penny foolish

Seriously F12 today, so I'm only going to spend coffee drip time on the blog. As soon as the pot is ready, I'm gone. I feel that I have a responsibility to you out there surfing for entertainment and interested in my random musings on life, but you guys are not paying me any advance money.

Was struck by the amount of time we spend (at least, I spend, and I figure you do too) on ridiculous savings. Took me a full minute this morning to pry two coffee filters apart. At what point do you say, Screw it, I'll put them both in the basket. I'm taking a minute to save a fraction of a cent. A little over a penny an hour is what I am saving myself. For someone who prides himself on his sense of persepctive, that is pretty damn silly. I won't drive all over town to save a buck at the gas pump, but I will spend thirty seconds in a busy drive-thru line fishing through my pockets and that coin place in the car (not the one behind the seat cushions, I mean the official one on the dash) to find twelve cents so that I can hand over 5.12 and get an exact dollar back. Oy.

I read somewhere that it is not worth Bill Gates' time to pick a 1000.00 bill up off the sidewalk, because the action of stopping and bending would take about five seconds and his time is worth more than 200.00 / second. I understand the principle here. On the same principle I will pay someone 30.00 to change my oil rather than do it myself for a fraction the capital cost, because my time is worth more than 30.00 a week - which is how long it would take me to change the oil, even assuming I got the job done right and did not by mistake pour the stuff into the radiator or glove compartment. (Must say, though, if I could charge 200.00/second I would not be spending much time staring down at the sidewalk, or walking for that matter. I'd hire people to carry my couch and TV around.)

Shoot, that's my time. Coffee's done and I'm F12. Looks like it might be a two-pot day today. Fortunately I have a single filter ready to go for the next one.