Done and Hmmm

*Pictures to follow*

We finished up the desk project today. It actually went very smoothly. There were a couple minor problems, but they were surprisingly easily overcome and now we have two beautiful desks to show for it. I am very very pleased with the look of it and how the colors turned out. As much as I would like to start using them immediately, the polycrilic will take about thirty days to cure, so they are going to sit and look pretty for awhile. No matter, that will put us just about at the end of the next movie I am working and then we will be able to use the desks. This should give me plenty of time to figure out the middle shelf and get it taken care of.

As I have posted previously, I am excited to make a couple upgrades to the computer equipment around the house, starting with the now-dysfunctional FileServer and ending with Esther's (working just fine currently, but with very little space) computer. I foresee this project requiring much from our tax return, if not all and then some more (note: more not available or in existence), which is why I am both excited and perplexed by the announcement of the Apple iPad.

I would very much like to get a netbook of my own, though the one my brother has loaned me is more than sufficient for my needs right now. Eventually, I think I will need to get it back to him which, of course, means I will be wanting one of my own. Now, the iPad is a veritable Cadillac of netbooks, being designed for oh so much more and being capable of (likely) much much less. So... it's not really a frugal investment in those terms. On the other hand, it's perfectly capable of my uses, exceptionally small and light, a higher resolution than the typical netbook and, well, honestly just plain pretty. So it is perplexing in a sense that I don't think there would be any room in our budget for me to, say, purchase one for myself.

Additional areas of perplex...ifi...cation... involve the design of the device itself. Clearly Apple went to great lengths to get this product right. Right? Right?!?!? Design over function and all that, plainly as the sun which shines. There are some large missteps in there. Like... where's the SD card reader? Or, rather, where's ANY card reader? Also... where's the USB port? It doesn't exist. Oh... right... there's a dongle you can buy. Yay.. dongles. Not so much. I am without a doubt sorely tempted. But... also perplexed.

Addendum:
I should note that I am also still considering a plain old EEEPC, a tabletized EEEPC, and this piece of gadgetry, which might be genius or horrendous. Also, I know the iPad isn't really supposed to be a netbook, but that's the way I am thinking about it, which is why I have so many qualms about the device. It seems like it might just be a lot of marketing appeal with no real substance behind it. Actually, it seems like it might just be a big iPhone which I am not so interested in.