A day at home midweek

I'm feeling a bit off, nothing major, just the onset of a cold, you know when you're glands are swollen and your head thumps......so with that I was really pleased that today is a holiday. It's a miserable day, it's been raining for much of the morning, a shame really because it's a holiday because of the Ekka, but it's awesome, because I'm inside my house, the kids are playing on computer, Wii and watching TV. It's that kind of day. Dear Bunny has gone out and worked this morning and even though it's over an hour after he said he'd be home, he's still out. He can't help himself. I think deep down inside it makes him happy to be earning money for us.

I've spent the morning doing the usual, washing and having to use the dryer, much to the chagrin of the Climatesmart people, lol, but I refuse to have washing piling up everywhere. Billy-Joe is at a friend's house so having one less child in the house is blissful. There's much less yelling and testosterone in the house when he's out. I worked on www.daisychainscrapbooks.com too, I've installed a new plugin that will hopefully stop all the spambots. Those things just shit me to tears. It's what lead to the demise of Daisy's last time, and that isn't happening this time, but I'm hoping that what I've set up will stop this from happening. It annoys me that Barbi gets up to a dozen emails a day from these useless bits of wastes of space!!!!! I think I might go into the shop one day and set up different folders in her inbox, so that these things are managed better. I can do it for all her suppliers too and it will make organization and looking for things quicker and easier.

Hello my name is Jenny Schimak and I have a serious genetic flaw!!! I'm besotted with technology.......[sigh] Love it love it love it!! I say it's genetic because it's from my Dad. I think this is pretty cool, seeing as he grew up with bombs being dropped nearby and Hitler at the height of his reign. No technology!! No media (mmm sometimes that could be a good thing!!) They were lucky to eat and be warm, so gadgetry wasn't a consideration or even a thought. So it's definitely genetic though. I can still remember, as clear as though it was yesterday, my Dad bringing home a new calculator that he needed for work. Yes, your screen isn't playing up, I wrote calculator, those things you use to add and subtract. It was a long time ago, not sure exactly but suffice to say it was in the early 70's I doubt it was the decade before. We were mesmerized and enthralled with what this gadget could do. It was going to be a huge time saver for my Dad, and help him daily. He was excited with this gadget. Mum pretended to be interested I think......the techno bug definitely never struck my beloved Mum, she looks at us all with a look that combines that glazed over look from someone who's so not interested to a sad disdain, like she's wondering what affliction has suddenly attacked us all, and another that almost looks like pity lol.......  She'll never get the high that you get from opening something from the box for the first time. That heady smell of new plastic. Actually even the smell of the ohms as you walk into a large electrical store, or into a room that has a few gadgets on!! Do you know what I mean? Ah yes, that ohmic air is the best high.

My Dad still loves gadgets although they tend to frustrate him a little these days. It's a shame that the more gadgetry you have, the more things can go (and do go) wrong.......  If I were paid an hourly rate for  the time it's taken me on phones with tech support, google, or searching for help to fix a technical glitch....but then I wouldn't have it any other way. I love it. It excites me.

Apple launched the iPad, recently, I'm sure you saw all the hype and media frenzy. For goodness sake there were people lining up outside the stores on launch day. I kept up with all the hype and was interested and read lots of the geek blogs about the upsides and downsides of the new gadgets. I was excited, I always get excited at the idea of something new, but seriously, I had no intention of getting one. I don't need one, I have an iMac, and a MacBook and an iPhone!!!! I love them all for their own reasons. Do I need an iPhone, no! But I need a phone and my iPod was antiquated and small in capacity so the iPhone was a great way of killing two birds with one stone so to speak. I've been so Apple indoctrinated that I just have grown to truly love how seamlessly things work. My MacBook is my work horse. I use it every single day, several times a day. I never thought I'd ever go to a small computer, but it's just perfect and it's an awesome machine. I love my iMac, because it's fabulous for the whole family and is the store house for my photos and our videos. The only thing I don't like about my iMac is that the Apple Care runs out at the end of the year, but it still fits my needs and I know I'll definitely have it longer than I've ever had a PC.  I use my MacBook for work and play. For play it's lots and lots of reading, from my blogs to technical stuff, and for my site work and my e-commerce course. I've got the MB set up to share music with the iMac, so whatever I buy via my MB is transferred automagically to my iMac, (the store house) and everything is backed up on my Time Capsule (another apple wunder machine).

One day I came home from the Plaza and told dear Bunny that I couldn't believe the number of people around the Apple counter at Myers. I even got to play with an iPad and thought how cool it was. He asked me if I was buying one?????  At that point I hadn't even thought of it - seriously!!

Soooooo..........I'm not one to rush out and buy something that quickly, I began my research. I've spent the last two months reading everything I can get my hands on. Some of my friends have already got one and love them, their reviews helped my decision but weren't enough to sway me.

Anyway, to cut a long story, short - I bought one. I got it on Saturday and have barely had time to 'play' on it. I've had so much work to do and our weekend was a busy one. The kids had played on it, and they had already fallen in love with it.

So what makes this gadget special? What, when I already have an iPhone and a MacBook would I use my iPad for? Well I'd decided that before I purchased that. I need to justify to myself why I need  want something....... I wanted it for reading my blogs, I wanted an e reader and the Kindle just didn't fit the bill for me. The lack of backlighting on the Kindle was the clincher for me. Having said that I won't be able to read my iPad at the beach or by the pool, but I don't do that all that often during the year anyway. I do however read in my ill lit lounge room every night and often like to read in bed, where the lamp never feels substantial enough, and the odd positions I have to hold the book in to catch the light quickly becomes uncomfortable.  The iPad has the added bonus of being an awesome web browser, and can collect my emails, plus there are new apps coming out all the time.

I could do all these things before, but now I can do them in greater comfort. I often don't feel like having the MacBook on my lap. I can lie down with the iPad. I bought the one with 3G capability so I'll be able to use it away from the house, which has been a good decision, because for some reason I can't get my usb modem to work on my MacBook........  :(  Plus there's now another internet connectible device in the house, no drama anymore with homework etc, and we're lucky it becomes a tax deduction too, which helps hugely.

What will those Apple people come out with next??

Update

After my headaches during the latter half of last week, I'm feeling much better. I've got a headache app on my iPhone now so I will track my headaches. I was pretty happy though when I discovered that the drug that's in Mersyndol is actually in restavit, it's an antihistamine and relaxant, and worked wonders on my headache. So by Friday afternoon I was beginning to feel human again. Thank goodness as with Peter's birthday this weekend, I didn't want to feel crappy. I like to be animated, happy and fun to be around for my husband on the weekend, especially seeing as it's his birthday.

I got up yesterday morning, very late. It was bliss. I'd been in bed most of Friday catching up on sleep. I got up and got ready and felt pretty good. I was looking forward to seeing Barbi. I had planned on colouring my image for my Copic B class but I forgot the exact way how we'd planned the colouring so I just practised a technique and coloured in some gorgeous Peter Rabbit images, using Google Images as my guide for colours. I'm really pleased with my Copic collection now as I can do so much more now, without feeling like I have lots of colours missing. Karen came which was lovely. We all enjoyed our Thai dinner and it was almost 9 o'clock before we even sat down to create. I didn't get home until nearly 1.30am!! I slept well and slept in until 10.30am, it was just blissful.

I got myself in a tizz though when I couldn't find the recipe for the entree that I planned on making. I felt my head starting to throb, so I know it's stress related. I had already bought the ingredients, so it wasn't an easy matter of just making something else. Thankfully I found it. I headed in to town with Billy-Joe for company. I had to go to the supermarket to buy the meat for dinner and he needed some new undies. We also stopped at Donut King and enjoyed an Iced Mocha!! I dropped in to see Julia at Prouds and bought Bunny a stainless steel ring. It's very nice and he can wear it while I get his wedding band reshaped. Actually the wedder is so fine, I don't think it will last much longer. Peter loved his gifts, and enjoyed our evening, so it was a fun night. The entree was a caramelized onion, feta and sundried tomato tart. I added some of the confit garlic in it and it was just delicious. I could easily have eaten just that and not the main!! Our main was delicious. Sirloin steak with a garlic confit butter, potato bake, sweet carrots and broccoli. Man of the house was very impressed. It was rather late when we went to bed, but we were feeling very content with our lives and with each other.

Today I got up late, and did some chores and then headed out to a friend's place for a bbq lunch. The wine was good, and Pete outdid himself with the food. He had a salad that was continental parsley, cucumber, lemon, shallots, mint and tomatoes. It was very tasty. He had sausages for the kids, a chicken stuffed with something yummy, and with bacon wrapped around it, and some beef too. Dessert was a strawberry cake! We rolled out of there in the evening.

I'm happy to be home now, relaxed and warm. I'll look forward to a cup of tea later on. I will also get to play with my iPad when the kids go to bed. Yes, my Apple family has grown again, and apart from syncing it and setting it up. I've not had a chance to play on it yet. I got the 16GB 3G Wifi one. It's a cool gadget, and a handy device that can connect to the internet. The kids all have access to something now, leaving the MacBook always free for me. I want to get a screen protector, case and a stand for it.

I'm teaching my third Copic class on Tuesday, it's the first of the Copic B classes. So far there's been a good response to the Copic A classes, which I'm excited about.