When visitors come to our home we seem to take great joy in showing off the latest changes. A lamp here. New tile in the master bathroom. An ever-changing configuration of bookcases and desk space in my office.

I can’t be certain how interested our friends and family truly are in our constant remodeling and home purchases. I can see someone being quite bored with it all. Knowing when they step in the door, they will have to get the tour de’farce of Home Depot purchases.

We don’t drive fancy cars or take exciting vacations every month. We put most of our time and effort into our house. It isn’t anything special, a standard suburban two-story home, but we enjoy it. Something we’ve worked for and the only material thing my wife ever really wanted. So, while it might not be so bad that we take pride in our constant attempts to make this place better, it may not make us the most exciting of dinner hosts.

Only slightly worse is my electronics habit and the continual stream of new gadgets on parade for visitors. At times, I am quite caught up with the newest robots and PDA’s I forget not everyone gets a hard-on from technology. My friends and family humor me and take it in stride. Hopefully it is because whether it is our house or my gadgets we don’t do this out of arrogance of what we have and what others don’t. We aren’t boasting. It isn’t a game of keeping up with the Joneses. We are simply excited.