The Story of Stuff tells the sad story of the hidden environmental costs of our shopping fixation and overload of meaningless stuff. As a maker of stuff, I would like to think that my stuff might carry some deeper meaning, but then we all have delusions, don't we? While I can find meaning in the making, whether or not the things I make are meaningful to others is for them to decide.

Joe Barry told me yesterday of a woman who thought she had found the ideal solution to too much stuff. She had several homes and a shopper and a planner, so for each home she could buy the same things. In each of her homes (all 10) she had identical closets, each laid out with the same arrangement of hangers, shelves and drawers, so regardless of where she was she could still find her stuff. Her shopping assistant kept a closet just like it to help in arranging and would give orders to the woman's housekeepers as to where things were to be put. I suppose when it came time to clean her many closets, it would require servants in each home and a conference call. That may be the kind of life that people might aspire to if they are crazy, obsessed and out of touch with reality. It makes my small delusions pale by comparison.