Friday Five

Today's topic - 5 things I can't live without.

Or I can live without, but I'd really prefer not to.

Or I could live without and would probably still be happy, but boy do these little materialist things make my life easier.

Did you get that?

1. My iPhone. No joke - it's changed my life.   Okay, I went too far again.  But it definitely made my life easier or more convenient.   I can't tell you how many times a day I pull it out to check weather, look up something on IMDB, use it as Nike+ to log my run, check out a quicker or easier route someplace, check for traffic, look up a contact, look up a webpage then click on it to dial a number, use Yelp to look up a restaurant rating then use the Table app to make a reservation.  I can go on and on and on and on and on, but I won't.  Instead, I'll do my top 5 apps someday.  Start holding your breath.  Now I know the iPhone can be a bit pricey, but I promise it's worth it.  In fact, my brand-spankin' new iPhone 4 is sitting on my husband's desk at work as we speak, being held hostage until my birthday July 17th.  I long for it. 
2. Our Canon Rebel Xsi Camera.  I've been wanting a DSLR camera for ages and then the Rebel that's been sitting in my amazon.com wish list for months dropped down in price - twice!  It was a sign.  I pulled together every gift card that I had and bought it (I shop a lot with amazon.com so I have their credit card which gives me rewards in form of amazon.com gift cards).  Obviously, I had to add some dollars from my little savings fund, but it was worth it.  It's changed the way I view pictures - the crisp details catching your eye.  I love everything about it from its ease of use to the endless manual capabilities.  I spent a long time researching the right camera for me and I think I bought exactly what we needed.  Even Jon (who nags me about my insane need for 500000000 pictures) loves it.  Now I just have to start collecting lenses and get an external flash.  And maybe some lessons.  Did I mention my birthday is coming up?
3. My Dell Latitude E6400 laptop.  Okay, so technically it's work's laptop.  But while I am at my company, it's mine.  All mine.  And I love it!  First off, I praise Dell for their business customer support which has saved my butt more times than I can count.  But this particular model is on my current fav list because of it's ability to have a built-in web cam (work's too cheap to buy them but hey, it could!).  I also love the memory card slot so that I am never too far to load my pictures from my camera on to my laptop in seconds (without having to get up off the couch an extra time!).  It's slick, black, light with a long lasting battery.  I adore it.  But I won't cry when a new model comes out and I have to switch.  Because I'm IT and that's what we do.
4. My Toshiba External Hard Drive.  Using a work laptop has its advantages in that it is always up to date with security and the latest software and you're never too far from a free upgrade; but it also has its disadvantages in that, well, it's not yours.  So I have a couple of external hard drives within arm's reach (which usually means right in my purse or camera bag).  They store everything of mine like music, pictures, personal documents, and anything else my little heart desires.  Plus they're tiny so that they fit in any purse and don't require a power source to work!  You gotta love the little buggers and I have no idea what I would be doing without one.
5. The Wii.  Umm...hello?  If you don't gots one, you wants one.  There are the obvious things like the games where you get to stand up and wave your arms around, shake your hips, and hopefully not throw the remote at the TV.  But there is so much more to the Wii!  You can use it to access apps via your internet connection like weather or download old games that you love like Sonic the Hedgehog or Mario 3.  And one of my favorite things about the Wii?  Watching Netflix.  If you have a Wii and a Netflix account (which we do), you can stream movies or shows straight through the Wii and to your TV.  We have a pretty fast connection here so the quality is a-mazing (and this comes from my I-need-all-things-HD husband).