That "I spend $40 less on gas each week" really hits home for me. After twenty years in the suburbs with a half hour commute each way, I moved to a little apartment closer to town and it changed everything. I was dead set against it at first because I thought I needed a yard and quiet streets, but now I walk to the grocery store and my favorite diner. The savings on car maintenance alone has been a pleasant surprise. Funny how we can be so sure about what we need until life proves us wrong.

Mark's a good dude for letting you try his Festool, those things are no joke on a big ceiling. Just a heads up though, calling it a basic pole sander for patches is underselling it a bit. A well set up pole sander with the right paper and a light touch can still get a pro finish on smaller areas, it's all about the technique. The fancy tools are awesome for saving your body on the huge jobs, but the old school method still has its place.