It's just a practicepad, right?

Ok, so I am in NY for work, have no drumkit but I do have my practicepad and my promark 747s, thank God I remembered to pack them. Sometimes this is the ultimate experience to have nothing but a pair of sticks and a piece of hard rubber to play on.
It's funny, you sit down at a drumkit and want to hear certain types of sounds, rimshots or on a digital kit it's all about changing all of your sounds and you can easily get distracted from what you might have set out to do . A practicepad ...... well it really has just one sound. Having only a practicepad at your disposal normally means that you are going to actually practice your rudiments, stick balance, types of grips and when to tighten and release your grip. All of the above are very important and on a drumkit it is easy to get pulled in another direction. Just try sitting on the floor with your iPod, and start going over some rudiments. It might sound boring but when you actually get back to your drumkit you will find out just how much easier it is to play faster, you might have a better grip or balance of the stick, better control of your rudiments and that is most often the times when you realise just how valuable the practicepad actually is. It also helps that it is really quiet to play whether you are at home or in a hotel room. I also do use this pad as my warmup before I play any gigs.
I guess I figured this would be a good topic to cover since I am apart from my kit and this is really under-rated as a very important part of your drum toolkit. The more you use the practicepad the better you get and the more you will want to use this tool. Stay tuned or go phlat ........