Buy or don't buy

This post is modeled after my friend Caroline's blog "Buy or Don't Buy":

Don't buy: REI. Their gear is overpriced. They're sales people are aloof and absent-minded, don't seem that willing to help, and condescending. (I did have a nearly redeeming long conversation about bike touring a couple weeks ago with one of the mechanics there, which did help get me focused on what I needed to do/get before heading up north.) Did I mention that all their stuff is overpriced?
Buy: Amazon.com. I saved at least $200 buying stuff from Amazon.com (and the independent retailers featured there) than from REI. $100 at least on a comprable lightweight two-person tent. $60 on a camping stove. $50 on a handlebar bag. $10-20 here and there on other camping stuff that I need...the list goes on. Plus with a one-month trial of Amazon Prime, I get free two-day shipping delivered hot right to me. No wonder it's the only company that's fending off the Recession.

Don't buy: scones. A couple months ago I went on a 50 mile ride and about halfway thru I stopped at a coffee shop and wolfed one down; I felt terrible, heavy and sluggish for the rest of the ride and almost threw up. Needless to say I vowed to never eat one while riding again (perhaps at all). Today during the 80-miler I passed by that same coffee shop and that heavy, 23829-grain taste started to come back. I sped away.
Buy: apples. This is just to say I have eaten the [Granny Smith apples] that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast. Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold (and especially after a long ride, the last 25+ miles of which I had been craving the amazingly refreshing sweet/sour juicy taste).

Don't buy: tighty-whiteys under bike shorts. A hapless experiment only to be remedied by...
Buy: Chamois Butt'r.

Buy: an awesome bike jersey given to me by Arie.
Don't buy: a dryer that so ruthlessly shrunk it.

Buy: Daylight Savings Time. In about an hour it will officially be DST, which means I'll have lots more sunlight for my ride up north. I barely lucked out, having coincidentally planned on embarking exactly one week after the clocks move on hour ahead. Normally I'm not a fan of DST, but in this case, it definitely is in my favor.
Don't buy: the fact that the clocks move forward during a last-minute weekend visit from Dalia, which means one-hour less time with her. (Plus, one hour less sleep in between two big and important training rides before Solvang.)

Buy: Breaking Away.
Don't buy: Quicksilver. (Alright, it is a pretty cool movie, if you take out the plot, bad acting, worse dialogue and terrible synth-filled soundtrack. The biking scene are actually the only good part of this 80's genre gem starring Kevin Bacon.)