About 8 years ago I bought a black Honda lawn mower from Costco for $269. It was one of my first "man purchases" and I've mowed hundreds of lawns with it (well, actually about 3 lawns for each of the three houses we've lived in since then, but hundreds of times on each one... you get the idea).

My mower has served me well, but as I mowed the lawn yesterday I noticed a trail of grass clippings flying up from the front left side of the mower. Upon closer inspection, I discovered the clippings were coming from a few holes that had rusted through the blade housing, near the front left wheel. The holes were actually pretty large, so they must have been plugged with dried grass for some time.

I called my wife over to show her the damage, and told her "Honey, I need a new lawn mower, and that's what I'd like for Father's Day... oh, and I want to pick it out." Fortunately for me, my birthday is also in June, so I can combine Father's Day with my birthday for a double-whammy gift wish list.

I have my eye on a self-propelled Yard-Man mower that's on sale at Walmart. Our current lawn is pretty small and only takes me 10 minutes to mow the front and another 15 for the back, but I'm planning ahead for a mower that'll accomodate a larger lawn in the future. I also like the larger rear wheels that make turning a lot easier.

Last year it was my grill. I had one of those $150 CharBroiler grills that you pick up from Home Depot. I had replaced the burner 2 or 3 times, and the inside was thickly coated with "grilling goo" that had accumulated over several years of grilling burgers, chicken, and steak. My wife bought me a new stainless steel gas grill with porcelain burner plates, temperature monitor, side burner... the works. I absolutely love it!