Today I am thankful for

Rain. Glorious, super-duper rain! It's been raining slowly and steadily since at least 4 AM - and we need every drop!

My MacBook. I spent 2 hours yesterday typing up the first 3 chapters of our next History text. My Mac worked like a champ, and things went quickly (well, as quick as they can when my wrist is seizing up. :sigh: Too much typing. I have 16 chapters...so, 13 to go. This isn't going to be fun!)

My Husband. He picked up the "missing" switchplates yesterday, but got the wrong ones. Instead of being upset, he thought it was funny (so did I - I was trying not to laugh), and we discovered that the current plates don't all match - the one by the stove is BRONZE while the other side of the kitchen is SILVER. :snicker: Too, too funny!

The view. I still don't have shades up in the breakfast area, so the morning sun bothers us during school. Except for yesterday and today - it was WONDERFUL, being able to see everything outside. The goats were being silly, and we had a good time watching "Caprine TV". :lol: Today, they're all holed up inside the barn - you know goats melt in the rain, right?

The Internet. Monday, I went searching for a scrubs pattern...instead I found EXACTLY the pants pattern I had been looking for. A 1991 Simplicity 2-hour Express pattern - the pants are slightly full, and end in BUTTONED CUFFS at the ankles. I don't have to try and add cuffs!! :happy dance:

Great debate...

There's a debate raging in the house today. The newscaster this AM (the ONLY time we have the news on; I want to check the weather and traffic for SG) was talking about the new iPad (meh - *I* do not need nor want to upgrade), and about how, in a few years, tablets will replace computers.

SG immediately said "NOT even!", and Himself - who had heard me say "donuts!" and got up early - said "I don't think so, either".

I took the opposing view. See.....for *MOST* people, tablets WILL take the place of computers. MOST people use the computer to: websurf, check e-mail, play games, and stream movies. All of which a tablet does (please note I am NOT pushing iPad here. :grin: I'm an Apple fan, but there ARE other tablets out there, and most people don't care about the whole "Apple experience". *I* don't understand Android, but that doesn't mean it's a crap OS.) BETTER than a computer or laptop.

For one thing, they're smaller and lighter. I can lie on the bed while surfing, or move to the couch, or take it into the kitchen to whip up the batch of cookies I just found on allrecipes.com. Yes, you CAN haul a laptop around...but it's bigger, and bulkier, and not as, well, handy.

You don't need 3/4G; WiFi is fine. I don't regret going with WiFi only - the few times we've been out and WiFi-less, I simply pulled out my phone for any 'net stuff we thought we needed to do. I do NOT need to be connected 24/7 - and when the 'net isn't available, well, guess I can always open iBooks and, I dunno, READ one of the many books I have on my iPad.

You need a wireless router if you don't go 3/4G....but that's not a big deal. I *think* you have to have DSL - but most people already do, because it's being bundled with just about everything these days. (Here, DSL was $20 CHEAPER than dial-up, which is totally odd, but it's what got me to upgrade. Satellite was $20/month cheaper than DSL, so we switched again. Both of those came with wireless routers.) I don't see that as being a problem, honestly.

Now, I'll keep my laptop - I need it for work. Yes, there's an app of Excel for iPad, and Word, but it's just easier - for ME - to use an actual keyboard to do my data entry. Plus, the larger screen makes a difference when inputting a lot of data - the iPad's screen size is perfect for surfing, etc., but....not for work-related stuffs. (Some people disagree with that; whatever works for them.) I also have ALL our homeschooling stuff on the laptop (well, on an external hard drive - same difference.), because it's easier for me to look at and print from it (I haven't got my iPad hooked up with the printer yet. *I* can't get it to acknowledge the printer, even though it can see it. I think I have to enable bluetooth....and I haven't done that yet. :sigh: It's not a huge issue - I just go to the MacBook for any printing that I need to do; besides, my laser printer isn't wireless, so I can't print from anything BUT the MacBook, as it's the only one that's hooked up to it.) Of course, the day Apple puts a USB port on an iPad, I'll be first in line to upgrade. :lol: (The retina display is the big deal amongst techies, to MY eyes, it's no different than the "old" display. I went from an iPhone 3G to an iPhone 4, which had the "retina" display, and I saw NO difference. :shrug: To ME, it's not worth the $$$ to upgrade, since I don't need the better camera (I've taken *1* photo with the iPad, and hated it. It's too BIG for me to use as a camera - I'd rather use the phone, thankyouverymuch!), I don't really care about the processor/larger battery (with the SAME life!) or any of the other upgrades......so, I will wait.)

SG thought about it, and finally agreed with me - most users WILL eventually switch. For one thing, entry-level tablets are cheaper than decent PC's, and a lot of them have better specs. (Or so he says - he's IT, so I'll take his word on that). (Some people say that 16G isn't enough; I have 200+ ebooks on my 16G iPad, a bunch of music, and 42 apps - and still have something like 13G available. So....in our case, 16G is MORE than enough.) The ease of use, and the ability to put it ANYWHERE (with a PC or laptop, you have to have a dedicated spot for it to live.) is also a big plus.

Himself still isn't convinced. He said that IF you could get a mouse for it, he'd agree - but he can't game with the touch screen. *I* think, if he'd try it, he'd appreciate the ease, but that's OK. (He argued that without a physical keyboard, nobody would trade a PC for a tablet...then I showed him all the external keyboards available for iPad. He's holding out for a mouse, now - trackpads just aren't his thing. :lol:)

It's been interesting - every now and then Himself will offer another argument for keeping PC's..and I'll refute with an argument as to why I think he's wrong. He did agree that tablets are more flexible...but that's as far as he'd go. :snicker: