IwantIwantIwantIwantIwantIwant

The past two days have felt like marathon work days followed by marathon personal work nights. I’ve been pouring over my budget and trying to find a good balance between what I need, what I want, and what I can do.

The must haves: I need to fly and I need to compete. Anything else I do or buy is really just extra. If I don’t fly…what the heck is the point of this website? I know I have said that I am getting pessimistic about competing in July but I’m not counting myself out just yet. No, I haven’t flown in awhile. No, I haven’t flown all the figures. I still cant justify taking money away from that contest before I know for a fact whether or not I’m competing or not. So, Vermont in July and New Jersey in August. Each contest will most likely cost $1000 to attend (airplane, lodging, registration, food.) Before I can compete there is plenty of practicing to be done, as much as I can possibly afford but still have enough cash on hand to compete.

Did I mention I’m doing this on a cash basis? No credit cards.

What I want is better video capability and editing capability. That means at minimum a new computer to replace my antique Mac Powerbook. (which I love…don’t electrocute me while typing this. We cool? We cool? K, cool) New iMac = $1200. New Mac Mini = $700 when you factor in the extra stuff you have to buy along with it. The added ability and power of the iMac really tips the balance, especially when you start looking at the refurbished units that Apple has on their site. (just checked, 21 inch iMac 3.06ghz processor, 4gb of ram only $999….crap…I need to buy that)

Of course now we arrive at the "what I can do list." I can’t spend $1000 on a computer right now. I could, but then I couldn’t compete. So…that would be stupid and pointless. Immediately gratifying and then ultimately horribly regretful. The computer will have to come after the competition season is over. A camera could still git-r-done in the meantime. In a possibly creative and brilliant thought on the part of James Jones, an iPod touch could possibly get me inflight audio recording (I already have the video camera with the vholdr), and a camera at the same time. Hmmmmmmmmm. And I could finally join the 21st century.

Competition is king at the moment.