My brother over at Rabbits Confused with Raisins has tagged me with a meme of his own creation, the Go Go Gadget meme. As he is leaving the country shortly I thought I would lower myself to acknowledging his existence just this once. And anyway, I’ve been running dry on post ideas recently.
All Sam’s gadget choices revolve around running up mountains, hurling yourself down hillsides, or other distressingly strenuous activities. My choices rather unsurprisingly are much more sedentary in nature.
The questions are:
- What is the most pointless gadget you have?
- What is the most useful gadget you have?
- What is your biggest gadget extravagance?
- What is your favourite gadget?
Most pointless gadget: Ice cream maker
I bought this around four years ago, and for some reason still haven’t thrown it out. In theory the maker slowly stirs your raw ice cream ingredients while the cold from it’s inner bowl freezes it (therefore avoiding the formation of ice crystals). In reality however the mixture merely turns from a lukewarm liquid into a slightly colder liquid. Every time I use the thing it is the same: I start of with optimism and enthusiasm, eager to launch my new rhubarb and artichoke ice cream on the waiting world. But after half an hour of watching the damn thing slowly and ineffectually stir the concoction I invariably declare a pox on the whole affair and just shove it in the freezer.
Mmmm, crunchy ice crystals.
Most useful gadget: Macbook
I’ve waxed lyrical over the superiority of Macs before, so I won’t bore you with the details. Suffice to say that it’s reluctance to crash, intuitive usability, and silky smooth looks has made me an Apple convert. And due to the wonders of wireless networking I can comment on all your blogs while sitting on the toilet. Marvelous stuff.
Biggest gadget extravagance: iPod
Damn you Coca-Cola, your win an iPod contest awoke a desire in me that had been long dormant. The worst thing is that I already had a 30gb mp3 player before getting the iPod, but the integration with iTunes and the video facility proved too much of a temptation. In my defense I have used it even more than I had anticipated I would. The ability to watch my own choice of viewing at work rather than the soaps my colleagues insist upon is invaluable. I also use it a lot in the car, although tend to stick to music and podcasts as the police tend to frown upon watching feature length episodes of Poirot while driving.
Of course Apple launched a brand new improved iPod just weeks after I had shelled out my hard earned cash on one. But such things are all part of the hazard of being me.
Favorite gadget: Canon 350D
Kerry has been into photography for a while, she even dabbled in professional wedding photography for a couple of years. But it wasn’t until she bought a digital SLR that I took any interest. Developing photographic film is very expensive, and as my good shots to utter crap ratio is roughly 1/150 I always reasoned I was financially better off staying away from the hobby.
Digital changed all that of course, it doesn’t matter how many duff photos you take as can just delete them. Not wishing to blow my own trumpet, but I think I’ve taken to photography rather well. I still don’t fully understand concepts like aperture and light metering. And I admit I have the camera set on the easy half of the dial 80% of the time. But I’ve taken a few shots that I’ve been proud of. I also thoroughly enjoy myself and that’s the main thing.
I tag Dan Leone, The Chick, and Lee. As usual I won’t be at all offended if you choose to ignore the tag.
I need a new camera. And a bowl of ice cream.
The ice cream maker sounds like too much work for a scoop of crunchy ice.
How come I never get offered rhubarb and artichoke ice crystals when I come round?
I recently made blackberry icecream using a friend’s ice cream maker:
1litre - Hand picked blackberries,
Small tin - condensed milk
Half pint - double cream
Drizzle - honey
More - honey
Blend all ingredients together. Pour into ice cream maker.
Wait, watch.
Stick spoon in to have a taste as it freezes.
Turn off machine to retrieve spoon.
Check the rotating centre piece for spoon damage.
Restart.
The resulting ice cream was absolutely delicious. Thanks, Dixons for giving me the idea of using condensed milk.
Seeing that picture has made me nostalgic Dan. Not for the camera; not for the car; not even for you I’m afraid. But for the architecture. The years of ground in dirt and stubborn stains, engrained into the stonework of Huddersfield buildings. You just don’t get that up here in Scotland. Everything’s so … so… clean.
It’s not right.
I can’t wait to come back to Huddersfield.
I’ve just returned from Dixons myself. I’ve decided that I’m having an ice cream theme on the blog this week.
I know what you mean about the soot caked stone of west yorkshire. dark satanic mills are vastly under-rated in my opinion.
Your camera is my favorite gadget too.
I vote for bread maker as the most useless gadget. At least in our household.
We have that same type of ice cream maker and have made ice crystals many times. The difference is that I eat them anyway. Probably with rhubarb and artichoke bits in it, I am sorry to say.
(If you have a deep freeze or can turn your freezer down several degrees, then freeze the inner portion for at least 24 hours, I’ve found that it helps and our maker actually can make real ice cream.)
Hi Dan:
I was just merrily reading along entranced by your writing yet again, and I get to the bottom of this post and see my name. Now, I cannot specifically tell you how excited I was, but suffice it to say that I was VERY excited.
I am eternally grateful as well.
Now, I need to whittle down all the crap in my house and choose the most worthless gadget.
Dan
By the way, when will you English people ever learn to speak English?
What the eff is a “knobber?” I will leaver “clobber” alone.
Dan! I feel so bad that I am only just now catching this and seeing that I got tagged! Sheesh! How did I miss this post! I am going to do it this week. Sorry for being such a slacker!