Things that rule.
UPDATE: I think I miscommunicated on the last blog.
Move along people, nothing to see
here.
Instead, I replace it with a kinder
happier blog.
Things that have made my
life better.
When we see new things advertised,
they promise us a better life and a small christmas to unwrap. We hope for the
eternal happiness that the new shiny shiny will bring, but sadly most of the
time, the new shiny shiny becomes the old dusty dusty and they get thrown away,
or ebayed or worse yet, stuffed in a drawer till the house overflows with broken
promises collecting dust. What follows is a short list of things that lived up
to their promises and genuinely improved the quality of my life. Your milage
may vary.
GPS - essential for me. Most
people have a mental ball of string they unwind when they go places. I just
have a ball. As far as I know, a hamster lives in there thinking up ideas for
music videos while he's supposed to be keeping track of where we are. I have a
garmin 3600 that I move from vehicle to vehicle but the battery is crap.
Nonetheless, GPS saved my life, or at least saved me from a lot of swearing.
Never again will I know I am off course, by seeing signs that say: WELCOME TO
WISCONSIN!
DSLR - In my case a Canon
30D. Any digital SLR would apply here, ie digital rebel or nikon d50. The
problem with most toys is that no matter how great they are, eventually they get
boring. I've found the very best toys allow you to make art or creativity and
that never gets old. Every time I get a fresh picture I like out of my camera,
it's like a new toy. Only danger here, the care and feeding of a digital camera
can be a slippery slippery slope that may result in a marital
discord.
Casio Privia px110 or px100 - I
have lots of keyboards and synthesizers, but held off for a long time on buying
a weighted 88 key keyboard. You can get this one on sale at best buy for $450
and for the money, it's actually pretty decent feeling. Like the camera, any
musical instrument, if you use it, will reward you for years to come. If I was
teaching piano, it's not a bad substitute for a real piano. Play piano? You
know how old I'll be by the time I learn to play piano? As old as you'll be if
you don't learn to play anything. Parents - if you want to raise your children
asian style, force piano lessons on them. I had 10 years I hated, but now I
love my parents for doing it.
Super
Suppers - If the question: 'what are we eating tonight' is getting a little old,
check out super suppers. It's like when your parents were gone for that week in
the summer and your mom left you a weeks worth of food in the freezer with
instructions. Not expensive at all. Yummy. Healthy. Thanks
mom.
TiVo - For people who live outside
the normal time stream, TiVo is fantastic for providing you with interesting TV
(biker buildoff) at 2 in the morning. It's also great for disappearing on tour
and coming back to find a whole season of your favorite show. TV on your terms.
Watch what you want to watch when you want to watch it. Since I've been here, I
haven't had my TiVo, so I've ended up jumping to something else
useful:
Netflix - Ever found yourself
wandering through blockbuster not finding anything you feel like paying $4.50
for? Ever found yourself paying late fees when you discover that NO LATE FEES
EVER actually "only applies at the corporate stores." If you're a hermit
musician, netflix is like blockbuster with delivery. Encourages you to watch
movies you'd never pay $4.50 for, like say: Anchorman, the legend of Rob
Burgundy.
Library- BOOKS FOR FREE!
Sometimes DVDs and music too. Unfortunately that sexy librarian thing is a
myth.
Mac - Iphoto, garageband, imovie
and itunes are all well worth the price of admission, especially considering
that macs now swing both ways and can boot windows. Steroids for creative
people. I apologize for the recent smartass ads. I'm a mac! I'm a PC! I'm
an ad executive that doesn't understand that insulting your target market is
stupid!"
Honorable
mentions:
Smartphone - Doesn't everyone
have one by now? I was in the airport and sat next to a grandmother pecking
away at a treo 650 and realized there was no point writing about this anymore.
Small note: If you talk on your cellphone while driving, you have the reflexes
of a drunk person or a 70 year old. Don't you hate it when old people drive
slow? Well DO YOU WANT THEM TO DRIVE
FAST?
Motorcycle - Right now a CBR600f4i,
maybe soon to be a triumph speed triple - 0-60 in under 4 seconds. it's like
the greatest video game ever, except if you screw it up, someone leaps out of
the machine and beats the crap out of you with a baseball bat. It was a lot
more fun before all the people in cars got cellphones to distract
them.
Ipod/Itunes - Being able to buy
music from the comfort of your bed is great. Not having to look for one
particular CD is great. Do I use mine that much? Not really. I do however use
itunes a lot. just pulled down the new dashboard confessional album and am
listening to it now in my underwear. Woops.
TMI.
Surround sound - For under $200 you
can get a sony surround system at walmart and for the money it goes a long long
way towards making your home theater less home and more
theater.
Alright that's it for now, write
in with your list of favorite things, I'll post the good ones.
Posted: Mon - August 14, 2006 at 03:36 PM
