Veronica and I had been tossing around the idea of getting her a new Apple Ipad.
I started doing some research and read many reviews comparing the Ipad vs. other available tablets.
About 1 month ago I started saving my money up to get her one and figured that I would have enough money saved up by Christmas time for an Ipad2 and a protective cover for it..
We were mainly looking for a 64gb plus 3G...with a data plan that would preferably be through Verizon.
I can't remember why, but for some reason we started checking on line to see what the prices were at various stores online.
We have purchased quite a bit of electronic items from a place called Vann's...a company based in Montana that has an online site. Vann's is a very reputable company that does not charge tax, except those that live in MT and for the most part, all items ship for free. Their prices can be pretty good at times.
While I was out in the garage doing my workout, Veronica popped her head out and told me that Vann's had an Ipad on sale for about $350.00 off.
I was a little skeptical to say the least.
I came in and went to the Vann's web site and found out that it was the original Apple Ipad 64GB with 3G that was on sale for a really good price, not the Ipad2, which is the latest version.
I decided to do a comparison between the original Ipad and the Ipad2, which sells for about $829.00....quite a chunk of change.
Some of the major changes made from the Ipad to the Ipad2 are a front facing and back facing camera.
These cameras have very low mega pixels and based on reviews that I have read, not very good cameras at all.
The Ipad2 was also given a much faster chip thus making it a really great tablet for the gamer genre.
I believe that there were a few other minor upgrades that the Ipad2 received over the original Ipad.
Since Veronica and I have nice cameras that are dedicated to taking photos and videos, the 2 cameras in the Ipad2 were needless upgrades for us.
As far as the much faster chip that the Ipad2 has, it would be nice to have pages/apps or anything else we wanted to see load up quicker but neither one of us are gamers. From what I had heard, the original Ipad was fairly fast to begin with but by no means as quick as the Ipad2.
Another change was made to the battery so that the battery life on the Ipad2 was a couple of hours longer that the original Ipad.
What we found at the Vann's web site was a brand new black in color original Apple Ipad with 64GB and 3G...where you could choose your own preference...ours being Verizon.
The original regular selling price of this Ipad was $829.77 but because it was on sale the price now was $479.77....a savings of $350.00 or approximately 42% off of the original price.
So Veronica and I sat down and discussed the pros and cons of the Ipad and the Ipad2 to see if the upgrades included in the Ipad2 justified us to pay an extra $350.00 for them.
The bottom line was that the upgraded Ipad2 was not worth the additional $350.00 and thus Veronica has her new Ipad on its way to her as I type this blog entry.
Vann's also had an Otterbox brand of protective cover that had a built in screen protector, which is an important feature to me, for a really good price of $33.77
I also decided to get a Square Trade warranty, that adds an additional 2 years onto the manufacturers warranty for a total of 3 years of great protection for this device. This warranty cost $59.00.
I think we made a good sound decision and I am sure that Veronica will really enjoy this device.
I also like the fact that we got a really good price on this Ipad.
My main problem was that this Ipad was supposed to be purchased in December and was to be given to Veronica as a Christmas gift.
Now I have to figure out a new gift to give her for Christmas.
Tomorrow Veronica is having a party for those that work at TJMaxx. I will have to get up early to do the grilling and tonight we will have to take a lot of the food items over to the clubhouse and then do some prep work on various platters for the party.
The weather people were talking about an 80% chance of thunderstorms for tomorrow but now it is down to 50%. Who knows but maybe by the time tomorrow rolls around, there will be a 10% chance of showers and instead of it being strictly an indoor party due to the bad weather, those attending might actually be able to go swimming in the pool that is outside of the clubhouse.
Return From Our Most Recent Road Trip
This last Monday, Veronica had a business trip to Herndon, VA. I went with her just to get away for a bit.
It was about a 5-6 hour drive from our house to the hotel...a Crowne Plaza near Dulles Airport.
The hotel was not bad at all except that I had to change rooms as soon as we got to our assigned room. Unfortunately the a/c was not working, so after a maintenance worker came to check it out, he made one hone call and we were assigned the room right next door.
I did not do too much the first day in the hotel.
After looking out of our room window, I noticed that there was a school and a bunch of soccer fields behind the hotel. I also noticed that there was an asphalt walkway between many of the fields and along the outside edges of the fields.
The next morning I headed out to what turned out to be some sort of "park" where all of these soccer fields were at.
I easily put together a walking route that would have me walk everywhere that this asphalt walkway went.
The walkway must have been close to 6-7/10ths of a mile long. I decided to do 10 laps which included double legs on most portions of each lap. This made it to be almost 20 times around most portions of this walking route that I had figured out.
After doing my walk, I tried out the hotels gym, which had a couple of weight lifting benches and several sized and weighted dumb bells.
I ended up getting a really good workout in and best of all...I did not hurt myself like I did when we were in Orlando.
On our last night in Herndon, Veronica and I went to the Reston Towne Center which is a really nice area full of shops and restaurants.
We walked around and enjoyed each others company and then got something to eat and finished up with a little shopping.
We decided not to stay out too late because we had to get up early the next morning so that we could beat the morning rush hour DC and vicinity traffic.
4AM came awful early the following morning.
We ended up stopping a a Walmart that was on our way home and packed the car up with items that we needed and could save money by buying them away from our home area, which is probably about 20% higher than what we pay for away from the area.
We finally made it home pretty well wiped out and tired from our early morning trip. After putting everything away and starting some wash, we took it easy for a bit before laying down for a nap.
Between the travel and shopping it sure made for a long day.
This upcoming Sunday Veronica is throwing a party for all of her associates and management personnel. We will be having it at the clubhouse in our neighborhood...actually the clubhouse and pool are about a 45 second walk from our place.
There will be some people coming to the clubhouse for the party but those that have to work will have their party at the store.
Unfortunately they are talking about an 80% chance of thunderstorms on Sunday.
I was going to roll our grill to the clubhouse but because of the layout of the outside area, with little protection from driving wind and rain, I will be doing all of the grilling in our open garage area.
We will be having kabobs, hamburgers and hotdogs.
I will the food for both the clubhouse group and the store party. The cooked food for the store party will be driven to the store that way everyone will be able to have some cooked food and other goodies.
It should make for another full day.
It was about a 5-6 hour drive from our house to the hotel...a Crowne Plaza near Dulles Airport.
The hotel was not bad at all except that I had to change rooms as soon as we got to our assigned room. Unfortunately the a/c was not working, so after a maintenance worker came to check it out, he made one hone call and we were assigned the room right next door.
I did not do too much the first day in the hotel.
After looking out of our room window, I noticed that there was a school and a bunch of soccer fields behind the hotel. I also noticed that there was an asphalt walkway between many of the fields and along the outside edges of the fields.
The next morning I headed out to what turned out to be some sort of "park" where all of these soccer fields were at.
I easily put together a walking route that would have me walk everywhere that this asphalt walkway went.
The walkway must have been close to 6-7/10ths of a mile long. I decided to do 10 laps which included double legs on most portions of each lap. This made it to be almost 20 times around most portions of this walking route that I had figured out.
After doing my walk, I tried out the hotels gym, which had a couple of weight lifting benches and several sized and weighted dumb bells.
I ended up getting a really good workout in and best of all...I did not hurt myself like I did when we were in Orlando.
On our last night in Herndon, Veronica and I went to the Reston Towne Center which is a really nice area full of shops and restaurants.
We walked around and enjoyed each others company and then got something to eat and finished up with a little shopping.
We decided not to stay out too late because we had to get up early the next morning so that we could beat the morning rush hour DC and vicinity traffic.
4AM came awful early the following morning.
We ended up stopping a a Walmart that was on our way home and packed the car up with items that we needed and could save money by buying them away from our home area, which is probably about 20% higher than what we pay for away from the area.
We finally made it home pretty well wiped out and tired from our early morning trip. After putting everything away and starting some wash, we took it easy for a bit before laying down for a nap.
Between the travel and shopping it sure made for a long day.
This upcoming Sunday Veronica is throwing a party for all of her associates and management personnel. We will be having it at the clubhouse in our neighborhood...actually the clubhouse and pool are about a 45 second walk from our place.
There will be some people coming to the clubhouse for the party but those that have to work will have their party at the store.
Unfortunately they are talking about an 80% chance of thunderstorms on Sunday.
I was going to roll our grill to the clubhouse but because of the layout of the outside area, with little protection from driving wind and rain, I will be doing all of the grilling in our open garage area.
We will be having kabobs, hamburgers and hotdogs.
I will the food for both the clubhouse group and the store party. The cooked food for the store party will be driven to the store that way everyone will be able to have some cooked food and other goodies.
It should make for another full day.
Veronica's Birthday
Yesterday was Veronica's birthday.
She turned 32............again???!!!!
Not sure how she does that but who am I to question how a person can stay the same age year after year. Then again...who am I to want to be living in the doghouse for several months for asking such questions.
My doghouse is not air conditioned and in this heat, not a place I want to be for any length of time.
For her birthday I got Veronica some new clothes and an Apple Ipad with protective case and an extended service warranty.
Happy Birthday dear.
I hope that you enjoy wearing those new clothes and playing with your new toy.
With that Ipad off of the wish list, I have no idea what to get her for Christmas.
I know what I want.......
An air conditioner for my doghouse!!!!!
She turned 32............again???!!!!
Not sure how she does that but who am I to question how a person can stay the same age year after year. Then again...who am I to want to be living in the doghouse for several months for asking such questions.
My doghouse is not air conditioned and in this heat, not a place I want to be for any length of time.
For her birthday I got Veronica some new clothes and an Apple Ipad with protective case and an extended service warranty.
Happy Birthday dear.
I hope that you enjoy wearing those new clothes and playing with your new toy.
With that Ipad off of the wish list, I have no idea what to get her for Christmas.
I know what I want.......
An air conditioner for my doghouse!!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Free website hit counter