Creativity Unleashed

Last Friday, I twisted my back. Despite some minor pains, I was largely okay until Sunday when I managed to wrench my back doing something so mundane, I shall spare you the details. Yesterday, work continued as normal. Today, however, I couldn’t drag myself to the Mad Lab, so instead took advantage of my iPad, more properly named the Portable Mad Lab.

Combined with the fine wireless Apple keyboard, I’m able to get a goodly amount of work done without sitting in front of a desk. My favorite writing app is Notebooks which I have linked to my Dropbox account so anything I write there is available wherever I happen to be. I did, like so many others, make the rounds surveying all the various other tools out there, but this one best suits my needs and is what I’d recommend to anyone wishing (and able) to take a break from their usual surroundings.

A couple of things I note. When I’m working in such a fashion, the keyboard is usually setting on my ottoman with the iPad in landscape mode in its wonderful Saddleback Leather case (which I cannot recommend highly enough). The massive television runs in the background (streaming some show or another from Netflix) while I’m mulling and musing, but it’s frequently paused (as it is right now on a frozen Hitler from Justice League S1:E26 The Savage Time: Part 3). It’s, admittedly, not the most ergonomic of set ups, but when I’m surfing, I just hold the iPad in my hands, turning off the keyboard, and kick back for a few. When I’m typing for an extended period, I’ll rest the keyboard on a firm throw pillow and let the words flow (and, yes, the ottoman is still used for the iPad proper 9 times out of ten).

This set up also works great for me when I go out into the world and I wonder at times if I’d rather have a laptop in my life. (There are times I could use one, but there are some things which really demand–at least for me–a proper desktop, such as layout work and graphic design.

How do you function?

Until next time, I bid you, dear reader, adieu!