One of the Solutions to my school holiday headache

It was not planned and I was not even aware that this tablet was made available in Malaysia early last week. When I was in the UK in June this year, I was sikit-sikit berangan  to get the wifi model (lowest) spec but couldn't find any Apple store during the last few days of my stay there. It was priced at BP429 then (about RM2102 with 4.9 conversion rate).
When it was officially launched in Malaysia, the lowest spec was priced at RM1,549. There was not much hype about it as many Malaysian has resorted to buying their iPads from Europe, UK, Australia and Singapore. Some even bought the 'underwater' ones in the IT shops in KL. My friend told me that 'underwater' iPads costed about RM2800!!! Wow! For those who were not patient enough to wait for 30th Nov 2010 must be spitting on their computer (or iPad screen) looking at the prices for Malaysian market.
Many of the online reviewers advised not to buy iPad now as iPad 2 will be announced probably in April 2011. So, I was silently planning to start saving to buy iPad 2 next year.
On 30th Nov morning, I left for work a bit later than usual as I was going to conduct a training somewhere in Puchong, which was only 5 minutes drive from home. I stopped at petrol station and picked up The Star. The iPad launch made it to one of the smaller headlines.

During coffee break that morning I asked one of the participants whether there's any Apple store at IOI Mall. Well, although I live in Puchong I haven't been to many parts of that mall for such a very long time. Ever since Fitness First Empire Gallery was opened, I hardly go to the gym at IOI. Damn the 'laluan kontra' from 4.30pm - 8.30pm!!! (yeah, still cursing it even after so many months already). The participant I asked, didn't even look like an Apple fan (he used a Nokia phone, BTW). He's heard of iPad but was not aware that it was only made officially available in Malaysia on that day. *sigh*
We finished class early so I rushed to IOI mall with my gym bag. I haven't been able to go to gym for more than a month with all these year end things going on in the office. Whenever I get the chance, I'll leave early and head to the gym. While running on the treadmill I texted Mr. Hubby about iPad availability in the country and asked whether he'd like one. His reply was 'I nak 2 bijik!'
After working out for about an hour, I packed my things and prepared some loose change to pay for the parking ticket. As I walked out of the gym I saw many people in the epicenter shop. Yes, they do have authorized Apple reseller in that mall. There were a few families and couples playing with the iPads on display. They only had a few units for people to play around with. Since I've played with it so many times when we first saw it in Manchester, I wasted no time and made a beeline to the counter.
After fifteen minutes, I was walking happily (how I wished I could skip all the way hehehe) to my car with a 32GB Wifi + 3G iPad in my gym bag. Hooray!
When I reached home, I took it out and presented to Mr. Hubby and wished him a very advanced Happy Birthday (his birthday is 8th Jan, anyway... ) He looked a bit surprised and told me he didn't know how to use it. Later that night I showed some of its functionality but he didn't look very impressed or interested in the gadget.
The next day I spent some time to synch the iPad with my iTunes at home, put in Mr Hubby's favorite songs, photos he recently took with his new camera and downloaded a few top grossing games from the App Store. Once I was done I showed him what I've put in. He admired the photo quality for a few minutes before he lost interest again. Then I showed him how to play Angry Birds HD. Ever since he started playing that game, he never stopped and hooked to it until today.
I also downloaded a few free games for the children. They're experts with iPhone so it took them no time to explore iPad. The good thing is every game can be a multiplayer game with a touchscreen. They've been playing Cut The Rope, PACman, Ninja Jump, Tappy Tap, Smurf Village and Restaurant Story. Too bad they have to take turns with Mr Hubby to play. (Oh, I've already gave some hints to Mr Hubby that iPad 2 is coming out some time next year, and I prefer if he gets one in July... hehe).
For now my headache can be considered solved as the kids spend more time playing with the iPad than wrestling in my room or having one on one soccer game in the living area.
But now comes a new headache, they always ask me for the time as they need to harvest their potatoes/tomatoes/carrots/strawberries at the Smurf Village before they all wilt. Whenever we go out, they'd insist we go home early so that they can check their plants and then prepare food for the customers in Restaurant Story. I hope this is better than buying them PS3 and they just sat in front of the screen and refuse to go out. I hope both of them have totally forgotten about PS3... hihihi...

Note: Picture was Googled.