Thursday July 10, 2003

Baby did a bad, bad thing...

Most people who know me well will likely tell you that I'm cheap. Dirt cheap. I don't like to spend money on things I don't really need, frivoulous things that most of my friends have no problems hitting the credit for. The way I see it, most of the crap offered in today's trendy stores will probably lose its novelty in two and a half seconds, and ultimately end up in a seasonal garage sale with a 50 cent sticker on it. Not to mention the Visa bills that accompany such purchases. Just call me fiscally responsible.

Since graduating, though, things have changed. For some reason, I feel entitled to buying all the things that I could not afford while pocketing a minimum wage salary on campus. As soon as I got that diploma, I bought myself a new bedroom set (one that actually matches! Whoa!), some new clothes, and a bunch of random things that I've been eyeing the last few months (a new bonsai tree, a cute desk lamp from Target, and a plethora of CDs). The money I scored at my graduation party slipped away pretty quickly.

Monday, July 7th marked another major purchase, another dip in my baby-fresh savings account. After hitting the bank to deposit my latest paycheck, I drove down to Best Buy with every intention of finding an adequate computer printer (and no intention of spending more than $100). But as soon as I got to the printer aisle, my eyes starting wandering to all of the latest models of the ultra-fabulous photo-quality gadgets that could churn out true to life prints in less than a minute. Where my eyes wandered, my body followed. And I picked up a printer that only three months before I would have dismissed as a product for the stupid materialistic masses.

I bought the most expensive one in the store, the HP 7550. Without batting an eyelash, I handed over my Visa for this $300 contraption that only prints pretty pictures... no scanner, no copier, no built-in fax machine. And not only did I buy that thing, but all of the glossy photo papers and random acessories that Hewlett Packard assures me are absolutely necessary. My receipt says I paid about four-hundred dollars.

When I got home, I immediately set up and installed everything, and stayed up until 2 am printing out every damn jpeg I had on my hard drive. The prints are beautiful. True to life... they weren't kidding. I am very pleased with my purchase, this printer that my diploma has entitled me to buy. But now that my new HP 7550 is two days old, I'm finding that the novelty is already starting to wear off. Today I printed up some black and white documents for work, but no color photo copies... no true to life pictures. The $59 inkjet at the end of the printer aisle at Best Buy could probably do the same jobs that I've assigned to my new HP 7550.

Right now I'm sitting at my desk (right beside my brand-new $300 printer) wondering when the heck I joined the ranks of the stupid materialistic masses. I still like having a photo printer around (after all, I'm entitled to one) but I'm wondering why was this hunk of plastic so exciting, so important to me. Why did I have to have it? My fingers are crossed in hopes that I haven't gotten sucked into the same consumer culture that decimated the financial status of half of my friends. Perhaps I should keep those fingers crossed... maybe it will keep them from picking up another nightstand-sized box at Best Buy. Hmmph.