The TouchPad Widow, Part 1

Some women bemoan being football widows around this time of the year, or more specifically from where I'm writing, Boise State football widows. I thought I was so fortunate, after growing up a non-sports fan in a live-eat-breathe sports family, to find a sports un-enthusiast husband.

But I have now joined your ranks, football widows. Except in my case, I have become "The TouchPad Widow." I thought I was safe in marrying an intellectual computer geek who was more interested in codes and algorithms than the Superbowl, but I didn't realize that a tech toy "is to" software engineers "as" the NFL season "is to" sports fanatics.

Hewlett-Packard is selling off its TouchPad stock - $99 for the 16GB and $150 for the 32 GB. Just to put this into perspective, the 16GB model was around $500 when it was first launched.
After hearing about the clearance sale, Dan and I spent many sleepless nights discussing whether or not we were going to purchase a TouchPad at this deeply discounted price.

Q: Do we need a TouchPad? Would it really be that much more convenient?
A: No, it would just be a toy.

Q: Is HP even going to continue supporting them?
A: Maybe for a little while.

Q: Do we really want to promote the use of conflict minerals and overseas slave labor through this purchase?
A: No, but the company won't be making much of a profit off this anyway.
Q: Doesn't that sound a bit like a rationalization?
A: Yeah . . . probably . . .

Q: Do you remember how I used to call iPads "i-Maxi-Pads" when they first came out?
A: Yes.
Q: That was so funny, huh?
A: Hilarious.

Eventually, Dan had to make a decision.

"The sale opens tomorrow morning at 10:00. My manager scheduled our meeting a half-hour later just so we could all snag TouchPads."

"Are you going to buy one after all?"

Dan crinkled his eyebrows, "I don't know. You can't watch Netflix or Hulu on it - although I might be able to hack into it. You can't use iTunes or iBooks. It doesn't support Android or Apple apps. It's WiFi only, no 3G or GPS . . . "

"Sounds fantastic," I said sarcastically.

"But it's only $99."

"Then you should just get it."

"Okay."

"Is that all you wanted, for me to make the decision?"

"Yes," and with that, Dan was off to work.

He returned that afternoon, having successfully ordered a TouchPad before the website and call center crashed. The order was expected to arrive on our front doorstep that weekend. Little did I know that I was one step closer to becoming The TouchPad Widow.

Join me next week when I write about post-TouchPad life in "The TouchPad Widow, Part 2."

Check out my writing in An Eclectic Collage Volume 2: Relationships of Life, now available at www.freundshippress.com. For more information, visit the book's Facebook page.