Early Birthday Present

I get gadget lust, especially if the gadget is an "i"-something. However, I thought I had the lust beat this time. In 2003, I bought a first generation iPod....I still have it but it looks like a Commodore 64 now. I also have an iPod Shuffle, an iPod Video and an iPhone. I'm bowing my head in embarrassment. The Video was justified by passing the first generation on to my husband, the Shuffle was justified because the Video is too big for the gym and the phone was justified, well, because it was a phone. I thought this over-consumption had taught me a lesson - never buy the first generation of any of Mr. Jobs' inventions because a few months later, a slicker, more powerful version will appear on store shelves.

So, when the iPad became available here in April, I was convinced I didn't need one. I wanted the souped-up iPad, with multi-tasking, app folders, a camera and memory slots...surely it would be just around the corner after the launch of the 4G phone. It wouldn't be more than a year. I could wait.

But then two months later I found myself stopping the ffwd function during PVR commercial skip so I could watch the iPad ads. It seems as though this subliminally encouraged Dave to buy me one, but "only the 16G, WiFi version, so we can justify a better one when the next generation hits shelves." Brilliant work, Mr. Jobs and Apple marketing team.

Deets: f/3.5, 1/320, 70mm, ISO800