The photos have been taken, the rooms have been cleared, and the bar tab has been closed.  The wedding is over, and it couldn't have been smoother.  Everything was on schedule and perfect to a T.

We couldn't have done it without the extraordinary help of our friends, especially Emily, Jack, Lauren, Katie, Dana, and James (and Amber for shepherding everything).  Thanks too to everyone at Superfine, especially Tanya, who listened to us belabor, and subsequently oversaw, every bit of minutia before and during the reception.  They're a fantastic restaurant & bar spot, but they could make a killing as a serious catering venue.  And of course the love and support of everyone, friends and family alike, through the wedding itself and for all the days that got us both to this point in our lives. Thank you all!

When the pictures are all done and ready for sharing (timing: TBD), you'll see the 1,384 details Amber put into everything.  Endless signage, table decorations, food display - the works.  I had had a few moderate tasks for preparation, but basically had one major responsibility for the wedding, other than "show up": I made a crossword.

It was of course Amber's idea, as another representation of (one of) us.  It was something for people to do, and I was able to weave it together in a way that promoting socialization between guests.  I've been wanting to actually create a New York Times-compatible puzzle for years, so this was a great foray into learning what it takes.  (Answer: it takes me about 25-30 hours, when trying as hard as possible to not use online tools to help with grid construction or clues.)

The theme was going to be pretty obvious, though I spun some ol' marriage humor into our particular day, so we went with "May Day!" as the title.  I started by generating words and terms that had meaning to us: middle names, birthday months, cats names, etc.  After some time poring over the words list, I decided to run with our favorite things as a couple as the theme.

With several copies of empty 15x15 grids, I started thinking about how to place some of the potential thematic answers, and then began building the grid around it.  Once I had my rotationally symmetric, somewhat strong grid in place, I started working around some of the more obviously difficult letters (i.e. Q), filling in as many other random meaningful words from the original list as possible along the way.

Admittedly, I was forced to turn to the internet for some help with construction, and stumbled on an amazing historical database of Times clues to even help word my clues better.  (I love you, internets.)  I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to doing things like this - for myself, by myself - but I was on a deadline, and honestly I could never have finished this puzzle alone.  (But I will try to do so again in the future.)

When everything was finally completed on paper, Amber and I ran through it once together to double-check for errors and general playability.  (She's becoming an excellent crossword judge, but she also needed to truly earn the title of Editor.)  In the end, we did err with one clue - totally my fault, I rushed and glossed over my Roman numeral clue, 51-Down - which was pointed out to me by our very smart friends at the reception.

Here is our final, fixed wedding crossword puzzle for your enjoyment, "May Day!":

Hard drive choices were almost perfectly split, and only 3 of 16 users aren't using any accessories with their iPad.  But as you'll see in later answers, some who are using cases highly recommend them.


Apps, apps, apps


While some people (2) haven't paid for any apps, every user has downloaded at least one.  11 respondents have downloaded at least 11 free apps, while only 4 have downloaded 11 or more paid apps.

In terms of usage, Safari (5) and Netflix (3) are the most popular, together constituting half of the respondents' most used apps.  But in terms of preference, responses are all over the board; only Netflix got multiple responses (2).


Usage
Most everyone is using their iPad for many of the devices upfront capabilities: for overall usage, all 16 responded with email, 15 said web, 14 said video, 14 said games, 12 said books, 10 said photos, and 9 said writing.  Music, magazines, and iWorks all received 8 nods, just 50% of the respondent pool.

I find the lesser responses about music particularly interesting.  It makes sense that a larger tethered machine like the iPad is less convenient for listening to music compared to, say, an iPhone.  A lot of conversation about the iPad though categorizes it as a device for consumption (at least contrasted against its ability to produce).  This could be a potential area of distinction and differentiation for the iPad, though more data would need to be provided to analyze any further.



New behaviors

Here are (synthesized) answers to an open-ended question about new behaviors:

Has owning an iPad resulted in any new behaviors, and if so, what are they? (For example, do you now read newspapers when you didn't before?)

• More books
• More magazines
• Started reading comics
• Study Linux more
• Read the news more (x2)
• Read newspapers more (x4)
• Cook more
• Doodle more
• Wasting more time
• Watching TV in bed (x2)
• Checking weather more often
• Checking stocks more often
• Read RSS (x2)
• Less use of other computer (x2)
• Nothing new
• Stay awake reading in bed
• Blogging more
• More time on the web
• Read more in general
• More games

Immediately, reading pops out as a commonality, though sources are wide-varying: books, magazines, comics, programming languages, news, newspapers, RSS, and web surfing.  Apple and their partners are touting the iPad as a revolutionary device for the news and newspaper industry, which I've often heard disputed in iPad reviews online.  However, you can't argue with the fact that as a platform, the iPad serves up information in a way that is leading to new consumption behaviors.

I find it interesting too that so many respondents are consuming more information in bed specifically (a bit more on this in the next sections) and that these behaviors - watching TV and reading - are longer-form.  I would imagine reading books or watching TV on the iPhone in bed is less than ideal (I've certainly never done either in my 2+ years of iPhone ownership), so this may be another area for the iPad to differentiate itself: where you use it, compared to the iPhone or a computer.  (Apple alludes to this in their print ads that show off this 'casual computing' behavior.)


Where

Home and office unsurprisingly dominate place of use.  Most respondents are using their iPad either in a sitting position (chair / bench, couch) or sitting / leaning / lying down in bed.  I was also glad to see one respondent write-in and admit their toilet use, if not dismayed at others' sheepishness about their own admission.

What's interesting to me is how transferable these answers could be to a question about books instead of iPads, and how this batch of answers really drives home the point about the iPad's niche as a legitimate platform for both video & non-web-native text (i.e. books, magazines, newspapers).  That dual usage coupled with great portability constitutes serious 'casual computing'.  Personally, it's this realization that has gotten me genuinely excited about tablet computing.


Attachment
The variance here is interesting.  The same number of respondents (4) keep their iPad with them for only 1-10 hours per week as do those who keep the iPad with them for 60 hours or more.  Though it makes sense that if you bring your iPad to work with you, you're likely automatically in the 60+ hours group.


Performance
Battery life, multitouch, and indoors viewing are all positive, as is the general performance.  (Anecdotally, I've heard the sentiment reiterated about performance from users IRL and around the web.)  Display outdoors is also generally positive, but connectivity is an issue for some (3).  Most respondents find typing to be good or better (11), though 4 are on the fence and 1 feels negatively about it.  This is interesting because typing was one of the public's early questions about the iPad, but it seems respondents are generally comfortable and/or satisfied with the experience.

Screen size and body size are almost unanimously 'great'.  Weight is a slightly polarizing feature, apparently; 3 respondents feel negatively about it.  I've heard generally good things about the iPad weight - that it's noticeably lighter than laptops and even netbooks.  But I'll let this point rest since it's so subjective.


Flash
Probably the most talked-about feature - or lacking feature - of both the iPad and the iPhone: Flash.  I'm actually surprised how many people say the lack of Flash has affected them (6); I had thought it would be less.  With the rift gulf chasm between Adobe and Apple only getting wider, this will not only continue to be a polarizing issue for the iPad, but for all of the dev world.


3G envy
Looking back at the earlier questions about when and where iPad owners are using it, these responses make sense: enough people use the iPad in non-wifi areas to pine for 3G coverage.  Something to keep in mind when assessing personal usage of an iPad.


Expectations
All 16 respondents say the iPad has met or exceeded their expectations.  From a scientific method perspective, we can't assume "met expectations" necessarily means the same as "satisfied"; we can only assume whatever their expectations were going into their ownership - objective or otherwise - were met or exceeded.  Nonetheless, a telling indicator from a pool of iPad'ers.


Final thoughts

Here are synthesized responses to some open-ended questions from the survey (multiple similar responses indicted by multiplier in parentheses):

Any recommendations or tips for other iPad users?

• AirVideo is a must-have
• Buy a case for gripping
• Buy a docking case if you want to dock
• Try Instapaper for web reading
• Buy the Apple case
• Read the user guide

There clearly seems to be a need for an iPad case, be it for gripping, docking, or general protection.


Any recommendations for those who don't own an iPad?

• Wait for 3G
• Wait for an OS update
• Try it out in person first
• Buy one (3x)
• Great entertainment system for kids when traveling

"Buy one" was a repeated suggestion, as were calls to wait for various updates.  But some insight from a user with kids: the iPad apparently makes great entertainment for them on trips.


Any final thoughts or comments on the iPad?

• Lots of potential (x2)
• It will change everything about casual computing
• Keynote is terrible and a huge step backwards in presentation software
• Syncing is terrible
• The wifi is glitchy
• Needs more apps
• Looking forward to forward-facing camera
• Looking forward to multi-tasking
• Developers need to migrate to HTML5
• Buy the case both for protection and standing options
• It's given me separation anxiety

My personal takeaway from this last question: if one is interested in an iPad, wait.  These responses echo previous answers from this survey, as well as other anecdotal evidence I've seen around the web.  "Lots of potential", "It will change...", "Looking forward to..." are indicators to me that Apple has yet again started on the right innovating foot, but that they have much to improve upon before the iPad truly begins to live up to the hype.

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Thanks again to everyone who retweeted the link to the survey, and of course a huge thanks to the 16 respondents who filled it out.  (I forgot to decide anonymity or disclosure in the survey itself, so no respondent's Twitter names here.)

And if you're interested, you can download the raw data here as an .xls file.