Consumer crazy...

Well we have been in the USA over two years now so it is not that surprising that consumerism has taken over my world. At least that is my excuse and I am sticking to it for now. Not content with nearly all the gadgets in the world, I now find myself drooling over ridiculously expensive digital SLR cameras, even though Catherine already has an SLR and I have a digital camera!

The recent release of the Canon Digital Rebel XT didn’t help matters. The old Rebel was tempting enough, but then they go and reduce the size and weight, pump up the pixels and give it a load of missing features - how are you supposed to resist? Luckily the lens they give you (almost for free) isn’t quite as good as it should be and getting something with a decent zoom would bump the price over $1,200… ouch.

The other temptation is a pair of Heelys. The idea of shoes that turn into skates is reminiscent of Izzard’s ‘trousers that turn into jam’ - but they seem a lot more sensible than micro (not very micro at all) scooters. They seem to be popular with kids but you don’t see many adults (or even students at UCLA) wearing them - so either they are so ridiculously hard to use that only the malleable brains and bodies of children can cope with them - or I am ahead of a trend! Here come the broken bones then…

Since Heelys are about $90 I thought ebay might be an option to give them a try without breaking the bank if not the wrist. I only tell you this because I am an ebay virgin and have only recently formalized a relationship with paypal. Paypal and I are now enjoying a fruitful partnership and I hope my foray into ebay won’t disturb the harmony.

One other thing on the wanted list - a watch. A trip to a fancy mall jewelery store wasn’t highly successful. There was nothing below $600, I didn’t like any of them anyway (lies!) and the woman said I had big bones (bitch!) and would suit a big watch. A contender for a while were the Swiss Army watches, but none were quite the hole in the cheese (or something). Currently the Nixon range of watches is quite tempting…

Then of course you have the eternal Roomba robotic Hoover… A set of decent kitchen knives… a hard drive big enough to fit the Internet and still have space for backups… flat screen monitor for home use… and that is without even thinking about it!

Maybe I should just go to Venice beach and buy some $5 sunglasses and a T-shirt with “I’m with Stupid” and hope my consumer urges submerge without trace.