Monday, January 21, 2008

My Addiction...


Hi. My name is Robin Schoepf and I'm a gadget addict. Let me be specific. Electronic gagdets. I'm not sure where it all started. I played around with mini-tape recorders back in high-school.I had a walkman...I had a boombox, but that's as hardcore as it got. I had no idea what path I would find myself on within a short 10 years. 

I remember the first time I tried an "Apple." Mom was in grad school in Austin...she had one in her house. While she was in class...well, I'll be honest, I couldn't keep my hands off it. The flashing curser...and the unbelievable way it would read aloud what I typed...I had found a friend. That was only the beginning...

I consider cell phones the gateway gadget, only because for me it came before the digital audio players. I got my first cell phone when I came home from college one year. I gave in to peer pressure...one of my buddies started a cell phone business in Amarillo and was selling them. I bought in. Regardless of the phone I had, one better or smaller or faster or prettier always came along. That was probably the beginning of my downward spiral...cell phones. Or maybe it was the cameras. My dad was a photographer for as long as I can remember. He was a 35mm whiz...double exposures, image on image...seems like he always had a camera in his hand. So it was only a matter of time before I picked one up, myself. I started with a 35 mm (film), moved quickly to the digital point and shoot...and now I'm a digital SLR user. See, friends, it happens that quickly. I won't even begin to talk about the video camera days. 

MP3 players were probably the most recent - but deadliest - addition to my list of vices. It would be a long road to get to them, but once I found them...I was unstoppable. I started with a Roxio MP3 player that was the size of breadbox and sounded like a weedeater when it was operating. Like the cell phones, they got smaller and prettier...and I followed right along like any good tech-nerd would. I can't remember exactly when I tried my first iPod...but I can tell you that I've owned, used and sometimes lost every generation of every style of iPod (except the shuffle...I mean, when you've got the 3rd generation video mastered, why bother with the small stuff). 

I find myself "killing time" in the electronics department of Target, I drool over iPod covers and cases...while my friends are in shoe stores at La Cantera, I'm in the Apple store. I'm admitting it. Right here...right now. I love electronic gadgets. 

Next time...KITCHEN gadgets.