It doesn't take photos or videos. Or play music. The "delete" button is powered by the eraser of a #2 pencil. But it's tough, lightweight and cheap. It goes with me everywhere. Recently, I realized how glad I was to have it.

I went off to write at Foster’s Market, a leisurely café popular with Duke students, families and foodies. It has a big back room and a do-what-you-will mentality. I decamped, opened on my browser and was met with an error message.

NO NETWORK CONNECTION

Steve Jobs was speechless. Bill Gates was aghast. Suddenly, my laptop was an unwieldy doo-dad and my connection to a gazillion other voices was silent. (Kind of a relief, actually....)

There’s been a lot of talk recently of integrating the online and offline worlds. Foursquare. Geo targeting. Sixth Sense technology. Augmented reality.

It’s easy to assume the Internet is everywhere, like an invisible aura in our iPhoned and iPadded iWorld. Without it, things just are: a wooden table, a notebook, a pen.

So “No Wi-Fi” was a shock of cold water. It wore off when I remembered my trusty “iPad”– a pad. It’s cheap, sparkly, and pocket-sized.

I pressed the ink down onto the paper. My document was saved from the start. I couldn’t lose power. I was the power. Some of my favorite ideas are scribbled in notebooks like this. At a restaurant. In a doctor’s office. Before a gym class.

My "iPad" can teach my laptop a thing or two about versatility.  And it reminds me to be just as flexible.