I like drinking and I like drinking on the go. I used to have a perfectly serviceable flask that I carried on occasion over the span of 10 or so years. The one problem I had with it was that it would set off metal detectors and generally would not be allowed on airplanes, thus severely negating its usefulness. I'd like to own this flask made by Macallan as I think it's a step in the right direction, but since it's carbon fiber composite and metal, it would still set off metal detectors. While I'd like to own this flask, it's overwrought and ridiculously expensive and I'd much rather spend the money on something I'm sure to use.
A 60's era Stratocaster or, preferably, Telecaster. While it would be amazingly fun to have something that old and storied, I can more than get by on a 2000's Mexi-Strat or comparable guitar. It would be nice to have a full line of legitimate vintage equipment, but it's not worth the costs unless you're somebody like John Frusciante.
Paintings. I'd love to have something unique, interesting and beautiful hanging on my rented walls. But the prices tend to be from 200eur upwards for A3 size ink work, decent paintings are probably more. I could justify a threefold price compared to a photo of same size, but not tenfold. I think the industry of painting art should change somehow. Devianart's order prints is going to the right direction, but they are still overpriced. PS. Started thinking painting as a service business and I think the most potential is at bathroom wall paintings. If you think about it, many people go approximately once per day to sit in bathroom for about 10 minutes. That's a long time to look at empty wall. And that's probably only time during the whole day they just look at an empty wall. And the scene of bathroom wall paintings is dominated by silly one liners in frames or something printed to toilet paper.
I don't know what it's like in your city, but in mine there's a lot of good stuff being done in university studios and there's a good art scene, though if you're not involved in it, it might be hard to find out about. I have a few friends that are painters and printmakers and they turned me on to something called "The Open Studios" which is an event that happens several times a year. Artists open their studios to the public to exhibit and sell their work. Often artists are willing to be flexible on pricing if they can see that the person asking for it is really into it or they might even be willing to trade pieces for services or goods. Anyway, you might check out your local universities for similar opportunities to get pieces of art at reasonable prices.
I study at one that includes industrial design. And I work at local "art center" and my grandmother is a painter. The thing is that if there is no price, I usually think it's not for sale. If there is a price, it's likely to be at least 200e. I would not like to ask "hey granma, can you give me this as a gift?". Because I've understood everyone who owns private company just hates to do free work for relatives. It doesn't pay anything and once you start, you notice you have 50 relatives who want something.
Do you use a mobile phone at all? I actually have a friend that has an iPhone 4 but doesn't have cellular service for it. He only uses it as a camera and small wireless computer. It's actually the "phone" aspect of it that he finds intrusive to his life.
I have never bought a phone and felt much better when I had none. Probably because I do not use "phone" feature and probably because of RMS intrusive to my life. Then there is always somebody who asks why I do not have one and quickly finds in treasure drawer some outdated phone that still has the life in it. Currently it is some discontinued Sony Ericsson, with cracked screen, some unnecessary buttons are not working, but it has some o.k. camera for technical stuff and measurements I need and the most active feature is e-mail. With only few euros I get 150 mb for free, with which I can survive for at least two months of active emailing. Why I like emails: * everybody has an email; * if you lose your pre-pay, you don't have to buy new string of characters to contact you; * nowadays everybody receives emails in their phones; * I can use more than 160 symbols and with all the necessary diacritics - āēšžčŗģūņīķļō usually take up 30-50 symbols at once, which makes sms very expensive, not talking about cyrilic..; What would I do with smartphone then? More tools - wolframalpha, GPS could be handy (since handheld is too large), TED talks, linphone, RSS, QR codes are more widely used everywhere. That would significantly reduce time I waste on a desktop computer usually doing unnecessary stuff in parallel to "checking out news".
though I'm old school and would still settle for the Countach Honestly, I don't really care about cars much but ever since I was a kid Lamborghini's were the exception. They just optimized bad-assness, class and sex all at once. Who knows, maybe someday I will but I couldn't justify all the good things I could do with that money. A car like that comes with opportunity cost guilt.
Much as I love me an original LP400, there are serious issues with any countach: 1) Marcello Gandini had never designed a car when he designed the Countach. Some wags have observed he'd never been in one either. The visibility is abysmal. The creature comforts are completely lacking. That line in the side window? That delineates "that which opens" from "that which doesn't." 2) Ferrucio Lamborghini switched from making tractors to making mid-engined sports cars because he couldn't talk his buddy Enzo Ferrari into doing said-same. Enzo, for his part, said that mid-engined cars were great for racing but entirely too dangerous to let loose onto the streets. True to form, mid-engined Lamborghinis are renowned for doing their absolute best to kill you. They've gotten substantially better (it's rumored that the Aventador is actually drivable) but the Countach is just one generation away from the Miura. 3) In order to save weight in an era before carbon fiber, Countaches are made of a tubular steel frame wrapped in aicraft aluminum so thin that if you lean against it it will crinkle. 4) The engine and transmission have a common sump - so instead of 80w gear oil like anything civilized, the tranny is running 30weight Agip. And the engine, unlike anything civilized, has to share its oil with an italian 5-speed custom-built transmission. 5) Italy was, at the time, a socialist country. Luxury goods from socialist countries are... iffy. My uncle's family owned a couple Ferraris for a while. How do you know your Ferrari is in original condition? Well, if the paint is spidering, the leather is cracking and the clutch is frozen, it's an original... I do love the silly beasts, I do. I've just learned that they're far better as an unrequited love. I had an outside chance at my dream machine at a dealer in Vegas and discovered that on the inside, they're not much distinguishable from my dad's old Saab. Cars took a real turn for me two years ago. My dad bought a Mooney. From that point forth, I valued everything in "Mooney Units": "Yeah, a Boxster would be nice, but that's 1.1 Mooney Units. I'd totally dig that new Scion but it's fully half a Mooney Unit. Jesus! The McLaren is sick but it's five full Mooney Units!" etc. Once you start thinking in fractional aircraft, you find yourself quite frugal.
Oh man, with you on this one. I used to live in Vietnam, in a small city close to Ho Chi Minh City and sometimes on the weekends I'd see a guy from HCMC driving around in a yellow Lamborghini. The road from HCMC is a pothole ridden stretch of hell littered with gravel and what it did to that paint job was an absolute crime. Factoring in the cost of getting that thing a paint job plus the 100% import tax made me really question the owner's sanity.
That does sound insane or like the guy has no care for cost. Glutton!
A decommissioned Trident missile silo, converted into a home with a vertical garden where the rocket used to be. Not because I'm a paranoid survivalist, but because it would be cool. Imagine having movie night every week and screening A Boy and his Dog.
Probably, but I could just open the missile doors for the garden. Deeper down it's not really an option, unless you could fashion some "light pipes"--solid tubes of glass or other material with a high refractive index, a kind of thick fiber-optic. Down in the living compartments I'd have to rely on lots of fluorescent or LED lighting designed to emit the same wavelengths as sunlight, least I get SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). However, for the sake of science I wouldn't mind trying a completely air-tight and "off the grid" system to explore the ability to survive on recycled sources of oxygen, power, water and food. An introvert's dream.
In this same line of thinking, I've always wanted a Ferrari F40 ever since I was a kid. I don't need any of them fancy cars, I just want a solid driving experience. The F40 is light, doesn't have cupholders or a radio or even door handles! It's just built to be driven. Many writers and car reviews claim it as the best super car ever made, and it was the first street legal production car to break the 200mph barrier. But yeah, even if I could afford one, the insurance, repairs, and stuff for it might as well be a hole in the ground that I threw money into. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_F40 That or a Nissan GTR... such an amazing car and somewhat affordable.
They lose their value rather quickly: http://www.edmunds.com/bmw/m3/2009/ Also, episode 5 of the Neutral podcast has a lot of BMW goodness: http://neutral.fm/ The podcast is basically a bunch of programmers and tech geeks that decides to start a podcast on cars. Amateur enthusiasts. I dig it.
Worst on the market or best depending on your perspective. If you buy a relatively new 2 or 3 year old model you can get an incredible car at a comparatively great value. When I buy my next car, a three year old BMW will be on the short list of cars I check out I'm sure.
M3s are beautiful cars. I consider most BMWs over priced, but that was may even be under priced for the quality and power that comes from that thing. My co-worker drives an older used one that he put a lot of work into and that thing is STILL a beast. The new ones are just jaw dropping. A fine choice. I've always been an M5 fan because of the older style ones that were a little bigger and boxier. But all the M series ones are beautiful and fast cars.
My friend is an engineer at Borg Warner, who makes the turbo chargers, so I got ahold of their new brochure for the 2014 M3. They're switching back to a turbo I6 with a few less HP but over 100 more ft-lbs of torque. Makes me a bit drooly. I figure I can afford one around 2017 with some good luck.
You should just get an orange some vodka and a syringe.
Of things I'd like to own but couldn't buy, I recall a beautiful 19th century mandolin I once saw in a music shop that catered to Irish traditional music. It had just been refurbished, and had a gorgeous mother-of-pearl butterfly on its front; it was bowl-backed, and I would love to have a bowl-back mandolin - they have such a beautiful sound. Alas, it cost eight hundred euro... Of things I'd like but wouldn't buy, it'd have to be the lighthouse on Clare Island off of the coast of county Mayo, which I saw once when I visited my friend on the island. A German millionaire bought it and was having it - and the large house beside it - restored. I was in his future master bedroom (my friend was one of the construction workers, as well as a master guitarist), and looking through his window all you could see was the Atlantic, because it stands upon a cliff. What a beautiful sight to wake up to every morning...
I like your answers. A lighthouse is an interesting one. It's function is to guide ships in, but never to itself. It's a beautiful but isolated type of structure. I used to live in a place with a view of the Pacific and every day I'd wake up to the sounds of fishermen coming back into port. I really miss that life, but things change.
Something like the Novation Launchad or Ableton Push. I would definitely love to have them, but I couldn't justify the hundreds of dollars they cost.
That's hilarious. I own this Mcallan flask and have done for fifteen years; I got it for free with a bottle of 10 year. I take it most places. The shot glasses come in really handy. If it's the metal detector thing you're worried about, go glass. I had a really nice one but it was stolen by hippies at the naked hot springs.
I would LOVE a Nikon D4 or D3X, but don't see myself ever spending $6,000 - $7,000 on just a camera body (but i said that about spending $2500 on a body and eventually did so who knows). I have a few camera bodies, and they are plenty for shooting weddings, concerts, and the type of personal photography I enjoy for myself and my paid gigs. A D4 would be overkill for what I do, but I wouldn't mind that kind of performance. I'd rather spend the money I do put towards photography on more lenses than a new body that I don't need... but man would it be sweet to have something like a D4.