Christmas goodies

So, I know it's not about receiving, it's more in the giving that one derives Holiday pleasure, but I gotta tell you about one of the gifts my wife got me.

Back in September or so, of this year, the wife and I were in the Fremont area and stopped into an antique store (consignment shop?). I think she'd been in there a few days earlier and wanted to show me some Scottie dog drinking glasses. One look, and I was in love. They were about 5" high, with a frosted base, and 1,2, and 3 gradients etched into the sides. The coolest part is that near the top, on both sides, was the sandblasted head of a Scottish Terrier. I loved them. How much?, we enquired. $40. Hmm... for six glasses. I just couldn't bring myself to spend that much on something so unnecessary. We left, but I was kicking myself in the ass, wondering if I shouldn't go back and offer $30. The idea of being rejected, and the abuse my ego would take in the process, was the only thing that held me back.

About a month later, a friend and I were in the same neighborhood drinking, when I asked to stop by to see if they were still for sale. We got to the store about 5 minutes after they'd closed, but I couldn't see them through the window. I was sure they'd been sold to some lucky customer and they were enjoying them that very minute. I was crushed.

I spent the last 3 months silently regretting my decision. When my wife's friend was in town in October, I was telling her about the glasses and she asked how much they were. When I told her, she said we should go down and get them. I didn't because I was sure they'd already been sold, and I didn't want to eat my pride in front of the store sales people.

I searched on eBay to see if there was anything remotely like them on sale, but there was nothing like them out there. This only exacerbated my feelings of regret.

Christmas comes and I'd opened my stocking stuffers and smaller presents, when the wife handed my a somewhat heavy, medium-sized box. I peeled off the wrapping and saw my name on the label. Hmmm... it took me a second to realize it was a box she'd reused to wrap whatever was in the box. I reached in and found something wrapped in tissue paper. I pulled it out and set it aside. I reached into the box and pulled out another cylindrical object, also wrapped in tissue paper. I couldn't imaging what these were, so I pulled off the tissue paper of the second object, and while I did, I could see the head of a Scottish terrier, sandblasted into the side of a glass! Yes! Yes! Yes! My wife got me the treasured glasses.

As it turned out, while my wife's friend was here, she convinced my wife that $40 was nothing and that she should go down and buy them. When the friend was telling me that I should go down and buy them, they'd already purchased them, and she was teasing me... Absolutely one of the biggest surprises (and best gifts) I've had.

I immediately took them into the kitchen and washed them. They are now proudly displayed in our liquor cabinet, and they look great! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Where do CD players go when they die?

I've ordered a few new CDs and have just started receiving them in the mail. I went downstairs to put them in the CD rack and just to make sure I had all the cases put up, I went to the Man Room, to see if there were any loose ones floating around in there. I popped open the CD player, only to find it was empty. I guess I could have guessed as much by the lack of diamond cases on the table, but wanted to be sure. As the 5-disc tray opened and started to rotate, as if looking for a CD, the platter rotated loudly and in a jerky manner. It's been doing this for quite some time, but it's obviously getting worse. At some point, it will probably cease to work at all and I will be confronted with the option of repairing it or replace it.

Well, I know I probably won't fix it. It would cost more to fix it than it's worth, and the options on the new players would far exceed the capabilities of the current player. I really like the old player, and it's more than served its purpose, but it seems criminal to just throw it away. When I bought this player, it was to replace one that matched all my stero components, and it wasn't cheap at $500. It was a Harman/Kardon, single-disc player that did nothing more than FF, Reverse, Pause/Stop. This was back in 1986 and players would just coming onto the market. The current players is also a H/K, cost about $200, and had a lot more functionality than the first player.

It seems like such a shame to throw them away, but I'm not going to throw good money to fix something, when I can do better with my money on a new unit.

What does one do with consumer electronics that no longer serve their purpose, but are fixable (although not economically)?

Kick-Ass Gift!

Picked up the wife from the airport this morning. On the way home we stopped off for breakfast at a place we used to frequent, but haven't been to in years. I was reminded why we don't go out of our way to eat there.

After getting home and lugging the suitcases upstairs (that must be why it's called luggage), the wife was pretty wiped out and went to bed.

She just woke up a few minutes ago. After getting out of bed, she opened up one of her suitcases, and pulled out a smallish, cardboard box and handed it to me.

I had no idea what she might have found that I would like, but I was intrigued. Upon opening it, I found a beautiful Starbucks coffee mug, which is part of the Collector Series line (i.e., go to Italy: get a Rome mug).

We have several of these from other locations, a couple from Hawaii, one from London, and they all have a very similar appearance: white mug with a green design and bold, black lettering. The new mug is an altogether different beast: it's a light cream color, and on one side is a sepia Chinese dragon design, with deep red accents; the other side shows a mountain scene in the same red color with sepia clouds spanning the peaks. The mug's interior is the same deep red color. Not surprisingly, the mug is made in, of all places, China.

This mug is too beautiful to use.