ipad is driving me mad

I've been wanting to buy an iPad for a few months now, but there is the good angel on my shoulder saying "You should save, remember you want a new house? you don't need an iPad" and then the bad devil on my other shoulder saying "YES, YOU DO!!!!!"

Stupid devil.

So I had convinced myself I didn't need it, but then one night about a month ago I turned on the TV to QVC as I was getting ready to go to sleep and sure enough there was the iPad. In all it's glory staring at me. A special one-time value that included a bunch of free accessories!

Oh my gosh, they already sold 5,000 in under one hour of this promotion!
It's midnight and they are selling this fast!
They are going to be sold out by the morning!
I need to get one now!!!

I shake John and ask for his opinion, (pretty sure he was dead asleep) but he said, "yeah, sure", as I quickly dialed in and placed my order. Whew, that was close!

Stupid QVC.

When I woke the next morning, I had to think twice about whether I really did an impulse purchase like that. One quick check in my call history proved it to be the case. Oh well, I really wanted one and apparently it was a good deal.

Well wouldn't you know as my luck has it, the following week Apple announces that they are coming out with the iPad 4. WHAT?! I didn't even get my iPad 3 yet! Apparently a lot of people were pissed that they released a new version so soon, so Apple was offering an upgrade for anyone that purchased an iPad in the past 30 days. I called the Apple store and they were only offering this deal for people that purchased their iPad at an Apple store. Bummer. So I called QVC and they said they are not offering any upgrades. Well crap. It was all making sense why QVC was offering this deal that weekend, I think they sold close to 20,000 iPad 3's to people like me who had no clue what was being announced just a few short days later... So I did what I had to do. I canceled my order.
It wasn't that the new version was so amazingly better, it was just the fact that I didn't even have it in my hands before it was outdated.

Stupid Apple.

My mind was already made up about the purchase, so I'm beyond the point of second guessing whether or not I need one. Clearly I do. (That good side of my conscience has disappeared apparently) but now I'm battling when to buy the stupid thing and where. With Black Friday approaching I know that retailers won't be able to discount the actual iPad itself but they will offer various incentives like gift cards or free accessories.
I've been calling stores and scouring the internet and so far the only Black Friday deals I'm aware of are Walmart is offering a $75 gift card and Target is offering a $60 gift card. I called the Apple store because I have heard in the past they've offered discounts of 10% only on Black Friday as a surprise, but the service rep said she knew nothing. Liar.

I'm heading back home to Landenberg this weekend and am tempted to avoid the Black Friday crazies and just buy it in Delaware where I won't have to pay sales tax and be done with it.
I'm tired of trying to weigh all the options and figure out what will be the very best deal when it will probably only come down to saving me less than twenty bucks.

Sigh, Stupid Me. This iPad is driving me mad!