iPad 2

The Apple iPad is truly an awesome device.  Running Apple’s iOS operating system, it’s like a big iPhone, and then some.  I was given one this past Christmas, and turned on the 3G access for the first time this weekend.

I have been using my iPad in the house since Christmas.  With WiFi, I’ve downloaded a number of magazines, books, newspaper apps, games, etc.  It’s been a great “couch companion” to go with watching TV or Podcasts.

After almost a month of having it, the time finally came for me to turn on the 3G access.  It really was a simple matter, after just a few minutes, I had setup a 1GB per month account.

This was very useful for my fiancé I this weekend while we were house hunting.  Victoria was my navigator, leading the way and pulling up listings on the Internet.  We were on the web all day long, and still only used 1MB of data.  Not bad at all.

While Victoria used the iPad, the boys were in the back seat using our iPhones to play games.  Seven year old Jacob was playing Plants vs. Zombies and three year old Christian was playing Angry Birds, listening to Music, and shopping in the iTunes store.  Yes, three year old Christian.

I know my experience was nothing special, but it shows one of the many ways that the iPad is a truly awesome device, that definitely has a place in our household.

Today was bonkers, but in a good way. Victoria and I, kids included, went house hunting. It was a long but good day, and another done of those good family experiences.

Almost immediately after filing for her tax return, Victoria began working on looking for a place. She has already done the math for our budget, and came up with a figure that tells us what we can afford per month for rent.

We looked at a few houses she found on the Internet, but quickly found out that what we want to live in is going to cost us a little more than we first wanted to spend per month.

After a long day of searching, we have found a handful of great houses on our side of town. One in Coral Creek… a 4 bedroom, 2 bath home with huge kitchen, living room, and back yard. It’s a tad old looking, but with that space it’s great! I love the kitchen and living room especially with this house. Plus, it keeps the kids in the school district we want them to be in.

We found three more houses in a neighborhood off of Muldoon Rd. All are nice, but 3 bed instead of 4, and a bit smaller overall. If the house in Coral Creek falls through, these are great options as well.

Also, I found a two story house in The Floridian off of Blue Angel Parkway. 3 bed, 2 bath, and a bit of a terror of a back yard, but it’s a nice house in our price range and a very acceptable option.

All these were found after we ate a great lunch at Ruby Tuesday’s. I really like that restaurant. I had steak and shrimp, Vic had buffalo chicken sandwiches and the kids had chicken too.

On thing that really worked out was the iPad. I turned on the 3G for today and it was awesome. Victoria used the iPad to look up houses on the fly, and we gave our iPhones to the kids to play games. Thank you Steve Jobs (RIP).