Wired Cola

I'm obsessed with physical objects, and in particular personal possessions. I recognize that I'm so dangerously close to collector-mania that I allow myself no serious "collectibles."

Alas, I am very willing to buy things that I deem useful. This apparently includes at least 30 Atari 2600 cartridges. Party at my place: we'll play Warlords. I have, er, two copies.

One thing I am moderately good at is throwing things out. I scavenge a lot, I pack-rat a little, but I dispose of a fair bit of junk.

Within that flow of durable goods, a few things tend to hang around, and I gain some measure of affection for them. This special group of objects are bits and pieces that have proven reliable and useful. Being priced right helps a lot.

Here's a list of a few.

• Miyata 210: it's a bike. I know, you're shocked. but of all my bikes, this one was bought cheap, barely maintained, and gets ridden more than any other. It was a nearly-pristine garage-sale find, bargained down to $20 based on a minor problem. Since then, I've practically ignored it, mechanically speaking, and it just works. As the third-best touring bike in Miyata's early-80s line, it's not even collectible, but it works. The boring Shimano friction shifters work, the boring Shimano derailers work, the boring canti brakes work, the boring 27" wheels work. The rear axle broke once, a failure I only noticed because I happened to be changing the tires. I have no idea how long I was riding it that way. Few vehicles will accommodate axle failures without the operator noticing. I replaced the axle with something scavenged out of The Pile. Maybe I should wash this bike.
  
• Garneau Windtex jacket: the jacket lists for about 9 times the price of the Miyata. I got a better deal because of a clothing subsidy through my club. But not that much better. The jacket seemed ridiculously expensive at the time, and now that it has crash damage, grease marks, and is actually the old team kit now, I cling to it, and try to limp it along another year or two.

  That's because it's the best bike jacket ever. It is a perfect Fall-to-Spring jacket that sees light duty in the Summer. It repels water slightly (I use a plastic over-jacket in heavy rain), and combined with one or two layers underneath, is a simple, comfy, useful, perfect jacket. And when it ultimately becomes unusable because of accumulated damage or something, I will have no choice but to buy another painfully expensive Louis Garneau Windtex jacket.

• Henckels Twin Gourmet 9" chef's knife: Just works. Holds an edge. Sharpens nicely. With this and a good bread knife (amusingly, we have a Henckels bread knife to match, but it's inferior to a random stainless steel bread knife), I'm happy to do any kitchen cutting needed.

  The definitive contrast is between this knife and the awful, awful Wiltshire that sits beside it in the knife block, and which never holds an edge, can barely cut tomatoes, and is the least useful knife I own.