{"id":2962,"date":"2020-01-28T20:56:42","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T04:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/?p=2962"},"modified":"2020-01-28T20:56:42","modified_gmt":"2020-01-29T04:56:42","slug":"his-dork-materials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iwasmisinformed.com\/?p=2962","title":{"rendered":"his dork materials"},"content":{"rendered":"

The title of this post came to me in a conversation about Sir Phillip Pullman, only to have it pointed out that a nice Canadian fellow called Thomas had long since beat me to it<\/a>. And furthermore, had written about some of the very things driving my interest lately, like the iPad and the Apple Watch.<\/p>\n

The iPad is a late addition to my Apple Glee. I had my retina iPad, my Dynabook, in March of 2012 – and then passed it along to my father-in-law and replaced it with an iPad Mini 2 at Christmas of 2013. Then time happened, and the iPhone X happened, and the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite proved to be the horse for the course, and I basically have barely used the iPad in two and a half years or so. Its battery is nearly shot, the screen prone to weird white streaking at diverse times, and it can\u2019t be upgraded past iOS 12 (not to deny credit for patches up to 12.4.5 as of this very day). It\u2019s still broadly feasible as a device, but there\u2019s nothing it can do at present that the iPhone X doesn\u2019t do almost as well.<\/p>\n

And yet. If I haven\u2019t had a new iPad in six-plus years, I haven\u2019t had a new personal laptop since\u2026well, I haven\u2019t had a personal laptop at all since I handed my Dell netbook to my father-in-law and finally gave back the black MacBook I\u2019d had on indefinite loan from my old colleagues, sometime in\u20262010? Maybe? The last time I laid down money of my own for a Mac laptop was an iBook SE in the autumn of 2000. We\u2019ve had a desktop Mac more or less continuously since 2005, a sort of home furnace for all media content and doing income taxes and a workstation of last resort for when we don\u2019t want to use the ubiquitous work laptops. But I haven\u2019t had – or really needed – a laptop to call my own in I don\u2019t know when.<\/p>\n

So why would I consider an iPad now as a laptop replacement? Possibly to stop myself using my phone all evening. An iPad could be used for 90% of what I do at work, but I wouldn\u2019t use it for work – I\u2019d use it mostly for reading and streaming, occasional note-taking and blogging, maybe movies on planes? Not enough to make it worth the investment; that\u2019s at least $800 for one with sufficient storage to be of broader use, and the line for handing money to Apple starts with a new phone and a new watch, both almost certainly in September. Late rumor has it that the 5.4\u201d iPhone 12, so-called, will only have the regular and super-wide lenses, no telephoto, so not that big a jump up from the notional iPhone 9 – but the 12 will still have a newer processor, a bigger display in the same size device, (allegedly) more RAM, and dual-SIM capability with an eSIM, opening a world of flexibility around travel or personal service. Barring calamity, I don\u2019t see how I can avoid waiting until fall.<\/p>\n

At which point the Watch will (allegedly) be up to Series 6, with (allegedly) newer lower-powered display technology and (maybe) sleep tracking, the thing I\u2019ve needed most all along. If it\u2019s going to be a question of throwing $450 at a problem, better to throw it at a newer solution, right? Even if it means nine months to wait.<\/p>\n

Which gets back to a bigger problem. I look at the ridiculous pile of stuff I accumulated in 2019, everything from an M-65 jacket to a pair of Allbirds (hereafter referred to as Allnerds, even if they are as comfy a sock-less shoe as I\u2019ve ever owned) to a lightsaber to Yet Another Nerf Pistol to AirPod Pros to to to\u2026and I\u2019m starting to get the sense, as I notice my Amazon page signed out and the absence of any new hats at the Vandy bookstore, that I may well be self-medicating through retail. It\u2019s been a long time since I deferred anything; the footwear and Yeti bottles and calling cards and it\u2019s reached a point where if it costs under $50 and I want it, I just buy it. Part of it may be that whole \u201cwe could be nuked tomorrow, why defer joy, you can afford it\u201d sense – which at least is a change from spending six months mulling over a $20 Nerf pistol like ten years ago – but I think part of it is just chasing that dopamine hit of giving myself a present, of indulging myself. I honestly think that wanting to duck into the pub for a cheeky pint on the way home is less about the pint and the Guinness than it is about that indulgence, that urge to treat myself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a dangerous rabbit hole to find myself sliding down. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever had a problem with alcohol. I\u2019ve used opioid painkillers without ever developing a problem, because I was vigilant and judicious about not misusing them. But looking back on the year, I think I\u2019ve skated too close to the thin edge of expecting stuff<\/em> to be my panacea. I\u2019ve tried to be judicious about one-in-one-out, especially with hats and Nerfs, and I could probably give away at least one Yeti tumbler, and I do a pretty good job of shopping my closet now that the Friv-o-list is basically exhausted, but it\u2019s something I need to be cognizant of.<\/p>\n

Whatever ails me, it\u2019s never going to be solved for good with dork materials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The title of this post came to me in a conversation about Sir Phillip Pullman, only to have it pointed out that a nice Canadian fellow called Thomas had long since beat me to it. And furthermore, had written about some of the very things driving my interest lately, like the iPad and the Apple … <\/p>\n

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