Here's the pile of electronica that travels to Calypso: Christine's EVO which gets no Sprint signal in Maine, Jonathan's old Blackberry which gets signal just fine this year thank you, two aging laptops, Christine's Kindle, at least two stand alone cameras, all the assorted cables and chargers and chips and readers and batteries. Yee gads, was it really that long ago when we sailed through pea soup fog with a compass, a watch and a paper chart, wrote postcards home, and put quarters in a pay phone?

And, drum roll please.... now our new Ipad.

Ok now that you have recovered from laughing hysterically, I confess to being a late adopter, confirmed Luddite, why do I need that latest fandangle? There is a certain amount of pride that comes with being the last person in the western world to own an Ipad. But it has not taken me long to admire this sweet little item that shows me the thunderstorm bearing down on us from 50 miles away, and could probably hold all the nautical charts of the world, seamlessly responding to a few taps of a finger.

Now you can place your bets on how long it will be before we decide we cannot share "Paddy" and need another one.