I am now an Apple snob

So ya'll know I have my super cool iPhone, right?  I've had it a little over a year & I've always thought is was a pretty cool thing to have.  I hate the virtual keyboard & I don't think that will ever change.  (It won't do the letters I want sometimes & it's really irritating!)

Recently at work, a couple of the super cool iPhone users had a summit of sorts about what the potential of these tiny gadgets really is.  I just KNEW there had to be a way to save files & documents on it to have them at the tip of your fingers.  So we were brainstorming (because we're busy at work like that...) & we were searching the app store feverishly for apps that will allow that.   So I'm reading through some descriptions & I see the word, 'dropbox'.  And I say, "OH, DROPBOX!  B-RAD TOLD ME ABOUT THAT!  I WILL GET ON HIS (yea, that's another story) IPAD TONIGHT!"

Dropbox is one of the coolest things I've ever seen.  Try to stick with me you technologically challenged stalkers....  It's basically an on-line storage site.  You download it to your computer first (like any other program) & then you can save whatever you want to it (just as you would save a picture to your computer...).  Then, you download dropbox on your super cool iphone & whatever documents you save to dropbox, voila - they are available on your phone.  Heaven, I tell ya...  And now I'm trying to figure out if B-rad is some kind of stealthy genius...or if he has way too much time on his hands...?

OK-so the princess' iPad... that we were gonna share.  Yea, you would think after 17 years together I would figure out B-rad doesn't share.  Alas, he got me again & he hogs the iPad.  Then he says to me, "I was thinking about getting you one for Christmas."  To which I reply, "Great.  That means I have to pay for 2 iPad's..."

You know I'm cheap & didn't really wanna drop more moo-lah for another iPad.  Then I discovered something incredible - points on our credit cards.  Oh yea, baby.  I took those points & converted them to gift certificates.  $300 in gift certificates to be exact.  I decided to buy me an iPad.  

Here she is.  Ain't she pretty?!  And she's all mine.  B-rad is not allowed to even breath in her direction.

 Since I, er I mean B-rad, discovered dropbox, I wanted to learn more.  I wanted to do more.  I mean, surely these pricey little things aren't just for web browsing, facebook & game play!  During our work summit, we discovered iBooks.  It's kinda like a Kindle for your istuff.  You can buy books or magazines & read them from your device.  But another thing you can do with them...is put pdf files on them.  (PDF files are Adobe acrobat files.  A lot of places use that software to create ads, flyers, etc.  Hard to explain but it's like a word or excel document...only it's Adobe...)  

For the jewelry biz, I use my phone to run credit cards (Yea, I'm fancy...).  Now I can use MY iPad.  Plus my friend, Rose, told me about a really cool app I could download that's a 'quick calculator' that has the shipping fee & sales tax amounts built in so that makes adding customer tickets super fast, plus I don't have to carry a calculator.  I just need MY iPad.  (Can you totally tell how fast I'm talking as I think of this in my head!  EXCITEMENT!!!)

And I got to thinking.  If I could scan my jewelry catalog & store it on iBooks, I could have most of what I need right on my iPad.  You would not believe how many times you have to flip through the book for people.  Plus I have to carry a book...& they are not light.  

I sat at my desk for an hour Saturday night (I was too excited to stop!) & scanned the 110 pages of the catalog into my computer as a pdf file.  (Plus the 15 pages of the Holiday collection...)

Sonny was very helpful.  (Post note:  Sonny is in the house if we are home now.  He is a good cat.  He sleeps with us & lays on the couch & lounges.  He was actually a neighbors house cat before he came to us.  Also-B-rad found Sparky.  Remember I told you he was gone when we got home from Hawaii?  He was in the back corner of the shed & had died.  Poor Sparky... sniff, sniff...)

THIS is the finished product people.  What you are seeing here is a modern marvel, if I do say so myself.  110 full color pages or the prettiest jewelry you've ever seen.... all on MY iPad.  And I.LOVE.IT.  All the pages show as small thumbnails on the bottom & I can just put my finger on the page number I want & go!  I also scanned the index pages as a seperate file.  One of the other big questions I get is, "What page is such & such on?"  Now I can tell them without picking up a book.  Ahhhhh....

 I love my iPad.  Maybe more than I love B-rad...I'm not sure yet.  I had 2 shows I used it at over the weekend & it was awesome.  Ya'll know I love me some technology & if this ain't cool to you - well then you're just ca-razy (& have NO clue what cool is...).  Now, if I can figure out how to blog from the damn thing (I have issues with uploading pics) - I will be unstoppable.  (And then I will love it more than B-rad...)