Friday, July 18, 2014

A short list of expensive things–checking in with Summer

I have a lot of spare time these days.  I'm doing a little bit of research, but mostly I'm just lounging around the house and making sandwiches to fill the time between amazing adventures.

Whilst lounging around the house and making sandwiches today, I realized there are a lot of expensive things I'm considering buying/doing.  It seemed like a good idea to share them, so here we are.

Ammon's Expensive Shopping List:
a DSLR camera
Why? because I'm 25 and moving to a city and a biologist told me to get a good camera and use it. (I might just buy a nice-ish digital camera and see if I use that for a while before dropping a ton of money on a thing I would likely drop while climbing some waterfall in the jungle on a field trip)
a new MacBook 
Because I'm going to grad school and I don't want all the cool kids to make fun of my old macbook.  (also because my computer is now old and my battery has some issues)
a trip to Portugal and nearby Europe
I've been putting off going to Portugal since I got home from Portugal.  Basically I figured that I would want to go with my wife and to see the temple when it gets finished.  Shockingly, however, I'm not currently dating anyone and they haven't even officially announced the site for the temple. These things do tend to drag on.  In any case, I think I'd better just stop waiting and save up some money.  The plan is next summer, if you want to come, as my wife or otherwise, let me know.  It's going to be a party. I hear there's deep water soloing.
An apartment in Philadelphia (or a house?) 
Obviously this will cost some money, although not as much as I thought.  For example, if I were willing to live several miles from campus (which I'm not), I could get a single unit for less than I'm currently paying to live in a 2 bedroom apartment with 4 people and an electric stove (I can't stand electric stoves).  Seriously though, I'm excited to have an apartment.  And I'm considering buying a place after I pay off my student loans.  I might just rent while I'm there, but home ownership has a certain ring to it, doesn't it?
A slew of rock climbing stuff: 
Let's be honest, I could spend an unlimited amount of money on climbing, next on my shopping list is a GriGri (which is a fancy thing designed primarily for looking cool.  It also functions as a belay device.) and some nicer shoes that fit me better. Compared to all my other $1000+ purchases, this seems downright reasonable.

In the mean time, I'm hiking Lone Peak tomorrow and then have upcoming return trips to Zion for Fat Man's Misery (this time with 80% less spooning) and Havasupai (probably with 100% fewer marriage proposals).

Oh, in related news, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is one of the best movies I've ever seen.