I do! I do! I do!   … OK, we do we do we do … it’s for the whole family of course 😉

After much hemming and hawing whilst trying to figure a good all-family solution, but especially for our oldest when she’s getting chemo and as she’s recovering from surgery (see Cancer Sucks page).

The choice was between a 11″ MacBook Air, but the base price gave one pause … or just jump on that iPad bandwagon and save a little money, but after buying cases and a Bluetooth keyboard and apps, not sure I saved that much after all 😉

And my thinking is that the iPad 2 is selling so well, why does Apple even need to bring out a new model this Spring!?  I kinda think that they will do what they did with the iPhone, the first four version came out yearly every June, but the 4S came out a year and a half later this Fall, so my theory based on nothing other than my marketing prowess (hah!), is the iPad 3 comes out next Fall along with iOS 6, etc, etc …

So we decided to just do it this weekend Black Friday sales be damned!  And did it even though the iPad 3 may come out this spring or summer, but that’s what Gazelle.com is for (successfully sold my old iPhone 3G there and got just enough money to buy Modern Warfare 3!).

So paid full freight, and because we wanted instant gratification didn’t go re-furbished ($50 off at online Apple Store), although with some foresight on this purchase, I would have.  And nope, no state/local govt. employee discounts either (Apple Store guy chuckled at that one), but hey it goes to a good cause right?

• WiFi – figured I could tether to my iPhone if need be and wifi is everywhere … except at the last two places I just had meetings …
• White w/ lime green Smart cover  – my girls preference, I vetoed the pink cover 😉
• 16GB  – because it was cheap and looking at usage on my iPhone and my work’s iPad, I knew it would be video that would fill it up and don’t own that many movies to load on it anyway, that’s what Netflix is for (or was for …)
• Apple Wireless keyboard  – because some school and work work will be done on it, luv that lil’ keyboard!
• Incase Origami Workstation keyboard case – it’s a two-piece solution, but this case/stand is pretty darn neat.  Tried out a Logitech Fold Up Keyboard, a snap-on folding keyboard thingy, but it made the slim elegant iPad too bulky, too hard to remove, and it covered the back camera(!).  See/buy the Incase here: http://store.apple.com/us_epp_67909/product/H6353ZM/A
• Apps …broke down and bought Pages and Keynote (useful for school and work work) as Google Docs doesn’t really work well on the iPad, Office Online doesn’t work at all … really guys!?  You think this tablet thing is a passing fad!?  But Wait!  All the apps I’ve already bought for my iPhone also transfer to the iPad, those that have been optimized for the iPad will install the iPad version, pretty cool!  Of course you still are required by law to buy Angry Birds HD anyway as the iPhone version doesn’t look anywhere as good on the iPad.
• HDMI video out w/ iOS 5 – yep it really works, you need the special $30 adapter dongle (and a HDMI cable), but you actually see your “desktop” of apps, it shows horizontal or vertical, video goes full screen immediately, Safari works with it … wow!  just like a laptop <LOL> … this been the holy grail for training iOS, and I already luv using Keynote on my work’s iPad for presentations, now I  just need to travel to workshops with a 48″ LCD TV 😉

Luving it!!!!!  But, can’t use it right now as my daughter is watching Annoying Orange on YouTube 😉