Confessions of a Gadget Freak

[rickps]

Some of us come out early in life, others take their time...

When I was about 8 years old, I came out - as a gadget freak.  I knew I was different.  Where other kids were running around playing stickball, I was inside disassembling a wind up clock to see how it worked.  For some reason, my gadget obsessed mechanical victims were never as easy to put back together.  But that never stopped me.  I was a self-admitted freak, after all.

I was excited when the TV repairman had to come a-callin'.  I'd hyperventilate at the sight of his box of tools and vacuum tubes as he'd unfold layer after layer of his magic treasure trove of goodies.  I'd cackle with glee when he'd identify the part that had transgressed causing the sitcoms of the era to fail to appear in brilliant black and white (yes, Virginia, there was life before color TV).

At 14, I assembled my first stereo kit.  The solder burns on my fingers were trophies of my obsessive devotion.  Kit after kit, each one more complex, more mysterious in its inner workings.  There was no stopping me I tell you!

Once I attained gainful employment, my gadget freakdom exploded with a vengeance.  Do a tune-up on the car?  Pah, mere child's play!  I'd search out the elusive spark plug brand that purported to give that little extra bit of performance.  I'd ponder endlessly the merits of synthetic oil over the plebeian leavings of the dinosaur era.

My love of music and stereo mania came together in a perfect storm of steadily more ideal components (as I was certain they were), each more expensive and, typically, less reliable.  Speaker wire that could lash the Queen Mary 2 to the docks?  Absolutely!  An amplifier so powerful it could be used for light welding?  Certainly!  My mailbox overflowed in a steady stream of glossy covered cult journals featuring the latest in gadgetry built in its inventor's garage and unquestionably better sonics than last weeks latest and greatest.  Owners manuals were my bible, my Torah, my Koran. 

I'd hear about some new little device that would shock and awe my friends and I'd whip out my credit card.  My house was festooned with dimmer switches, remote controls, and state-of-the-art electronica.  Even poor Miss Thing's litter box didn't escape my gaze.  I hunted the holy grail of litter boxes, the one that would, when tilted just the right way, leave her poo-poo zone pristine.

Satellite television, a car with enough electronics to terrify Einstein, iPod, iPhone (both original and 3G), internet radio, they were all grist for my mill.

And so, this past weekend when my uber-flexible home theater universal remote control suffered an electronic brain hemorrhage which left it comatose on the coffee table, I hesitated mere seconds before ordering something newer, sleeker, sexier, and better.

I am a gadget freak.  I am unashamed. 

Comments

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Scary. You and I shared the Exact. Same. Geeky. Childhood. Down to a freakin' T.

And I am getting set to buy that same goddam remote.

Have we been somehow separated at birth or something?

[ricksf.livejournal.com]

You know, I've always assumed that they'd destroyed the mold after making me. One of those experiments that just went horribly wrong, like Windoze Vista. But maybe...

You're gonna love the Harmony One. Damn, we gadget freaks need to form a club!

BTW, I'm major envious of your skills automotive and computer. Major