Hemmings Graphic Designer Josh Skibbee recently gave me a 1945-built Delta-Milwaukee drill press. It's a whopping big cast-iron thing (despite being intended mostly for woodworking) with a remarkably good parts supply and a deep following among vintage-machine aficionados. It's a device perfectly on-theme for my workshop: old-time quality with modern support.

I like old stuff vintage material culture a lot. That's probably an understatement. If my friends think of me as someone who enjoys history, they equally know that it was gazing on the stylish and over-built remnants of the 20th century Machine Age that piqued my interest in the topic. I wouldn't want to live in the past, but I sure appreciate its artifacts.

I also recognize that my ability to make practical use of things made long before I was born is facilitated in no small part by living in the current era of high technology (and no, I don't mean the 4.1L V-8 in my wife's Cadillac). This drill press, with its ideal combination of vintage quality and practicable ownership demonstrates the perfect crossover of the modern and the old. It led me to reflect on the top five things I'm grateful for in present -- and future -- tech:

The internet

Digital music

Aerospace-grade materials and processes

Electronic fuel and spark management

Electric cars