Money has been amusing me the past few days. More accurately the increased desire for stuff as the amount of money and expected money increases. I have been trying to organize and prioritize things in my head, want vs need, desperately want vs kinda want, actually want vs recognition that something is cool.
Take Gun, for instance, did I need or want him? My laptop has been steadily declining for some time: 5 min battery life, spotty optical drive, no hard drive, and running a somewhat crippled OS off of a jumpdrive. But, what did I use him for? He was mainly used for watching videos off of the network and DVDs while I was on my desktop. Since the desktop wasn't portable the laptop really didn't need to be either, the spotty optical drive made playing DVDs annoying at times (impossible at others), and the jumpdrive OS didn't have enough space to cache large videos so playback was limited. I had been wanting a netbook for some time, so when free money came around, I jumped on it. The want was close enough to need to justify.
Of course, now that I have a new netbook, I want more stuff: ram, mouse, bag. Where do they fall in the need/want hierarchy? Well, I haven't had Gun long enough or done enough with him to know if I need more ram, but I know I want it, but it is only a kinda want. I will probably wait for the first time the wife complains about Brin (her netbook) being sluggish and use that as justification to upgrade us both (which will probably cost less that $100 in total...not priced ram yet). The mouse is definitely not a need, since we have a couple of cordless usb mice just sitting around collecting dust, but none of them have the spiffy, almost no protrusion use part and work on any surface including glass. Yeah, it is cool, and I kinda want one, but I recognize how little I need one since I really don't go anywhere. Also a kinda want is the new bag for Gun. I have a backpack that I got when I started at Ivy Tech. It is kinda huge-ish, doesn't have as much space as it looks like it does, has zipper pulls that clang together while you walk, and several other things that I have hated about pretty much since I bought it, but mostly, it wasn't me...and yes, I almost feel like a woman explaining a new purse shopping spree. I didn't need it and really only kinda wanted it, but it is now within arms reach of my desk all ready to go (and technically will be used tomorrow when we visit my parents).
So what other wants have been popping up? I have desperatly wanted a NAS for sometime and might, just might order one next week. I really want a new phone, but totally can't justify one, so it is going to have to wait until contract renewal time, contract end time, the phone breaking, or money from heaven (AT&T only having 2 Android phones is making the wait effortless). I vaguely want a new TV, but don't spend enough time in the living room to really care (and the wife doesn't at all). I kinda want a comfy chair and foot rest to replace the futon, but like the TV, I don't really spend enough time in the living room to care...though with a new TV and someplace to actually sit I might. I want a new car, but I am really too lazy to look and Tommy has done such a nice job fixing the van for us I would hate to not use it everyday. But amusingly, aside from some DVD box sets, I don't really want anything big (Maybe the new CS when it comes out :p ).
So, about $300 for a NAS and harddrive and I am done, I guess. That seems kind of anti-climactic.
