I”m not sure what it is that’s going around, maybe my wallet has the swine flu or something, but I’ve been buying some interesting, eclectic, or just downright odd things lately.  Of course at the expense of practical things I probably SHOULD be spending money on… like tires.

I just got my Saitek “Cyborg” keyboard today, and I really like it.  The keys are WAY better than my old Logitech keyboard – which was just a plain-jane black keyboard.  I really like the lighting effects and all of the other bells and whistles that come with the board as well; like programmable keys, ports for mic, headphone, and USB on the the side of the keyboard itself. Basically so you don’t have to run your headset cord all the way to the box, you can just plug it into your keyboard – very handy! And having a quick volume control “slider” is actually quite nice as well.  And I *LOVE* the disabling of the “Windows Key” when the board is in “Cyborg Mode” (aka – gaming mode).

I’ve been in the market for a keyboard upgrade since before Christmas, so I did pretty well in keeping myself from splurging for quite some time.  My next purchase, however, was pure decadence!  And to a lot of people it would probably just be odd.   You see, I’m quite the rock-hound, which I got from my dad who was a Mining Engineer/Geologist. So…

There’s this really cool “rock shop” on the web that sells semi-precious “specimen” spheres: “The Rock Shed.”  I’ve slowly built up a collection consisting of the following minerals: Obsidian, Flourite, Quartz, Calcite, Marble, etc.  Well tonight I splurged quite heavily and bought 3 at once! OY!  I bought a Blue Calcite, Amazonite, and a Labradorite.  All of which looked spectacular on their web page – I hope they’ll be even better “in person!” 

Oh well, and here it is right before Mother’s Day, AND it’s my Mom’s birthday next week too!  Hmmm, maybe they’ll have to end up being gifts, since I know she also appreciates such things; she married a Geologist ya’ know!  And she actually has quite a large collection of mineral spheres already, and I don’t think she’s got any of the types I just bought.  Hmmmm. We’ll see. 

Work is still mind numbingly busy and I’m starting to think that it’s just going to stay that way for the foreseeable future.  I’m dearly looking forward to my next little bit of vacation time coming up over the Memorial Day holiday, which I will be spending up in Utah at my Mom’s house, so that will be nice.

And in a completely unrelated note, way back last November or so I had sent in my request to be removed from the LDS Church records, and as of a week or so ago, I was finally notified that my request has been granted! So there’s yet another cause for celebration!  And that didn’t cost a red cent! Always a good thing.

I hope all is going well in your world and that your weekend will be grand! Enjoy!