I once again find myself in a position in which I have a sum of money at my disposal and no immediate need to apply it to something practical. It is therefore time to enter my annual post in which I contemplate which unnecessary purchase most appeals to me! Weeee!

Here are the possibilities:

1. A new kayak - this is probably a poor choice since I’m not entirely sure I spent any time in my kayak last year. My rationalization is that if I had a new, more capable boat, I’d spend more time in it. This, however, conflicts with the desire to get…
2. A new bike - No, there’s nothing wrong with my trike. Nothing at all. But I would very much like to also have a recumbent of the two wheeled variety, preferably one that folds so I can transport it even when I have to take Gareth and his wheelchair to school. Though, my transport issues could be solved simply by purchasing outdoor storage for my trike since the reason I don’t take it with me regardless is that I have to store it in my basement which has only an indoor entrance.
3. A bike rack expansion - The company that makes my current bike rack has recently started selling an accessory for it that allows one to hang a trike off the back of the rack, which would mean no more bug splatter all over the front of my trike from being on the roof. It would also mean no more lifting the trike to the roof of my element and having to secure it from both sides of the vehicle.
4. A PS3 - Now that Blu-Ray is the de facto winner of the HD media war (for now), I feel as though I can justify a PS3 purchase. But the games, oh the games. Are they really there just yet? Does that even matter? If my goal is to have a Blu-Ray player, then no, the games don’t matter. I like to think, however, that I would one day like to play games on a game console.
5. A new camera - While I’m not a fan of carrying around a bag of lenses (been there, done that), I am a fan of higher image fidelity, RAW mode, larger image sensors, and hot shoes. My DSC-H2 has done well by me, but I’m tired of filtering out purple fringe or of being limited to 16×24 prints.
6. A new PC - This is the least likely option as I’ve simply abandoned PC gaming. Perhaps I’d get back into it were I to have a capable machine, but Brandy and I are trying to set ourselves up to spend more time with each other while one of us is computing, not less. A gaming PC wouldn’t aid that in any way. A gaming laptop might help, but I hold gaming laptops in low regard (high price, low shelf life) and will actively avoid such a solution.

So yeah, it’s a rough life, I know. No matter what, I’m going to be doing about a month of research before I can make a decision. Bikes and cameras in particular are not purchases to be entered into lightly (at least, not if you’re really picky).

UPDATE: Two days after writing this, I picked up a PS3 and a widescreen monitor.  So much for patience.  Still, though, I’ve got enough left over for a camera upgrade and am looking forward to judging the performance of the Olympus 570UZ when it comes out.   I’m just not ready yet to go back to carrying a bag of lenses around with me.

14 days. Two weeks. Half a month. An eternity. All of these describe the time between now and the release of Rock Band.

I’ve been a Harmonix fan for a long time, so I’m more than happy to keep following them along their development path, especially if it means buying a host of peripherals good for one game only. (See also: DDR, Pump It Up, Karaoke Revolution, Ace Combat 6, Beatmania, Donkey Konga) My Rock Band pre-order was filed with a local Gamestop some time ago, so it’s now just a waiting game.

Well, a waiting and accessorizing game. You see, it is never enough for me to just get a stock game and play it. Oh no, I must add to the experience in some way. For DDR, it was making custom control boxes for my dance pads. For Guitar Hero, it was purchasing aftermarket guitar straps and decals in order to make the toy controllers look dorkier than originally designed. And now with Rock Band, it’s all about setting the stage.

To that effect, I have on order a few items. The first is a microphone stand with a boom arm so that I can position the mic for a variety of scenarios: standing with just the mic as the lead singer; standing with the mic while playing guitar; sitting with the mic while playing drums. Of course, I can’t sit at the drums without a good seat, so I’ve also ordered a drum throne.

On the cheap and easy side of things, I’ve printed out the game’s track list and have started hunting for the tracks on the Zune Marketplace since I’m licensed for them under my monthly Zune Pass. Why do I need to do this? Because I’m hoping to join the ranks of drummers who sing, even though what I’ll be doing is neither really drumming nor really singing. But in order to do both, I’ll need to know the song lyrics since I won’t be able to follow the screen cues for the lyrics and the drum hits simultaneously.

I know what you’re thinking: “Travis, you have my undying admiration for your faux rock aspirations.” And I thank you for that. I also thank my loving wife whose eyes will certainly roll at watching me dive into yet another obsession. Perhaps she’ll feel better when I present her with the gift of leather, eyeliner, and a choker so that she can masquerade as my groupie.

Or, perhaps not.

My 360 coffin arrived from Microsoft two days ago.  With my console lovingly bundled inside, I took it to UPS for shipping to Texas where it will hopefully be repaired to a working state.  In the meantime, I’ll have to console (ha ha) myself with the Wii and Zelda, no matter how slow that game feels.

So that’s it then, my Xbox 360 is useless. Well, not entirely useless - I can play on the Dashboard all I want, but as soon as I go to play a game, I get 3 minutes into it and the entire system locks up.

Which means I have at least 5 weeks to wait to finish BioShock. Son of a bitch.

As I pull the 360 from my console shelves, I can’t help but look at my past consoles - the PS1, PS2, GameCube, Dreamcast, Xbox 1, Genesis - and marvel at the fact that they have all managed to live long, healthy lives without ever once giving me a problem.

Maybe, some day, Microsoft will figure out and fix their design flaws in the 360, but by then, it will be time to move on to the next generation.

This image is too small to make it out, but that’s what it says around the collar of this fantabulous Element Owner’s Club jersey: Out of my Element.

This was put together by a member of the EOC forums and has been approved by Honda.  It also happens to perfectly match the colors of my trike, my helmet, my shoes, and my gloves.  There’s really no good reason to not buy it, right?

I agree!  That’s why I put my order in today.  It should arrive in about two months, just in time for it to be too cold to wear short sleeve jerseys. :(  Hmmm,  arm warmers may be in order.

It seems like more and more vehicle designers are coming up with tadpole configurations - two wheels in the front, one in the back. Certainly, I love my pedal trike to bits, so I can see how something like this would be a joy…

All the speed of a motorcycle with all the safety of a trike. Unfortunately, it’s also all the cost of a car. Still, though, it would make hill climbs and centuries a whole lot easier.

I’d link you to the manufacturer’s site, but I can’t get their Flash to work in either Firefox or IE with any consistency. Instead, here’s a Times article of a test ride.

Okay, really… how hard can this be… I’m trying to find a wide brimmed hat that has a neck drape on the back for protecting the neck from sun exposure. I’ve found a few online, but I’d really like to purchase it locally so I can try it on.

Does anybody know where in State College I can buy something like this:

I haven’t had a chance yet to try Appalachian Outdoors, but I have tried Target, Wal-Mart, Dick’s, Tussey Mountain Outfitters, and a few shops at le Mall.

The reason I want one is that Laz and I are going to canoe about 30 miles of the Susquehanna soon. That’s a lot of time in the sun, so I’d like to have a little backup protection beyond the sunscreen.

Speaking of Laz, he and I are going to go see Hot Fuzz at the College 9 tonight at 7:30. Feel free to show up.

I never realized just how dangerous digital cameras can be. Up until the beginning of 2006, I was of the mindset that film ruled all and that digital just didn’t cut it.

Then something snapped.

Since purchasing my H2 in May ‘06, I’ve managed to shoot 3700+ photos. 990 of those have been posted to Flickr. Two have been blown up into posters. One has appeared in a newspaper.

I haven’t touched my 35mm camera in a long time, even though my H2 has obscene levels of purple fringing.

Oh well, it was the 990 Flickr photos that set me off on this reflection.

In other news, looks like I’ll be buying a Honda Element soon. I’m not crazy about the MPG ratings (21/26), but we needed a second vehicle that was wheelchair capable and that would accommodate the biking and kayaking hobbies. Oh, and something that was 4WD since I grew tired of sliding around in my Ford Focus this past winter.

One of these days, we’ll have to move closer to Minitab or at least to an area with a good bike path extension so I can just bike to work. There’s no way I’d want to do that from Pleasant Gap.

I picked up a Zune today, even though I received a perfectly good iPod mere days ago.

Too tired to write a full comparison, but iTunes wants $1 a song, Zune has Zune Pass (which is fantastically awesome) and lets me download all I can stand for $15 a month. Zune is bulky and vibrates when the HD kicks in, iPod is slim and quiet.

Zune let me put ATHF as a background image. iPod lets me play Breakout (Bricks) with the click wheel.

I much prefer the interface of the Zune. I feel as though I’m getting to my files faster. Though it’s hard to not have the click wheel once you’ve slid your thumb around it a few times.

Somebody I’ve never met sent me a 30GB video iPod. It’s only a month old and came with a 3 year extended warranty.

And Wal-Mart finally had DS Lites in stock last night.

It was a good night for me.