A Week of Finds

The past week hasn't been at all bad. I have come to the conclusion that I am at my happiest rummaging through the contents of a local charity shop or better still finding a new toy or gadget. It's not an age thing - I've been like it all my life, buying things no one else has a use for and giving them a home. Having said that I am by no means a hoarder like those you see on TV at the moment. My wife prevents things from getting out of control and I have perfected the art of hiding things and making them fit seamlessly into my existing collections. Two items have been given a new lease of life. Yesterday I came across a rather nice turntable in a local charity shop window. I knew it was 'rather nice' as it was by Acoustic Solutions and I could see it was in excellent condition. The price tag of £5 also played a large part in deciding to buy it. I had actually been saving a £5 note for a few weeks hoping to find something like this. I had hoped to find a cassette deck (to replace the one my wife encouraged me to sell a couple of years ago), but it wasn't to be.

Although I already have two record decks, I do have problems with the stylus weight finding that it is far too light for the majority of records I buy. This causes it to jump rather too often, treating a spec of dust in a groove as a speed hump. The deck I had found had a perfectly weighted stylus, I could tell. As I went to walk away with it, the woman running the shop pointed out there were two speakers to go with it. Well this I didn't expect as I was planning to simply connect it to my amplifier. The speakers in question were actually made by Sony and rather expensive looking - and very heavy. These were included and I left the shop just managing to carry everything with a big smile on my face.
Although I had no need for the speakers as I have them built into the ceiling at home, they would come in very useful for my Blue Skies group especially for watching films or playing music. I was very pleased with my latest haul hurrying home to test it. Needless to say it worked perfectly.
My second 'find of the week' was a D-Link MediaLounge Wireless Media Centre. Now I already have one of these and we use it every day to stream TV and films from hard drive array. I knew its potential straight away and being on eBay, it's opening bid bid was just £4.99 which I met straight away expecting others to bid against me. To my surprise they didn't and that evening I won the auction paying just £4.99 and £8 postage(!) Nevertheless, this was a real bargain. Again this would be ideal to use at my group as it can play DVD's and stream media from a variety of different sources.

Being wireless, it negates the need for cables and I know from experience of my own that it will connect to the projector we will be buying in the next few weeks. I took delivery of it yesterday and it too is working perfectly, seamlessly integrating with my other equipment.
I think it is true that I am happiest when I have something new to fiddle with or configure. My mood certainly improves at the prospect of a Saturday morning rummage and I am like a teenager with his first Sony Walkman or PacMan game when I do find anything slightly 'gadgety'. What's even better is the fact that, for the most part, the people selling these things haven't a clue what they are or even less what they do and sometimes I struggle to maintain a normal expression for fear of appearing too excited. Only when I have paid for my treasure and leave the shop do I allow myself a little triumphant 'yes!' and head for the safety of my car.
That is why this past week has been good for me. We are all different and different things make us feel good or content with our lot. I think the people around me have come to accept that the same things that fill me with excitement now are those same things that would fill me with interest and delight when I was a teenager. Back then I was intrigued by how things worked. Now I'm just glad that they still do.