Saturday, November 26, 2011

I like these Apples.

I have a new toy! It's an iPad and right this very second I'm trying to use the on screen keyboard - feels like keyboarding class all over again. I am not one to spend a lot of money on myself but I couldn't resist the black Friday deal offered by Apple. I wanted one of these last year, of course, but I couldn't justify the expense versus our financial obligations and bring home pay. Thankfully this year is much different for us - and let me say again how very grateful I am that Hal's three year stretch of unemployment and underemployment ended early this year. We don't have an incredible excess but we have enough to pay all of our bills on time, eat well, and get the things we need - and that's enough for me. I am reminded of my father actually. We lived a very humble and frugal life when I was a child, and he in fact still does...but he believed very strongly in the power of a proper education so we had a Apple II C desktop computer with a dot matrix printer attached! Our house was very small but that computer had a front-and-center place right in the living room where my brother and I were encouraged to sit and play with the educational games, type papers and projects, and bask in the discovery and the cool things it could do. Now this iPad has a coolness factor that has exponentially blown me away but here I am in my house, sitting on my 14 year old scratched up leather couch, typing away. In this case the Apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I worked my way through school enough to be able to have a few things but more importantly, I have a true appreciation for the things I'm able to have. Thanks Dad.