Friday, November 23, 2007

Happy Buy Nothing Day

The break from classes has been nice and relaxing so far. Thanksgiving included a nice visit with my mom's family and a gathering of physics folks at my advisor's house. It was lovely, weird, and great fun, exactly what I expect with these people.

Today, I'm going to hang out around the house with my parents, eat, clean, do homework, read, and perhaps watch my university lose at football on tv. I will not be going shopping, despite my brother's attempt to persuade me to go wait in line at 3am to buy a cheap laptop. I don't need it. I do have fleeting moments of wanting a laptop, but at this point I do just fine without one. Someday in the next few years, that will likely change, but it makes sense to delay the purchase and wait for prices to drop and technology to improve further.

My brother may not buy anything today either. There wasn't anything in the ads he had his eye on. He was still considering doing the 5am trip to Best Buy, even if he decided not to buy anything, just because he enjoys the atmosphere.

I don't get it, but I'm the sort of person who was thrilled to get all of my Christmas shopping done online last year. I find crowds most disconcerting, and not having to drive to the stores is a major plus. Based on where my parents small-town home is relative to the major shopping district in the nearby college town, I'd burn almost a gallon of gasoline to make the round trip today, so paying a bit extra for shipping doesn't seem like such a bad deal.

By this time last year, I'd finished my shopping. The gifts for my parents are hidden in my closet, but I have no idea what to get my brother. He tends to buy himself pretty much anything of reasonable cost that he really wants. Do you think he'd get annoyed if I gave him a savings bond instead?

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