Yawn. Nothing much going on. I went home, had some left over soup, and conked out early.
Yesterday at lunch I went and peeked in the new 'Gander Mountain' store that opened by my work. Wow, that place was impressive. It was full of lots of neat stuff. It made me want to go camping. Right away. I found myself a real nice trolling motor for only a hundred bucks as well. I might take my scow out this Friday that I have off.
I was impressed by the sheer number of guns they had there. They had aisles of ammo piled high so you can just toss boxes in your shopping cart. I am not much of a gun person. It's that I do not dislike them in any ways (Who would not like something in your hand that makes loud noises and blows things up?) it's just that I have plenty of other interests to fill my time. However, gawking at all the handguns, shot guns, bolt-action rifles and other neat stuff, it made me drool a little. They even had a little-girls rifle. It was a tiny rifle, about half the size of a normal one, it was bright pink and it took single .22 bullets. I thought it was neat. You could use it to shoot bums.
They had a hovercraft, too. You rode it like a jet ski. I wonder if it would be legal to fire that up in my front lawn, ride it down to the lake and just drop off into it. Then again, how would they catch me.
I have been toying with the idea of a new printer. It has come to the point for me where a new printer would cost less then buying ink for my old one. I have been pretty stubborn about my printer. The one at home I do not use a whole lot. If I want nice color prints, I use the one at work. But occasionally I have the need to print stuff out at home. Instead of a color I am looking for a nice smooth black and white one. NewEgg has a nice black and white laser printer for $44 dollars after rebates. I have to weeks to decide if I want to get one.
And thus ends today's boring post. Is it Friday yet?
2026 Update
I'm setting the time machine for 2006, where Ed's grand plans involve leftover soup and a pink rifle.
Ed calls this boring, and yet it's a perfect fossil of a lost America—a cathedral of commerce called Gander Mountain where you could buy a trolling motor, a pink .22, and a hovercraft all in one fluorescent afternoon. Meanwhile, his whole domestic universe revolves around leftover soup and a printer that costs more to feed than to replace. Twenty years later, the big-box hunting store feels like a mirage, the pink rifle would come with a corporate apology and a safe-storage lecture, and the $44 rebate printer has been replaced by a monthly ink subscription that texts you when your toner feels lonely. The hovercraft daydream? Now somebody would livestream the attempt, the neighbors would file a Nextdoor complaint, and the authorities would be waiting at the lake with a clipboard and a QR code for a permit. Ed's baffled, drooling, only-half-serious materialist wonder is endearing. But the sad truth: nobody has a scow anymore, and if they did, they'd pay a thousand dollars for a vintage one on Etsy. You didn't need a pink rifle, Ed. You needed a time capsule.
“2006 Ed, were you actually shopping for a trolling motor or just enjoying the fantasy of putting a hovercraft on your front lawn? And when you priced that $44 printer, did you ever count the cost of the USB cable, the toner, and the 45 minutes of rebate rage—or does a 'good deal' just mean anything with a rebate slip?” — Beelzebubba the Third
2006 Ed: So, Beelzebubba, you got me. The trolling motor was real—I touched it, a hundred bucks, and my scow's been begging for one since the last time the wind died and I had to paddle. But the hovercraft? That's pure fantasy. I picture myself buzzing down my front lawn and dropping off the bank into Lake Monroe, probably flipping over and scaring the manatees. (Then again, if they caught me, it'd make a hell of a blog post.)
And the printer? Ha! No, I did not count the USB cable, the toner, or the rebate rage. A 'good deal' means the price after rebate, period. I've got a drawer full of rebate slips I never mailed, and I'll probably talk myself out of it because I don't print enough to justify the $44. But it's fun to think about. Take that, printer ink cartridges.
