Techno-happy

In the midst of the crazy things going on around here, I have felt compelled to do some serious updating of our household technology. Our upcoming trip to England has been one main excuse reason. Because, of course, one needs to sort out one's access to home and world before setting off to venture to another continent.

First, the cellphone issue. We wanted to make sure that we could get calls from the US and the discovery that my little old Blackberry is not global capable set up a whole set of decisions. I will spare you the details but I will show you the outcome:

Is this not the most delightful thing you've ever seen?! My friend Helen found this pay-as-you-go phone for me for the bargain price of £1. I can't imagine why the British aren't snapping these right up. It even comes with a "God Save the Queen" ringtone. I am thrilled. Helen has commented that it will also be useful as a finding device should we become separated -- all she has to do is ask the nearest person "have you seen my American friend?" and everyone will point at me and my obnoxious Royal Wedding phone.

And then there was the "do we bring laptops" question and again, after some pondering this was the outcome:

iPad. I am writing this very post on it, in fact. It is quite wonderful and it promises to make the 13 hour flights to and from Europe quite fun. I can get lost just reading about apps, never mind downloading and using them. (By the way, if you have any great app recommendations, I'd love to hear them.). Hmmm, I wonder if there is a Royal Wedding IPad cover? (Just kidding, Helen! I have a tasteful solid red one.)

But wait, there's more. In the process of making the IPad decision -particularly the "wifi only or wifi+3G" question -- I learned that the price difference between the wifi only and the wifi+3G was pretty much the same as an Iphone4 . No brainer, yes?

This actually makes great sense given how much I dislike my old Blackberry. But all this stuff at once has me in a techno-whirl. This probably means that all of my airport and airplane time will be spent reading the instructions for all of these exciting things.

Now that it has taken me all morning to figure out how to write and post a blog post from the IPad, I'd best get some chores done. But I will be humming "God Save the Queen" as I go.