Things to Get

OK, so after work today, I went by the new place first, then went a few miles past to where the Best Buy, Home Depot, and a bunch of other stores were. I am getting into buying mode. There is a bunch of stuff I know I will need for the new place. Lots of it will be little stuff like new shower curtains and trash cans and curtains and stuff like that. And yeah, yeah… I know all that. But then there are the gadgety things that actually get me interested and ready to pull out my credit card.

So lets see, first, the place does not come with a refrigerator. So I guess I need one. I saw this one today. I think this is the one I want. There are higher end ones than this, but this one will do quite well:

Samsung RS2555SL
It has the ice maker and all that, and a funky little digital display. Samsung also makes ones that is all hooked to the internet and stuff and you can check your email on the screen on the front of your refrigerator. But you know, I’m a gadget freak and internet guy and all, but that is just stupid. (And BTW, Samsung’s site is stupid too… won’t let you link to their products, the URL times out and is specific to a given user… so I’m linking to Best Buy instead.)

OK, then the thing that actually has me all excited lately. Now, I know I don’t NEED this, and I know after buying a house and all I really should not spend lots o’ cash on something completely optional and frivolous. But damn it, I’m going to treat myself! The loft in the new place is where I’m going to set up a whole little home theater thing. It isn’t really fully ideal for that. No full lighting control (it has windows), non-symmetrical for audio (the overlook to the living room) and such like that, but it will do for now. If I really get anal about that stuff in the future, I can build a “real” theater room in the basement. But for now this will be fine. I already have a DVD player I am happy with, and the DirecTivo for television, and I guess the VCR too, although I never use it. So that will be fine for inputs. Need a bigger display though. And a sound system and speakers. So here is what I’m thinking:

InFocus x1
Digital Projector that has been getting really good reviews all over the place in terms of value mainly. Nothing else comes close to the quality for the price apperantly. In order to get something significantly better than this model I’d have to pay more than twice as much, and I’m not going there. This will be more than enough for me for now. I’ll need a ceiling mount for it too probably.

Panasonic SA-XR45S
I saw a cheaper model in the same line at Best Buy. Of the ones that seem to be comperable, this is the one that I liked the best in terms of how it looked. And this one has a couple more features than the one I actually saw in person at the same form factor, for not that much more. I don’t know if the brick and mortar place has these in stock as well as the other model, but I’m sure I can get it online if not.

Sony SA-VE445H
Some middle of the pack speakers. I could spend less, I certainly could spend tons more. But these look like they will do the job, and look kinda decent visually. I’ll probably have to get some speaker stands or whatever for them to sit on too, but I can deal with that sort of thing later and seperately. (Oh, and Sony’s site is stupid too… also won’t let me link directly, so I used a link to the first place that showed up on google for these.)

And that will take care of the whole home theater thing. (Well, that and some cables and such.) and I should also be able to hook my iPod and XM radio up to the mix as well just to be a complete media room.

Yeah, I know it is an excess, but it is something I’ll be able to do in my new place, that I wasn’t really able to do in this one. Well, I guess I could have, but…

Oh, and just for good measure, lets throw in one of these…

Roomba
What new place could be complete without a robotic vacuum cleaner??? And yeah, I’ll probably still be paying to have the place cleaned periodically, but ain’t this cool? :-)

So anyway, I know I *should* wait until after the closing on Monday to get all this stuff, but I was really tempted to order the fridge today for delivery next week, and to grab the X1 that the Best Buy had in stock. They had plenty of Roombas too. But I refrained.

I am still being highly tempted to go ahead and order online the receiver and speakers though, cause I don’t think the ones I wanted were visibly in stock in the places I went. Not saying I couldn’t find someplace that they were, but… Anyway, we shall see.

Since I’m spending untold thousands on the house itself, I’m getting into major spend mode. I have to budget myself, I know. But I liquidated more stock options than I actually needed to for closing, precicely so I could do this sort of thing. So…