Hello all It's been a while since I posted a thread that wasn't asking for some sort of technical help, however a few threads and posts here and there have got me questioning: What do you feel are the finer things in life? We have had posts covering: Mechanical Keyboards Suits Wet shaving Pens Watches and things that I didn't even know about them. I hope he doesn't mind me name-dropping, but Longweight would have you enraptured by the Topre switches of his new keyboard; and to be honest, he has me totally sold - I'm already looking out for one (A HHKB2). Likewise with the shaving thread a while back - Sold. Best badger brush, razor, blades and selection of grooming products I could find, and now I could never go back. I was given a Breitling Navitimer for my 18th birthday a while back, and unbelievably I lost it/it was stolen whilst I was at Uni. I haven't had a watch since, because I can't afford a replacement of the same calibre, and anything less just seems sub-par and light, I still look at my wrist when I wonder the time though and remember my loss! So Bit-Tech, what has imperceptibly and slowly changed your life forever? Is there some humidor that provides your smoke with that little extra flourish? Some specially imported tipple you can't do without? Is that SSD you have making every other computer seem unusably slow? Tell us here so we can all experience the finer things...
I really enjoy tactile things, nice crystal tumblers and wine glasses, high quality writing paper, really good quality tools such as my leather and lovely kitchen knives (I have a set of Globals). What do you value?
I'll get my boring answer out of the way before the orgy of gadget/geek lust begins. My daughter. Nothing can change your life like one, however difficult that may be for some people to grasp. Everything else pales into insignificance.
Can't live without my Soundblaster Arena Headphones. The dribble that comes from the television while the gf is watching the soaps is as good as torture. They come in especially helpful when Xfactor or Britains Got No Talent is on. Galaxy S2, great for keeping away the boredom when without my PC. Makita Cordless Drill, thanks to renovating my house i've used this a million times, well worth every penny is spent on it. BT Infinity 2 (80mb interweb) pains me to use anything less. I've put Cat5 all around the house too where possible and it's just fantastic. I plan to purchase over the coming months, Hiking boots (3 peaks challenge in August), Television & HTPC (might leave room for modding with this).. Thats about it to be honest
You forgot about: Hi-fi setups Desk/room setups High performance flashlights Tool collections (that one hasn't been bumped in a while!) Cars Music is a big part of my life. I enjoy listening to it more than playing it, but that changes frequently and I expect it to be the opposite again eventually. Having a good hi-fi to listen to your favourite music on is amazing, I couldn't live happily without mine now. I wouldn't say my desk/room setup is life changing, but it's certainly a nice place to be I can't say that high end torches has changed my life either, but let's just say that I'm never in the dark I can't work without my tools. Having good ones helps reliability and longevity. I'm a "tool freak" as well as a flashaholic! And finally - I've more or less "vowed" to dedicate the next several years of my life to pursuing something I've wanted to do for a long time - build and race my own track car. I can't wait to get started on it, and am positive that it will bring me a huge amount of enjoyment and will be something that I'll have for life. I think that it's more than a hobby judging from how excited I am, it's a passion. It will definitely be life changing
A year ago my post would have been full of gadgetry, you just don't have as much time for it whilst they're tiny. I'll pick up on some of the other finer things in life again as she gets a bit older of course You're definitely not shallow matey, nobody I know on this forum is.
Knives, yes! A good set in the kitchen makes all the difference! I have some fairly mediocre Sabatier offerings currently, but they're still miles better than the generic stuff. Some Torijo Senkous coming my way soon maybe? Definitely agree with the writing paper as well, but my problem with that is that I rarely write because my penmanship leaves so much to be desired. What do I value? One of many tech things: FLAC. The discernible quality increase over mp3 - even without being an audiophile, or having that level of equipment. Another: Uncompressed Blu-ray on a decent display - because that 10Gb 1080p mkv just doesn't do the source justice!
Steak and scalextric nights with my flat mates. Once every 2 months when our differing work patterns allow us to all be around on the same friday. Usually accompanied by some tiger woods on the kinect. My other would be my mountain bike. Nothing like being able to escape normality and tackle some muddy hills and trails.
I completely forgot about knives! Knives and flashlights go hand in hand as two of the coolest types of gadget that are hugely popular with some people. I don't have any really expensive kitchen knives yet, but the decent ones that I do have are always kept hair whittling sharp, just like my Spydercos, Ka-Bars and the rest
The finer things in life? My favourite possesions would be my many leather-bound books and my apartment that smells of rich mahogany.
Oh yes! My flat was previously two flats, so we have two VM cable and a BE ADSL connection which I've set up load balancing on our (Draytek) router for 220Mb Usenet cheesecake (requires separate accounts) combined with gigabit over CAT6 all over the house. I'm going to have to move out soon (new job with literally a fraction of the pay). I will really, really, really, really, REALLY miss this. Food was bound to come up! Quite right though, nothing like an excellent well prepared cut of meat, medium rare.
I guess at my age it's hard to consider what I find to be truly valuable. I have been lucky to move away from most others my age in terms of knowing what a quality product is, which seems to have been lost in this day and age, be it audio gear, or anything. IN terms of what I enjoy, I'd like to talk about various sipping juices, but... As for watches, I understand that quality wristwear does help make the man. Of course, nothing too expensive at this age but my grandad bought be a Fossil 10ATM which does the job nicely and looks ok. I'm just glad I can understand quality and buy into it well. When I've shown people my gear they've always wondered why I spend so much on what is "just a computer" or "still a keyboard".
I have to say my favourite thing is life is a good pub session in my local or a dinner party with my close friends.
