I’m hoping to beef up and replenish my kit bag with some new goodies soon. Here are my top five wishlist items.
1. The Nifty Fifty. My sweet little Canon Rebel, which I have named Rebelle, was plauged with problems for the first year or so (lesson learned re: second-hand cameras) but, after investing in some repairs and discovering an old 38-76 mm lens left behind by some long-ago Beaconite, we have hit a pretty good stride. This year I want to invest (not too much!) in something with a wider angle that will do better in low light. I think this is going to be the one.
2. A voice recorder. 
The sony recorder I used all through grad school (that’s it taped to a pole on assignment) was the best: recording time for days, easy on batteries, great sound quality, and played well with both my work desktop and my laptop. Then a few months back, I lost it. Since then I make do with either a very finicky borrowed recorder or my iphone’s voice memo function. Neither are very fun.
3.Bluetooth headphones. Between the walking commute, transcribing recordings, and sittting at my desk listening to music, I spend a lot of time wearing headphones. It’s time to get some nice ones that I like and won’t have to work quite so hard to take care of.
4. An external hard drive. I’ve been backing up my stuff on discs for a while now, but between the aging laptop and my ever-growing collection of digital media (that includes the stuff I’m making and my entertainment), things are bursting at the seams in terms of storage. I haven’t great luck with them in the past, so I’ll be in search of durability for this one.
5. Some classy walking shoes. This one may not seem difficult but it’s actually my holy grail of work equipment because I walk across town for so many “fancy” assignments. No kidding, if I show up at the Premier’s Office in flip flops, they will not let me in. Same at the courthouse. And the House of Assembly. My multiple pairs of flats, while tolerable, are really not that comfortable. I think they were all made for sitting, not walking.
Dateline: Paradise 