Now, just to clarify, I’m no Apple hater. I don’t have the trademark intensely-burning dislike towards the company that my fellow Windows and/or Android-centric acolytes seem to share. But I’m not a fan of their closed nature, and I promised myself long ago that anytime I was given the option, I would always work to choose the one that provides me greater control over my technology.

But I have to admit that the iPad is indeed beautiful and immensely functional. And my wife really wanted one. It dovetails nicely with everything she needs to be able to do for our family and her personal business. This is especially necessary, since every laptop she’s ever owned seems to sputter out and die within a year (it doesn’t help that I’m a stingy old bastard, and tend to gravitate towards cheap laptop deals). And when I discovered that I was able to score an iPad 2 using my ridiculous amount of business travel miles, the choice was simple.

So, Happy Mother’s Day to my wonderful wife, the fantastic matriarch of our busy little family! Now please excuse me while I go take a shower to wash off the hideous realization that I now have to install iTunes on all of our computers.