My parents totally rocked the unexpected awesome gift category this year and bought me an iPad, something I would never ever buy for myself and something that is made of win.  It's my dad's final year of work before retirement so I think this was the final gift hurrah before things get a little more modest (which is absolutely fine with me, I'm 32 for chrissakes! But iPad!!!)  Other than the iPad awesomeness, I got a grand total of 3 gifts, two of which were cheques (yaye moneys!) and one of which was a custom designed calendar of my sweet niece and nephew done up by their mom, my SIL, who is a professional graphic designer.  Kind of an awesome DIY haul, though I will most likely be totally mature and boring and put the cheques towards condo renos or a new (to me) car -- sorely needed as the 2003 PT is requiring me to spend $1000 a tune-up the last couple of years. 

Still, I am having fun downloading (mostly free) iPad apps and oohing and aahing over the fact that my living room now looks like Apple threw up on it, what with my MacBook Pro (work computer, technically), my Apple TV (my present to myself this fall), my ye olde iPod Touch (1st gen, yes), and now the awesome little iPad.  Yay for Apple Store barf everywhere!  I am such a whore for this company, whoo.

What did y'all get?  And does anyone have any suggestions for awesome iPad apps?  I'm even willing to spend money if they are good ones, I swear.

It's Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend, hurray! I am planning to make dinner rolls as my contribution to the huge feast my mom always prepares for everyone. It isn't much, but she usually has everything covered and I've been haranguing her for days about what I might bring. (The funny thing is that she has celiac disease and therefore won't even taste the fruits of my labour; on the other hand, it does make it the one item she couldn't do herself as she can't have flour particles in the air as they even irritate her mouth.)

( Things of Gratitude and Stuff )

Lastly, I dropped some love on the anon love meme happening here.  And, because I am still a little sad and missing my dear friends, I added my own name and am now shamelessly saying so.  *g*  Even if you don't love on me, you should go over and love on some of the other fantastic people listed (and the list is here!) because it's Canadian Thanksgiving, my friends, and Rodney McKay approves this message.

People out there who use ebook readers for fanfic -- does any of you use an iPhone or iPod touch for this? I've had a couple of different ebook apps on my iPod touch but sadly none of them seems to display ebook files correctly (lack of paragraph breaks, or teeeeeeny text, or weird characters -- the typographical kind -- displayed).

(We don't have the Kindle here in Canada. I know. Sometimes my country is made of lame.)

Since I'm setting everything up for the first time in said new laptop, does anyone have any hot tips on what Firefox extensions or Mac software I should be installing? I have iWork and MSOffice and Adobe CS4 (I have an "in" with a local Apple guy), and I also have the del.icio.us plug-in. I'm trying out a Gmail manager plug-in as I hate toggling between my multiple accounts, and I've just installed the Livejournal plug-in which seems overly option-y for my tastes.

Our board (at my primary place of employment) agreed to lay out some of my unused professional development funds and buy me a (nearly new) MacBook Pro! My wee iBook (2005) has been struggling for some time now, so I've gotten out of the habit of using it. It's so nice to have a laptop and be typing this from elsewhere in my house. I've been tethered to my iMac for nearly a year now, whee!

So, Easter is this weekend. Did everyone get that memo? As a church music director, this weekend is right up there with Christmas in terms of the music preparation but I think my choirs are in good shape. The small exception to this general sense of preparedness is that I was supposed to secure joyous Easter morning brass, and yet haven't managed to do it yet. I suck.

I recently got this program, The Hit List, as part of the MacHeist 3 bundle, and I've been going a little nuts with the to-do lists. It seems like my job description will be changing in the near future, with a lot more working from home time, and when you're like me and kind of awful at organizing your time without the structure of a proper office, etc., this kind of thing can be a godsend -- that is, if you actually make regular use of it. The program seems fairly straightforward but there are a lot of features that are cool -- it syncs up with iCal (which I use religiously), it lets you tag tasks, it organizes everything by due date (or however you want) so that you can quickly see what you need to do today, tomorrow, within the next week, month, etc. I like that. So far the best thing is the little xylophone hit you get whenever you check something off the list. It's my musical cookie. I will likely keep uncovering new features of this program, as it is built on the same principle as many Mac apps: simple to use at first glance, but with tons of stuff under the surface that you can access if you want. The developer is also planning to release a version for iPhone/iPod touch, which would be great for me since I'm totally dependent on my iPod touch for scheduling and email already.

Anyway... [/mac geekery]

I'm writing this story where John and Rodney keep trying to get it on but can't make the time in their crazy intergalactic superhero lives. Maybe I will eventually finish it, but ironically I can't find time to write about them not having time to get it on.

Okay, Apple, you know I have a big crush on you and your pretty products and the fact that the nano is now available in every colour of the gay pride rainbow, but -- "funnest iPod ever"? REALLY?

Obviously you're now letting illiterate 15 year olds write your promotional copy. Well done.

Anyone else feel the need to be alone with the shiny new MacBook?

I'll be in my bunk.