Resisting cool new stuff

[ERD50]

Why, thank you. Here's a little regenerative receiver I built for the 40M ham band 2 or 3 years ago -

Very nicely done! Not to side-track too much, but a quick question about the circuit construction - I see that is a solid ground plane, but what are those little pads that you use to make the inter-connections? Are those purchased, or cut from PCB material and glued down? If purchased, where would I buy them?

That looks like a really nice way to do smaller projects. And are the ICs and such just done on little pieces of perf board?

-ERD50

 

[Meadbh]

Here is one woman who is trying mot to buy any "stuff" for a year. I don't think I could quite manage that!

Meet the N.S. woman trying to buy nothing for a year

 

[calmloki]

do they make a snow blower into which one can plug their i-phone?

Marketing is all about the tie in products and name familiarity. Testing found that T shirts with the "IBlow" logo didn't get the positive response hoped for.

 

[NW-Bound]

... Camera gear is another weakness I have to make an effort to not overspend on.

I do not think that the money you spent was wasted, seeing that you have enjoyed it and even took classes to learn new skills. It's money well spent in my book, if I can amortize that several $K over 1000's of hours in a hobby.

I myself have not spent that much on photo equipment because I have not developed this interest.

"Cool new stuff" that we really don't need is the American way. We've always had it under control, though less so when I was younger. I'm pretty good at resisting these days but I still succumb to it now and then. It helps that we also have "can't throw stuff (that works) OK" syndrome too...

I just bought a new PC. And I bought a new 23" monitor ($178) cause I wanted bigger and 16:9 widescreen - even though my 14 year old 19" LCD monitor was still working perfectly...

I have a more extreme $ example, but it's too embarrassing.

I have enough PC's in the home, and the latest quad-cores I bought a few years ago are still plenty fast, so am not in the market (it also helped that I could write them off as I did use them for work). But when I upgraded the hardware, I rarely threw them out, but used them as guinea pigs to install different software, try different OS's, file server software, etc...

All that activity is educational to me, and lets me entertain myself for so little compared to the alternatives. It is fully compatible to a LBYM's lifestyle, and the personality of an INTJ too.

 

[Lsbcal]

No this is not the answer to Putin in the Ukraine but it's pretty cool:

It's a 40v Lithium Battery driven Black and Decker sweeper (leaf blower). Should be the answer to my running out of battery juice when doing "blow jobs".

I'm monitoring it on Camel until the price comes down which it does periodically. Then I'll pounce.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

We want to downsize and travel in a couple of years so I am trying to get rid of more stuff than I buy. Thinking about downsizing has saved quite a bit of money. Our next house will only be half as big.

I try to only buy stuff that needs replacing or will save money in the long run. Like I bought a lap top to hook up to the TV so we can browse the web on the big screen and don't need cable TV (when cable TV costs more than Internet service alone.)

 

[Rustic23]

We buy stuff! Yea, there is a limit as to how much I will spend, but I can justify just about anything

I tell the kids we are spending there inheritance, and we are. My calculations show they will still have one, so we deprive ourselves of very little. Having said that, we still live within our means.

 

[HFWR]

Being a techno-gadget-geek, I could spend lots on toys, if I had lots to spend...

 

[Major Tom]

Very nicely done! Not to side-track too much, but a quick question about the circuit construction - I see that is a solid ground plane, but what are those little pads that you use to make the inter-connections? Are those purchased, or cut from PCB material and glued down? If purchased, where would I buy them?

That looks like a really nice way to do smaller projects. And are the ICs and such just done on little pieces of perf board?

-ERD50

Those little pads make building circuits directly from schematics quite easy, using a technique that has come to be called Manhattan construction. They are manufactured and sold by Rex W1REX. The regular square pads are called MeSQUAREs and the ones that are designed for a variety of IC's are called MePADs (the Me is for Maine, where he lives). I have provided hyperlinks to the pages on his site for each type of pad. They come in sheets that you break off with pliers, and the MePADS sheet has a variety for different IC packages, even including a few for SMT devices (which is good, as I just came into a sizeable quantity of SMT NE602's, if anyone is interested in a few).

They're easy to use. I roughen the underside of the pad with a craft blade and roughen the area on the copper laminate where the pad is going to be placed in the same way, then glue it down with a small drop of superglue gel. If you find that you've glued a pad in the wrong place, it will pop off fairly easily by just sliding a sharp craft blade underneath it. As you say, it's a great way to build simple circuits.

If you have any questions about their use, just PM me. I have used them for several projects now, with great success. Building this way over a copper groundplane works out well for RF circuits. By the way, I am not connected to Rex in any way, other than being a happy customer.

Apologies for the sidetrack!

 

[Walt34]

Here is one woman who is trying mot to buy any "stuff" for a year. I don't think I could quite manage that!

That would be a tough challenge, and the fight with DW over no paper towels wouldn't be worth it.

Like W2R, I've trained myself so that when the "I wanna..." urge strikes I wait a few weeks, months, or even years in some cases, and then see if I still do wanna. It was a tough lesson to learn about myself but that's what it took to get to LBYM.

I was just surprised at myself at how much I wanted it when I saw that easy-to-handle snow thrower after spending an hour working out with the basic model I have that works just fine. And then the next day I go to the gym and work on the shoulders and abs. That's okay but the workout with the snow thrower isn't?

No wonder sometimes I don't understand people. I don't understand myself....

 

[davemartin88]

You guys complaining about turning snow blowers -- sounds like you need to work on your core/abs/obliques

I have a different gadget for that!

 

[marko]

You guys complaining about turning snow blowers -- sounds like you need to work on your core/abs/obliques

You don't understand...this is AUTO turn!

 

[eytonxav]

Sorry, but that snow thrower is a non-starter. No cup holders, for heaven's sake!

Would that be for hot chocolate or hot brewskies?

 

[Koogie]

Darn you people... because of you I just went ahead and ordered the Google Nexus 5 phone that I've wanted for the last 6 months but had so far talked myself out of.....

See, it's all your fault...

 

[Sarah in SC]

Darn you people... because of you I just went ahead and ordered the Google Nexus 5 phone that I've wanted for the last 6 months but had so far talked myself out of.....

See, it's all your fault...

Hedonist!
Following the cool kids, are you?

 

[Koogie]

If you can't be one of the cool kids, you can at least impersonate one while holding a shiny new phone... )

 

[W2R]

Darn you people... because of you I just went ahead and ordered the Google Nexus 5 phone that I've wanted for the last 6 months but had so far talked myself out of.....

See, it's all your fault...

Super! I hope you enjoy it. I am sure enjoying my new "toy".

 

[NW-Bound]

I would not mind spending money on electronic toys if I knew I would enjoy them. Most of the time, I could not care less and I do not follow the consumer electronics market.

However the above means that I occasionally missed out on stuff that I could really enjoy, and it may not cost all that much. For example, I now have two Bluetooth audio receivers, which let me stream music from either my phone or my laptop. I recently thought of this capability and recognized that it was something I would enjoy.

My laptop has enough disk space to hold my entire MP3 collection, and I will be putting up multiple stereo setups in my 2 homes (I already have 5, no 6 receivers and even more pairs of speakers), so that I can listen to my choice of music whenever and wherever I want to.

Note to self: need to get more Bluetooth audio receivers.

 

[Ronstar]

I think I need a new cell phone. My iPhone 4s only lasts about 4 hrs on a charge. I think I can get the 5s for around $150 and get a trade in of $105 on mine - so about $50 for the new phone. I thought I saw a deal out there for $1 but I can't find it now. Anyway, I also need some woodworking chisels (not really new but cool), and a super telephoto camera lens for wildlife shots. Gotta get my spending done before I pull the plug totally at work.

 

[splitwdw]

Sorry, but that snow thrower is a non-starter. No cup holders, for heaven's sake!

Hey, my zero turn mower has a cup holder. I thought the salesman was nuts when he mentioned that feature.

 

[Ready]

I can't think of one material item I have any desire to buy. It just all feels like a bunch of clutter. It takes up space. I have to take care of it, find a place to put it, keep it from getting dirty, worry about it getting stolen.

As I get older, I find that experiences are far more enjoyable than things. I get more excited about getting rid of things and having more space after I do.