Cardigan Empire

I want my own robot.

She would match the white socks and answer e-mails when I fall victim to digital tsunamis. She would find me the sold out Victorian black boots in my puffy pink cloud of a daydream.

I am yet to discover the appropriate model, but I have found a solution for the last requirement: eBay Saved Searches

Sometimes you wait too long on something. You gamble away your chances on a material soul mate by greedily waiting for a further mark down, or you leave you pretty unattended through slovenly procrastination. Now you can’t stop thinking about this item, knowing you two were supposed to be together. The only option left to you at this point is eBay: the land of second chances.

But sometimes even eBay breaks your heart. Every item that seems to work is already in the SOLD column. You want to continue searching day after day, week after week, but your busy robot-less life won’t allow it.

There is hope. Tell the eBay Robot you want Frye Adrienne Button Boots, and she will send you an e-mail every time someone posts a listing matching this criteria. Leaving you time to match the white socks and answer a few more e-mails.

Thoreau and I like theoretical shopping. Henry liked to buy farms, in his own words, “In imagination I have bought all the farms in succession, for all were to be bought, and I knew their price. I walked over each farmer’s premises, tasted his wild apples, discoursed on husbandry with him, took his farm at his price, at any price, mortgaging it to him in my mind; even put a higher price on it — took everything but a deed of it — took his word for his deed, for I dearly love to talk — cultivated it, and him too to some extent, I trust, and withdrew when I had enjoyed it long enough, leaving him to carry it on. My imagination carried me so far that I even had the refusal of several farms — the refusal was all I wanted — but I never got my fingers burned by actual possession.” (Walden, Ch 2: Where I Lived and What I Lived For). For H.D. believed, “A man is rich in proportion to the number of things
which he can afford to let alone.”

Although I’m not ready to move into my lakeside cabin, I do believe we can all get by with a little less (especially if we love what we do get a little more.) One tool to aid this endeavor is the the Amazon Universal Wish List. This splendid apparatus allows you to add every imaginable desire, from any website, to a central cart. Not only does this allow you to cool the passions of a temporary, but unnecessary desire, but it also allows you to keep track of items until their price and personal value match.

“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!” There’s nothing better than a little more of that.