I am a long time wreck lurker. and a recent post by Jim Laumann "A 'puter in the shop" got me thinking.
In 1994 when I purchased my first house I wanted to buy a RAS to help with some of the fix ups needed. My father who lived close by talked me into getting a tablesaw because he already had a ras and said it would be nice to have both between us. So it was off to the local sears and I purchased a contractors table saw. I purchased the saw for $449.00 and I could not believe that I spent that much on something I didn't event know how to use.
About a year later, my wife and I decided to purchase our first computer. I am a CAD tech and I did not want anything less than I was using at work at the time. So I went to the local computer shop and had one built to try to save money. I had to have that new HOTTT Pentium chip. I was really excited to get the Pentium 90 that ran so hot it needed its own fan. I paid $150 bucks extra to double the RAM to 16 megs, and I got a huge 15" svga monitor. Final price for that computer was $2300 but man was I styling......AOL at a whopping 14.bps ...... life doesn't get any better....
Now 2004, I have a used $449.00 craftsman table saw that I still thoroughly enjoy, and that $2300 computer is darkening some corner in a land fill right now..... what I wouldn't give to has that $2300 in tools now, Funny what we are willing to spend money on.
Have a good evening Rick