One of the things I willingly gave up upon choosing the life I have was access to the latest, greatest gadgets. If you know me, you probably know I enjoy gadgets of all types, particularly computer related, and especially the high quality type produced by Apple. My wife and I had iPhones in the states, and I considered other gadgets whenever I could (and because of my job then I had access to a lot).
Moving to South Africa changed that though. I’m fortunate to be in a position where, because of my role as Director of Technology Services, I need to stay up to a certain degree on what’s happening in tech land but I don’t have quite the freedom to explore. And certainly not the budget.
I was really blessed though when, because of some of the work I have done, someone blessed me with an iPad 2. This is an amazing little device (and one I wouldn’t have been able to get under other circumstances)! It can literally do at least 90% of what I did on my computer, and it’s much easier to tote around to meetings (I unfortunately find myself in too many of those) and the like. In the two weeks I’ve had it, I’ve already found myself reaching for it more than my computer (certainly more than I expected). For many people now I think it could be a viable replacement.
I’m also looking forward to testing it on the road. In a few weeks my wife and I and a few others are going on an exploratory trip in rural, southern Africa, and I’m working with them to develop a plan and process for remote data collection. Because of it’s price compared with similar solutions, it could be the perfect fit for this sort of work (having built in 3G is certainly a plus).
Anyways, I thought I’d share about a recent blessing and how we hope to see it used.