The Shadow-gloom and Weight of the Sacred

This year my Macbook gave up the ghost. (As an Apple user, I think I should be hip, creative and innovative. Also, strikingly handsome. I guess by using a cliche in the first sentence of this post I'm somewhat negating the Apple image. Good thing I still look good carrying around an Apple product.)

Anyway, I hate buying computers. I think they should last ten years, and I'm not completely sold on the idea that my Macbook is dead. Once things settle down a little for me, I'm going to see about resurrection options. I did, however, splurge and preemptively purchase a replacement: a new 16 gig iPad. It's cheaper than a new a computer and most of what I do with a computer (waste time) can be done with it. I wanted to buy the keyboard with my iPad, but it's $69 so I'm going to wait a little bit on that one. I already own an Apple keyboard that I connect to my iPad through blue tooth (once my stuff gets here from Europe). With a keyboard on the iPad, I'm pretty sure I can do everything that I normally do with a computer (waste time and write) .

Here are a few things I like and dislike about this fabulous new Apple product:

1. I like that I can easily toss it aside and run to my daughter to keep her from playing in the trash or sharing food with the dog.
   
   
2. I like the iBooks application--Apple's bookstore. But, you can also download an app for Amazon's Kindle. Rumor has it that Barnes and Noble isn't far behind. Having all of these bookstores in a single device will probably make me stop coveting the much-to-highly-priced-to-buy IREX Digital Reader.
   
   
3. I don't like that the Kindle App only highlights text in one color (yellow). I do like that the Kindle App allows note-taking in a book.
   
   
4. I don't like that iBooks doesn't allow note-taking, but it does have multiple colors with which to highlight text. Hopefully, one of these two apps will make the appropriate adjustment, or perhaps the B&N app will come along and have just what I'm looking for.
   
   
5. iBooks currently has really poor selection of theological books. Amazon is slightly better, but the digital versions of such books is the same price as the book itself. I don't buy a lot of theology these days, but I keep on eye what my favorite writers. Fortress Press is adding books to the Kindle store.
   
   
6. I don't like that Adobe Flash doesn't operate on the iPad. I use ThinkFree for my office suite needs and it's java based. Also, a lot of things are java based. I'm missing out on a lot of content.
   
   
7. If it's possible to subscribe to calendars as you can in iCal, I can't figure out how to do it.
   

Very rarely does Apple disappoint...ok, I've never been disappointed with an Apple product. This one is no different. I suppose my biggest complaint is really about the book-reader apps rather than the iPad itself. I'll probably have more to write in the future.