iPad Wonderfulness

A little over a month ago, I woke up at 4 o'clock in the morning and could NOT get back to sleep.  I had this crazy idea that I NEEDED an iPad, that it would solve ALL of my problems, and I needed to get it like... immediately.  When Doug woke up an hour later and we both started getting ready for work, I let him know my plans.  I went ahead and bought one online that weekend.  I got the 32 GB black iPad 2 with the incredibly overpriced red leather smart cover.  You can watch the YouTube demonstration of the cover HERE. Unfortunately it took like 3 million years to get to me, but now the iPad is here and I am happy.

So am I happy with my frivolous purchase?  HECK YEAH! 

I basically bring it EVERYWHERE I go.  I even have a little case that allows me to carry it in my purse.  I had lots of hopes and dreams for my iPad.  Most of them have been fulfilled.  My only disappointment has been that I haven't been able to use it for work as much as I wanted to.  Apple isn't really friendly with any other technology except for Apple, so that put a few roadblocks in my plans. 

I use it to check email, blogs, and Facebook and shop online.  About 60% of what I do on the computer anyways.  It's just better because I can do it all in bed and the battery life on this thing is AMAZING.  Much better than any laptop.  The other 40% which I spend on school work, I have not been able to do on my iPad.  I use Microsoft Word a lot to create assessments and worksheets and ActivInspire to create Flipcharts for the Promethean (Interactive) Whiteboard in my classroom.  Neither are available in their full forms on my iPad.  I haven't really gotten to the point where I'm reading much on it yet except for the stuff that comes with my LDS Scriptures app.

So this is my background and my tons of free apps (and just a couple paid ones)

Favorite Apps:

1. FaceTime: This is basically Skype, but it came free on my iPad.  I use to it talk to my sister Bekah in Hawaii.  We've talked both this weekend and last and they were ridiculously long "calls" that I enjoyed so much!  I was basically able to take her on a tour of my house, show her what I was cooking for dinner, and just plain have a fun time chatting.  (Her boys also got to see the dead rotting bird on my back porch that Lucky brought home for us over a week ago.) She lives so far away, so it SO nice to be able to have practically a Face to Face conversation.
2. Dropbox: This is a really cool service that basically functions as a place to drop files.  If I ever want to access any documents or pictures, I just drop them in a folder on one of my computers and I can access them on my iPad.  I am going to start using it at work because I have a hard time keeping my files straight between my home computer and school computer.  It's a free service until you upgrade to over 2MB of storage space.
3. LDS Scriptures: Well, this is a paid app and the first one I purchased.  It was either $10 or $15.  There is a free app called Gospel Library that has much of the same stuff, but I wanted the gospel picture library, hymnbook, and other features of the program.  I love it. 
4. Sing-Along: There is an app for both the church hymn book and the primary songs.  It has the different songs with pictures that match the words.  It plays the music and a little ball bounces over the words as it plays.  I first downloaded the LITE version which is basically a preview of the program with only a few songs.  My Sunbeams loved it so much, I figured I would pay the $5 to buy the full version with all of the songs.  It's awesome!

I'm slowly becoming an iPad expert and learning all of their tricks.  I'm still not going fully Mac, but this is a fun little toy that works for a lot of my computing needs.  Right now, I'm actually creating this post on my desktop computer because it works better for this purpose.

Less than 48 Hours

I can't believe that we're leaving for Hawaii in less than 48 hours!  I worked in my classroom until around 7pm Friday night so that I could be sure that everything would be prepped for my kiddos when they return.  Doug and I decided against the Smithsonian Kite Festival today because its too cold outside.  It's not freezing or anything, I was just hoping for the same 70 degree weather we had last weekend.  Kind of a bummer, but maybe next year it will be a little warmer. 

We're over at my parents house today for Johnny's birthday (which was actually yesterday).  We're going with the family to see some animated movie about training a dragon or something.  It sounds interesting, but I have no clue what to expect since I haven't seen a preview for it.

Oh yeah, and we picked up the car this last Thursday.  I think it's pretty neat, but I don't get nearly as excited as Doug does.  We were driving around with the top down on Thursday and people kept on talking to us about the car while we were in traffic.  There was even a 350Z that was driving by us revving it's engine like it wanted to race or something.  The bright yellow color attracts a lot of attention... hopefully not from police officers though.  Doug is absolutely thrilled and has been detailing it basically non-stop.

I've been finishing up some additional school work that I need to prep before I leave for Hawaii and then I will be free to relax for a whole 9 days!  Now back to work... and then to a movie

New Toy

Doug's been looking at S2000's since... well forever ago. I think his dad took him to a car show when we was around 17.  He sat in a yellow S2000 and fell in love immediately.  In January of last year, Honda announced that it would be discontinuing the S2000 in 2009. He decided at that point to start an extra savings account to put money in every month for a "fun car" purchase.

He's been looking online through craigslist and autotrader to find the S2000 that was the right price, the right mileage, and hopefully the right color. The right color would be yellow.  Why yellow?  For those of you that know my husband, you may know that he is colorblind.  Basically everything he sees is in gray scale like an old black and white TV, except for the color yellow.

Doug found the listing for a yellow S2000 on craigslist Friday morning this last week.  We went to go check it out yesterday... and it was perfect! We put a deposit down on the car and he's picking it up this Friday.  He's really excited and basically at the point of shock and disbelief.  Here is a picture of the actual car.

For those of you that are wondering what I think about this purchase, I want you to know that I actually encouraged and pushed for it.  Doug has been working like crazy for our family.  He has been putting back significant amounts of his paycheck every month for my dreams the last 5 years that we have been married.  It has been his dream since he was a teenager and as far as I am considered, he has earned it with all his hard work.

I know that it only has two seats and I definitely have plans for a life that involved more people in our family than will fit into 2 seats.  We have 2 other reliable cars with enough seats, so I think we'll be okay for a while.  For right now I have a husband that is literally floating on top of the world.

My first plans for the car... driving to Washington DC this next weekend to go to the 44th Annual Smithsonian Kite Festival.  Then we're off to Hawaii on Monday for the next 9 days.  It almost seems too good to be true!