Personally, I can’t imagine any mom, especially a stay-at-home, run of the mill, mom blogger such as myself, following the Twitter buzz, internet hype and a post like that and investing in one. It almost makes me want to cry. So as self-proclaimed Mac enthusiast and mom blogger, let me lay out my argument against (this version of) the iPad.

#1. It won’t multi-task. It’s not like your laptop, you can’t have 6 different softwares open at the same time. If you are like me, when on the laptop at any given time I may have a music player, Tweetdeck, an internet browser (or two) with numerous tabs each, e-mail, iPhoto and maybe even Skype all open. No, the iPad won’t do this. Yes, for the price tag, in my humble opinion, it should.

#2. No Flash. You know all those websites with the fancy photos on the front page? How about those games your kids play on all the network webpages? Yep, most of these are in Flash. When on the iPhone and you encounter a Flash application, a lovely blue cube with a question mark appears. Annoying yes, but can you imagine how much more annoying when the blank area takes up half of your 10 inch screen?

#3. Not for children. I’m not sure where people are getting this idea, but have you seen what my sons can do to a $7 paperback book? There is no way I’d hand them a $600 device to read a book or watch a movie or whatever. I think this is a completely ridiculous notion. And even if you do have older, more responsible children than I do, see note #2. Do you know how annoying it is when a child expects to see something on a webpage and it isn’t there? Yeah, that’s just a free ride to Whine City.

#4. No camera. Seriously? Not anywhere? Several of the design speculations about what the new tablet from Apple would look like had one on the front, so you could use iChat, Skype, etc. for video chat. Sure, it’s obviously too bulky to use as a regular camera like you would your iPhone, so it makes sense not to have one on the back. If Apple is the king of innovation, they really missed the mark here. All Mac laptops come with built in iSight cameras, so clearly Apple does not view this as a laptop competitor.

#5. Apps only. Not software, just apps. For instance, you’ve got a few minutes of time while waiting in the carpool lane, and you want to do some quick color correction on your photos. You’d have to have an app for that. So that thousand dollar suite of Adobe software you have at home, nope, can’t install it on the iPad. You’ll have to buy a new app, that’s likely far less useful to fix those great photos of the kids for your Christmas card. Sure, I expect the App store to explode with new versions of things with the new iPad capabilities, but it’s still just a glorified iPhone, not a real laptop.

#6. Hard drive size. Yep, they only go up to 64 gigs. If it’s bigger than an iPhone, more useful than an iPhone, why didn’t Apple give us more room to store things on it? If I really expected to replace my 2 yr old 160 gig Macbook Pro with this new cutting edge technology that is going to revolutionize how I view computers, it’s going to have more space. Again, the design shows that it’s clear that Apple is not intending this to replace your computer, it’s really just competing with the Kindle.

Don’t believe me? Check out this article from someone who knows more than I do and has actually seen an iPad: Gizmodo: 8 Things That Suck About the iPad

I’m really quite disappointed by Apple. It’s almost as if Apple set me up on a blind date and the iPad was waiting at the table for me. Sure, it’s quite the looker, but as dinner wore on, I grew weary of the shallow conversation. Clearly the iPad is all beauty and no brains. Apple, you told me you knew what I wanted in a partner; how great you were at pushing boundaries; how you’d revolutionize how we read, write and interact. I just can’t trust you to pick another blind date for me again.

All in all, I think I may ask my hubby to build me a hackintosh. So if I ever get to attend one of those cool blogging conferences, I’ll be the chick in the corner with a netbook with an Apple sticker on the lid.

Now, back to the post at hand:

Let me just say it. I LOVE Conan O’Brien. Sure, I’m married to a witty red-head, mother to two twin red-heads well on their way to careers in comedy, so I’m clearly biased. I have fond memories of watching Conan off and on in my college years. I really began watching him regularly during late night nursing sessions with my first son, nearly 7 years old now. That’s when my love of O’Brien truly began. I was thrilled years ago when the date was announced when he would take over The Tonight Show. I patiently waited until the debut last June. I can’t tell you how many nights I stay up much later than I should to watch every minute of his show. So the recent stir has me in a tizzy. I truly don’t understand why there is such a disconnect between executives in corporate America and basic rules of decency and conduct. A contract is a contract, your word is your word. If you prove yourself unworthy of trust, what else is left? Anyway…

DIY Team Conan Tee
Originally uploaded by craftrocklove

What is better than internet frenzy + crafting? NOTHING, I tell you. I was thrilled to see this come across my Twitter feed, from one of my favorite crafters & red-heads herself, Vickie Howell. Her DIY “Team Conan” T-Shirt has so many possibilities! T-shirts aren’t a staple of my crafting arsenal and don’t own any of those fabric paint markers, but I’ve been plotting the various items you could embroider with the “Team Conan” logo. Think of it as if it was our generation’s version of collectible election memorabilia. A button, a set of cloth napkins, even baby Onesies! Heck, if you love Mod Podge, the possibilities are endless!

I think this will be my craft of choice for the weekend, I just haven’t quite decided what medium I will work in yet. Mr. T has even requested a t-shirt, which would require a trip to a craft store. That’s almost like him ASKING me to spend money on crafts!

< insert evil laughter here >

It’s hard to find the balance, especially during the holidays. I’m not sorry to say I spent it with people & not the computer. January arrived with a few days of hot tea, a blanket & my sofa. Then a day or two of whipping my house back into shape after the holidays once the kids returned to school and then the cold snap hit. A few inches of snow, wind chills below zero and no school due to “inclement weather”, and a blogging mom’s best hopes are de-railed. Kids went back to school Monday, and are currently completing their first FULL week of school in nearly two months. Notice how that correlates with how long it’s been since I’ve posted. Bad Dog, I know.

You know it’s cold when the kids will only play in the snow for 12 minutes. This photo is about 2 minutes into the outside time, and isn’t it telling? It’s a real chore to keep 4 kids busy inside the house for 4 days in a row. Exhausting!

Also of note, my husband, Mr. T turned the big 3-0 yesterday, with mild fanfare. That happens to be just the way he likes it.

Today I’m spending my day writing posts today to share with you in the upcoming days. Some crafts, gifts and projects that I couldn’t share with you in the midst of the holidays. So hopefully if you get snowed in like we did, you’ll have some fun ideas for your projects.

Stay tuned. I promise to return!

It certainly would not be an outburst of such proportions that the entire household took notice. And my sons are all so well mannered, they would never, ever jump on any joke that has to do with underwear, poop, or noises that come from that region of the human body and make it the punchline of the entire day. They certainly would not reenact it over and over to try to get their calm mother to break out in hysterical laughter yet again. That is certainly not what our household is about. We would never enjoy such junior high antics nor encourage them in our children.

]]> http://wistfulwrists.com/2009/11/junior-high-jokes/feed/ 1 http://wistfulwrists.com/2009/07/wheel-of-fortune/ http://wistfulwrists.com/2009/07/wheel-of-fortune/#comments Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:02:02 +0000 wistfulwrists http://wistfulwrists.com/2009/07/wheel-of-fortune/


5,000th episode of Wheel of Fortune!

Originally uploaded by Sony Electronics

Every now and then I have a moment when I think to myself, “this can’t be MY life.” I just had one right now.

As I was in the kitchen, pouring myself my third cup of coffee for the day (yes, at almost 7 p.m.) I hear the strangely familiar sounds of Wheel of Fortune coming from the living room. My mind begins to rationalize this juncture that illustrates I am no longer as young as I perceive myself to be.

“Well, the kids are learning how to read.”
“Guess that’s what happens when you give up cable.”
“It’s better than a lot of junk they could be watching.”

Luckily, I just heard hubby switch the channel to Noddy. As annoying as that show can be, at least it’s not Wheel. I’m not ready to go there, yet.

Yep, it’s 200 miles away. My sweet mom offered to box it up and ship it to me, but it just wasn’t worth it. So I’ll have to reclaim the old one I handed down to the kids with far fewer megapixels and just live like it’s 2003 or something for the next month.

Wouldn’t you know 3 of the 4 kids have birthday in that time as well? *SIGH* Isn’t that just life?

Today I’m sharing with you my favorite new things, my monogrammed kid washcloths. This is the set I made for my own children. Each chose their own yarn colors. 3 boys and 1 girl… I love that one of my sons says his favorite colors are “pink and purple”. I just love how vibrant they are, and who doesn’t love letters? Perfect for my preschoolers!

What have you been creating lately? What just makes you smile every time you look at it?