So, I didn’t buy the Vespa. Nor did I buy the Kustom bass amp (which, incidentally, sold for $401 with no reserve on eBay). Instead, I found a couple of deals on Craigslist that I’m rather happy about this morning:

For $35, a HP LaserJet 4000n: After adding a $98 toner cartridge, I upgraded our office printer to an EnergyStar-compliant 1200dpi workgroup printer that both Macs and PCs can use. Our previous printer, a 14-year-old Apple Laserwriter, was showing its age: printing any document, no matter how trivial, took at least three minutes to process and spool up before spitting out paper. It didn’t like expensive paper anymore (accordion jams look so good on invoices). It had no provision for PCs, and the only reason we hung on to it was because I found two OEM printer cartridges on Craigslist for $30 last spring.

For $200, I found a 22″ Apple Cinema Display to upgrade Jen’s 19″ LCD—almost doubling her viewing area. Now she can see two-page spreads on her monitor without scrolling. I may need to replace the backlight at some point, but for now, it looks pretty as hell.