gadgets

I was reading a newspaper article about how so many live without modern gadgets. A lot of us does not subscribe to cable, I don't, a lot still don't have cellphones. While I don't have a lot of the latest, I have some. I feel some are not luxuries but necessities to make life more comfortable.

Cellphones, I have one I signed up 7 years ago, the contract ran out years ago, I just pay $30 a month just to have it for emergencies. It's hardly used, I do have a new cellphone with all the bells and whistles.

A laptop, I recently replaced my PC with a laptop fitted with Windows Vista.

Digital camera, I recently replaced my 5.1 Gateway with a 10.1 Sony Cybershot. My goal is to get a SLR, maybe a Nikon so my interest in photography is getting serious.

I still have a cheap and portable CD player and am listening to Edith Piaf singing La vie en rose.

That's all I have, very basic, enough to help me in my hobbies- writing my blog. Why this write up on gadgets? I saw the ad on TV for the new Apple iphone that's going to be released June 29, 2007. It looks really nifty, I've never looked at ads and think I want one. When I saw the iphone, I did feel like I want one. Apple hopes to sell a lot of iphones and repeat the success of their ipod. A few months ago, I bought some Apple stocks, it has gone up everyday. It is so exciting, reminds me of the good old days when Microsoft stocks went up everyday and split every few months. I am where I am financially partly because of my Microsoft stocks. I liquidated before the dot com crash and made a lot of money. I have repurchased Microsoft stocks and still own a huge chunk. When I watch ads on TV I'm assessing the products and I'm more interested in owning the company stocks.

It is all about money, without money, life would be very mean. As Stuart Wilde says, 'the trick to money is having some.' It is the name of his book. I gave my copy to a friend, I need to replace it. It was by accident I found out about this book. It was at a bookstore in Whistler, the ski resort in Vancouver that I bought the book. While skiing there one year, I was browsing in the bookstore at the resort base and this book had fallen off the shelf and was lying on the floor. I thought, what an unusual title, I bought it.

I was reading a 'Town and Country' magazine one time and it featured the best of everything in the world. Whistler was their pick for the best ski resort in the world. I thought, let me experience skiing in the best ski resort in the world. It is just 2 1/2 hours flight time and our US dollar was so much stronger than the Canadian, that was 6 years ago. Prior to that, I've only skied Utah. I was impressed with the layout in Whistler but in skiing there are a lot you can't perfect, the weather for one. Utah weather is far better, it is warmer and the snow is tons better. In Whistler, the mornings are OK but in the afternoons, the clouds come in from the ocean and visibility becomes diminished and it gets much too cold. Besides it took 2 hours to get to the resort by bus from the airport. In Utah, most of the resorts are just 45 minutes from the airport. I've left Los Angeles in the morning, fly to Salt Lake City, pick up a rental car and I'm skiing at 12 noon!

I thought this was about gadgets but it digressed into ski resorts.... Oh well.....

I have gadgets in my kitchen. I have a commercial stove, so large I can roast 2 turkeys side by side on the same shelf. I LOVE IT, even though I cook for just myself.