Graumagus over at Frizzen Sparks says:

On your blog (or in my comments if you are blogless) pick five really expensive toys you’d like to have that you really have no legitimate reason to get (other than the most legitimate of all reasons, that being that you just want it!)
Remember: Money is no object. My only rule is that it has to be something you could actually buy (or have built for you) legally. No “I’d have my own F-22!” stuff.

Well, here’s my Top Five of Toys I Have No Business Having:

1) An AV-4.
Okay, this hasn’t actually been built yet, but I could probably manage it. Take one large van or bread truck, then bolt the engines from a Harrier jump jet on it. Why? Because I keep getting sent into Beaverton, a land where they have no respect whatsoever for the ideas of decent road planning and traffic control. Sure, it will have all the aerodynamic properties of a brick, but with that kind of thrust-to-weight ratio, who cares? Just remember to strap in before you hit the Big Red Button.

Hey, if Burt can build SpaceShip One, I can build this.

2) Alienware Area 51m 7700 with all the options cranked to maximum: 3GHz P4 proc, 2 gigs of RAM, Creative laptop audio, dual-layer DVD+RW, extra battery, wireless logitech joystick, bells, whistles, and a kitchen sink logo. Somewhere around $4300 as configured.

Yes, boys and girls, I am a geek.

3) Ok, so the AV-4 is going to be difficult to get around in – I’d better get something with wheels to go with it. The car would be custom-made to my specs, based on a Viper rolling chassis and drivetrain, but built to seat 4 comfortably for distances. Black, of course.

4) The Weapopns of Destruction category: a pair of Sig-Sauer P226 9mm automatics. The Barrett .50 Grau listed is nice, but I like to be a little more up-close and personal than he does. Besides, you can’t carry that BMG around, and I can’t see anything at that kind of range.

5) The Weapons of Annoyance category: I’ll steal from Grau and list the paintball rotary cannon – and then strap it to the car’s trunk :)

Go ahead and tailgate me while flashing your DOC-damned ultra-halogen brights in my mirror, you SUV-driving ass-hat. I dare ya.

Well, it’s official: my apartment building has been sold, effective so immediately that March rent is to be paid to the new management company.

This sucks, because a sale like this is usually followed shortly thereafter by a raise in the rent – the purchaser needs to make back that capital investment. If it goes up, I may be forced to move. I hate moving.

Blurgh.

You ever have one of those days where you feel the need to write about something and just draw a blank? Random thoughts fly around in me head, but nothing settles long enough for me to jot it down. I’d drop a few links in here, but I haven’t seen anything worth linking in a while.

Really I’ve just been trying to get myself back into the swing of working a full time job again. Alot of my frustration comes from having to ration my paychecks so closely now – I’m actually taking home less money than when I was on unemployment, and I was spoiled for three years working a good job. I got too used to just buying what I wanted at the grocery store instead of watching every penny and clipping coupons.

And I keep running across little fun things to do, but then saying to myself “when am I going to have the time for that?” I’ll say it again: I want a 30-hour day.

Of course, it would help if the little things would go away to, like my daughter’s viral rash, which then settled into her knee, making it swell up and become very painful. So much so, that I had to cancel a date tonight to go down to the ER with her to make sure it wasn’t something really bad. (It’s not, just time and ibuprofin to heal.)

I suppose things will even out for me once work settles into a bit of a routine. We’re still kind of frantic, and today we got hammered for about an hour with walk-in customers. The incoming shelf is pretty full again as well, so I’m still in the West office part-time to keep up with the work. I’ll end up taking some of it East with me tomorrow, since I have an appointment to meet with a customer at the new shop. With any luck at all, I’ll be on my way there by 10am, more likely it won’t be until 1pm.

On that front, I may or may not have an assistant at this point. We hired a guy for the spot, and he seems to have the knack for the work, but he pulled a bone-headed dissappearing act today without calling in. Not a smart thing to do on your third day of work. We’ll get his story from him at the meeting tomorrow and decide if we can cut him some slack.

Speaking of Slack, I’m thinking about losing SuSE on the laptop here and going with Slackware instead. This seems to be running slower than the difference in hardware should make between my two systems, and I’ve already been stung by RPM hell. I’ll think about it for another day or two and see what comes up.

I am utterly amazed. I have spent the past several hours doing my taxes, and I will actually get money back this year.

(sound of a jaw dropping)

What with my self-employment, un-employment and other miscelleneous crapola, I fully expected to be in the hole, and was just praying for a $0-$0 balance. What I got was a Federal return large enough to cover my State and County taxes plus some extra for the ol’ slosh fund. (That is, the fund from which money to get sloshed on comes from. *grin*) Tip ‘o the fedora goes to TurboTax for the assist on the forms. Of course, I don’t have the cash on hand for the electronic filing, so I’ll have to wait an extra week for the forms to get there in the mail. I did opt for the direct-deposit, though.

Still, just amazed.

Now if only the State could adopt the same taxation forms as the Fed, then I’d get money back all ’round. Too much to ask for, I know.