How I Spent My Christmas Vacation

(cc Walt Disney)

There are many different reasons I’m a fan of the holidays. It’s a time of hope, promise and general good cheer, and usually a much-needed break from the office.

Holidays are a time to congregate with friends and loved ones and my holiday was no different. My family decided (almost impulsively) to take a trip to Disneyland.  I thought this was a great idea and a great opportunity to show off my GoFlex Satellite to my traveling kinsmen. Oh yeah, and I like Mickey Mouse.

I wouldn’t consider my family technology savants by any means, but nor are they the types to have a collection of For Dummies books on their shelves. They are actually the perfect “demo case” for the GoFlex Satellite just based on their collective interests of music, movies and photos.

Knowing that the road trip to Los Angeles would be ripe with philosophical debate from my sister (check out my Thanksgiving post for more on my family dynamic), I knew that my young son would be more interested in the geopolitical dynamics of Thomas the Tank Engine over any hidden philosophical undertones from Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.

What made the GoFlex Satellite such an easy sell for them is its accessibility. I set them up by downloading the GoFlex Media app from the App Store. Once complete, I had them connect to my hard drive and showcase all the movies, music and photographs I had already loaded.  My son was already watching Cars 2 which I had purchased from iTunes and loaded the night before leaving so he wasn’t even paying attention. But my mother and sister were both floored by the drive and were eager to try it out by playing movies of their own.  And in case you’re wondering, no I didn’t have a copy of Bridesmaids handy. My mother really caught the fire when I told her she could free up space on her iPad by storing all the pictures of her recent Venice trip on the drive.

(cc Ian Flemming)

After we made a pit stop for fuel and a driver change, my father, who got me into gadgets by taking me to James Bond films as a child, was eager to see the drive and was thinking about how handy a device like this would be for all his business trips.

They loved the part about the price and size capacity. But c’mon, (at the risk of selling you too hard) we both know that $200 for a portable, 500GB drive that can hold all your stuff is a great deal.

Suffice to say, we got a lot of use out of my GoFlex Satellite on this trip. So what was in your stocking this past holiday?

Share with me your favorite gadget in comments below or on Twitter. Better yet, check out our Facebook contest where you can enter to win a Sony VAIO laptop just by submitting a picture of your favorite piece of tech you gave this Christmas.

2012-01-04T14:20:24+00:00

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One Comment

  1. TV On the Go – The Digital Den February 1, 2012 at 3:32 pm - Reply

    […] This is one of the many reasons why I’m thankful for technologies like streaming video, cloud storage and universal remotes. It gives me a chance to revisit some of my favorite shows of days gone by. I also love the accessibility these services provide so I can watch what I want, when I want, on my smartphone, tablet, PC, or game console.  Trust me when I say, I use them all and find them handy on road trips. […]

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