Our blog is optimized on ipad – this feature will soon disappear when we migrate to blogger. I love wordpress, but I only truly love the paid version – self-hosted which I use for my craftblog. The free version lags frequently, and lacks flexibility to tweak the layout, most importantly, I cannot fix the problem for the side panel that turns wonky since we returned from Bali; the only way to change the CSS is to upgrade – purchase some products here and there.
I have never been able to view what our blog is like on ipad, until now.
Yes, I am quite out-of-myself this year. I don’t normally – since I am not even remotely close to being normal – join the rush for anything. I watched ‘Friends’ only in recent years; I was using the super reliable ‘B/W’ text cell phone when everyone was changing to the up-to-date color ‘TV’ cell phone, I felt compelled to change because the lecturer in my marketing module kept using my cell phone model as example of ‘declined’ stage of a product and that ‘NO ONE uses it anymore’, he proclaimed; and all other things and events that came and passed, and I ‘reminisce’ with thrills of joy when they turn into ‘retro’ state.
So, the hoosbend – my quirky slang for the term ‘husband’ must have ‘schemed’ a perfect plot against me and my nonchalance towards the iphone and ipad. On the hindsight, I have analyzed – based on the conspiracy induced theory – that he spent substantial amount of time enticing me into thinking that the ipad is what I NEED. I thought about it for a bit, but dismissed it very quickly until he bought me a replacement phone – the smart phone with android system.
Hey, where on earth have I been? Smart phone made me feel smarter instantly!
So, like a hungry and instinctive lion, he pounced on the opportunity without another second of delay. He said the ultimate hypnotizing words, ‘if you like android, you will LOVE ipad’.
Like a haunting ghost, the words routinely echoed in the tiny brain of mine. Under the spell, I started to save up for the ipad 2, which turned into love-pads.
I have a life-long issue with sharing, and it has absolutely nothing to do with only-child syndrome, since I am not an only child. Oh well, fine! I am the youngest child, and I am pretty pampered and spoilt, so I do suffer youngest-child syndrome – will blog about the issue with sharing on ‘the quirky me‘. So, like my nurse friend used to say ‘all things must come in pair’ – for surgeries, in case the tool in use dropped and become non-sterile etc – I decide to work doubly hard to double up the budget so that I get to say, ‘one for you, one for me, no fighting, no sharing, ok.’.
It was a very stressful decision, because the hoosbend seemed to be keen in buying it too. I had to warn and threaten him to make sure he doesn’t order the ipad 2. That’s one problem in our out-of-regularity marriage, we are competing to surprise each other with delightful goodies, we don’t always play by rules and it had happened before, despite all the ‘som-pa’ – swear upon – and promises made, we would go behind each other’s back and buy the items as surprise anyway.
Honestly, I would not want this to be one of those unexpected surprise. Can you imagine us having 4 ipads in the same household!! We are not rich or anything close to being rich!
So, my plan to surprise him was extremely stressful, considering that the launch was a day before we were leaving for Bali, and that the extra add-ons such as the applecare (I am a firm believer of extended warranty and insurance) and smart-covers that added onto the costs. I had kept the bank accounts apart, one for common expenses and the ATM card is usually with Mike since he helps with the errands and mail-runs; another bank is for personal use.
I get paid via paypal, and the withdrawal of fund to the bank may take up to 5 working days, and since my banks are different, to transfer from my common bank account to the personal bank account takes 2-3 working days, and it was weekend and soon public holiday – Labor Day. The funds may not reach me in time. I wanted to order before the trip so that the waiting time would be shortened by a week.
Can you see why I was stressed out? Money is really not my department, I don’t do so great with managing money. Anyhow, I ordered the ipads separately, so that I could pay with different bank cards. I was reluctant to pay with the common bank card as Mike would be able to view the charges and would burst the surprise bubble. I split the order and bill so that he would think I was only buying one for myself.
Just so you know, the stress was absolutely unnecessary. I let the cat out of the bag anyway, to cheer the hoosbend up when he dropped some money which he meant to bring to the money changer to change for the travel currencies.
So, the odd thing here is that I was buying the ipad for him out of my weird theory of personal non-sharing gadget, that seemed like a nice thing to do right? Now, what’s strange is his ipad costs more than mine!!! I don’t need a 3G feature, since I barely get out of the apartment; I hardly use my still-new phone, anyway.
We – I asked him for opinion to configure MY iPad – figured that it’s more worthwhile in topping up to get 64GB capacity, since 16GB seems too skinny; and it’s just a small difference between 48GB and 64GB (off my memory, I really can’t remember the different capacities). I nearly ordered the leather jacket for him since he will be bringing the ipad out, and it should be better covered and presented. I dismissed that idea when I read that the leather peels and becomes sticky.
So there he has it, the advanced birthday, Christmas, Anniversary, and Valentine’s Day gift, all in the love-pad.
Side-tracking: while packing the luggage the night we left for Bali, I found one receipt, and I couldn’t believe that I actually bought the wallet that cost that much for him! I think I will say the same about this love-pad when I see the receipt next year, I am bad with numbers, so I won’t remember for long, and will be shocked to re-learn about the price tag! Don’t you like my life, it’s lined with surprises, new and old, because of roughened sensitivity with numbers.
And… the personalization.. What’s mine, is mine, and mine only. 
The surprise that I managed to keep was the engraved words.
I think the apple products enter into my life at the most untimely manner. When Mike bought the iMac for me, I was super swamped with bulk orders, and left the unopened machine in one corner as I couldn’t afford the time to adjust to a brand new OS. I forced myself to set up the machine because the hoosbend showed puppy sad eyes every day that I ignored the machine.
I have been too busy since Krabi trip, not only that I am catching up with the orders, my work schedule for dolls orders is taken up till first week of July. So, I have very limited time to explore into this latest gizmo.
Ok, it’s time to get my shower, make myself a nice glass of Glenmorangie on the rocks, and play with the love-pad that wears an orangie smart cover.
Simple days of joy is better than abundance of wealth that is packaged with huge pockets of stress and tension. (but I have to say that I really won’t mind abundance of wealth minus the stress)
