I Have Expensive Taste (Social Networking 2.0)

So, a few times in my life I’ve had a conversation where someone will reveal that they “have expensive taste.” Now, I try not to be judgemental, but you know it’s hard sometimes, when you hear a line that contains utter pretentiousness like that. Now, these conversations have been in regards to clothing and/or food.

So, my younger readers are probably already hip to this — but apparently, nowadays, you can shell eighteen to 20 dollars (US) for a t-shirt that looks like it’s been in the washer 100 times too many. It’s all faded and almost falling apart. I don’t understand the appeal. If I buy something new, it better look new, dammit! But OK, fine, it floats people’s boats, I guess, that fake vintage thing. Aimee and I went to some mall nearby a few weeks ago, and we walked into this one store that had some phat suits and ties. I mean this was really nice looking stuff. Of course, the ties were like a hundred bucks (what??) and the blazers on the order of a thousand dollars (!!). Way beyond my price range, for sure, but here’s the amazing thing. Those fake-vintage t-shirts that you get for 18 bucks from American Eagle or something cost 50 (fifty!!) dollars at that store. That’s [s]xmms[/s] audacious, I’ll tell you.

So anyway, that episode reminded me of this one food based conversation I had a while ago. A bunch of us were talking about restaurants in the area. I asked a passer-by to join in the conversation and provide some recommendations. After thinking for a bit, this person said, (and I quote), “well, I have expensive taste, so…”

Huh? How do you have expensive taste in food? I mean, seriously, is it the price that makes you go “mmm, this is some goooooood eatin'” or what? Can someone just plop some crap on your plate, overcharge you with a 1000% markup and you’ll revel in the gastronomic experience because you’ve “made it”? Are people serious about this stuff? I mean, I understand expensive restaurants to an extent — they offer you an ambience, a level of service and attention to detail that might be rarer in some of the more modestly priced restaurants. At the very least, they’ll give you something exotic (or: not).

So I mean, I get that you might like expensive restaurants for certain things. But what in the world is expensive taste in food all about? I’ll say this. Some of the best foods I’ve tasted have been in downright holes in the wall joints. Places like that don’t give a toss about the ambience (and thus, they have a unique ambience!) and concentrate on giving you the best possible food.

Now that that rant is done, I have a bit of a situation on my hands. It’s getting where I need to have a PDA in my life. I use evolution at work for my email and calendaring and contacts management. I do the same on my home laptop. I need a PDA to ping me about upcoming activities and meetings when I’m away from my computers (yes that does happen!), and where I can store all my contacts. So in other words, I am also looking for a smartphone.

On the must-haves:

• connects bluetoothfully with linux — I’d be willing to settle for bluetoothlessly (USB), though
• has bluetooth so I can have a wireless headset, and have Aimee’s car recognise it and pipe through
• syncable with evolution — this is actually the crux
• Quad-band GSM
• Unlocked
• Not so expensive that I have to rethink buying a house

Among the nice to haves:

• WiFi
• GPS
• radio

I don’t care about mp3 playing or cameras. I just want a pda that happens to be a decent phone. I consider 500 bucks to be extortionist in terms of pricing. If anyone has recommendations, I’d love to hear them.

NB: I do fancy the E-Ten X500 but that’s definitely out of my price range for now. What can I say? I have expensive taste :p

Oh yeah, the social networking/web 2.0 part of the topic: this weekend, omp introduced me to last.fm. It’s social networking with mp3’s — what a concept. I love it. It’s still learning my tastes (expensive, remember?) but it’s been a fun ride so far.

Thanks to mkeadle I learned about delicious recently. What a great concept. I don’t have to worry about being at my computer to find my bookmarks any more. And the ten or so emails a day I send to Aimee about things I reddit can stop. I now just have to tag them for her and she can see them from wherever. I love the idea. Donnie raved about the plugin this evening, and I have to say I agree. It’s just fab. I’m liking this newfangled interwebs two point zero thing.