everything's free in america, for a small fee

After two adventure-filled weeks, I'm back. Sorry, I didn't get a chance to travelblog after that first day in San Juan, but the tropical sun and Coronas sapped my motivation.

island of tropical breezes

So there's lots to catch up on. But first, here's what I'm thinking right this moment:

My sister took along her brand-new Canon Digital Rebel to the islands. I had a great time playing with it. Together we took 344 pictures, of which about 250 are keepers. So, no I won't be blogging all of them.

I will probably be buying one of these babies myself, especially considering the $200 price drop after the introduction of the Rebel XT while we were in the territories.

And so begins the slippery digital slope:

• A Digital Rebel at buydig.com is currently $674, including the standard lens. But that doesn't include a CF card, so that's another $89. But how will I protect my $773 investment? A cheap UV filter for the lens, and a sturdy camera bag. But surely I'd want a spare battery. At that point, the accessory package, at $165, is cheaper than the individual accessories.


• But how sad is it to get a 6.3 megapixel camera and continue to exclusively post them on the web? I plan to take lots of pictures, and Shutterfly is inconvenient. My ancient B&W laser printer won't help. Buydig.com has the Canon iP8500 Photo Printer for $305, and it's gotten rave reviews...


• Downloading the nearly 1 GB of photos we took on the trip has maxed out both my hard drives. My options:
  
  
  1. Delete a large chunk of my 100,000+ data files. Nope.
  
  
  2. Buy a new hard drive. Amazon's got an 80-gigger for $56. But... I've read that FAT32 cannot handle more than 32GB, and I'm running Dell's pre-installed Windows ME. Must I actually (*gasp*) purchase a copy of Windows XP? Amazon has a $20 rebate going, so it would only be $79... But wait. Windows XP needs 256+ MB of RAM, and I only have 128MB. 128MB of PC133 RAM is on sale for $26 at the 'zon. Now, I've already used all four EIDE connectors on my motherboard. I'll either have to toss out an existing hard drive or get a new $49 IDE controller card.


• Don't forget Gran Turismo 4! For once I didn't line up to buy a GT, because I knew I'd be on vacation most of March. Well, it's still $49.


• In celebration of finishing the second/third draft of my screenplay, I promised myself a (musical) keyboard, so I can take up the piano lessons I dropped when I was ten. As embarrassing as it is for a grown man to play with a lighted keyboard in Guitar Center, I have to admit the Casio LK-90TV 61-key keyboard looks like the ticket for me. I can't find a full-size (88-key) digital piano for under $399, and that model (the Casio Privia PX-100) is pretty lame. The LK-90TV is only $180 on the 'zon; tack on another $20 for the AC adapter. (The PX-500 has 88 lighted keys for $665, but that seems the worst of both worlds.)


• But wait, are those MIDI in/out ports I see? Yes, I admit it: back in 2001, I never thought I'd need it, so I saved $20 and opted for the SoundBlaster without the game/MIDI port.


• Oops, I forgot. My BenQ projector died shortly before Oscar night, and now I'll have to send it in again. I've not much hope for a permanent fix, so I'm back to my 25" Sharp fishbowl CRT. No $12000 big screen can compare to the 100" diagonal and 180-degree field-of-view I got with the BenQ, and I'm not willing to gamble another $900 on another projector. Hmmm.

So, let's see:

• Canon EOS Digital Rebel: $674
• Digital Rebel Accessory Pack: $165
• Canon iP8500 Photo Printer: $311 (incl. shipping)
• 128MB PC133 RAM: $26
• Western Digital 80GB Ultra ATA hard drive: $56
• Microsoft Windows XP SP2 upgrade: $79 (after $20 rebate)
• Gran Turismo 4: $49
• Casio LK-90TV 61-key lighted key keyboard: $180
• keyboard AC adapter: $20
• SoundBlaster 16-bit PCI card: $19

Total: $1579

But, that's still less than what I spent for twelve days in the Caribbean. Travelling always does this to me: in comparison to the costs of travelling abroad, digital gadgets seem cheap. That's why I own a $970 point-and-shoot one-megapixel camera and a $3600 PowerBook 1100 that was non-functional within a year of purchase. And I haven't even opened the last 7 DVDs I bought. Will I ever learn?

Ah, life in the digital connectivity age. I may never be able to buy a new gadget in isolation again. I do have one firm conviction though: I will never own a cell phone.

Life was so much simpler in the Spanish Virgin Islands. Which reminds me: it's about time I did my taxes. I could use a piña colada.