The iPad would certainly come in handy if I'm ever trapped on a rollercoaster, have a connection and an iPad, and have to connect to a database server to handle an alert I just got, all at the same time. Of course, it needs to be an alert that VPN and the command line can handle, since I don't believe the iPad will run SSMS.

But wait! Root the iPad, replace the OS with a more open *nix distribution, and see if I can configure WINE to run SSMS through that ...

Yeah! That's the ticket!

Honestly, I doubt that an iPad will help me in routinely doing my job in any way my smartphone won't already do, while being significantly less "pocket compatible".

But I do intend to get a tablet. Mainly because I think it's going to be good geeky fun to play with one. I've wanted one for years, for just that reason.

(And, no, I don't expect this piece of humor to make it into the top 10 for the contest. If it does, everyone else entering must seriously suck at coming up with more plausible excuses for getting a toy for Christmas. 😀 )