gadget girl lust

I'm still lusting after an all-in-one organizer / phone / e-mail wireless gadget that's smaller and lighter, and I'm poised to trade in or sell my cellphone and Palm when something's available that's also semi-affordable. Gadget Girl Lust. Or rather, Gadget Girl Lust Somewhat Tempered By The Fact That Gadget Girl Is Still Ramping Up Her Freelance Writing Income. (Hey, speaking of freelance writing...my articles are slated to appear in this month's issues of Harp Column and Applied Arts magazines, woohoo!)

I was on the verge of giving up my cellphone since I don't really use it that much, but am hesitating because I still see the value in having a cellphone for emergency or urgent calls. It's already come in handy quite often that way, and the convenience has (at least thus far) outweighed the hassle/cost.

I still like my Palm Vx, but don't use it as much as I once did because I have trouble hot-synching it with my iBook for some reason (it generally takes me at least 2 or 3 tries with reboots of my iBook, unplugging and replugging the Hotsynch cord) and also because carrying my cellphone and Palm and digital camera is too bulky for my waist pouch (which I tend to use instead of a purse).

Too bulky. Ha. Things have sure changed since those giant desk calculators from the dinosaur age, haven't they?





Jeff and I had planned to watch Magnolia last night, but discovered that our DVD player wasn't working. I was highly amused at Jeff's reaction: irritation mixed with delight. Irritation because it was just one in a long string of tech breakdowns we've been having lately (our microwave went kaputz last month so we're now using a tiny microwave from the old Inkspot office...so tiny, in fact, that NONE of our plates or bowls will fit into it). Delight because it meant he got to take our DVD player apart. :-)

I confess I've never shared Jeff's fascination with taking things apart and putting them back together (dunno if this is more a guy thing, or just a technie/not-so-techie thing)...the closest I ever came was when I decided to take apart my flute in high school one day to clean it, but then couldn't get it back together properly; I had forgotten to make note of the fact that some of the little metal rods attached to most of the keys had to be positioned back exactly right, or notes wouldn't sound. Bad call. I finally had to ask a classmate for help (a technonerdboy classmate, incidentally).

I did enjoy a computer hardware lab course at the University of Toronto, but have always been much more interested in the user interface side of things than the guts of the computer.

Anyway, Jeff did end up fixing the DVD player, yay! :-)

I'm thinking about getting a non-digital camera. I love my tiny Elph, but as my freelance writing ramps up, I'm realizing that it might be useful to have a camera that can easily do prints as well. One of my recent assignments was doing a profile of Ruth for ArtCalendar magazine. They prefer 8x10 prints over digital images, and they needed them in a hurry (by this Friday). Fortunately I already had some 4x5" prints of Ruth in her home studio, and fortunately they were okay with that; I'm FedExing them today. But what if similar situations crop up with future markets?

Anyway, I can't afford a higher-quality digital camera right now, so I'm going to opt for a cheap point-and-shoot type instead. I'll stick with my Elph most of the time, but will take the print camera if I need pictures for an article.

Any suggestions? I'm looking for an inexpensive, small, point-and-shoot camera that will take decent photos. I used to have a non-digital Canon Elph, but it never worked properly after our canoe got dumped in the lake years ago when we got sideswiped by a friend's motorboat. :-)

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Today's Blatherpics:

	Jeff delving into the innards of our sick DVD player.
	Close-up of DVD player guts.