Browsing Tag: shopping

    Miscellany

    Coolest. Coasters. Ever.

    February 17, 2009

    coastersThese make me wish we drank a lot more beverages outside the kitchen than we do, and/or that we hosted parties and friends at our house more often.

    A company called Meninos (from Brazil, I think) is selling this set of 16 coasters with icons from the iPhone.

    How cool is that!??!

    Only problem is that the whole set runs $60, and shipping is another $15. OUCH. Not even this Apple fanboy can justify that expense for a set of coasters that won’t get used much around our house.

    (photo courtesy veroyama via Creative Commons)

    Miscellany

    Happy Thanksgiving from Targ-Mart

    November 26, 2008
    Only at Target (and Wal-Mart)

    Was doing a little shopping today at Wal-Mart when I saw this huge display of Littlest Pet Shop stuff … and couldn’t help but notice this one item which is advertised as an Only at Target.

    WHOOPS!

    Hope you have a great Thanksgiving!

    Miscellany

    Scan this!

    August 8, 2004

    Is there a worse invention in recent years than the self-scanning checkout line at grocery stores? I don’t think so. They don’t speed things up. They aren’t convenient. They expect you to be every bit as skilled as the trained checkout person — and not just when scanning the item originally, but also in fixing something if it scans the wrong way. (And do I even need to mention that they take jobs away from the economy?)

    The first time I tried one of these lines, I had about six items with me — “Sure, this can’t take too long.” Well, the tomatoes didn’t have a scan code on them. The bread scanned at the wrong price. The gal assigned to monitor us daring self-scanners was, of course, busy with other customers having the same problems I was. And in the end, it took about 8 minutes more than it would’ve taken in a regular line.

    And this a step in the right direction?

    Miscellany

    Give me NEW, or give me nothing

    June 11, 2004

    I’m in the market for a new computer. A NEW computer. I could get a REFURBISHED computer direct from Apple, with full warranty and all, at a nice discount over a new machine. But I can’t do it.

    I also can’t bring myself to buy a used car. I know there are plenty of good cars available on a Used lot, but I could never bring myself to buy one of them.

    And not too long ago, I told Cari that the next time we buy a house, it will be a NEW house, not one that someone else has lived in. We’ve been in our current house for 6 years now, and to this day I still look at various things as belonging to the previous owner.

    Anyone got a good psychologist to explain this for me?