I'm not much of a gadget hound, but I'll be employing a few to help me be successful during Operation Highlander. Dell Inspiron 14: Honestly, it's probably time for a new laptop, but since I haven't had the time to sort one out, I haven't bought one. I've had this one for two or three years, I've treated it as gently as possible, and it's been a trooper.
Kindle Fire: I think I may have gotten hosed on this one. For better portability, and because I'd like to get some of my books electronically to make them easier to transport five or six thousand miles away, I bought a Kindle Fire a couple of weeks ago. I'm pretty happy with it so far, though it's smaller than I'd pictured - that probably won't be a problem, it will just take a bit of getting used to. All that having been said, they've just announced the Kindle Fire HD, and dropped the price of the model I bought by about $80. I don't need an HD Kindle Fire - I happen to think that HD is really creepy - but I'd have loved saving $80 on the thing.
Motorola Droid 4: I joined the newfangled smart phone craze earlier this year. I love this thing, and I love that it's not an iPhone - I think Apple is pure dagnasty evil. I don't know whether I'll be able to use it with a mobile carrier in the United Kingdom, but, I'll be able to use it on wifi connections on campus and elsewhere, so it will still be useful.
Canon PowerShot Elph 100 HS: I didn't get much of a chance to document my daily life in the Middle East with photos, but Scotland should be an entirely different story. Whether on this blog, or in E-mails to family and friends, I intend to put a lot of photos and possibly some videos online. One of the great things about the Inspiron 14 is that it has a slot for an SD card, so I can take pictures and move them straight from my camera to the computer by way of that slot.
Garmin eTrex Vista GPS: I'm actually the first person to ridicule those who use a GPS for driving, but I like using mine for navigation on foot, taking grid references of where I've been, tracking my speed and the duration of my travel, and other such activities. If you know how to use a GPS, they can be a lot of fun. I'd also really like to get involved in geocaching. I started with a regular Garmin eTrex a few years ago, and supplemented with a Vista a couple of years ago so that I could interface it with my laptop.
I have a few other bits and bobs that I've collected in one place or another, but they're not gadgets so much as peripherals. At any rate, I'll post more on these items, and perhaps others, as events develop.
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