What Cool Gadget Do You Have or Want?

Eric wrote:

Otter wrote:

Eric wrote:

One of my favorite childhood toys was an Etch-a-Sketch.  My grandmother gave it to me one Christmas.

When I was 5 or 6, we had one of those blanket/clothespin tents set up a couple of houses over in a friend's front yard and after we turned in to sleep, my brother sneaked over and scared the bejesus out of us!

Clothespins could do a lot of thing, couldn't they? A lot of people don't even have any in their houses anymore.

We still use 'em to pin a half-eaten bag of chips closed.  Properly folded and clipped, chips will stay fresh... for a while.

LOL- I guess I'm more high-tech than I should be. I actually pay money for the little clips to close my bags. I never even thought of using clothespins, but I might just start doing that. We keep them, plus a roll of clothesline around for camping. Which we do in an air conditioned camper. Like I said, just no desire to go back to the tent thing.
Yes, I know camping in an air conditioned travel trailer really isn't camping, but the KOA's call it that.

My brother-in-law had a Bluebird motorhome and I just HAD to have one. His was customized and like a palace. They had plenty of money. He told me he paid $300K one year in income taxes!

We wound up buying a huge boat that wound up as a huge financial drain due to maintenance issues. After subsidizing upwards of $30K to sell the boat, we learned that big toys are not going to be in our future... no Class A motorhome for us.

We might buy one of those teardrop campers or a pop-up camper, but not anytime soon, if at all. We still camp and enjoy setting up a tent and a big EZ-Up on the beach and camping there. We have a 2-cycle blender that runs off a weed-whacker type motor and we have our frozen Margaritas right there.

I'm all for simplification. I do not want to be bothered with high tech toys. A clicker (remote) with off / on, volume, and channel up or down and a record button......is enough for me.

Eric wrote:

My brother-in-law had a Bluebird motorhome and I just HAD to have one.  His was customized and like a palace.  They had plenty of money.  He told me he paid $300K one year in income taxes!

We wound up buying a huge boat that wound up as a huge financial drain due to maintenance issues.  After subsidizing upwards of $30K to sell the boat, we learned that big toys are not going to be in our future... no Class A motorhome for us.

We might buy one of those teardrop campers or a pop-up camper, but not anytime soon, if at all.  We still camp and enjoy setting up a tent and a big EZ-Up on the beach and camping there.  We have a 2-cycle blender that runs off a weed-whacker type motor and we have our frozen Margaritas right there.

No Class A Motorhomes here either. We used to have an old one of those but the gas mileage made it impossible for us to go anywhere much in it. We got a little 23' pull behind Kodiak a couple of years back, anticipating a lot better gas mileage towing it. We suddenly found out how underpowered a Nissan Frontier can be, even with a towing package. We've put about 6,000 miles on the trailer so far, and our gas mileage averages about 10 MPG when towing. Probably less in the mountains. Our motorhome got about 7MPG. We need a bigger truck, but since ours is paid for that isn't gonna happen.
The dogs appreciate not camping in tents I think. At least that's one of the excuses I give for not roughing it.
Our boat's just a baby too- just a 19 foot bay runner. No more big boats for us either.

hallmarkgrad wrote:

@Melissa
Maybe a little smaller bike?  I have one you can try.....

HMG, it is a balance issue. :-( I think Riceme is right - I need training wheels. But thank you so much for the offer!

Eric wrote:

Mel, I like to use a laptop or iPad to control my entertainment center.  I can sit out back drinking Margaritas with friends and pick music on the iPad, for instance, and send the music via wifi to my stereo inside the house and it plays inside and on the outside speakers... without having to tether my iPad to wires.  

A wireless jukebox, if you will.

OK. I have it now, I think!

she, you're not going to like this, but you and I share a lot of similar traits/likes   

and about gadgets. I just want to figure out the 3 remote controls I have now.   

I've given this some thought and really all I want is a phone that actually works. :/

My phone does what I want. I use it for a calculator, notepad, jukebox, camera, phone, Instant Messenger, web browser, 4-G hotspot, video player, ad infinitum.

Don't forget NSA tracking and surveillance system...

There you go... I forgot about that most important undocumented feature!

TEOTWAWKI wrote:

Don't forget NSA tracking and surveillance  system...

  

I can always count on T to bring a little lighthearted humor to the thread.   

My Droid4 was the most awesome phone imaginable... until it wasn't. If Verizon ever gets their asses in gear and starts to service the state of Alaska, I'll go back to the Droid4. Until then, I seem to be screwed since I am not a fan of iShit.

I just took an iShit and feel much better now, lol.

riceme wrote:

TEOTWAWKI wrote:

Don't forget NSA tracking and surveillance  system...

  

I can always count on T to bring a little lighthearted humor to the thread.   

My Droid4 was the most awesome phone imaginable... until it wasn't. If Verizon ever gets their asses in gear and starts to service the state of Alaska, I'll go back to the Droid4. Until then, I seem to be screwed since I am not a fan of iShit.

Last time there....Fairbanks had coverage...Outside of Fairbanks..nothing.... Thought by now it would be better...

mediawatcher wrote:

    Last time there....Fairbanks had coverage...Outside of Fairbanks..nothing.... Thought by now it would be better...

No change in status, and since I spend very little time in the actual big city of Fairbanks... well, you know. :/

If you're nearly anywhere in the Lower 48 I really believe that Verizon is probably the best carrier, with the caveat that you're really going to pay for your service. You only need to look at a Verizon service map to know that you're screwed if you go to Alaska... you pretty much have service in Anchorage (a place I plan to never, ever go) and in most of Fairbanks. Gee, thanks! Since Alaska is over 2X the size of Texas, that is not super helpful to most of us.

One of my favorite things about most of the places I go in AK is the lack of cell phone coverage!

Sometimes low tech is best as in the case of stamps and envelopes.

SheSurfs wrote:

One of my favorite things about most of the places I go in AK is the lack of cell phone coverage!

Sometimes low tech is best as in the case of stamps and envelopes.

I used to love that about going to our cabin in Colorado but trust me, it is different when it is your real, every day life and your mobile phone is your only communication device.

I can't fault Verizon much. It isn't a good business plan to install towers all over Alaska when there are only 1.26 people per square mile.

Yeah, I understand that density is higher in some areas, but they ain't megalopolises.

Eric wrote:

I can't fault Verizon much.  It isn't a good business plan to install towers all over Alaska when there are only 1.26 people per square mile.

Yeah, I understand that density is higher in some areas, but they ain't megalopolises.

Hey, you're supposed to be on my side, buddy.   

oh, okay.

That sucky Verizon!

How about that?