Stuff

I admire people who have very few possessions. People like Gandhi and Chuck. Although, one of the ways Chuck ended up with few possessions was by giving them to me. Gandhi never gave me anything. After Chuck's visit last summer, I now have almost every book ever written concerning the Pacific Crest Trail. I also have three or four nice pairs of telemarking and cross country skis. One pair I found in a dumpster, I already owned a pair, and Chuck gave me three pair - hence my three or four.

I've always found a well organized workshop a thing of beauty. No offense to you, oh youthful unknown reader, but I associate a neat workshop with old men. It is especially appealing to me when the workshop has one of each essential tool, not several of each, like mine (although calling what I have a "workshop" is a stretch). I aspire to be the kind of guy who has one tape measure (as opposed to eight), one square, one level, one drill, one laser guided mitre saw. At our house we have at least five cordless drills. One is an impact driver but it still adds to the redundancy of use. When I walk the isles of my local hardware store (a quaint little shop called The Home Depot) I have to stop myself from picking up another tape measure, speed square or pair of pliers. I am particularly drawn to Channel-locks and vice grips. And clamps.

Perhaps contradictorily, I like collections. I like my record collection almost as much for its looks as I do for its sound. In fact, I look at it a lot more than I listen to it. But a record collection is a bunch of things that looks similar but are different - as different as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, or Rubber Soul  and Abby Road, or The Specials and Special AKA. A Makita drill and a Dewalt drill can both make holes an 1/8 inch diameter. They can also both drive screws into a board.

I think this is my complicated way of reminding my self to simplify x 3.