The King of All Gadgets

I'm a gadget guy going way back. I drew this cartoon in 1984:

And, believe me, everything you see in those cases I owned. Since then, of course, I've bought lots of new gadgets. I never met a gadget I didn't like or think I would like. Here's a bunch I just scooped up to illustrate the point:

I feel really bad for those poor old Kindles forever pining to be recharged, but, alas, I've moved on. Au revoir, old e-friends. Also, farewell, Fitbit sitting on top of WOWee audio thingamajig, resting on second-generation Kindle in front of an AAXA P4-X Pico Projector that I never could get to work.

Yet, despite the chilly weather, it is spring. And, while a young man's fancy may be turning to love, my old, unrequited affair with high tech, low tech, and even dreck tech has been again rekindled, my abandonment of Kindles themselves notwithstanding.

My first impulse, being a Mac guy who lined up for the very first Macintosh way back in 1984, was to go for the new, sleek, top-of-the-line Mac Pro designed to consign all other designs to the dustbin of desktop-computer history.

But I held off. And then I was in the subway, where I saw this sleekly designed trash can:

Which I couldn't get out of my head when I went back to the Apple site:

So I put off the purchase for at least a week. But I thought if I couldn't have that Mac Pro maybe I could get something else Pro. And, presto change-o, the thought became the deed and here I am bedecked with the GoPro Hero3 wearable camera,

ready to join the extreme-sports community that has so enthusiastically embraced it:

But that suit was sooooo uncomfortable. Chafed all over. Just as well. You've got to walk before you can run and certainly before you can fly. So I thought I'd ease my way into going pro with something less extreme. Here I am, wearing a GoPro and yet again attempting to defeat my Ping-Pong nemesis, the puzzle editor of the Times, Will Shortz.

Damn! I'll solve the Will Shortz Ping-Pong puzzle conundrum yet.