The Clarence In Me...

My dad, Clarence, is a frugal and informed shopper.  If he were in the hunt for something specific, he would read, research, and call & question the local places that had what he wanted.  It would not be unheard of for him to drive all over northeast Ohio to test drive the latest musical keyboard or whatever he was after.

Once he knew exactly what he wanted, he would then turn to the mail order and discount catalogs, all of which he received regularly in the mail.  He would call one salesman and push for the lowest price.  Then, once he had his word, he would call the next salesman and play him against the first.  He always got what he wanted at the price he wanted, no matter how long it took him to acquire it.

I have much of this in my own being.  Maybe not to the degree that my father has it, but it is in me nonetheless.  When I want to purchase something, I'll research and look.  The amount of time this takes is shortened now because of the internet (who knows how tenacious my father would be now if he knew how to wield the power of Google and Amazon).  Yet, I'll still search, stew, decide to buy, search some more, him haw a little more, and then finally pull the trigger. . . which leads me to my current predicament.

A week ago tonight, someone broke into the church that I work at.  They made their way to our office wing and began their thievery by breaking out windows and having their way with the stuff in our offices.  When all was said and done, they left with many, many things, including computers, brand new televisions we were going to install the next day, my book bag full of wonderful things like my Lamy fountain pens, and my journal.  They even took my 32 ounce Nalgene bottle.

Now, one would think that with insurance money, replacing what was stolen would be a cinch.  This is not the case with the blood of Clarence running through my body.  It has been a huge struggle for me to decide what to buy on some of the purchases I have made.  Sure, some things were easy, replace my ipad with the ipad that is equal to what was stolen and available.  No brainer.  Laptop?  Buy what is comparable and new.  The challenge has come in extras.  Here is a little bit of the internal conversation in my head:

The new laptop needs a new case to go on it.  Which color should I buy?  A clear one?  An orange one?  I just don't know.  One of the fountain pens that was stolen was a limited edition.  I can't find it anywhere.  So, what should I replace it with?  Should I buy a pen that will be the color of the ink in the pen?  Maybe the pen should match the color of the laptop case.  I really liked the orange laptop case....but I can't find the pen in orange.  Ok, the orange one is out....

Its rather painful how much of a mess I am.  I think the worst I have been involves my new ipad case.  I loved my old ipad and the case it was in.  It was perfect.  I provided great protection for my ipad and made it easy to use it wherever I was at and no matter how I was sitting.  They don't make that ipad case for my new ipad.  Now I'm on a quest.  I started with the smart cover by Apple.  I really liked how cool it was and how it looked and acted.  Yet, when I laid in bed last night reading, it was awkward to hold and use.  It wasn't my old ipad case.  Needless to say, that case got returned and I purchased two more this evening.  They are going back tomorrow, probably accompanied by the computer backpack I bought yesterday.  Though, its growing on me, till tomorrow morning when I use it to carry my junk back to the office.

The Clarence in me did win a little last night.  I ordered a lime green computer case, along with a Lamy lime green fountain pen.  How did I make the decision?  I've had both of the brands and styles before.  They were no brainers.  Help me Jesus!