Yesterday, I put a guitar on layaway. I know I shouldn't have, at least until I've found employment, but I didn't want it to walk away with someone else. It's an Ibanez 7-string electric, in fantastic condition, for only $320. (If I remembered the model number correctly, it sold new for $1299.) Plus, it matches my black 5-string bass. Now all I need is a decent 6-string acoustic, preferably with a wide neck and pickups built in, and I think I can keep my Guitar Acquisition Syndrome under control for a few more years. At least until I'm good enough on the classical guitar that I feel I deserve a really decent one.

Fortunately, I've got a very understanding wife who wants to see me realize my dreams. In fact, she's the one who suggested I put it on layaway so that nobody else would get it. I have the best wife in the world.

When I do have a job, I'm definitely going to build my portable studio machine. I'll probably buy the parts from here; they've got the Mini-ITX mainboards and the silent power converters. At today's prices, I could build one for $456 (mainboard, power converter, AC adapter and 250 GB hard drive). It should all fit into an ammo box. At 1 GHz, it's a little underpowered for today's games, so when I travel down to Tampa for Nerdvana, I'll still have to lug a full-sized computer with me. After the Great Hard Drive Crash of '04, I'm a little leery of bringing my primary machine back and forth, so I may have to upgrade the game machine for the purpose.

Gah. It's obvious I didn't inherit the tightwad frugality gene from the rest of my family...

[Edit] Oops, I forgot, I'll need to buy Windows XP for the audio machine, as SONAR requires NT2K or XP. So that's another $90 or so.