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Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Shopping Spree!
Today I visited REI, a fabulous "Outdoor Adventure" supply store in Towson. I had a $100 gift certificate in my pocket...and "Evil Twin Skippy" egging me on at every turn.
Total tab? $420.
For those of you not familiar with REI, it's the type of store that incites needs where, before, there wasn't even an awareness. For example, yes, I knew I would need a good Dry Bag...but I didn't know that shopping for a Dry Bag would be like shopping for sneakers: myriad shapes, sizes, colors, materials and finishes, alternative closing mechanisms, sub-pockets, strap placements, transparent windows (or not)....so, of course, I bought two. And so it went.
Actually, my final haul pretty much mirrors (and almost completes) the supply list of the previous blog entry, even though I got a bit carried away on some unanticipated, irresistable do-dads: the cutest little collapsable anchor you ever saw, for example, and experimental food (globules of electrolytes? Gotta try 'em!), some robust, resilient looking space-age foam for the sliding seat (the package's photo of a car driving over it was compelling, if not alluring), and a pillow. Yes, a pillow, which of course rolls up into its own 'lil nylon bag. Cute.
$420 aside, I should perhaps congratulate myself on some of the things that I didn't buy. I didn't buy, for example, the most comfortable folding chair I have ever been in. It, too, came in its own cute 'lil nylon bag, and I actually had the thing in my cart for about 20 minutes. I had visions of curling up in it after a 40+ mile day, Ian McKewan & a saucy Merlot in hand, the sun still a few fingers above the horizon casting an amber glow across a deserted beach...
"No, Skippy, no. Gotta travel light. Too much clutter in the boat." Out it went.
Mark Twain said, "Confession is good for the soul but bad for the reputation," and I hereby confess that I almost bought an $8.50 clothesline: 15' of line with hearty clothespins attached at regular intervals, residing, of course, in its own cute 'lil nylon bag. It, too, took a turn around the store with me until I came to my senses and considered what a few clothespins (already on the balance sheet) could do on the nylon line I will have with me anyway. Close call.
"Down, Skippy, down."
But I did buy - are you ready? - a cute 'lil nylon bag (blue, with integral cinch-string). Nothing in it...just the bag. I suppose that I had denied myself so many nylon-bagged goodies that a bag, alone, would have to do. $5.99 made the itch go away.
I've been hitting the gym pretty hard this week, making muscles ache that ache when I actually row. I know they can't be exactly the same muscles, but they're in the vicinity, and if their torture serves to wake up their slothful neighbors, so be it. I'll get some rowing in this weekend - I'm anxious to try out the foam and the electrolyte gobules - and I hope to see some fruits from my gym time.
I'll let you know.
Globules. Yum.
Mr. Frei
Total tab? $420.
For those of you not familiar with REI, it's the type of store that incites needs where, before, there wasn't even an awareness. For example, yes, I knew I would need a good Dry Bag...but I didn't know that shopping for a Dry Bag would be like shopping for sneakers: myriad shapes, sizes, colors, materials and finishes, alternative closing mechanisms, sub-pockets, strap placements, transparent windows (or not)....so, of course, I bought two. And so it went.
Actually, my final haul pretty much mirrors (and almost completes) the supply list of the previous blog entry, even though I got a bit carried away on some unanticipated, irresistable do-dads: the cutest little collapsable anchor you ever saw, for example, and experimental food (globules of electrolytes? Gotta try 'em!), some robust, resilient looking space-age foam for the sliding seat (the package's photo of a car driving over it was compelling, if not alluring), and a pillow. Yes, a pillow, which of course rolls up into its own 'lil nylon bag. Cute.
$420 aside, I should perhaps congratulate myself on some of the things that I didn't buy. I didn't buy, for example, the most comfortable folding chair I have ever been in. It, too, came in its own cute 'lil nylon bag, and I actually had the thing in my cart for about 20 minutes. I had visions of curling up in it after a 40+ mile day, Ian McKewan & a saucy Merlot in hand, the sun still a few fingers above the horizon casting an amber glow across a deserted beach...
"No, Skippy, no. Gotta travel light. Too much clutter in the boat." Out it went.
Mark Twain said, "Confession is good for the soul but bad for the reputation," and I hereby confess that I almost bought an $8.50 clothesline: 15' of line with hearty clothespins attached at regular intervals, residing, of course, in its own cute 'lil nylon bag. It, too, took a turn around the store with me until I came to my senses and considered what a few clothespins (already on the balance sheet) could do on the nylon line I will have with me anyway. Close call.
"Down, Skippy, down."
But I did buy - are you ready? - a cute 'lil nylon bag (blue, with integral cinch-string). Nothing in it...just the bag. I suppose that I had denied myself so many nylon-bagged goodies that a bag, alone, would have to do. $5.99 made the itch go away.
I've been hitting the gym pretty hard this week, making muscles ache that ache when I actually row. I know they can't be exactly the same muscles, but they're in the vicinity, and if their torture serves to wake up their slothful neighbors, so be it. I'll get some rowing in this weekend - I'm anxious to try out the foam and the electrolyte gobules - and I hope to see some fruits from my gym time.
I'll let you know.
Globules. Yum.
Mr. Frei
