My Most Prized Possessions

My memory is not the greatest. Oh sure, I can impress people by remembering their birthdays, and yes, the license plates of all of my colleagues are now stuck in my head and inextricably associated with their owners, and ok, I can remember the names of people I went to school with and haven't seen in 25 years or played poker with briefly two years ago, but that's just names and numbers. When it comes to events, occurrences and conversations, my memory is the pits.
I have two prized possessions, and they both have to do with keeping my memories for me. My first prized possession is the Aerosmith concert t-shirt I've had autographed by 4 out of 5 members of the band. I haven't met Joey Kramer yet. But the t-shirt helps me remember my encounters with Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Steven Tyler and Tom Hamilton (that's the order in which they signed it). I never wear it because I am afraid to wash it, but the one time I did wear it was very memorable as well, it was the dress rehearsal on the Esplanade for the Fourth of July concert that Steven and Joe headlined with the Boston Pops and the day my Saturn was broken into and all they took was the registration. Eventually I really need to get Joey's signature to make the shirt complete, but I don't see the giant hurry in that.
My other prized possession is my digital camera, given to me by my friend and colleague David Werlin. David bought a new camera because his old one had a dot. The dot is somewhere inside the guts of the camera, it is not on the lens and they couldn't get rid of it so David and his wife were going to throw the camera away. He and I were chatting one day and I said I wanted a digital camera but I only wanted to pay twenty dollars for it. That was when he said he could give me his old one for free. I cracked David up when I said, "I already have floaters, I don't need a dot!" Not only did David bring the camera in for me (right before Thanksgiving break, 2007), he showed me how to download pictures, hooked up the docking station to my work computer, showed me where the battery goes and told me which memory card to buy and where to buy it that would be the most inexpensive and convenient way to purchase it, and even took the first few pictures for me.
Without meaning to sound hyperbolic, this digital camera has CHANGED MY LIFE! I never have to buy film anymore! I never have to pay for developing anymore! And it is so compact and lightweight, I can carry it around with me everywhere I go. I always have it on me. I never have to buy another disposable camera again. And I can easily download all of my pictures to my computer or the web. It's been thirteen months and the novelty still hasn't worn off. I am in love with this camera and still feel very high from the fact that I own it. I've thanked David a thousand times over the thirteen months, so hopefully he knows how much this means to me.
Just in case you're reading this, Dave, thanks again!