Thursday, December 07, 2006

the lust for gadgets

So, we are going on a cruise over Christmas. This is a family thing, with 12 of us altogether. It wasn't my idea of a great vacation, but my 95 year-old amazing mother-in-law has mobility issues, so it is what it is.

We depart from San Diego, and will visit PV, Mazatlan, and Cabo - all places I've been before.

We had a pretty good time on the Caribbean cruise last year, once you get beyond the surreal notion of a giant ship, burning all that fuel, in order to make a round-trip, carrying a boat-load of overfed, often-demanding, generally well-to-do Seniors. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Every time I go on a trip, I like to take along some new toy. For Spain, it was a new digital camera. I just discovered that the cruise ship has several WiFi hot-spots. I hadn't planned to take my laptop, hoping to avoid work, but it would be convenient to be able to check my email without having to wait for a terminal at their Internet center, or rent a laptop for WiFi access.

So, off we go to craigslist.

Within minutes, I found a guy selling a souped-up iPaq, with *built-in* WiFi, a 512 MB SD card, and, best of all, it runs the new Windows Mobile 5 (so it can rotate the screen portrait or landscape). He's asking $130, which is a darn good price.

I need a Windows Mobile 5 device for testing software that I wrote and support, so it's a tax-deductible purchase. Plus, the guy has a detachable keyboard, originally for a Palm device, that *might* work (he's looking for drivers now), that he said he'd throw in for free. Plus, he bought a 2-year replacement warranty from Fry's, that he can transfer to me (for a slight charge).

What could be cooler than sitting in the sun, with tropical breezes wafting about, and a drink-with-an-umbrella at my side, while listening to MP3s and checking my email for penis-enlargement ads?

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