Thursday, June 26, 2008

Gifts 1-3

1. 2000 - Back Pack - I had just finished my first semester at Snow College and made my new resolution. The back pack I had for several years had a broken zipper and just wouldn't hold stuff anymore. Instead of buying a new cheap backpack I went and spent a little more so it would be more a nice gift to myself that I could use whilst on a mission. I used the backpack for two years on a mission and by the end it was more than worn out, I think about a quarter of it was reinforced with duct tape. When I returned home I replaced it with a cheap version to go back to school with.

2. 2001 - Mini-Disc player - While I was on a mission I had a cd player which I used to listen to music. I was soon introduced to the advanced technology in Japan. It was as easier to record and share music on a mini-disc player than on a tape recorder, but you had the quality and ease of use that came with a cd player. I used this for the last year of the mission and for four years after I returned home. It was great until it was eventually made obsolete. It became such a pain to find discs, and the battery, though rechargeable, was on its last leg. I sold it on e-bay to someone in Europe who paid me 75% of what I originally paid for it.

3. 2002 - I thought I had a picture of my Toyota Tercel, the first car I ever owned. Even though buying a car doesn't really seam like a toy keep in mind that at the time I lived in Ephraim and I didn't really need a car I walked just about everywhere but the grocery store and Denny's. It was a great little car which on rare occasions I regret that I sold it, but it was a little small for me. I always felt cramped in the drivers seat and it seemed to hurt my lower back. I sold it to a guy from Brazil whom I worked with at the time and he sold it to a Hispanic guy named Felix when he returned to Brazil who still drives it to this day.
I used to drive the Tercel camping, hiking, and exploring. In fact that Tercel probably was probably driven on dirt almost as much as it was driven on paved roads.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Millenium Resolution

Some people, as well as myself, set New Year's resolutions. I on the other hand also made a New Millennium's goal at the end of 1999; I set a goal to, despite financial obligations such as school, to buy myself one toy every year. When I first began the price of my gift to myself was fairly inexpensive. As this little resolution of mine has progressed the average price of the toy has tended to increase as well. Thus far I have been successful in fulfilling this goal. In later posts I will try to provide a picture of each of the gift I have purchased if I can find one and give information as to whether or not I still have it and if not, what happened to it, and why it was the gift or toy for the year.

2000 Back Pack
2001 Sony Mini-disc player
2002 Toyota Tercel 1993
2003 Phillips 12 C.D. changer
2004 Jamis Dakar 2003
2005 Mazda 626 2002
2006 Optoma HD70 Projector
2007 Jamis XAM 1.0 2007
2008 Yamaha V-Star 2002