Things I Like

Hi.

I was talking to someone the other day about sandals. They were looking for a recommendation for a pair of sport-type sandals to wear, and I had a definite opinion, an opinion formed over about 15 years of sandal wearing, the short form of which is that Tevas are uncomfortable and fall apart while Chacos are really high quality, durable and comfy. I’ll get into details some other time.

It got me to thinking about all the other stuff I use, why I use it, and what I think of it.

I’m not a huge brand name guy. I don’t generally buy things because the brand is cool or the brand is somehow fashionable, and I don’t flaunt labels. In fact, I often remove them.

But brand names and labels are useful and they do have some concrete benefits, one of which is that certain brands generally stand for high quality products, and you can often be assured of a good product if you buy certain things made by certain companies. The converse is also true. You don’t buy a GPX brand radio expecting Blaupunkt fidelity. This kind of consumer shorthand is pretty useful, and the marketplace would be very different if nothing were branded.

I’m also a pack rat. I accumulate random things that I may or may not actually need for no apparent reason, and hang onto them for even less reason, it seems. I’m trying to get better about this, and have been working to winnow my possessions down to things I actually need and things I actually use. I’ve been moderately successful. That’s also gotten me thinking about why I have certain things and how I use them.

With all that in mind, here I am. With a blog about stuff.

A blog. Yeah, I know. I’ve been saying for a long time that I thought that blogs were wanky and self-absorbed. I think that’s still true, so I guess I’m being wanky and self-absorbed. But I’ll try to keep this about stuff and not about my cat.

About stuff. Stuff I’ve owned or used and that I really liked for some reason. Some are kind of generic, but many will probably be about specific brand items. Most of them are things I’ve used and abused and found to be of good quality and a good value.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 22nd, 2005 at 12:09 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.