Environment upgrade part 1

Part of the series of Environment upgrade

There was a time when I lived with nothing but hand me down stuffs and enjoyed everything but the comfort of material possessions that’d make my life easier. Till today, I still have the same bed frame, same mattress, same cook pot and same PC speakers for the past 5 years.

Tier 1

After I got my current job, I went on a shopping frenzy to upgrade my life a bit in order to be able to do more. These are the items purchased.

All in one printer.

7 dress shirts for work and threw away the old ones and all the hand downs from brothers/parents.

Motorola Ming multipurpose phone

Dell 20″ widescreen

Used car

Electric saw
Drill
Altera FPGA

Microwave

Freezer

That’s about it. As I often said to people: “I have little needs” and you can see that these are the basic essentials to go to work, do any sort of basic household repairs as well as basic things related to computers.
Tier 2

As my ambitions grew and the things that I want to do grew along, I realize that the upgrade to the next tier has to happen together with the purchase of several devices.

New computer (from parts): $700

Creative X-mod product research: $59.99

USB Mug warmer for my daily hot tea addiction at work: $12.99

Picoo palm sized helicopter to play with my cat: $49.99

Intuos Wacom Tab For my drawing needs: $369.95

SpaceNavigator PE for 3d modeling and animation: $59

ATI Radeon x800 GTO 256MB PCI Express To support my would be multi monitor setup. $61

Dell 20″ widescreen LCD x2 For triple monitor setup. $500

Guitar hero 2 For my dream that was never there: $79

Wii: $250

Wow, only $2000. I am cheap. I think I might just upgrade my current life with all these sooner than I thought. These are related to computer/entertainment upgrade. Since I can’t have more without moving out to a house first.

Tier 3

Plasma HDTV: $2000

PS3: $700

Dish wasaher: ???

Dryer: ???

Washer: ???

Stove oven: ???

Fridge: ???

House: ???

Sofa:???
Pool: ???

Foozball table: ???

7 Responses to "Environment upgrade part 1"

Jeff says:

December 6, 2006 at 9:33 am

Hahahahh…I think all young adults make these upgrade paths. My lists is similar, except it has a lot more camera gear on it (1/5 of the list is 4/5 of the money) .

Did you get your hands on a Wii yet? And what size Wacom Intuos tablet do you use? 6×8 seems perfect for me, but I’ve been thinking of the 6×11…too bad it’s $100 more.

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Causalien says:

December 6, 2006 at 1:19 pm

I want a 6×11 or 9×12.
But lately I found this DIY Cintiq tab, so I might try that after I put together my overclocked 4.2GHZ dual pentium computer.
http://www.bongofish.co.uk/Wacom/wacom_pt1.html
I find the combination of SpaceNavigator, wacom and zbrush a very powerful one for 3d modeling.
No wii yet. I am still heartbroken at the lame controller experience.

Reply
The TechnoBabe says:

December 6, 2006 at 10:18 pm

I was like you when I was younger, partly because my young years were so lean and I wanted to have more when I became an adult. I actually had a 42 inch plasma tv on the wall two years ago. And I sold it when I stopped watching tv and if we watch a dvd we watch it on the computer monitor. My life has gone back to the very simple. And I am so happy. You will strive for material things and will work hard and get some of them, and then there will be more things to wish for and work hard and get. Only you can decide how important the material things are in your life. Only you can decide how much importance to place on keeping up with other peoples accumulation of things. I’m not suggesting you should live in a cave with no running water. Not at all. We all have washer, dryer, car, coffee pot, computers, a pet or two. You have a good head on your shoulders and you are doing a good job as an employee and in planning your life. Enjoy this part of your life and I hope you keep blogging.

Reply
Jo says:

December 7, 2006 at 3:35 am

*chuckle* So you do have a wishlist up!
You have a car! Oh shoot I have much to catch up on.

You know, since I moved over here, I’ve used the printer about 5 times and it ran out of ink – ink is a high spot on my needs at the moment. But to it’s sad life so far, the printer is sitting on my floor on it’s own box with all it’s cables wound up.

I can relate heavily to wanting your own things. I’m still working on getting my own mattress – I have a hand-me-down. Though I’m doing well otherwise. I’m actually accumulating real furniture. It’s rather a shock on the system. I can’t simply just pick up and go anymore – but I guess that’s what happens when you stay in on place for 9, almost 10 months.

We all hope for better things. As we fly higher in life we like to shed the old and the borrowed and take on new belongings that we have earned with blood and tears so to speak.

Me? I think I’ll get a new mattress.

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Jeff says:

December 7, 2006 at 8:39 am

Holy crap, that DIY Cintiq is an awesome idea, but I’d rather have a 24″ widescreen monitor, since the DIY Cintiq monitor is limited to the size of the tablet. I got some decent pricing at work for the 6×11″ Intuos, so I ordered one yesterday.

I haven’t tried the Wii controller myself yet, but all the feedback I hear from other people is positive. What do you find is wrong?

And Jo, I had no idea how much of a difference a new mattress was over an old one. It sounds weird, but it feels REALLY good when you get your own.

Reply
Causalien says:

December 7, 2006 at 11:43 pm

Techno: Yeah, I always has a little reserve when I buy things, asking myself if I am way over my head on the purchases. I think I am good so far, because most of the items I desire all have functions that can streamline my creative processes. I use Warren Buffet’s outlook on investment in everything I buy. Value = Price – (Time_saved x my_per_hour_value). Sounds cold and logical, but recent observation of the red head’s emotionally based life lead me to believe that this works better.

Jo: Race you to buying an airplane!
I knew I should’ve made you buy hoards of furniture, that way you’d still be in Montreal.

Jeff: The Wiimote puts everyone on the same lvl field skill-wise because it introduces enough delay and inaccuracy to make you overcompensate. If you’ve played wii sport’s boxing you’ll understand. An example from wii tennis, it doesn’t know how you swinged your racket, just that you swinged it. The game itself does the running, aiming and putting the spin in the ball for you. So the only challenge in the end is if you timed the swing correctly. Simply put, it doesn’t let someone with better motor skill to excel at the game at all. The only remorse could be in shooting games, even then, I heard red steel was a big disappointment. There is a reason why Ubisoft took out the sword swinging detection in Zelda and I don’t think it’s because they are afraid the users will get tired.
From a hardware perspective, because I’ve worked with the detectors they used in the wiimote before, I understand that the position detection and object path detection is done software wise by the combined data of “gyroscope, accelerator and IR sensor” They must be provided by Nintendo to the game developers. So far, it’s crap.

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Mitchell says:

February 18, 2009 at 5:18 pm

Super-informative site! I am loving it!! Will come back again – taking you feeds also, Thanks.

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Environment upgrade part 1

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