Results matching “2003”

I like to splurge on something once each year, typically a gadget.

• In 2000 I bought a Toshiba 1605 laptop.  I bought while on leave and took it with me to MCT and MOS training.  That laptop was pretty good at the time with 32MB of RAM that I upgraded to 196MB.  It had an 8GB hard drive running Windows 98.  It also had a built in modem that worked fairly well.


• In 2001  I bought a Sony MVC CD1000 Camera.  I had been working at Pennswoods for quite a while and I had no bills to speak of.  Money was no problem for me.   I also started up my business, signing a 5-year lease on a commercial building.  The next month, 9/11 happened and I was told to prepare for deployment.


• In 2002 I bought a Kyocera QCP 6035 smart phone.  During this year I also took a trip to Washington state for vacation.  This was a good phone.  It sometimes froze on me when I opened the flip, but it generally worked really well. It allowed me to combine my palm pilot and cell phone in one device, and I was all for that.


• In 2003 I upgraded to a Kyocera 7135 smart phone.  This was my favorite phone of all time.  Palm OS, clam-shell design.  What's not to love?  Apparently it can no longer be activated in the US because it does not have a tracking GPS built into it.  I was deployed at the beginning of the year and left the 6035 with my parents.  When I returned, I read reviews on the 7135 and got it within a month of my return.  If I could have this phone now (activated of course), I would still think of it as the better phone even though it lacks bluetooth support.  I have not come across a phone that I felt I would enjoy more (inside or outside my price range).


• In 2004 I was flat broke and bought Ramen noodles.  This was between deployments, between jobs, and I had serious car troubles.  It was a dismal time for me.  I spent each evening at a different house, moving from couch to couch.


• In 2005 I purchased an HP dv1000 laptop.  I tricked it out with a whopping 512MB of ram, 80GB hard drive, and extended battery (lasts 3+ hours).  I should also point out that during the summer of 2005, I was again broke. My business was my sole source of income and not doing as much as I wanted it to. However, everyone else I knew was broke, and we all enjoyed that summer playing pool, eating at Dennys, and taking road trips to Western PA, Eastern Maryland, and Southern Virginia.  I don't know how we afforded any of it.


• In 2006 I purchased a house.  Not exactly a gadget, but I believe it will outlast all of my other gadgets.  Business was doing a lot better for me during this summer.  Up until winter came, things were truly looking up.


• This year, the year of 2007, I purchased a xv6700.  This is a Windows PPC 6700.  It comes with 64MB of ram, has bluetooth, wifi, is evdo capable, and will take mini-SD cards.  It has a touch screen and a slide out keyboard that works really well.  This device is more of a computer than a phone, and in that regard works very well.  The phone side of it leaves a bit to be desired.  There seems to be a slight delay between when you press a key and when it updates the screen, which is a bit distracting when placing a call or entering your pin.  Otherwise, this is an amazing gadget.  The phone portion is vastly improved if you use a bluetooth headset.  Plantronic Voyager 550 is the one I got and unlike those earpieces that you corkscrew into your ear, I barely notice that I'm wearing the headset.  I linked to a video review that I would highly recommend watching even if you're not in the market for such a phone/ppc.  There are reasons I chose a phone that is more of a computer than a phone, and I will go into that next.

As you may have read, I am working for "the man", a big corporate entity in Virginia.  My main business has become a sideline endeavor for the foreseeable future.  I still have customers I support, and I'll still do a lot of the same stuff.  But, I'm not taking calls constantly for the business and not using my phone that much as a phone.  I'm shifting to work I can do remotely such as server administration, scripting, and device configuration.  Most of this can be done via web and email.  With an email/web/ssh capable mobile device, I can even handle some emergency tasks from just about anywhere.
On another note, not splurge related, I have finally been placed on Night One.  This is a wonderful shift that is basically 3-4 (alternating) nights each week.  I will always work Sunday night, Monday Night, and Tuesday night.  Every other week, I will work Wendesday night as well.  The shifts go from 6pm till 6am.  Once I am done at either Tuesday or Wednesday morning, I am off to do my own thing until the following Sunday night.  The long shifts sound horrible, but I much prefer the shorter work week (even though I might go home to do even more work, of a different kind).

I woke up this morning at 3am,
I don't know why I got out of bed.
The computer called my name,
For others, my life seems so mundane.

I type into night, I type into the dawn.

My eyes droop, my fingers fly.

I wake up, I've pressed k, too many times.

What drives me so?

I really don't know.  

The system is my home,

I am never alone.

Eight am... time for work...

Another night, still no sleep.

I'm still behind, I can't deny.

Through bloodshot eyes...

I smile at my plight.

I truly am alive.

- Squegie 12/15/2003

Got an email today from one of my friends. It's a conversation I've had before with people, so I'll state here again. Let me start with the email.

You know,

One could just buy a *new* vehicle, with a decent warranty, that would

pretty much guarantee 7 years or 70K miles of worry-free driving, given

regular maintenance.  Just a thought. ;)

Jenn

P.S. Toyotas rock.

Ok, sounds simple enough. Now, let's look at some real numbers here. The cheapest 2003 Toyota Tacoma is blue booked at $12600. Let's say I got one of these guys at exactly $12,600 AND let's say I manage to get a 5-year loan at 4%. My cost and loan will definitely be higher, but I'll play with these low numbers for fun. My monthly payment would be $232.05/month, every month, for 5 years. Almost every car I've ever bought has been $350, driven off the lot. With title transfer and everything, it's still under $450. I then take that vehicle to the garage and put $100 into it. I'm up to $550. Let's see.. that's three months of my 5-year loan right there. This vehicle will last me about 8 months before I have to do anything else to it. 8 months where I'm saving $232.05 over the cost of a new car. At the end of this 8 months, let's say I put $200 into it. That's still less than one of my monthly payments.

As a case in point, my Buick (the most recent one to hit the dust) is the same one I bought in July of 2000. I paid $300 for it, and have put $700 into it over the last two years. Just recently, I had to replace the muffler, which when couple with yearly inspection cost me $140.00 (the car died 3 days later). That brings me up to just under $1200 for 28 months or just under $43/month. This is not an exception, but my typical spending. Now, the bigger question: Is it worth (at bare minimum) $189/month of saved money to be potentially stranded for a portion of a day? With a service like AAA plus, you get free towing at a mere cost of $60/year. This is something you should have independent of vehicle costs (it covers you even if you're riding in someone elses vehicle). There is no such thing as worry-free driving. A new vehicle has less wear and tear on it, but can still fail you. The difference is that the warrantied vehicle will not require additional money out of your pocket (except of course, for your $232 monthly payment for the next 5 years) to get it fixed and running again.

I could however, spend at a rate similiar to one of these loans and acquire 4 running, used vehicles per year, slowly building myself a fleet of cars and trucks.