iPad

As my declaration of need for an audio office evoked such a lively discussion in our “comments” section on Facebook, I determined a trek to the Apple Store was warranted.  I have conducted audio experiments in side-by-side comparisons of Bose, Dr. Dre Beats, and Apple standard issue headphones. Dr. Bose won in a landslide.  Noise cancelling will be deferred for now, but sound quality will not, I'm going for the other Doctor of headphones.

As the Memorial weekend brought luxurious weather, it seemed fitting that a paddle on our local chain of lakes should preface a trip to the Uptown Apple Store.

“I need to get a hat.”  Great, Hoigaards, our local, family-owned outdoor store is on the way.

“I was thinking of the haberdashery.”

I seriously doubt they sell bucket hats at the local haberdashery.

It’s a Henry vs Humphrey style debate that plays out regularly

“Mom, I need help writing my turtle essay”.  “Mom, why don’t you write about me in your blog posts, I have good stories.”  “Mom, I need…blah, blah, blah, money, money, money.”  “Mom here are the 12 of the next 18 nights you will be preoccupied with attending my year-end concerts.”  “Mrs. PQ , I need you to re write the copy on our Etsy Store page.”

I need a pair of headphones.  Not just the ubiquitous, white knobs that accompany every iPhone, iPad and iAnything Apple, but rather a large, glaringly red, pair of Dr. Dre’s Beats.  Apple, would you please accelerate your purchase of said company so I can become an in-office product tester.  Of course, Bose “noise cancelling” headphones would also do the trick, but I fear the house would burn down in a world muted to that degree.

Rob Walker, @notrobwalker, Yahoo’s resident

We received the unenviable broadcast text from the high school principal: do not panic, there was a small car fire in the parking lot, it’s been put out and no children were injured.  The wait begins.   Eventually, the subsequent text came from the driving kid assuring us that her car was just fine.  As the Tall, Lanky one just wrapped his role as Francisco Franco and an aristocrat in Evita; we’ve had enough drama in the house for now, we didn’t need to add burnt-out car to the list.

Since I rarely address my children by their given name, unless they are in trouble, I simply had to look up “tall, lanky one in Spanish”.  Alto Lago wasn’t terribly inspiring so it won’t likely christen an iPhone 6 design, no matter how phabulous the phone might be.

Waiting and drama efficiently summarize the mood at Pad and Quill world headquarters these days.  With Angela Ahrendts taking over the helm

Last year I wrote a Mother’s Day post replete with not so subtle hints for gifts I may or may not be coveting for my outdoor adventures.  The kids gave me a plant; lovely, but not quite handy as a means of propelling oneself down a scenic river way.   If they want to “go green” this year, may I suggest trees?  Specifically, 11 laminates of butternut, basswood, black willow and alder...eh hem.

They don’t read my blogs, so this year I might resort to more drastic measures.  Believe me, I am not beyond blackmail.  Thankfully, I hold particular sway this year over our best gift giver in our family, next to Mr. PQ of course.  The youngest kid will survey your gift suggestions, perhaps  a month in advance, he will then set a budget, work the appropriate hours, accounting for taxes and savings and then walk to Target to procure a

Attention iTunes App developers, I need help, again.  As I continue my Pinterest inspired assault on our disorganized home, I delved into the freezer in search of an idea for Wednesday’s supper.  Having a few extra minutes, it seemed an opportune time to initiate and archeological type dig to the bottom, hoping the history of my purchases ceased somewhere in mid 2013.  Having passed into the third Costco layer, I discovered a beautifully shrink wrapped pork tenderloin.   As I’d already unearthed another package marked “beef for stew or other” I retired from my work and returned to the kitchen to commence thawing my discoveries in a sink of hot water.  (Hint: infinitely better then microwaving).  With a mid April snow falling softly by the windows, I consulted with Tyler Florence to discover a means of heating up the evening

Spring is officially here, which means that a quarter of the year is already up. We’ve already seen a few of the things that Apple has done, but what are they planning on for the other nine months of this year?

We’ve had some moody menfolk in the Pad and Quill household of late, and what a span of moods it is.  I’m beginning to agree with the fifteen year old who contends that men do indeed have a monthly cycle.  Mr. PQ is simply thrilled to have booked reservations at both of Tyler Florence’s restaurants in the San Francisco area at the end of this month.  Mr. PQ’s man crush on Tyler is so pervasive I’m beginning to wonder if I should worry.  Forty years of learning have taught me to wield a paring knife reasonably well but Brian is never going to see this any time soon.

At the other end of the spectrum sits the thirteen year old who had the audacity to get sulky on our recent holiday to the beaches of Florida.  Notwithstanding the fact that we had escaped a week of sub zero, snowy days, he also had 6 days

Apple has become synonymous with innovation and intuitiveness, giving the world the powerful, yet simple to use, iPhone, the MacBook Air, and different versions of the iPod suited for every personality. But if there was a crystal ball that could predict the next creations that Apple makes, what would it show?

I'm not always known as the grammar expert here at PQ. Not only does Mrs. PQ points this out, but occasionally a friendly customer. I had a general idea what 'curated' meant, but needed to back up with some authority so I went to the Internet...

According to dictionary.com, one of the definitions is the following:

"to pull together, sift through, and select for presentation, as music or website content"

That's about right, I'm going with it. Several months back we wanted to bring in a local artist to showcase their work on our Author Series for iPad Air and Mini cases. The search was not hard as Tamrah Ryan is a good friend of Pad & Quill and has a great eye for design.

The two newest iPads—the iPad Air and iPad Mini 2—were only released a few months ago, but it’s time to take a look at how they stack up against the competition. Some of the most notable rivals include the Galaxy Note 10.1 and Nexus 10 and though there are more, those two are the ones we’ll be comparing to the iPads.