April 2011
25 posts
Flight: Air Canada 148
Aircraft: Airbus A320-200 (320)
From: Vancouver, Vancouver Int’l (YVR) . Saturday 30-April 2011. 15:00 - Terminal M
To: Toronto, Pearson Int’l (YYZ). Saturday 30-April 2011. 22:20 - Terminal 1
I could write about my adventurings at the Vancouver Art Gallery, my bike trip to the fishing village of Steveston, and my delightful weekend in Victoria, but I’m just not motivated to share. I mean, I could describe in very flowery prose the arrangement and colour compatibility of florets at Butchart Gardens, or how I had to shoo away a curious pod of chubby harbour seals because I was too selfish to share my steamed oysters at the wharf.
What am I trying to say here? Lost in thought for a bit just now.
I have to be in the moment and then share the moment at the same time.
With another human being.
I get a weird sense of accomplishment by travelling to places on my own, setting the camera on manual mode, and taking nice pictures, but for what? My memory card is filled with pictures of emotionless urban landscapes and buildings.
Maybe I just have to stop travelling to all these romantic places alone.
And that’s why I’m not motivated to share.
“If I wanted to talk about something deep, I’d talk about the Mariana Trench.”
—Fashion of the Mind
I went to the Vancouver Art Gallery today and saw some stuff.
Ugh, writer’s block.
I review my iPad 2
The internet is over saturated with iPad reviews.
Acquirement
I bought it on the day it launched in Canada on March 25th. My Dad and I took turns standing in queue for seven hours at the Apple Store in Richmond Centre mall. We had to wait outside of the mall because the line was already snaking out of control inside. It was cold and uncomfortable but Apple employees did their best to pacify us with free umbrellas and Starbucks coffee. The wait wasn’t so bad. Tim Horton’s was next door.
Cost
$619 for a 32GB Wi-Fi only black iPad 2; toss in a $49 polyurethane Smart Cover and AppleCare warranty and the after-tax grand total comes to a staggering $833. Even as a Mac/iDevice user my whole life, I still raised as eyebrow at the receipt. $800+ is a lot of money to drop on a piece of aluminum and glass. I could have gone on an all-inclusive trip to Hawaii for a few days.
First Impressions (Switched Off)
I didn’t do ‘unboxing’ photos because I was so unexpectedly excited/aroused that I shredded my way through the packaging.
Holding the iPad in front of me for the first time felt like holding my future newborn son. No complaints here; he’s a handsome fellow. Solid, slim, and sexy.
Heavier than I thought.
You can use it as a mirror.
Setting up the device was simple enough. I just had to connect it to iTunes on my computer, and after a few registration and survey questions, it was ready.
(Gorgeous really. Even now when I’m done using it for the day, I just want to hold it and flip it around, and hold it a different way.)
First Impressions (Switched On)
No surprises with iOS. Actually, after seeing this interface and layout for so long I wasn’t particularly impressed with anything at the get go. It felt like giant iPod touch initially. The first thing I did was connect to Wi-Fi and customize settings like mail, Apple ID, MobileMe syncing, wallpaper, FaceTime, etc.
And then it stopped behaving like a giant iPod touch and started becoming a whole different kind of machine. The first app I downloaded was the official Twitter app and from there, Flipboard, then Pulse News, then Infinity Blade… and then I knew I had an addiction.
Many more credit card transactions and giggles later I glanced up looking for my Macbook only to find a 13th-century abacus there in its place instead. Strange.
Day-to-day
I’ve been losing sleep because of this thing for roughly 3 weeks now and my budget for apps is, well, I don’t even remember what the budget was.
It’s now my nightstand/alarm. I wake up to my own music, to a background picture that I took on my camera, and the weather is right there too! It’s my newspaper, my magazine, reading library, and radio as well.
I’m not in school at the moment, so no critical productivity or note-taking features have really been tested. I’m dying to though, but it won’t be tested until this autumn when classes restart.
Gaming is fun, I don’t really need a PSP anymore. None of the hardcore games I play have a ‘level of graphic detail’ setting; they all just play on high setting, with no hiccups. I’m thinking Infinity Blade and RealRacing2HD here.
My Dad and I talk a lot more often because we both can FaceTime each other, and soon my Mom will be joining in.
Battery life lasts 2-3 days with everyday usage as described above.
Lots of fingerprint and smudges on its glossy screen but I don’t mind because it’s not something I notice when I’m constantly touching it.
I bring it into the kitchen and watch videos while I cook.
Complaints
Yellow blotching/screen bleeding/light leakage. The iPad I’m using now is my second unit, but it still has the same problem. I need to exchange it for a none defective one.
Multi-tasking management is slow and tedious because you have to hold and individually close down apps you don’t want running anymore. You can only see one app running at a time too; there’s no grid layout.
The touch keyboard is not bad but I think it needs the inverted-T arrow keys, like on a normal keyboard.
File management/storage isn’t very effective. iDisk needs internet to retrieve new files. Sometimes I wish it would just function like a USB drive.
Where are the rest of the default apps? No default calculator!
I can rant about the low quality cameras and the odd solo speaker but those are hardware issues I knowingly forfeited. But as a hardware related issue, I don’t like how it can sometimes overheat. I want the aluminum side to stay nice and cool to the touch.
No Flash is irritating. I have to watch Family Guy on my computer.
That’s all for now. (Pictures in the following post.)
If I could time travel into the past and become any engineer I wanted to be…
I would be: The military engineer pioneering trace italienne design, also known as star fortifications, in mid-15th century Italy.
Come at me bro.
The Materialistic List
I need:
I want:
- Harman Kardon SoundSticks III
- Macbook Air
- Black V-neck merino wool sweater
- Nike LunarGlide+
- Pinstripe and solid semi-dress shirts
- Dress shoes
Money doesn’t grow on trees:
- Volkswagen Golf
- Eurotrip 2012
“That awkward moment of reminiscence when the faces are clear but their voices are suddenly a mystery.”
—Fashion of the Mind
Without a doubt in my mind, nerds rule the world.
This guy I met at the sushi bar kept ordering the most expensive pieces of fish like otoro and sea urchin etc. Then I glance at the girl next to him and I think to myself: Why him? And then I’m blinded by her massive 4,000 bazillion karat diamond ring.
Reason: Microsoft. He helps design Xbox and Windows Mobile 7 software.
Sometimes I don’t even know why I bother going to the gym…
