SophiaSophia

You’re probably already thinking that it’s been a long time since my last post. I have a good excuse. Honestly. Even better than the last time.

I had an important job to do. Seriously. A real job for a real client. It was very successful, and it took a lot of my time over the last three weeks. It seems I’m not retired after all. It turns out that I really enjoy working…to the point that I have started my own information technology and project management consulting company. Three clients and counting.

Plus, I’ve noticed I don’t exercise the discipline required to “write every day no matter what.” Yep, it’s official. I’m not going to be the next Pioneer Woman.

Some days, I’d rather spend the entire day in my jammies reading the New York Times. At least, that’s how it was until yesterday.

Now, I’d rather spend all day in my jammies reading my iPad. You may never hear from me again (notice whether that makes you sad or glad or you find yourself saying “I should be so lucky!”… ; ).

So what about the iPad has captured my attention to the point that I have none left over for the hard copy edition of the NYT?  Hmmm, where to start. The iPad is a curiously heavy, easily smudged personal entertainment device so masterfully designed that using it makes me completely forget its shortcomings.

It’s not a computer. Not a netbook. Not a smartphone. Not a personal digital assistant. It’s a new kind of technology hardware everyone is referring to as a “tablet,” although that word hardly evokes the essence of the thing any more than the word “gadget.”

So what is it? I think the best description I have heard came from Phil Dunphy, the “cool” dad on Modern Family. Phil said, and I must agree, that it’s a “movie theater, library and music store all rolled into one awesome pad.” I just finished watching a streaming Netflix movie…a completely immersive, intimate experience. The video quality was impressive. Unbroken stream. Beautiful detail.  And well over 80 percent of my battery left when the movie was over.

It was also a great pleasure to read the included book, Winnie the Pooh. I’m not sure how Apple settled on this literary selection (getting all the kids on the planet to want an iPad may have something to do with it), but they got everything about the reading experience exactly right. Original illustrations by Shepard. Gorgeous, full color. Pages that turn like a real book. You can even bookmark your favorite passages, which creates a new entry in the Table of Contents so you can go directly to them any time.

Also, since I’m a MobileMe subscriber, I asked my salesperson to connect my new iPad to iTunes before I left the store. By the time I got home, all my contacts, calendars and mail accounts were synced. And because I had spent a couple of hours the day before shopping for “iPad-ready” applications in the iTunes Store, I was ready to sync everything else including a new iPad-ready WordPress blogging application that should make it easier for me to post more often. Now if it could only get me to write more often.

Syncing was simple. iTunes and MobileMe did all the heavy lifting, including optimizing 4,000 huge photo files and transferring 45 gb of data in about 45 minutes.

Oh, and one more thing. Something else Phil said was “It’s like Steve Jobs and God got together to say ‘we love you Phil’.”  I think Phil must have misspoken. I’m sure he meant to say “we love you Kathy.” Thanks, you two, I love you too.

[Kathy]