Thursday, May 27, 2010

An iPad ate my blog


Same blog. New medium.
Richmond Hill, ON, April 2010


I put precious little effort into maintaining the visuals of my blog. I use a standard template that's been barely modified since I first chose it, oh, about five years ago. I know it's dowdy, but my philosophy has never been to wow folks with my web coding skills. The sad truth is I have none. Sure, I can tweak code in a pinch, but I haven't mastered CSS, XML, Flash or any other known online development language or tool. I'm a writer, not a programmer, so instead of spending time making a pretty template, I've chosen to focus on words and pictures instead.

Lame, I know.

Still, I get a little thrill whenever I see my blog on a screen that I wouldn't normally use. For example, I find it incredibly freeing to walk into an Apple Store and load up Written Inc. on one of their big-screen iMacs. I like to stand back and see if total strangers will actually read it. I do the same thing at Best Buy, or any other quasi-public space that has freely-accessible, Internet-connected browsers.

I'll often take pictures of the result because, well, I find it neat to look at the familiar through a new lens. Sometimes, the vessel does indeed make what it holds look and feel just a little different. So when my brother-in-law handed me his brand spanking new iPad, there was never any question what I'd do with it first.

Incidentally, May 28th is a big day here in Canada, as the iPad will finally be available at retail here. Canucks who pre-ordered their units earlier this month should be getting them just in time for the weekend. It isn't the second coming and it won't clean up the Gulf of Mexico or make electric cars suddenly affordable. But it remains one of the more exciting tech introductions of the year, and it makes me sound somewhat interesting at parties. Otherwise, I'd be all over the guacamole. And we wouldn't want that.

Your turn: Tell us about one time when you looked at something familiar in a new way.

About this photo: We're supporting Thematic Photographic's second week of looking at (into? Through?) glass. Click here to share your own glassy vision.

4 comments:

dennisthemennis.co.uk said...

hahahahahahah two things made me laugh so much reading that, I too change the macs to my blog in the apple store and then stand back to see if anyone reads them, only to watch the store guys change them back! (i thought i was the only sad one) and you covered in guacamole sounds like a photo waiting to happen.

I am hoping for an ipad for my 40th birthday in july not because im a geek, honest.

Rick Morayniss said...

I am having too much fun fooling around with my Android tablet (changing roms, looking at code) to even think of getting something as locked down as the Ipad.

David Edward said...

yesterday I watched the steam from a PRO carpet cleaner drift about the room as the late afternoon sun backlit the scene. I thought of how your pictures have driven my eyes and brain to new levels of awareness.
Life is so good I can hardly describe it.
seeing the end, makes you appreciate the middle more

Karen (formerly kcinnova) said...

My favorite iPad feature (not that I have one -- I've only played on a friend's) is the pool of water with stones at the bottom. Touch the water and watch it ripple... the effect is calming.