What to do with this money

[marlinspike]

So...this is a forum for totally miscellaneous (sic I'm sure) nonsense, right? Ok, so I've got this money saved up, $466.25 now, and come Feb 15 $556.25, but it's killing me what to do with it. Should I
A) Save it (HA!)
B) Buy a Valentine 1 radar detector now and have $150 left come Feb 15
C) Buy a returned Valentine 1 now from the manufacturer and have $190 left come Feb 15
D) Buy a returned Valentine 1 now and a 7200rpm hard drive to replace a 4200rpm one come Feb 15 and have $30 left
E) Buy an ef 50 f1.4 now and have $250 left come Feb 15
F) Buy a 50 f/1.4 and a 7200rpm hard drive now and have $90 left come Feb 15
G) Buy a 100 f/2.8 macro and have $90 left come feb 15
I've been trying to decide for days and made no progress (well, I crossed bankrupt myself and get a used 17-40 off the list).
Richard

[Andy]

fast lens and fast hard drive. 'nuff said.

[marlinspike]

Hmm...you were quick to say fast hard drive. Will I really notice any gains? I think my bottle neck is in my cpu (hp ze5375us laptop with a 2.4ghz P4, and I threw in some ram to add up to 768mb, though 128mb go to the on-board video card). It's always at 100% when photo editing.
Richard

[dragon300zx]

Yes

[marlinspike]

Ha, thanks a lot dragon. That helped a lot. Imagine, now I'm debating adding a sigma 12-24 into the mix after seeing an ad for one on FM.
Richard

[fish]

Dump it in an IRA?

[GREAPER]

Mail it to me?.... Just a thought

[marlinspike]

A $550 IRA would be a bit...small. If I do go with option A it will just stay in my checking account waiting for when I've got more saved up to make a bigger purchase (which, with my not so steady college student income, could either be a long time off or soon, depending on how many free weekends I get). I had long planned on getting a radar detector, but then when I was about to buy one I though, wait a second, I could get a lens with this kind of money. I'm thinking I'll take the hard drive off the list since the more I thinnk about it the less I think it will help my laptop in the areas that need help (photo editing and gaming. sure load times are slow, but I don't mind that so much). The two strongest candidates right now are the radar detector and the 50 1.4 (B or C and E), but I haven't totally take the others off the list. I did take the 12-24 off of the might add list since I realised it's f/4.5-5.6.
Richard

[Nikolai]

Save a bit more and buy a nice lens, or a nice printer! As to the Feb 15.. who cares:lust !
Cheers!

[Tim Kirkwood]

Fast glass is MUCH better than fast car, so no radar for you my friend. Choose the fast glass and slow down your drivin' whats your hurry anyways.:D

[marlinspike]

Nikolai, I didn't even remember what Feb 14 is. The reason the money ups on Feb 15 is because student payroll goes out on the 15th of the month. As far as printer, I got a i960 back home, and anything that won't do for I'd just have Ritz or Smugmug do for me. As far as saving more for a nice lens, here's what's on my to buy list (I have it all figured out, I just need the money to do it, and decide what order to do it all in).
16-35 2.8 (I had thought 17-40, but after seeing a comparison I would never be happy with the 17-40) to replace my 18-55 kit
50 1.4
24-70 2.8
sigma 120-300 2.8
100 2.8 macro
a 1D mkII (this one I know is a long time in the future, I'll probably get one when they're 4 years old, or maybe break down and get a 1D Mk1 sooner).

Here's what I have now:
dReb with grip, 18-55 kit, 70-200 2.8L, 1.4x sigma TC, 2x canon Mk 1 TC, and various little accessories (and a Kiev 4 rangefinder!).

And for Tims comment, it wouldn't be slowing down, it would be continuing to take my chances if I go for the glass.

I still can't decide. Argh, it shouldn't be this hard.
Richard

[marlinspike]

Even though the voting on FM, mankman, and here all went against it, I'm going with the radar detector. I'll get a returned for no good reason unit, leaving me with $190, and I just rememberd I've got another $23 coming my way, so that makes $210, leaving me with enough to be well on my way towards a 50 1.4 or 100 2.8 macro.
Richard

[ginger_55]

AAAAHHHHHHHH, you are actually going outside of photography? You could save money on tickets, somehow I didn't think those things were as useful as they used to be, radar detectors, I mean.

Every time you drive somewhere and don't get a ticket, you could put 250.00 in the bank for a lens,:rofl .

I just think this is funny as I wanted an iPod, speakers for it, and our TV won't even show DVDs anymore.

But I am a driven mad person.........lenses, lenses.

Oh, my camera, it is great. But the LCD screen doesn't look anything like Lynn's photos with the 50 1.4. (It is raining here, too.)

gotta go to the post office and feed the totally uncooporative models:dogs.

ginger (not in that order)

[mercphoto]

A $550 IRA would be a bit...small.

Gotta start somewhere. Remember, Einstien called compounded interest the eighth wonder of the world for a good reason. :) My vote was to save the money.

[marlinspike]

Just so people don't think I'm nuts, I do have an account thats for actually saving money too. This is just the account I use for money that I'm willing to burn. Also, with todays interest rates (I would only "invest" in something FDIC insured anyways), $550 would probably get me .95%, maybe less, which is nothing, even compounded I'd be losing money compared to the interest rate.
Richard

[marlinspike]

Just so people don't think I'm nuts, I do have an account thats for actually saving money too. This is just the account I use for money that I'm willing to burn. Also, with todays interest rates (I would only "invest" in something FDIC insured anyways), $550 would probably get me .95%, maybe less, which is nothing, even compounded I'd be losing money compared to the interest rate.
Richard
Ha, I just rememberd I have some more money coming my way, so come Feb 15 I'll have $220.21...very well on my way to a 50 1.4! Though the macro got a lot of votes, with one person (on another forum) voting for it because spring is almost upon NC...I wonder why macro is good for spring. If I hate bugs, what good is macro to me?
Richard

[fish]

Tell ya what...you send me a check and I'll invest it for you. :deal

[marlinspike]

I was about to, but then I saw this in another thread

Just so you know...the souls of every person I shot with that lens are still in there. Hope you don't have nightmares. :evil :lol4
Richard