What's the best thing that you own?

[dreamshark]

Sure, most Americans have too many things. But some things are better than others. What's a thing that you own that has more than proved its worth year after year? It might be something you use every day, or just something that is always the perfect thing when you need it. Something you may take for granted, but would never want to be without. (Multiple entries are allowed.)

I mused on this question this morning as I ground the beans for my morning coffe for what must be at least the 5000th time in my little electric Jericho coffee grinder: definitely the best present I ever received. It was a surprise Mother's Day gift from Richard and the kids so long ago that ambertatge could hardly wait to tell me how they walked all the way around the lake to the coffee store to buy it for me. At least 15 years later, it's still whirring away, grinding a handful of beans at a time for the freshest coffee possible. Thanks, kids!

Comments

Large monitor

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Yeah, a coffee maker changed my life (at the time; I hardly use it now). But if I had to pick one thing I'm pleased I got, more than just the Other Stuff around here, it would be the 20" monitor(s). I have two; bBoth were splurges, though the more recent flat panel Apple Monitor less of a splurge, and both have served well. I have them both hooked up to the G5, though I rarely turn on the older CRT.

Perhaps second (or way up there) was this little headset for the cordless phone. Not merely hands free like a speaker phone, the headset allows an enormous amount of flexibility in movement and speaking. I wouldn't get a cell phone without something like this. I hate holding tiny receivers up to my ears while waiting on hold...

[carbonel]

My TiVo used to be one of those things, but then I went to HDTV and had to replace it with a not-as-good DVR.

Maybe my iPod would qualify.

Also my waterbed. I bought it around 20 years ago, when I moved into the condominium -- the first place I owned. Waterbeds have gone out of style since then, but I still like mine a lot. Every time I return home from out of town, I flop into the waterbed with a sigh of "my bed!" It's warm in winter, cool in the summer, and comfy year-round.

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

My laptop computer (with all of its associated software and net connection).

The specific model has changed a few times along the way, and will be changing again soon, I hop. My livelihood depends on having a computer, and the laptop enables me to take my livelihood with me wherever I go. In short, it enables me to travel as much as I care or am able to. The laptop also provides the primary way I stay in regular contact with friends and my primary source of news. It makes living in the woods possible. (Though, again, it needs the net connection to do so.)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

My contact lenses. I see so much better with them than with my glasses, and they are remarkably comfortable, and technology is at the point where I have worn little plastic bits in my eyes for 17 years and never gotten an infection from them. Keen.

[tesla-aldrich.livejournal.com]

What an excellent answer. I would have to agree, and in fact have had almost exactly the same experience with mine.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

It's cool that the coffeemaker has been there for you for so long - and with sentiment attached!

It's a toss-up. My glasses - these aren't the same pair, but I've had a pair since I was in first grade, and I can't imagine what I'd have done without something to correct my vision.

My mandolin; it's not the same one I've had since college, but it helps me to make music and that's probably saved my sanity (helping to deal with depression issues.)

My car and computer also both make a big difference in my life and my ability to work and to participate in my community.

Nobody's quite getting it...

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

First of all, it's a coffee GRINDER, not a coffee MAKER. Coffee makers are just ordinary kitchen applicances that pretty much everybody has. My coffee grinder is a tiny little machine that turns coffee beans into ground coffee in 10 seconds, which allows me to make a cup of coffee that tastes wonderful from the most mundane coffee beans. It's a small, elegantly simple, durable little gadget that makes life better consistently without requiring any time or fuss or maintenance.

That's the kind of thing I was thinking of - not big, demanding things like cars or essential health items like glasses or contacts. The mandolin is in the right spirit.

It's interesting that everybody responded with a CLASS of items, not a specific one. I was thinking more specifically. For instance, I'm glad to have a sewing machine in the abstract, but the specific sewing machine that I have is special: it's a classic 1948 Singer Featherweight. It is simple and durable and has been sewing straight and true for more than 50 years without requiring any maintenance other than cleaning the lint out of it with a tweezer ever now and again. It was also my mother's machine, which gives it sentimental value. If it finally gives out and I buy a newer, more capable model I will still miss my old Singer.

On the other hand, much as I like having a refrigerator, I never miss the old one after I buy a new one. I deeply appreciate indoor plumbing, but one toilet is much like another. See what I mean?

Re: Nobody's quite getting it...

[barondave.livejournal.com]

I got the coffee make and coffee grinder at the same time, and consider them one unit, so you'll have to forgive me for the metonymy. And I referenced a specific item (Apple's 20" monitor) as well as the general class of large monitors.

Bifocals, good sneakers, digital watches, all could have been classes of objects that improved my life in major ways.

[thorintatge.livejournal.com]

I totally don't remember getting you the coffee grinder. :/

Two things come to mind for me in this category. First is the drum you gave me for my 20th birthday. It's just right for my style of play, which swings between regularity and improvization. It's very versatile and I'm always discovering more sounds it can make. After seven years, the head is still as tight as it ever was (or very nearly so), and the thing is completely undamaged, despite being in some potentially damaging situations. Then there's my backpack. I've still got the same purple backpack I bought eleven years ago, but it's finally gone stiff and the zippers are finally failing, so it won't last much longer. The red backpack I bought in Philadelphia four years ago, though, is downright spiffy. I like the way it looks and feels, and I love the five pockets of different sizes. The zippers are always smooth operators, and the second-largest pocket is the perfect size for folders, leaving the largest one free for large objects. And it was only twenty dollars, too. :)

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I have a brass pencil sharpener that does a perfect job on any size pencil. I looked for a replacement once, because I am afraid that one day I will lose it, but couldn't find one.

K.

[von-krag.livejournal.com]

I totally love my Friedrich Dick 11" forged chefs knife. For me it's just right, more cutting ease than a 10" blade and more weldy than a 12" knife. I wore out one like this one after 30 years of daily use, this one is only 4 years old and still in great shape. I'm afraid though if I wear this one down I won't be able to replace it, as F. Dick doesn't make this model anymore.

[jolest.livejournal.com]

Something you may take for granted, but would never want to be without.
An excellent question.

My glasses. I got my first pair when I was 5 years old. To this day (over 45 years later) I can still remember when they put the first pair on me and instead of only being able to see 10 feet clearly, I could suddenly see all the way to the far side of the optical shop, and the cars in the street out front, and the buildings across the street, and... Now that I think about it, that is the first time I can recall experiencing true "sense of wonder". :)

After that, (in no particular order) my: car, swiss army pen-knife, pocket flashlight, cellphone. I take all of them for granted and hit a mental-speedbump when I need one of them and they aren't available.

It's interesting that, while I absolutely would never want to be without them, my computer and PDA are both things that I virtually never take for granted. I'm not sure why...

Best things

[iraunink.livejournal.com]

My eyeglasses (since second grade), Prozac (although it made the ADD symptoms rise to the surface), and my laptop (where I write but never seem to finish wonderful stories).

[mmagidow.livejournal.com]

My ironing board. I got it from an elderly seamstress from whom I rented my very first studio in 1978. She was so wonderfully crochety, and had been sewing costumes for the stars since the 1940s. The ironing board is huge, and has a cast iron base, so it never tips over. It has been my constant companion in every house, studio, or sewing room I have tossed together. It has about 20 layers of flannel on it, each layer covering the previous and held on with elastic and safety pins. And it has a million and one uses - David Emerson used it to hold his piano at our wedding party! I look forward to having his do that again soon.