Shiny New Gadgets

 Its ages since I got a shiny new gadget. It has been even longer since I got a shiny new gadget that I didn't pay for. The last such thing I can remember was the company-issued Blackberry, which at the time seemed really cool. I am quite used to touchscreen phones now, but  Blackberry had a charm of its own. And, I remember that the company rule was if your phone was lost or stolen, you couldn't pay for a replacement from your own pocket. For IT security reasons the company would replace it for you. Fine by me, but I found out the hard by buying a phone I didn't need and then struggling to resell it. But, the gadgets I got today were not as fancy--a headset and a webcam. But, it is not simply what you get that matters for satisfaction, but what you get compared to your expectations. And, my expectations from the IT department at uni were pretty low. I had requested these products more than two weeks ago, and till this morning, I had no indication that their arrival was imminent. And, then, in a matter of a few hours I was holding them in my hand. I had expected something crummy, but they seemed almost brand-new. I looked up their prices on amazon and they are together worth almost 175 pounds. When I tried them, they worked smoothly.