Damn John, look what you done started!! I thought you quit going against the grain a long time ago!! : )

Grem, you are right. What have I done...swaying young and impressionable minds off the beaten path into the dark side.
 
Maybe if I double the beer consumption, I can resurrect some faint vestige of gear lust and the natural primevil impulse to buy another reverb.
 
After all, if God didn't want us to go into hock with vst purchases, why did She invent plastic.

At some point I just got bored of trying new plugs that did the same ole thing.  I mean, how many 1176 comps can you use.  And searching through them eats up time that could better be adjusting just 1 (OK, maybe 2) 1176 comps.  Or Neve-like EQ. 
 
I'm trying to stick w/ PC for most duties, except for reverb.  Makes things simpler.
 
Finally, good hardware going in really makes a difference and makes mixing easier.  In the last few years I've managed to buy some good hardware - which is getting cheaper.  A WA 76 going in negates having to use a virtual 76 hard.  You get the tone and most shaping coming in and then the track just needs a little shaping during mix down.  I find it more fun to work on the tracking side, getting mostly what I need there, rather than endlessly fidgeting at mix down (I do enough of that anyway).  At least on the front end I can say that it is and move on to the next song to record.
 
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