Marking time...

[alexpgp]

Dinner yesterday was at a Japanese/Thai place called Galangal on Jericho Turnpike in Syosset, just east of the LIRR underpass. I had seen the sign on the street several times over the past couple of years, but could not figure out where the restaurant might be located, because the only plausible location was behind a rather austere structure housing a Coldwell Banker real estate office. So yesterday, as I approached the Coldwell Banker driveway, I decided to take a chance and turned in.

The restaurant is in the back, next to a couple of other small businesses. And a nice find it was, too. Galina had stir-fried string beans and cashews with shrimp; I had pad noodles with calamari. All of it was excellent, and even Galina, who is generally sparing of her praise of restaurants, was pleased with the food and the service.

The meal put a cap on a day of shopping, as most of the stuff I had brought from Colorado was deemed unsuitable for wear in Europe. We visited the nearby Walt Whitman mall, which surprised me by having yet another Apple store inside, just a dozen or so miles from the one I've known about at Roosevelt Field. I guess the population density around here—not to mention the demand for the products inside—justifies having two stores so close together.

Friday's expected flood of work did not materialize on Friday, and failed to appear today as well, except for a letter written to inform the end client of status. The volume and my location gave me an opportunity to put the idea of "translating using the iPad" to the test. I worked the letter over breakfast at the McDonald's just down the road, and then came back to the room to transfer the product to my netbook for despeckling.

My overall first impression of the iPad as a text processing platform (using QuickOffice) is that it's usable, but (a) I'm not sure how well I'd like to use it for work over prolonged periods of time, and (b) the netbook is still required for despeckling.

In light of the light work day, the rest of the day was spent lounging around and visiting some more shops, both to return some merchandise and pick some up.

Checkout time tomorrow is 10 am. Gotta go get ready.

Cheers...

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPad.

Comments

[velvet-granat.livejournal.com]

I am currently drooling over this (http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/ipad-and-tablets/asus-eee-pad-transformer-review-50002197/?s_cid=41) tablet. The keyboard dock seems very useful for on-the-go work, and I like the Android platform. Sadly, it won't run memoQ, unlike my 9" travel notebook... but on the other hand, it's shiny :)

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

It sure is. Asus makes good hardware. Android still seems a little young, though.

Cheers...

[velvet-granat.livejournal.com]

My main laptop is from Asus, and it works beautifully. Nice keyboard too, I use a curved ergonomic one at home, but don't really need to as the laptop keyboard is very comfortable.
I've a HTC Magic phone which runs Android, and it's lovely. A bit young perhaps, as you say, but reliable and fresh. Lots of fun apps, too :)

[platofish.livejournal.com]

My pudgy fingers make typing on the iPad a bit hit or miss. I bought a wireless keyboard a couple of weeks ago.......and though this is great, except I really need a mouse/trackpad.....which you can't use with an iPad. So, basically for inputting text I do the same as you. Pull together a mistake raddled draft on the iPad using the wireless keyboard, and then edit on a 'proper' laptop. So....when I travel I now take iPad AND a laptop. Its not the laptop replacement solution I hoped it would be.

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

Well, given the kind of stuff I do on a laptop, I probably never really thought of an iPad as a replacement (although according to something I read recently, something like 40% of iPad users use the device as their primary machine).

I find it ideal for stuff like the map application, doing web searches, the Kindle application, and looking at photos.

Cheers...

[platofish.livejournal.com]

For traveling - or sitting on the sofa surfing the net - its ideal. But, its not good for doing anything approaching 'work'.

Which is unfortunate.....I guess I need to get a netbook.