Things I Almost Want To Get

Todays blog is not about rampant consumerism but about unrampant consumerism. It's about things that have been on my "to buy" list for years but never get bought. None of the items on it are important enough to rise to the top of my "to buy" list and new things are always added to the list that rise above these and get purchased. I don't know if anyone else has a list like this but I do. All that these items have in common is being stuck in limbo on my list as others come and go. They do have staying power if nothing else.

PSP - A Play Station Portable. This item would almost fill two spots for me. I like hand held video games and want a portable photo album for my snap shot collection. As a handheld I chose the Nintendo DS over this years ago because the DS was much cheaper and had some good games that I wanted. The PSP sure is cool but it just doesn't have the games. It can display photos nicely but I don't know if it has the software (I suspect not) to handle my collection of 8000 photos all organized and labeled by person, time, and event. Plus I'd have to get a big memory card to store all the photos on which would drive up the price of the PSP even more. I'm still waiting for a full screen iPod for this purpose but Apple is not exactly racing that full screen iPod to market so the so the PSP languishes on my list.

A mountain bike. I love bike riding. I hop on my road bike three times a week and enjoy the exercise and the ride. So a mountain bike seems real cool. It looks like fun going down trails and riding through the woods. Everybody on TV always rides mountain bikes. Except that they are really expensive. You can drop a grand on one in the blink of an eye. And that's not even a good one. Ouch. And then you have to drive somewhere to find a trail to mountain bike on. With my road bike I just go out my front door. There are plenty of roads. Not so with trails. So the mountain bike sits on the list never to be bought. But I still think it's cool. I can imagine myself zooming through trails. Zooooommm...

Zoot Suit - C'mon who doesn't want a Zoot Suit? Long, baggy, snazzy, and garish they are quintessential cool. If only I had a place to wear one too. It's not like I'm a hipper than thou twenty two year old clubber. Halloween might be my only excuse to get one of these. And I might this year. They're one of the cheaper things on this list. It's gotta be bright green too.

Self healing cutting mat - I've been meaning to resurface my drawing table for about four years now. This is what I would put down on it. I had one of these on my old table and it is a great surface. Better than the dirty old Borco I have now. Except that the Borco is still in pretty good shape. I like the self healing cutting mat better but not enough to spend money ($80) on it. There are always other art supplies to buy. So it stays on the list. Still wanted but in no way a priority.

11x17 inch scanner - My Epson 8.5x11 scanner from 1996 is my oldest piece of computer equipment. It cost a fortune ($1300) when I got it but a 11x17 scanner was way to expensive ($3000-4000) for me to ever get. It's been a work horse for me as I scan things almost every day and it's been running great for over ten years. But a lot of my work that I scan in is 11x17. This means I have to scan things in two pieces and stitch them together. It obviously can be done and I have been doing it but it would be nice not to. A decent 11x17 scanner is now about $1100 and though that is more doable than $3000 it is still a ton o' dough. One of the questions I ask myself before buying a new piece of computer equipment is, "What new thing will I be able to do with this?". If the answer is "nothing" that the equipment moves down the list. The 11x17 scanner offers me great convenience but I can scan as fine without it. Just slower. So it sits on the list.

Flash 300-350 - These are comics I bought in High School (early 80's) but got rid of years ago. They are drawn by Infantino and feature "The Trial of the Flash". They are not even especially good comics but I've grown nostalgic for them over the years. I not even sure why. I just want to read them again. I'll probably even be disappointed when I do. They're not considered a hight point in the world of Flash comics and they've never been, and probably never will be, collected or reprinted in any way. They are not very expensive but they are hard to find because nobody wants them. Plus that's a lot of issues to track down. I always get other better comics ahead of them. Every now and then I check out Ebay where individual issues can always be found but not a full run. So there they sit on my list.

Yes, my list of things I never seem to buy. There you go.