It was a great relationship, but it was time to go our separate ways

After a week of late-night chats, watching hilarious movies together, and introducing him to basically everyone I know, Donovan and I decided it just wasn’t going to work out. It’s all going to be fine. Friends come and go, and it’s rare that someone sticks around for a really long time. I get that. Besides, the NCSU Libraries said they’d charge me an exorbitant amount of money if I didn’t bring him back.

Let me just say, though, I wasn’t entirely upset. I didn’t even return him. I really did pimp him out to my friend, Dana, in exchange for Dana’s Macbook Pro. A good decision, I think. (Don’t worry, don’t worry, Dana returned him.)

In the opinion of this “witty student” (some guy at the N&O called me that!), the iPad is a fantastic toy for Steve Jobs and other men just like him. If you are a corporate executive, or anything similar, who travels much, sits in coffee shops often or has business meetings, then this is the toy for you. The device is sleek and beautiful for display of budgets, graphs, and other (already created) data. It is lightweight and easily fits in to my Timbuktu bag for travel without weighing me down. Reading books, browsing the web, and watching my streaming Netflix account were all easily done and easy on the eyes. Be forewarned, you’ll need an anti-glare thingiemabobber.. one of those $5.99 pieces of plastic allowing you to focus solely on the display rather than your own reflection.

However, while I do travel quite often and sit in coffee shops even more often (like now!), I require hardware that allows me to be just an itsy bit more efficient. My list of software includes Lightroom, Photoshop, and the Microsoft Office Suite. None of these are currently able to run on the device. Also, on average, I watch 20 minutes of TV a week, if not less, and the only time I’m on YouTube is when someone simply cannot wait to show me something REALLY AWESOME!  Given my time allotment for television, you can imagine just how much free time I have floating around for random applications. And if we’re being completely honest, I’d rather spend free time with a hilarious troupe of women learning how to play Pinochle than I would destroying zombies or reading up on digg.com.  Don’t get me wrong, digg is an amazing website and does a lot of good things that I rather enjoy. A bunch of loud, Southern women playing Pinochle just sounds like a better time.

In the end, however, the iPad just doesn’t fit in to my life all that well. Granted, I am not your average student. The box I check for “Age” on any standard form is one higher than your typical university student, and I realize that brings different cards to the table. However, the assignment was to use it as if it were my own and see how well things went.

Considering that Donovan was really only good at parties and I wound up trading him for something else, I think that speaks pretty clearly in regards to the latter. While I definitely loved my time with him, my daily life begs for something more versatile.

I am not Steve Jobs. Nor am I a wo/man in a similar position. However, if you feel that I could benefit by having my own version of Donovan, complete with Wi-Fi, 3G, and large storage capacity, I cannot say that I would turn you down.