Last night was a pretty cool evening.

A young Marine reservist dropped by and we discussed his career and a few other things.

He has few things, but the things he does have are first-class.

He is of the school that says you buy cutting edge things and keep them until they are either horribly outdated or are worn out.

Mrs Pic sometimes goes that route and I respect her for it. She got a new computer recently to replact the one she bought several years ago. She bought the latest high-tech model and now the days of Windows 98 are long gone so she retired it recently.

I'll admit that computer-wise I am of a different school.

Right now I am writing this on a boat anchor that probably came from an army surplus auction. I paid $180 for it, delivered. It does the job and that's all I worry about. It replaces a string of about half a dozen other laptops I have had over the years.

Over the years I have not bought a whole lot of new things which is fine because everything I do buy is carefully checked out so as the be able to do what I want it to do.

I was almost 50 when I bought my first new vehicle and I did that because the price of used cars was so high that it really WAS cheaper to buy new. I used to buy them 3 model years old with about 30K miles on them, pay hald of new price, and run them into the ground. It was once the most cost efficient way to go.

Not anymore. Buy new and run them into the dirt is now the way to go.

Years ago Mrs Pic and I bought a chipper/shredder and she was the one that insisted on getting the bigger model. I still have it, it runs and works OK, but Neighbor Bob still has his and it works about as well as mine does, so I guess the jury is still out on that one.

Still, the one I has is a bit more powerful and may or may not outperform Bob's.

Frankly it may end up a wash. Still, it has been a good deal.

It has been a cold winter, and I figured right and decided to buy some itchulated overalls. In the past I would just layer and wear long johns and generally tough out winters. I didn't this year.

I bought a new float coat and a pair of itchulated oneralls. I'm glad I did.

When I mentioned that I was going to do this to Mrs Pic, she thought it was probably a good idea.

Back to last night, I got to help a young, recently promoted sergeant of marines wet down his new stripes.

That ain't a bad deal.




my other blog is: http://officerpiccolo.blogspot.com/ http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/