I Have Money to Spend

Yesterday was my birthday, and I have some birthday money to spend on something frivolous and completely unnecessary. Some people don't like money or gift cards for special occasions, but I really enjoy getting some extra "found" cash to spend. I saved my birthday money from last year, and I got a surprise refund check from my gas card, so I have about $400 that I can use to do something fun.

There is something fun about all the possibilities that are available to me with a bit of cash to spend. I recently received an Oriental Trading Catalog that has lots of things to buy, but most of those things are for school - that's not something for birthday money. I need new underwear - for some reason, every single one of my bras decided to break this week - but underwear isn't fun - it's a necessary item, so that comes from my household monies. I could always invest in new instruments, but that is also work-related. I don't want to spend this money on something practical.

My iPod was killed on Monday. One of my students decided that, in order to get more attention, it would be wonderful to grab the iPod and smash it on the ground. This was an iPod classic, and it held my ENTIRE music library as well as hours and hours of podcasts and videos. It belonged to work, but everything on it was mine. I could purchase a new iPod for myself - that would be a combination of practical and frivolous.

As I head over to the Apple site, I'm remembering my many rants about all iThings, but I have invested so much into my iTunes account that I don't think I can start over again. This would be a device just for me - for my podcasts and my videos. I don't want all the bells and whistles, but Apple assures me that they can be removed. It would be interesting to have access to Garage Band...that might be fun, but this is not intended to be something for my students. It's too much money for me to use with them.

Time to head over and look at iPads (SHUDDER!). Ugh. That's full of stuff I definitely DO NOT want to spend my fun money on. I definitely don't want an iPad. It would not be good company for my long road trips, and I don't have any other needs for this type of device at this time. Any work applications need to be provided by work and not through my personal device - that's where I draw the line.

My former iPod was a work device, but I owned all the music. The new plan is to get a Spotify account and start to stream music - with CDs and specific playlists as backup for those days when the wi-fi goes down. So, the account will belong to work, the computer for streaming will belong to work, and I can use them as part of my job. So, anything new would be solely for my personal use.

Now I go into my decision making process. Here are the PROS:

• I need something to keep me company as I travel - for daily commutes and for long drives across the country.
• I have a vast library of all sorts of things on my iTunes account already - I wouldn't lose access to that library through changing to something new.
• I could access apps from the Apple Store that are only for iThings. 
• Upgrading to an iPod Touch would mean that I could access my HD videos that were incompatible with my iPod Classic.
• Storage space is a bit below what I'm used to - just a bit.

Here are the CONS:

• Apple product
• Money 
• Would not be intended for work uses - just for me.

I'm thinking that the pros are better than the cons, so I'm going to do it. I'm going to spend the money on a device that I only sorta need. I'm going to get the free engraving as well. Okay. That's done. I have now purchased my first-ever Apple product for myself. It will be here in a week. Money spent.