I finally bought a television stand today. I shopped around yesterday, first at the local Pier One on Peachtree Street, and then at the various furniture stores (including another Pier One) at the new Atlantic Station, and finally at the giant Ikea store next to Atlantic Station. I drove home empty handed.

Today, I realized that the best piece that I had seen all day was the very first one I looked at, so I went back to Pier One and looked again. It was better than anything else I has seen all day yesterday, and at 10% off a good deal, too. So I bought it, managed with much effort to fit it into my new Lexus (I should have gotten it while I still had the Jeep - as it was, I had to take it out of the box, push the front seat all the way back and down into the fully reclined position, and just managed to squeeze it in), brought it home and placed my new television on it.

It’s enough to make you wonder what the point of comparative shopping is – my instinct (my prognosis?) was to go to Pier One and as it turns out, after a wasted day of wandering from shop to shop and battling crowds, what I was looking for was right where my intuition had first led me.

I bought the Lexus with less deliberation – I determined the make and model I wanted on line, researched the price I was willing to pay and the minimum trade-in value I was willing to accept for the Jeep, went to the nearest dealer, fouled off a couple of pitches until they got the make and model I wanted at a price I could accept, and the purchase was made.

The new television involved even less effort. I merely went to the Buckhead HiFi Buys, looked at the range of sets and prices, picked the best I could find at a cost I was willing (able?) to pay, and that was it – home with the set in my Jeep (I was wise enough to buy the t.v. pre-Lexus).

The Great Way is not difficult
If you do not make distinctions.
Only throw away likes and dislikes
And everything will be perfectly clear.