Saturday, May 31, 2008

Decisions, decisions

Several relatively unimportant things that are juggling for time in my memory space:
  • Whether or not to get Alan Hirsch's book The Forgotten Ways. I picked it up the other night, but then put it back down. If it didn't have such small print I would probably already have it.
  • A Weedeater. I can't use mine anymore. It barely runs, and it shakes so bad I can't use my arms for a day after I've weedeated (?). Of course, I've probably had it almost 20 years. I don't really use one a lot (I spray), but it would still be nice to have one. I had kinda decided I would just buy the cheapest one I could find, but then I thought about getting an electric/rechargeable. That would be better for the enviro, you know, and lighter, and quieter, but it probably wouldn't last as long. And now I see that they have 4-cycle weedeaters, and... while they're a little more expensive, it would probably last longer, and be better. Hmmm...
  • A Blower. This is not as important as a weedeater, but it would sure come in handy now and then. Again, do I go with an electric or a gas? I don't want a cord to deal with, but gas ones are a lot more expensive and a lot heavier.
  • An MP3 Player. Ugh... I have been around the block and back on these. I am currently thinking I will just bite the bullet and get an Ipod Nano. But I really like the 4 gig Zune's better; and I also like the 4 gig Sony Walkman, but I'm worried I'll have to subscribe to a music service or something and I don't think I'll buy enough music to warrant that. Plus, my kids both have Ipod's and they would better be able to teach this old dog new tricks on something they're familiar with (I would think). And, I don't know if the Zune's and such will work on all the ipod docking boomboxes and things. Does anybody know if they're interchangeable? I also don't know how good Zune's are. The Best Buy salesman didn't like them, but... I don't know if I really want to base anything on what he said. So... I dunno.
I'm kinda notorious for taking a long time to decide on purchases like this. You know, things that I can't spend a great deal of time thinking about, so I spend little bits of time for a long time. I've probably went into stores and on the internet and looked at these things ten or more times already. That's how I am. While some people think - "just buy the stupid thing" - I figure it's better to take my time on something I don't really need, and hope that I will then make a decision that will pay off for a long, long time to come. I mean, when I buy tennis shoes I may go into a store and look at them 5 or 6 times before finally buying the first pair I looked at. But then I'll have them for quite a few years. So... why I am telling anyone this? I don't know. It's Friday when I'm writing this, and I don't really want to do anything else at the moment. I'll probably schedule this to run for Saturday morning though. I've been doing that a lot lately. I'll write a bunch of posts, but I've been trying to limit how many I put up each day. Although I'll still occasionally get on a real roll, but... whatever.

Peace out; and in.

6 comments:

MR said...

I've scheduled my comment for tomorrow.

Whisky Prajer said...

Re: music machines, if you've boiled your choices down to those three, I would strongly recommend avoiding the Zune and the Sony. All three are notorious Digital Rights Management hogs, but at least the Apple would keep you in sync with yer kids. And that's important.

dan said...

WP,
I don't understand what you said (digital rights management?), but I appreciate the suggestion. That's one of those things I wondered about. Maybe MR's comment tomorrow will clear this up further. :)

Anonymous said...

Uncle Dan,

Get the iPod, because Itunes is so much easier to work with, and the navigation on the Ipod itself is easy. My first MP3 player was an ipod and I had that for several years before I traded it in for a different brand. I ended up taking the different brand and getting another MP3 player that wasn't an Ipod again for a second time. Eventually I ended up getting another Ipod, and it I like it alot. It's the 4 gig one

Love,
Nephew Joey

MR said...

Well, gas will probably be expensive until 2009. There's no shortage, but speculators are driving up the price as much as $50 a barrel, and really, with the size of the tanks on those tools it's not going to be that big of a factor. I find gas powered tools to be more powerful and, maybe very important to you out in farmland, very MOBILE. As for the environment...well, on a global scale your trimmer and blower will have the environmental impact of a mouse fart, so I wouldn't give that a lot of weight.

As for the Zune/Sony/iPod. I dunno... I never looked at them. I just listen to mp3s and don't need video.

dan said...

Thanks Joe!