It was scary, the humans were being attacked by creatures from another world, the pod people. Little did I know then, that pod people would actually exist someday, or should I say Ipod people. Gadgets, humans have loved them since the beginning of the human race. I can see it now, cave men using rocks to hammer at the heads of animals as they hunted them. One comes along and shows everyone his great new gadget. He has taken his rock and placed a wooden handle on it. Immediately all the other humans want one. Well this is sort of what happened with the Ipod. Once everyone started to see and hear it, they all wanted one. Gadgeteering is in our blood, but why? Who knows? It seems to be more of a man thing than a woman thing, but I don't think any real credible studies have been done on the subject.

I knew one man that was a bachelor and worked on the same job as I did. He was always bringing in unusual things. After awhile I became amazed at the different things he had shown me over the years. Unfortunately one day when he didn't show up for work, I found out that he had died. When his garage was opened they found just about every thing that you buy from tv and from door to door salesmen. It didn't matter how large the item was, he even had something known as a Smithshop, a sort of tool bench that contained large powered tools of many uses and weighed hundreds of pounds, or so it seemed. He had rare knives and guns that were in very limited production, giant snow blowers and miniature bottles. He had it all. What compelled this man to collect this stuff? Maybe it was in his genes. Some of the stuff had rusted completely and was of absolutely no use, but it sat in the garage looking like some brown tool from hundreds of years ago. It sort of reminded me of the scene where you go into the old barn and there are old rusty farm tools and a rusted Ford Model T or A sitting in the corner.

It seems like the richer you are, the more gadgets you must have. We are lucky in a way, there are a ton of gadgets out there that most of us can afford. Even an ordinary person can load up on gadgets. I myself own more gadgets than I would like to admit to. I am not a music buff so I don't have an Ipod or mp3 player but I do own a large tv, a surround sound stereo (It is hooked up to the tv), a dvd player, a cd player, a portable dvd player, a Dell Axim 51v PDA, a laptop computer, 2 desktop computers, a couple of digital cameras, a video camera, several items that are sold on tv and a small knife collection that is worth absolutely nothing. I am sure that I have forgotten to mention other items but you get the idea. Now lest you think I am unusual, look at what you own, I bet you also have a bunch of stuff that you have collected over the years and much of it is gadgets.

Some of the gadgets those rich guys have are getting more incredible every day. I saw a program on tv that displayed some of these gadgets and there were personal jets, Honda now makes a cute one, exotic cars, go carts that are faster than cars and super diving gear, just to mention a few things. That personal jet is quite remarkable. So what makes this plane so unusual? It weighs only 392 pounds and the jet engine puts out 1,600 pounds of thrust. This makes the plane super efficient. Would you expect anything less from Honda? For a mere two million dollars you can have one of these babies. Now is is the good part, not only is it more fuel efficient than other planes, it is 40% more fuel efficient, making it the Civic of jets. Don't try and buy one yet, the plane is still be tested for bird collisions with the engine but should be ready by 2007. Exotic cars are also hot gadgets if you can afford them. If you have enough money the exotic car means no more to you than the guy driving a Hugo. I remember I saw a guy driving a Ferrari on a New York street. He was going slow and the car stalled right in front of me. I noticed that the driver's door was all dented in, this was unusual for this type of car especially when it was a new model. The driver got out and slammed the driver's door and began to kick it yelling at the car and calling it all sorts of names which I won't repeat. I should have minded my own business, but I couldn't help myself. I went over to the driver and said, "isn't that a new Ferrari?" He replied that it was and that it also was a piece of s...t. Wow, I knew that I wouldn't have treated any car this way. Apparently this guy didn't know that this type of car is not made for bumper to bumper traffic. I have heard that Bill Gates has the ultimate gadget, his home. First of all, it cost about 97 million dollars. It has a theatre that is 1500 sq. feet, a 17 X 60 foot pool in a room that is 3900 sq. feet, an exercise room that contains a sauna, steam room, separate locker rooms for men and women, and something that no one should be without, a trampoline room. The trampoline room has a 20 high ceiling so you can really get up there. If you like to read, there is a 2,100 sq. foot library. In the library are two secret pivoting bookcases, one of which has a bar built in it. This library contains Leonardo da Vinci's notebook which Gates purchased for $30.8 million dollars. The house contains an elevator in case you don't want to climb the 84 steps to the second floor. There is a 1,000 sq. foot dining room with a commercial kitchen that is 39 X 23 feet. The house contains offices above the reception hall. They are 1,900 sq. feet and also contain rooms for conferences and a large computer room. The reception hall is over 2,300 sq. feet and can hold over 200 people for a cocktail party. In the reception hall is a 22 foot wide video display. The house also contains a 900 sq. foot multi purpose room with a video projector in it. On the rest of the grounds you will find a guest house that is 1,900 sq. feet, a whopping 6,300 sq. foot garage, which is only one of three. There is a gatehouse of 3,000 sq. feet and a 530 sq. foot boat house. We don't want to forget the activities building that is 900 sq. foot in area. There was a home on this site and it was moved away on a barge. Lastly there is the Estuary. This is an artificial stream that is going to be stocked with salmon and trout.

Can you imagine if Gates ever put an ad in the paper to sell his house? If it appreciates like the other homes in this country it could be worth double in about 10-15 years. I can see the ad now, "Beautiful home on the shore, only 173 million dollars." Who could ever afford it?

Even the kids have gadgets now. They are trained at an early age to want these things. You have make believe laptop computers for tots, make believe cell phones, cars, boats, cameras and copies of every other gadget imaginable. As the kids get older they get real cell phones, hand held game systems, console game systems, music systems, cameras and many other things. They even get battery operated cars that they can sit in and drive. Is it any wonder that they desire gadgets as they get older? We are trained to want gadgets and it has worked.