A Little Problem

My wife has perhaps the worst sense of direction in the world. You have no idea. She has improved fantastically over the years to the point where it is just weak in a normal way.

Her confidence in her ability to navigate has also grown to maybe 2 out of 10. It used to exist only in negative numbers.

Usually, this is not an issue. Either she is on familiar ground, or we are together.

Early in 2014, we will be off of familiar ground, and not be together all the time.

We will be spending several months in Los Angeles. I will be off training at several classes a day. Helen's original thought was that she'd be stuck our room waiting for me to come back.

Wouldn't that be a horrible waste? In LA with time on her hands, and unable to venture out.

She has come around. I've used Google maps to show her several malls within a stone's throw of where we'll be. I've also pointed out several times that our car has a GPS, and will happily bring her back if she gets lost. It also knows the way to every address in the city.

She also wants to be able to contact me anytime. This is no problem with all the phone options around. It would also be nice if we could track each other on our devices, and have it all work flawlessly. We have such right now, but not with my phone. All our other stuff is Apple, and are perfect for messaging each other and tracking one another. I need an Apple device to replace my phone before we go.

I don't want to replace my current Android device with an actual iPhone. It's a silly for us to both pay hefty monthly fees for two phones. Helen has an iPhone and loves it.

The solution will be an iPad Mini 2 with cellular data, and to dump my phone. The Mini won't be a phone but will message to Helen's phone and be perfect for tracking. When in Canada, my typical monthly bill will be $5. This is a huge saving from what I'm paying now. The only thing we can't use it for is actual voice calls.

So what's the problem? Ditch the phone and get going. The problem is Apple. They refuse to let anybody know anything about their plans. When will the iPad Mini 2 come out? No clue. I don't want to buy the current Mini, as if the new one comes out soon I'll have seriously overpaid. Experts' best guesses on the new machine's release date vary from soon to late fall. Either extreme, or something in between, will work.