Picking a rep grind

There are quite a few reputation grinds out there... altho considerable easier then pre-TBC it seems there are alot more factions to grind for now. It was Timbermaw and those dorfs in Black rock mountain which needed turn-ins íf you were after the rare crafting patterns but for most this wasn't worth the trouble. In the Outlands gaining an higher reputation level grants some worthwhile rewards now, untill recently you needed to be at least Revered with most of the factions to be able to do Heroics. Often you have to grind several factions to get the most benefit, a good item at Revered there... a shoulderenchant at Exalted there... a headenchant at Revered there... a nice offspec reward on Exalted there... etcetera.
And then there are the less usefull grinds, a grind for a sporeling pet, a grind for a special mount, a grind for a tabard, the list goes on.

I myself found my warrior on a point where i could pick three possible grinds;
The first aint a reputation grind actually, i dropped skinning and learned mining (currently at 250) so i could grind metals for crafting me thé tankgun out there.
The next option is a Consortium tabard. Why? Because it's red'ish and matches my gear... how stupid is that? :P
The final option is grinding to Exalted with Aldor so i can get the better shoulder enchant and have some extra defense. (don't need it atm tho)

Yesterday i was off to Nagrand to grind some consortium rep but before i even got there i reconsidered my options... sure a matching tabard would be nice but is it really more helpfull then the other two options? I decided to turn around and focus my attention on mining instead to get the tanking gun first.
Which one i grind first doesn't really matter much actually as grinding is mind numbing no matter where i need to do it, the reward tho should be rewarding enough to justify the time spend.
I consider myself pretty lucky, i've managed to minimalize my grinding sessions thus far.. some people's game actually exist mostly out of grinding (mostly or money) but i can set some goals to grind for and when i reach those i'm often done with it, i would fail as a chinese farmer for sure. I can't imagen what other people do to get through a grinding session, browse Youtube for new Happy tree friends episodes? (NSFW) "Read" a book on tape? Try to see shapes in the coffeestaines on their desks? Normally i just hang back (messing up my own back by doing that) and slowly fall into a coma, resulting in logging off after an hour because i'm sick of the game.. or at least this part of it.

Most of the time no reward justifies hours of work (thats what it feels like yeah) so why do we still bother? I guess some longing for progress or perhaps one of human's most basic feelings: Greed.