Post by Juan Castrocafe on Jul 13, 2009 22:47:06 GMT -6
I remember as a boy, my father and I would take apart a tape recorder and literally bend back a piece of metal and fix it so it could be used again. We used that tape recorder from the time I was five until I was seventeen when some better devices came in play and tape recorders were not so vogue. The big thing was though if something didn't work, you fixed it. It had to do with money but it also had something to do with the permanence of the "thing" you owned. Most of the time, a good expense for something also mean longer life and better quality throughout that longer life. Now, people throw things away that I can fix to like new in less than 10 minutes.
I was walking through Target today. Looking at all the things they sell. It is amazing how you really cannot get your hands on raw but cultured bamboo that is more in the "lumber" state than just a big round thing. But the stuff in Target has a lot of bamboo and it is a great wood like material. All sorts of plates, dishes made of stoneware, plastic plates and blenders, underwear, socks, shorts on sale, canvas converse's which are not American made anymore and are pretty much a label on just another mass produced Chinese good for $29.99. Their "leather" boot like shoe was only $19.99. But after looking at all the stuff, I watched people shop. I listened to conversation about the "things" they were interested in and how significant all this was. I remember wanting a 10 pound dumbbell for power yoga. They are not too bad there at $11.00 each. A bit more than Wal-Mart. However, I did the yard sales thing and got a pair of em for just $1. The things had never been used. It dawned on me. Someone bought those at least because the idea of having them represented change or fitness or improved health because of those. However, to find them near new for a $1 meant that it had been a long time connecting to that.
Well, it isn't a ten pound dumbbell really. I have taken other people's ipods that they say are irreparable usually because the battery wore out. It is a pretty neat device when you take it apart and appreciate the microcircuitry of the logic board and all the things that make it work. The battery is a snap with soft tools, jewelers screwdrivers, a T6 and needle nose pliers with aquarium air tubing on the tips. It is the same for car windows, watches, computers, motherboard resoldering, musical instrument repair, engine repair, vacuum cleaner repair...Almost everything can be opened and fixed with a little patience and made to work again and last at least a year or more longer. Of course, you can spend money to have others repair something, buy new but there is something about fixing things. It is contrary to modern thinking but instead of television, instead of many other time wasting events, you could repair what you think at first is impossible. Many things are still worthwhile and do not need $$$ to replace them, they don't need replacing.
So. Strolling through Target, you can overhear people saying something like "oh you've had that for a while now. It's old, you should just get a new one". This goes into people as well as I have noticed that there is something about old but still reliable things and people, they are discounted over whatever is new and untried really. Interesting too that most "things" I want in Target or Macy's or wherever new articles are, are available at pennies on the dollar if you are a hunter because people buy shit they think they are going to use and never do and after having it in the way for years, really still unused, they sell it for fuck all and it usually needs nothing to get reliable years of use. You didn't spend the money.
Oh, there are times I would buy a Coach or Cole Haan or get a pair of Allen Edmonds shoes because the quality is there and also the life cost of this article outweighs the initial cost significantly. I have found Jos A. Banks suits and one Armani H2O suit ensemble for under $35 at a yard sale. The clothes draped so well. I looked like a million. You just never know. Oddly though, I kept meandering around Target today and I was asking myself, if I did feel I needed something what good is that or this to me?
Don't get me wrong, I would buy Broyhill because it is heirloom furniture I can hand down and it will last. But the quality of a excellent dining table is comparable to a pseudo pair of Jeans at Target. You can go to Macy's and on sale find a great 501 Levis or any Levis for around $29 and up. There are such sales. They are not everyday. However, a pair of Levis will look good five years from now...the "wranglers" usually start to come apart somewhere in the first year unless you take a lighter to all the places where the stitching is coming loose...you can find levi's jeans at yard sales.
What is the value of a $200 silk shirt sold by Tommy Bahama? It drapes, does so lovely, and the cut is usually more athletic and not just a "square" like much lesser cost shirts. It impresses.
I could get to food and I have noticed that we really have a wider selection of food that is almost fully prepared already. Fast and easy. I am a diabetic and I find that most processed foods are also fuller of sugar, high fructose corn syrup, starches and other carbohydrates that are unrelated to the actual "food" you are going to eat. You cannot buy a prepared soup mix without it being close to a jar of table salt for all the sodium content, yet, the sodium free soups taste like watered down matzo crackers. However, you can still have a great soup made at home. How many people still take chicken feet and boil them for a broth. It is full of hyaluronic acid too, fresh chopped celery, sliced up radishes, potatoes if you have to, diced up okra, lentils or beans, noodles if you like, tomatoes diced up, and a swish of tabasco and lots of onions, garlic and a variety of peppers long sliced on a good mandolin slicer. Slow cooked overnight and the next day, a soup fit for anyone, low sodium, full of taste and good for ya. Oh, but it is too much trouble, we have other things to do. Imagine the unplug you can get from the internet and all these "devices" in our lives preparing food the old fashioned way. It is a way to stretch a dollar as well but to actually consider better quality going in your body so that whatever time you have left, it won't be with clogged pores, arteries or shitholes...everything just works better.
I have read Dale Carnegie sometimes to ad nauseam. I don't always follow. One thing I feel he neglects is not just pausing with people, but really slowing yourself down to get to know and understand another person and allow them more space to really express themselves more in depth than just belt out fast quotes and quick pleasantries. It is getting more and more lost as people get pissed off if their last text message is not responded to in less than five seconds...
I was walking through Target today. Looking at all the things they sell. It is amazing how you really cannot get your hands on raw but cultured bamboo that is more in the "lumber" state than just a big round thing. But the stuff in Target has a lot of bamboo and it is a great wood like material. All sorts of plates, dishes made of stoneware, plastic plates and blenders, underwear, socks, shorts on sale, canvas converse's which are not American made anymore and are pretty much a label on just another mass produced Chinese good for $29.99. Their "leather" boot like shoe was only $19.99. But after looking at all the stuff, I watched people shop. I listened to conversation about the "things" they were interested in and how significant all this was. I remember wanting a 10 pound dumbbell for power yoga. They are not too bad there at $11.00 each. A bit more than Wal-Mart. However, I did the yard sales thing and got a pair of em for just $1. The things had never been used. It dawned on me. Someone bought those at least because the idea of having them represented change or fitness or improved health because of those. However, to find them near new for a $1 meant that it had been a long time connecting to that.
Well, it isn't a ten pound dumbbell really. I have taken other people's ipods that they say are irreparable usually because the battery wore out. It is a pretty neat device when you take it apart and appreciate the microcircuitry of the logic board and all the things that make it work. The battery is a snap with soft tools, jewelers screwdrivers, a T6 and needle nose pliers with aquarium air tubing on the tips. It is the same for car windows, watches, computers, motherboard resoldering, musical instrument repair, engine repair, vacuum cleaner repair...Almost everything can be opened and fixed with a little patience and made to work again and last at least a year or more longer. Of course, you can spend money to have others repair something, buy new but there is something about fixing things. It is contrary to modern thinking but instead of television, instead of many other time wasting events, you could repair what you think at first is impossible. Many things are still worthwhile and do not need $$$ to replace them, they don't need replacing.
So. Strolling through Target, you can overhear people saying something like "oh you've had that for a while now. It's old, you should just get a new one". This goes into people as well as I have noticed that there is something about old but still reliable things and people, they are discounted over whatever is new and untried really. Interesting too that most "things" I want in Target or Macy's or wherever new articles are, are available at pennies on the dollar if you are a hunter because people buy shit they think they are going to use and never do and after having it in the way for years, really still unused, they sell it for fuck all and it usually needs nothing to get reliable years of use. You didn't spend the money.
Oh, there are times I would buy a Coach or Cole Haan or get a pair of Allen Edmonds shoes because the quality is there and also the life cost of this article outweighs the initial cost significantly. I have found Jos A. Banks suits and one Armani H2O suit ensemble for under $35 at a yard sale. The clothes draped so well. I looked like a million. You just never know. Oddly though, I kept meandering around Target today and I was asking myself, if I did feel I needed something what good is that or this to me?
Don't get me wrong, I would buy Broyhill because it is heirloom furniture I can hand down and it will last. But the quality of a excellent dining table is comparable to a pseudo pair of Jeans at Target. You can go to Macy's and on sale find a great 501 Levis or any Levis for around $29 and up. There are such sales. They are not everyday. However, a pair of Levis will look good five years from now...the "wranglers" usually start to come apart somewhere in the first year unless you take a lighter to all the places where the stitching is coming loose...you can find levi's jeans at yard sales.
What is the value of a $200 silk shirt sold by Tommy Bahama? It drapes, does so lovely, and the cut is usually more athletic and not just a "square" like much lesser cost shirts. It impresses.
I could get to food and I have noticed that we really have a wider selection of food that is almost fully prepared already. Fast and easy. I am a diabetic and I find that most processed foods are also fuller of sugar, high fructose corn syrup, starches and other carbohydrates that are unrelated to the actual "food" you are going to eat. You cannot buy a prepared soup mix without it being close to a jar of table salt for all the sodium content, yet, the sodium free soups taste like watered down matzo crackers. However, you can still have a great soup made at home. How many people still take chicken feet and boil them for a broth. It is full of hyaluronic acid too, fresh chopped celery, sliced up radishes, potatoes if you have to, diced up okra, lentils or beans, noodles if you like, tomatoes diced up, and a swish of tabasco and lots of onions, garlic and a variety of peppers long sliced on a good mandolin slicer. Slow cooked overnight and the next day, a soup fit for anyone, low sodium, full of taste and good for ya. Oh, but it is too much trouble, we have other things to do. Imagine the unplug you can get from the internet and all these "devices" in our lives preparing food the old fashioned way. It is a way to stretch a dollar as well but to actually consider better quality going in your body so that whatever time you have left, it won't be with clogged pores, arteries or shitholes...everything just works better.
I have read Dale Carnegie sometimes to ad nauseam. I don't always follow. One thing I feel he neglects is not just pausing with people, but really slowing yourself down to get to know and understand another person and allow them more space to really express themselves more in depth than just belt out fast quotes and quick pleasantries. It is getting more and more lost as people get pissed off if their last text message is not responded to in less than five seconds...
