So much!

Have I mentioned my iPad 2?  It was a Valentine's gift from My Amazing Boyfriend.  A few weeks later, with the announcement of the upcoming iPad 3, the price dropped nearly $100, however MAB had already received a $40 Target giftcard for the purchase and he figures I've easily gotten $60 use out of the gizmo, so he's not disturbed by the price change.  Yes, I have gotten a TON of use from the thing.  It goes everywhere with me, and I more fully understand the obsession with iPhones.  I suspect that sometime in the future, MAB and I will be making the switch, but for now we're content with our less sophisticated devices.

One of the most fun apps I've gotten to play with is a game (of course).  Draw Something is a treat!  I get to practice my drawing and creativity, I get to see how other people see and present an item/concept, and I can connect with them on a new level, in some cases, making friends that weren't so close before (i.e., Anne, the keeper on Miss Boo's soccer team.  She's a great kid that I didn't know well before, but now we have our own connection, not just the one through Miss Boo). 

Another wonderful addition to my life is the Calendar in the iPad.  It connects to the Gmail calendar I was already using to some degree, but I couldn't take it with me.  Now it's with me all the time, and I can add to it from either the iPad or any internet accessible computer.  You can see a significant difference in the activity listed in February versus the activity now listed in March.  Either it's the accessibility of the calendar or life got REALLY busy ... or both.

With the addition of a free Kindle account and app, I can even get my class lecture notes, in the form of a PDF, onto my iPad.  The only drawback to that is that I can't highlight the electronic notes (yet), or add my own notes in the margins, though MAB says he can work around that.  I don't need it badly enough to jump through the hoops it will take, so I haven't pressed the issue.

So what have I done with photography lately?  Cool things!  I selected some of my favorite pictures from the Myriad Gardens shoot/walk MAB and I took a couple weeks ago, and had them printed out.  When I went back to the drug store to pick them up, the cashier was so cute!  I don't mean attractive cute, but nice cute.  When I gave him my name, he held his breath for a moment.  Then he reached for an envelope and asked me what kind of camera I use.  I told him the model and then told him it's obsolete (technically it's just a discontinued line... it's still a valid tool).  He said to me, and the two folks in line behind me, "These were not taken with an obsolete camera!"  And he pulled out two of my favorites to show the folks behind me!!  They were, of course, polite, but not interested.  Still, the cashier's enthusaism for my "work" was a real ego boost.  I did tell him these were some of my favorite pictures which was why they were being printed.   They have since been added to a collage frame and hang on the wall in my office.

Here's one of my favorites:

I also spent a bit of money to increase my photography/technology level.  I have a memory card that is it's own private MeFi network.  It will shoot images taken on my camera directly to my iPad... almost immediately!  Guess what's going to the beach with us for our next vacation?  Yes, I'll be very careful with my cameras around sand and water.  Scouts honor.  Not only does this technology look really spiffy, it has a functional capacity as well.  I don't have to drag my laptop along to upload and backup my photos.  They can be stored on the iPad and even uploaded to the "cloud" for safekeeping.  It's all so sophisticated and spiffy.

Okay, I'll stop trying to sell the iPad now.  It's just such a clever piece of technology.