*This post is republished from July 2009.  I have been telling a few people about it recenlty and thought I'd share it again.

Before I even launch into why, please note that I said *most* gals. So last night I achieved studio perfection when I got to break in the new set up…the girls were all sprawled out on the couch and we all watched chick flicks while I worked (I am where the arrow is pointing in my jewelry area).

After the girls left I continued to work all hopped up on girl talk and cookie dough and proceeded to somehow break all of my hole making apparatuses at once…I have NO IDEA how this could happen, but I did not have time today to bring my power drill back to sears and the hand drill I broke is out of stock indefinitely…this brought on a mild panic attack at 2 am last night…but I survived.

This morning I dashed into my awesome local hardware store down the street and discussed the options. We decided that the best idea was to buy a new smaller power drill then my broken cordless one…and this is when I realized that I shop for tools like a girl…and I say this as a girl who grew up with a father who is an art carpenter and made sure I knew how to operate every single tool in his workshop by the time I was three and a mother who once brought home a table saw because she thought “of all the cool things she could do with it”. I know my way around a hardware store…and I still suck at shopping in one. I kept trying to grab at all of the pretty colored, multi functioning, fancy packaged drills…the patient man who often assists me and is therefore used to this told me those were overpriced useless toys and steered me over to this plain looking PLUG IN…wait, I want to be on the go!!!…he pointed out that I make jewelry in one spot and would get a much more powerful drill this way…but its so inexpensive…but, he pointed out, a really great drill….but it’s really ugly…he just looked at me with a look I get A LOT from men…but the packaging is really ugly too, and the direction changing button doesn’t have arrows printed on it…I got that look again…oh fine, I huffed.

So I carried my ugly drill home and put it aside…a bit later I decided it was time to test drive it…my intern J was watching me out of the corner of her eye with a look of mild amusement as I pointed out how unattractive the box was and that the drill was only inside a plastic bag…what kind of packaging is that???…I then plugged it in and locked in one of my favorite bits and almost drilled through the table while I shot the metal I was drilling across the room…her amused look turned quickly to fear…I quietly put down the drill and looked at J…"this may take a few minutes to get used to, but I promise to aim away from you"…I took a deep breath and picked the speed machine back up…I’ll admit it freaked me out, who knew such an ugly drill could have so much power??? It took a few tries, but within 15 minutes I was drilling through anything I could get my hands on…with an amazing amount of ease I have to point out…and then I realized that this is the most bad ass tool I have ever owned…and seriously the best $23 I have ever spent.

ps...if you enjoyed this post, consider checking out the blog She Says He Says, in which Adam and I discuss the differences between men and women every Monday!