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just three hundred easy payments Actually, no. I’m pretty far from being a tech whore. (See this for a reference point.) I currently carry two devices. One is a BlackBerry Curve, and isn’t really mine, since it’s paid for by my employer. The second is a showing-its-age iPod (71 of 80GB free, woo). These two devices cover my bases: they keep me connected to the office and to anybody who bothers to call me (pretty much only people from the office), and they keep my ears happy and entertained. The iPod does its job well, and even goes a little beyond, letting me watch itty-bitty movies when I’m bored. The BlackBerry gets the job done, but usually in the most clunky and visually displeasing of ways. Web browsing in particular is an ongoing nightmare of usability and incomplete content. Which leads me to my sudden and overwhelming desire for upgrades. That pretty new iPhone looks like more than just a more attractive device — that’s a sleek and thoroughly usable web browsing tool, which is something I ache for every time I attempt to view sites on my BlackBerry. I’m itching for one, I’ll confess. The iPhone would eliminate the need for toting around the iPod as well — not only does it solve my immediate BlackBerry issues, but it removes the need for a second device altogether. So leave it to me to want to fill the gap with another and larger device. But I’ve been doing a little reading about the Amazon Kindle, and now I want one. There aren’t many devices that immediately speak to my own personal tastes, needs, habits, etc. But this one does. For one, it’s ugly as hell. For another, it’s not an all-in-one — it won’t check my email, let me add blogs to its RSS library, pay my credit card, take photos, etc. It’s a reading device, plain and simple. I have in the past few weeks whittled away the vast quantities of media that I own. My DVDs have been sold, mostly. My books, with the exception of the rare ones, very re-readable favorites, or unread purchases, have been boxed and are awaiting donation to a library. The Kindle reportedly holds some 200 books without memory expansion, which would remove the need for me to keep a library at home at all. Not to mention how much easier it would be to take books with me on planes, road trips, to hotels, conferences, etc. Neither of these devices is being purchased any time soon, though. Over the past few months I’ve been attempting, in my feeble way, to confront debt nightmares head-on, as I slowly try to make up for a couple of significant mistakes in my financial past. I’m making progress, happily enough. Progress of any sort is encouraging. It just means I won’t be enjoying modern technology any more than I already do. For a little while, at least. This is the post, in case you are wondering, which identifies me as susceptible, just like everybody else, to consumer culture. I rant and rage against it quite a bit, offline — Felicia will roll her eyes and attest to this — but we all have our weak points, I guess. I take some comfort in the knowledge that my weak points all serve an actual need, or improve upon a current scenario. Not much, though. I’m just a consumer whore like the rest of you, I guess. Damn.
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