Objects of My Desire

I have been covetous.

It started with our printer. I had one from the 90s that no longer connected to anything and another with degraded print quality that could have been cleaned, but I opted to get rid of it instead. In place of those, we got a new HP scanner/printer that operates on our wifi network, too. It's pretty sweet - three computers can scan or print wirelessly.

A few years ago, I went through a similar tech upgrade. I had a Palm Pilot and upgraded to a Sony Clie since I already had a Sony digital camera and could share Memory Stick media between the devices. The Clie has gone by the wayside as it's bigger than an iPod and does a lot less. The camera was state of the art when we got it, but now I realize that I would benefit greatly from image stabilization. Oh, and Panasonic is making one with a stabilized Leica lens and it's waterproof!

On our last trip, we decided not to take any tech with us. We had film cameras (not digital) and no laptops or smart phones or anything. I'm still not ready to pony up for a data plan ($30/mo.) since I'm surrounded by wifi and computers all day. On the other hand, I think I would be more reliable with dates and appointments if I could get a Palm-like device that would fit easily in my pocket. So, it's been suggested that I look into the iPod Touch. I can't justify the price of that without the phone (especially considering it'd be another device to carry). Catch 22 - I'm still thinking this one over. I suspect that either Verizon will have to acquiesce on its smart phone data plan requirement, or I'll have to figure out a viable VOIP solution for the Touch.

Last summer, I built a new computer for music recording and game-playing. That turned out great, and my plan was to use the old computer as a home theater PC (HTPC) for our nice, new television. That old PC is, indeed, old. While it does work, it reminds me of why I pushed to build a new one in the first place. Using it as a HTPC is just frustrating. So, while it's totally impractical, I have had the urge to build a whole new HTPC on the cheap.

Here's another thing - I sold my old Free Agent BMX bike a couple of years ago and scored big. I only decided to sell it because I didn't foresee using it again. Since then, I've had really bad seller's remorse and an urge to ride a BMX bike. Traditional BMX bikes have 20" wheels, while an average mountain bike runs 26" wheels. There have always been 24" BMX bikes (cruisers) and there are a few companies that make 26" BMX bikes, too. Anyhow, I think I've narrowed it down to these:

Haven't even thought about new drums in a while...