HiTech Dads

MediumTechDad

Sometimes in our lives (especially when we become dads) we have to decide whether we buy the latest gadget, or limp along with a mostly-working gadget that we already have that does the job well enough, and still allows me to put food on the table and provide for my family.  I’ve run into this a few times, but none more pronounced than my mp3 player.

When most people hear mp3 player, they immediately think iPod, and for good reason.  However, me being a cheapskate, and not having the foresight to see that someone would actually release a toilet paper dispense that you can connect your iPod to, I decided to purchase a cheaper mp3 player.  I went with the name I trusted most for PCs:  Dell.  What?  You didn’t know that Dell made an mp3 player?  Yeah, most people didn’t know that, as they didn’t really publicize it much.  Well, I bought a 15GB mp3 player called the Jukebox.  The interface is a little clunky, it weighs as much as some new laptops, and it’s a little embarrassing, but you know what?  It still works.  This thing has been dropped on the cement from 3-4 feet in the air more times than I can count.  Every now and then it will freeze up and I’ll have to get a paperclip and do a hard reset on the device, but that’s why i keep a paperclip attached to it at all times.  Sometimes I hear a clicking noise coming from it, but I try to convince myself that I’m just hearing things and it’s not really the hard drive preparing for a major crash.  Either way, I’ve gotten almost 8 years use out of it, so if it did go belly-up, I wouldn’t be too upset.  When was the last time you had a cellphone, computer, mp3 player, etc. for 8 years?  Not many last that long…

Let’s talk old computers.  In a previous post, I mentioned using an older computer as an educational tool for your kids using the Edubuntu operating system & applications.  Now, what do you do with 4 computers, including the first Pentium you ever owned?  Lots of sentimental value sitting in those 133 MHz and 16MB of RAM.  And let’s not forget about the massive 1.6 GB hard drive that couldn’t even contain, let alone run, Windows XP with MS Office these days.  It did pretty well with Win98 though.  It got me through most of college.  While I have grand dreams of setting up an OpenVPN system, FreeNAS box, and a couple other things that would make my life much easier, finding time to actually get those running is proving to be a challenge.  Not to mention I live in an older home with questionable wiring.  Who knows if the circuit feeding my office can even handle all of that.  I guess I’ll try and find out one day.

How about old video game consoles?  It wasn’t until just a couple years ago that I parted ways with my old Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis.  I loved playing those games, but I just can’t seem to find the time these days.  Today’s game consoles are just way to much for me.  There’s like 8 buttons, force feedback, joysticks, and all sorts of stuff you have to do just to play. What happened to the good old days of running, jumping, shooting things, and that was about it?  Man I feel old…

I’m sure there’s a host of other items I’m forgetting about that I could talk about (old cellphones, network equipment that’s been obsolete for ages, etc.), but I’m writing a blog post here, not a novel.

What items do you have that really should be upgraded, but for some reason you keep holding onto them?

In a later post, I’ll find some creative ways to reinvent those old devices, or at least provide some methods to safely dispose of, or donate, those types of items.  Stay tuned…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 9:47 pm. It is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.