Do I really need this?

I've been thinking a lot lately about getting an iPad...

Partly because my current MacBook is getting somewhat long in the tooth, and partly because I'd really like the electronic equivalent of a pen and paper so I could spend more time writing while out and about.

Now, part of me is loath to spend the sort of money that this exercise entails. For what would be in all reality a replacement for said pad and pen (cost about $2), my consumerist demons seductively whisper to me that it would also do double duty as a media center, navigation station (there are some very cool apps you know!), and I could use it to store my recipes...

To tell you the truth, Mr Cheapseats is mightily swayed, but is hanging on by just a thread to sanity to the need/want continuum.

Even as much as I want the iPad and as many clever and cunning selling points I can come up with for it and various needful accessories, I just can't escape the fact that I simply don't really need it at this point in time.

Bummer!

Truth is, I'm used to it... Being frugal on a sailboat means applying the need/want equation to just about everything you spend money on, and while from time to time it is a little painful, more often than not it is simply a way of sorting out what is needful or not, and once you have arrived at your decision it's somewhat happy making...

I currently have a project in the works which really seems to call for a bench grinder...

I do, of course, have an angle grinder (sort of the wrong grinder for most every job and cousin, I'm sure, to a Leatherman or ViceGrips). I could do this job using it but the result would be less than it could be and the use of a bench grinder would make the result both nicer, cut way down on the amount of labor, and make the operation somewhat safer in the grand scheme of things.

I can buy a bench grinder for around $50 and since tools hold their value, I can easily sell it off (if I care to) for near two-thirds of what I pay for it. The bench grinder starts looking like a good investment whether I keep it or not. Throw in the fact that I do quite a lot of rigging work and being able to grind, polish. and buff stainless is often called for, it is something of a slam dunk... I actually need a bench grinder.

Now, if the iPad only had a grinding app...

Listening to John Lee Hooker

So it goes...