How the iPad changed my life

I wouldn't try to get away with sending an E-anniversary card or flowers but the iPad has changed the way I do things. The memory fades as you get older, so just about every serial number, the doctor's appointments, blood tests, medications, birthdays, addresses, passwords, and probably of a lot of other things that don't need to be documented are on this iPad. That information and about 50 applications make this device something I can’t afford to lose.

It seems like there's not a day or least a week that goes by that I don't find a new use for the iPad. Yesterday was major league baseball's opening day so I downloaded an app called “At Bat11” which allows me to watch a live ball game; it's too bad that I can’t watch the Astros because I live in their market area. I've had a free ABC player app where I can watch ABC shows a day after their broadcast. Then there's CNN, CBS, NPR, Newsweek and Time for all the news I can stand. As if that's not enough, I have the Sirus Internet radio app which gives me about 170 different channels I can listen to.

The iPad fits my over obsession for information, personality. I have a know-it-all relative who likes to dominate our holiday reunions by being an authority on every subject. Last year, my devious sister hinted that I should bring along my iPad to our next get -together. As a relative started telling my cousin that avocados were unhealthy; I pulled out my iPad and went straight to Google and read aloud “Avocados provide nearly 20 essential nutrients, including fiber, potassium, Vitamin E, B-vitamins and folic acid,” he left the room for a little while to get a beer, but when he got back, he wasn’t as loud, and he chose his words carefully while taking a peek, to see if I was Goggling. I later told my wife that I was wrong for doing that because being a know-it-all is part of my relative’s personality, and I like him as is.

They are some negatives like downloading intrusive applications like Pageonce which I did. I just entered one credit card and bank information and a week later I got an e-mail telling me about a purchase I had just made and asking me for more info, so I just deleted the app. I've had my heart beating 10 times the normal amount heart a few times because I thought I had lost the unit. One time after riding my bike, I locked it up in the garage but I left the iPad outside the garage and forgetting it as I went into the house for the night. Luckily, I don't go over an hour without using my iPad. I couldn't find it so the heart started pounding but after retracing my steps, I found where I had left it, realizing that it might have stayed outside for the night. I'm sure some neighborhood kids probably would have rung my doorbell with iPad in hand…

I wish that the iPad would have been invented a long time ago, because there is an app that can in keep up with the whereabouts of your teenagers. But then again, we didn’t have cell phones back then and I'm not so sure I would have liked the feedback.

When the kids call, I always overhear my wife tell them “you know your dad; he never gets off that iPad you had to give him for father's day.”…. I think she is getting a little bit tired of hearing “there’s an app for that.”