I happen to be one intense shopper and there is never a shortage of new-fangled gadgets to buy…just a shortage of dollars to buy them with. My favorite shopping list contains an endless array of electronic gadgets. I recently dug through old papers and found some lists I had created over the past few years. I thought it would be interesting to combine these lists into one large one and to check off the items I had actually purchased. Creating this list made me painfully aware that my husband’s never-ending bitching about what I buy had more validity then I cared to admit. Nonetheless, as Christmas approaches, so do the ads of all the new items that I just have to have and my list just gets longer like Pinocchio’s nose. The earliest list I had on hand began with an Apple 2E computer! Ah, those were the days. DOS software, no internet and no idea how to use the thing, but it was the first of many things I could put a check next to as having purchased. Looking back, it was a satisfying purchase (albeit extremely expensive back then) that actually changed my life. That $1800 machine (in 1980 something) allowed me to throw away the typewriter, carbon paper and correction tape. Next on the list was a VCR. I was, at the time, stationed overseas in the Air Force. German television was pretty entertaining even without understanding it, but it just wasn’t enough. VCRs were relatively new and extremely BIG. I remember so clearly that dreary day at the Base Exchange buying that Panasonic monster. Everyone I worked with was buying one as well…only problem…they had no movies to buy to play in it. But as is always the case with GIs, someone came up with the idea to have a “club”. It was awesome. Each member bought a VCR tape from some catalog to the tune of about $180 per movie. Then when they all came in, they belonged to the “club” but could be checked out by any member. It was amazing to see how fast this club grew and thanks to the wherewithal of one creative person we had entertainment the entire five years I was there….. Okay, lets see, we have the Apple 2E computer for word processing, VCR for entertainment, check, check. List continues…Commodore 64 for the kids, check, Atari for me and the kids, check, IBM computer, check, dial up Internet, WOW, check, check, check…that was so exciting. Then Scriptware to make my screen writing easier, check, first digital camera a Vivitar VGA, check, next three digital cameras, Kodak, HP and oh yes, finally (for now anyway) Canon Rebel, check, check and check. Let’s not forget the first 32 inch television, then the 40 inch Sony, a projection TV, HD TV, and currently a 61 inch RCA DLP TV (all checks in that order). In between all these things were things like sound machines to help me sleep, aroma machines to help me relax, musical instruments to help me seem more cultured, a mind-machine to do something, but I really can’t remember. I try to console my husband by assuring him that none of this was money wasted. I learned, I grew and I usually got a good bit of the money back when it bored me or was out of date by putting it on EBAY. Thank God for Ebay! Hmm, Christmas is coming and I'm anxious for Santa to come!

 

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