Gadget Addict

I throw the word addict around a lot, but this time I’m not too far off. You see I’m addicted to gadgets. I mean it really has all the signs of addiction. I start to crave something new. I obsess about a particular product. I research to make sure there is not a better one out there. I decide that I need it and search and search for it until I get to the point where I have to have it. Then I buy it and get that rush. I play with it for weeks and weeks. I discover every option. I tell others about it to the point that I could be a salesman for the company. Then, while I’m not one to stop using something, the rush wears off and I start thinking about my next fix.

While I do have a lot of toys, almost all of them serve a great purpose. My wife scoffed when I wanted to put Maggie, our Media Center PC, in the bedroom. She thought we should keep it in the guest room, sort of like a second office. Now even she gets frustrated watching live TV, “can we skip the commercials.”

Then there was my MP3 player. Yes I had one, but it was old and buggy. Besides, I run about 4 times a week and to me the music is as important as the shoes. So I had to get a new one.

Well don’t even get me started on my pocket pc. I use this thing all the time. It is my daytimer, my bookreader, and my music player when I travel. I couldn’t live with out it and rarely do you find me with out it in my pocket. My wife even saw the value of it, using my old one when I upgraded until it died. Now she always asks me for someone’s phone number (because she knows I’ll have it) while muttering that she needs to get a new one.

I usually do a good job of holding off from needing the next generation for at least one cycle. I am also pretty good about finding the right gaget for MY needs, not just the neatest one out there. A few examples are buying a flash music player instead of an ipod or iriver that had more storage. I needed it for the durability of running.

So when the new pocket pc’s came out…I resisted. Sure they were faster than mine. Sure they had better storage than mine. But mine still works fine (although the battery is a bit buggy and the d pad is showing strains of constant use). But I did have a problem. I had a cell phone number that I had for about 10 years and didn’t want to give it up when my new job gave me a cell phone with a long distance area code. People still called my old one even though they knew that they would be leaving me a message. So I took to carrying that cell around sometimes, at least on the weekends. But I also had to have my work cell, but I could leave that at home on the weekend. And I always had my pocket pc with me. So sometimes on a Friday night I could be carrying 2 cell phones and a PPC. I may be a geek, but I try not to look like one.

Then came the new pocket pcs with a phone built in. I use the pocket pc for work, so I had no problem justifying it in my mind. And the addition of a phone made it that much better…I am back to carrying only two things! Only one on the weekend! Isn’t it amazing how us addicts can justify everything? Well now I’ll start obsessing over the new Portable Media Centers.