many. Check out the following from an NPR.org article:

For a few years now, people have been expecting electronic textbooks to take off in a big way: They’re cheaper than traditional textbooks, easier to carry around in a backpack, and seem like a natural progression for students who have grown up playing and working with digital devices.

Despite all that, traditional textbooks have prevailed — until now. The game changer, according to Matt MacInnis, may be a little thing called the iPad.

MacInnis is the founder and CEO of Inkling, a company that designs textbook software for the iPad. He says the iPad has allowed for the reinvention of the textbook.

to read the rest of the article click here:  npr.org

E-Books vs. Traditional Books

 

Ask Dr. Diane:  Which do you like better .  .  . e-books or traditional books? 

I am often asked about my preferences for e-books vs. the traditional book for use in the classroom setting.  I teach for many different online universities.  Some of these universities use e-books and others do not.  Initially I was leery about using them because I am a page bender, a highlighter and basic destroyer of books, in order for me to get the most out of them.  Technology has improved though and you can now do more to the e-book to mark things of interest.  Also there is the option of printing out a few pages here and there if you really want a hard copy. 

When I wrote the book The Online Student’s User Manual, I had no intention of offering it as an e-book.  However, within weeks of its publication, one of the universities where I teach asked for it in that format so that they could make it required reading for all new students. Needless to say, I got over my reluctance quickly and made it available.  I also made it available on Kindle: http://amzn.to/aCvMI1

Through time and experience using them, I realized that e-books are a great option for many students.  A typical example is the student who attends a regular university and doesn’t want to lug a ton of books all over campus.  However, my students are online students.  Many may tend to have an ease with technology which is why they chose online learning in the first place.  Some of my older students may have more of an issue with it than the younger ones.  However, the portability and ability to read at work online or print things has made them accept the transition and appreciate it more.

How to Make a Book Available on Kindle and Other Devices

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCc2oN9TFak&fs=1&hl=en_US]

5 Ways That eBooks Are Better Than Paper Books

Recently I began to buy eBooks for the Kindle application on my iPad. While I still love paper books, the digital wiles of eBooks are looking increasingly attractive to me. Below are five eBook features that may tempt you to buy electronic books too.

If you are looking to read books with a device like Kindle or Ipad, I agree with the 5 helpful features listed in the above article by ReadWriteWeb. I personally was initially leary about reading books on such a device. However, I have recently been using Ipad’s iBooks reader and I am surprised by how much I like it.

With traditional books, I tend to be a page bender. I go through a book initially and bend all of the corners down on pages that I want to return to later. However, it can be hard to remember which book had the information I had initially marked. . . I have so many books that my house looks a bit like Barnes and Noble. You can mark pages on these readers as well. Unfortunately, it isn’t any easier to remember which book had the information I marked in it using these readers though. Initially, I think it is a bit harder to find things, just due to having to remember a new way of doing things. I do think it will take me some time to adapt to this new way of reading.

I like that you can keep a large amount of books on a light-weight device like this. It is convenient for travel. I also like that I can read books in bed at night in the dark.

There are not a lot of books that are available in this format yet. However, I did find Calibre which is a software that will convert PDF files into ebooks. To learn more about how to do this, check out the following article from howtogeek: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/19217/convert-a-pdf-ebook-to-epub-format/

As with all new technology, I am sure it will just keep getting better and better.