Some people really like new things.
Some really like old things.
Some people, like me, like things and designs with utility, whether they're old or new. I tend to think a lot of new things being as many problems as they supposedly solve, if anything is solved by them at all, and I don't grasp getting new things because they are new.
This topic comes up for two reasons, or rather due to two recent experiences, both of which I feel badly about.
The first one is that for a long time I've been accustomed to getting a cup of coffee early in the morning, well prior to our newspaper coming. I usually eat breakfast and then check the computer.
We have some big flat bottomed coffee cups. I always use those cups. Part of the reason is that they have a really big, flat, bottom. They won't easily tip over and spill.
Recently my wife bought new dishes. I don't know why, although our bowls were getting a bit chipped. I said nothing about it as this is the sort of thing that people who like new things like. Personally, I'd keep using the old set until it was broken, etc., beyond utility.
The new set came with new coffee cups. Probably a half dozen of them. When I saw them, I thought to myself "oh no".
The reason for that is that they have rounded bottoms. Perfect for spilling. There's no earthly way that these are going to stay consistently upright. So, ever since the new dishes came in, I've quietly avoided the new cups like the plague.
Until today. All the other coffee cups were dirty so I used one.
When I get the paper, I put the cup on the carpeted floor of the second story, just above the door. Well, the rounded cups roll right over when you do that, as I learned today. It spilled at least a half cup of coffee right on a pair of my wife's new winter boots by the door. I'm sure she's mad, but she's not saying anything about it.
Why did we get these horrible cups? I have no idea, but I'll never use another one as long as I live. The old ones had more utility. Indeed, when I refilled my coffee t his morning, I just used one of my dirty coffee cups. Oh well.
This past week we've been doing a lot of driving for sad reasons. Earlier in the week, as part of that, I drove my wife's Tahoe about 600 miles over the course of the day.
She loves the car. It replaced an older Suburban we had. I always thought the Suburban had a lot of utility left in it and it wasn't close to being worn out, but for some reason, she insisted we had to have a new vehicle for her. We got a really good deal on it.
It's an amazing car. It has more technology than anything we've every had before and it does a lot of amazing things. And I hate it.
I drive, most days, a 1997 Jeep. It's been suggested to me by my wife that I should get a new Jeep, as she hates my old Jeep. I don't understand that at all. I bought the Jeep just a couple of years ago so I could outfit it (which I still haven't really accomplished) for local hunting and fishing purposes, and to carry my canoe around in the summer, but I do drive it most days. I don't want a new one. . . ever. I want to get this one fixed up like I want.
When I don't drive that, I drive a 2007 Dodge D3500 Diesel 4x4. I agonized over buying that truck, but as we couldn't carry everyone in my single cab Ford F250, and as it really was wearing out, we went with it. It has no bells and whistles. It even still has the manual window cranks. I've put a nice radio in it, but that's its only upgrade. It has a standard transmission. I love it.
But this week I drove the Tahoe. It has more technological crap going than I'll ever be able to use and I can hardly operate most of its features without messing something up. I really don't get why most of these things were considered good additions to the vehicle.
The irony is that just recently I had some trouble with the D3500, but I fixed it. I started to blog about that at the time, but I didn't finish it. Anyhow, while doing that I was seriously considering if I should get a new truck. I asked my brother in law, who has a nearly new Chevrolet diesel, about his, and he loves it. But the Tahoe made up my mind. No way am I ever replacing the D3500.
The fortunate thing is, I suppose, that at my age, 53, I'm on the downhill path of temporal existence and therefore my affliction with new technology, for technologies sake, will be limited. That sounds horrible but I truly think we've passed over a curve with technology and its rapidly becoming the enemy of man, rather than a benefit. We adopt it, as people, because that's what people do. New is good, old is bad, we think, save for a few limited cultures.
But that link of thinking isn't necessarily correct.
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