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A few weeks back, I was lamenting the fact that, despite the fact that we are living in The Future, very little of the future occupies my home. Since that article, a few things have changed that I thought I might share.

First off, as an aside to all of our kitchen renovations, I also installed a new programmable thermostat. But I’ve mentioned that as an aside to another aside, so that’s really all I need to mention for now.

Then, some time last week, I ordered an iRobot Roomba Discovery SE. It isn’t the exact model that I was pining after, but so far as I can tell it as the exact same features. It’s just a generation behind. And because it was a generation behind, I got it for half the cost of a Roomba 530. It should be here today. I’m more than a little excited to try it out this evening. :) I haven’t swept the floors yet this week in anticipation.

And now, for the grand finale. Yesterday, Amazon announced a new device they’ve dubbed the Kindle. What is it, you ask? Pretty much the coolest thing since Gutenberg’s little printing-press-thinger, it is. It’s the first mainstream (or soon to be mainstream) product to feature electronic paper. It weighs a little over ten ounces, can hold over 200 books in memory, has a battery that lasts for days, and connects wirelessly using cellular technology (read: wireless access not needed) to download new books, newspapers, and blogs. It even has free access to Wikipedia, which is a pretty freaking cool idea. It looks like it has a metric crapton of buttons at the bottom, and for some reason its design reminds me of late eighties technology, but it’s still pretty cool. At $399, I’ll have to wait a bit to get one, but still. The awesome.

The Future is here, people. We’re living in it. But here’s the problem: all of those cool devices and technologies that make living in the future so awesome? Yeah. None of them are mine.

So here’s a list of present-day future technology that I don’t currently have, but desperately want:

• iPhone - Sort of an obvious one. When I think of “the Future,” I think of a palm-sized device that can keep me connected to the Internet from pretty much anywhere I want to go. If I want to talk to people, I can. If I want to type instead, I can do that too. Browse the web? Sure thing. And it could replace the camera I currently carry around everywhere, to boot.
• Chumby - I linked to this one earlier this month, but I think it deserves a second mention. Because I really want a device the size of a coffee cup that can be serve as my alarm clock, stock checker, weather watcher, and more (whatever I can think of/program) all rolled into one. It’s all about the connectivity, kids.
• iRobot Roomba - Finally, robots for your home. Roombas have been around for a couple of years now, but they’re finally getting smart enough that I could justify getting one. The newest models allow you to schedule them for a weekly routine, transition between floor types on the fly, avoid stairs on their own, and re-dock themselves automatically when their batteries are low or the job is done. I like the idea of having a vacuum that can take care of the cleaning (and terrorize the cats!) by itself while I’m at work.
• Programmable Thermostat - Seriously, why don’t I have one of these yet? I vow to get one installed before the heating season really ramps up in earnest. My house should be smart enough to only be at a specific temperature when I want it to — namely, when I’m around. My house is sufficiently well insulated that I don’t need the HVAC running between 8am and 5pm.

And here are a couple of items which should exist in the current future, and so far as I can tell could exist, but aren’t around yet for whatever reason:

• ePaper books - Alright, so ePaper has been around in some form since the seventies. Why don’t I have an ePaper book yet? Here’s what I want: a device about the size of an iPhone… possibly smaller. When I pull the two ends apart, it unrolls a screen between the two halves. One of the halves contains an SD slot for holding data and a bit of internal RAM/ROM, and the other half holds the battery. The device should read most popular eBook formats, PDFs, text and rich-text files. The UI could be extremely simple — all you really need is six buttons: up, down, left, right, enter/zoom, and exit/menu (though more would be nice if it were done well). I would buy this. Hurry up, manufacturers.
• Home Electrical Switchboards - Hardwired junction boxes and mystical breakers are SO twentieth century. Rewiring the electricity in my house should be as simple as rewiring my home network. Here’s what I want: a big switchboard sitting in my basement. The house’s power feeds into the bottom of the board. All electrical connections or junctions in the house (power outlets, switches, hardwired lights, etc) feed into the top. There are a row of “power” connections at the bottom of the board and a few dozen customizable connections at the top, each labeled with where in the house it goes (and each with an input/output socket). If I want the switch in the hallway to control the overhead light, I just run a wire from power to the switch input, then from the switch output to the overhead light input. If I decide I want the switch to control the nearby power outlet instead, it’s a simple problem of rerouting the switch output to the outlet input instead. If it needs to control both, just run a wire from the overhead light output to the switch input.

So what are your Living in the Future desires? What am I forgetting that I cannot live without?

Oh, and the ePaper idea is totally up for grabs, but if you steal my switchboard idea without giving me due credit (and money), I’ll be forced to whomp you.

It turns out, I have a birthday coming up. In just seven short days, I will be 26 years old. I know: it kinda boggles my mind, too. I didn’t see this one coming.

I don’t remember the age at which my birthday stopped making me all excited, giving me butterflies in my stomach and keeping me awake at night with eager anticipation. It seems like it was quite some time ago. I think I was vaguely excited to turn 21, but even that wasn’t anything all that special. As I recall, I stayed in with my best friend and my girlfriend and had a few drinks — inadvertently missing a family party I wasn’t anticipating in the process. But that was the extent of the celebration.

As a kid, of course, I got excited like everyone else. I made lists, both in my head and on paper, of presents I was hoping to get, people I wanted to see, and things I wanted to do on my special day. There was always a cake, and usually homemade ice cream, and family would gather and sing “happy birthday” and I would blow out the candles at the end. Classic birthday stuff. I would open presents while people watched and ooh’d and aah’d as the boxes were opened.

And this stuff excited me. I often tried to pretend like it didn’t, play cool and all that, but it really did. And then somewhere along the line, I guess I quit pretending so much. Nowadays, I usually don’t even remember my birthday is coming. Was it not for our Spanish teacher having us write out our birthdates in Spanish last week, I’m not sure I would have remembered until a day or two prior. One of these days, I’m worried I’ll forget about it altogether. Many of my friends think this is strange: they start preparing and celebrating weeks in advance of the day, and are childlike (in a good way) in their enthusiasm.

This year, I’m making a concerted effort to ensure my birthday is something special. For starters, I’m taking the day off work. That’s pretty special already. Amanda and I are going to be spending the weekend in Minnesota for a Wurzinger family reunion (I seem to travel a lot right around my birthday) on Saturday. Sunday, we’ll hang out with her parents, and then get dinner somewhere in the city and go out for drinks. On Monday, we’re going to the Valley Fair amusement park for the day before heading home that evening. It should be a good time. A memorable time. Perhaps it will inspire me to look forward to my next birthday with a bit of that excitement I seem to have lost somewhere along the way.

For those of you who are in to the present-buying thing, but aren’t in to the coming up with your own ideas thing, my Amazon wish list is decently up to date. In case anyone was considering a scooter-themed gift, be warned that the scooter doesn’t look like it will happen until next year now. I know… it breaks my heart, too.

So I’ve recently decided that I want a scooter. A Buddy 125 (125cc) by the Genuine Scooter Company of Chicago, to be exact. I’ve been considering getting a scooter ever since I moved to Des Moines and realized how feasible it’d be. So I did a lot of research and decided the Buddy should be the object of my idolatry.

Why a scooter? Well, I live a 10-minute drive from work, which could just as easily be a 10-minute scooter ride, seeing as how there are no major highways involved. I rarely exceed 40mph to or from work, so a 125cc scooter could easily keep pace. Scooters get mad gas mileage, usually at least twice that of the average car. And besides… I think they’re cool looking. Those who prefer crotch rockets or choppers might not agree with me on that one, but if you really think about it, can you picture me on either of those things? I thought not. :)

Why a Buddy? Well, certainly not for the name. Looks are high on the list, and I like the Buddy’s retro styling. Speed is also important, and the Buddy can do freeway speeds if need be. It can also beat most 150cc scooters off the line, so its acceleration is fine. And its gas mileage is good even for the scooter class: most Buddy owners claim 85-90 miles per gallon city, depending on location and load, while some even average out over 100 mpg. You can’t even squeeze that out of a brand-new hybrid car.

At the moment, there are only two things holding me back from scooter ownership. The first is that there are no Buddy dealers in Des Moines as yet. The closest is in Kansas City, requiring a road trip some weekend (and borrowing someone’s vehicle so I can get it back home). The second speed bump is that I’ve decided I would like to purchase the scooter outright, without having to make any payments on it. Unfortunately, the scooter runs around $2600 before taxes and so forth, and I don’t have that kind of money on-hand. I’m saving up as we speak, and am about 3/4 the way there, but that was the easy 3/4 (i.e., I had some savings already). I’m now in the squeezing-blood-from-turnips stage, so things are going to go a little slower. I’m selling a few things I don’t need on eBay, which will get me a little closer, and after that I’m just hoping to find some freelance web work to make some extra cash.

The goal is to have a scooter in my possession by the end of the summer, such that I can ride it to work all autumn before having to store it over (most of) the winter. I don’t know how realistic that goal is, but I’m going to do whatever’s in my power to see it gets done. Wish me luck!