The $7 Greeting Card

Would you believe it's possible? I just had to buy 3 cards for various occasions, and when I paid, the total was over $15. It's rather hot out today, so my brain was only slowly and foggily digesting this as I watched the cashier look closely at my receipt-- obviously even she couldn't believe it! I'm no longer surprised when cards are $3 or $4, but when I looked at the receipt myself, there it was, a $6.99 birthday card.

But I do feel I need to point out that the card involved a vibrating nun on a mechanical bull, so it was worth every penny.

Ads in Free iPhone Apps

I'm still loving my iPhone, despite the extra expense each month. Of course, as I'd expected, they've introduced the iPhone 4 and dropped the price of the model I bought by $200, but the iPhone has been such a life-saver over the last 3 months, some of that money has probably been made up by not having to buy extra gas because of getting lost on road trips. I had no idea I'd end up using the Google Maps feature so much!

I've also been having fun playing a free Scrabble-like game with a friend of mine who lives across the country. I've always enjoyed word games, and it's a great way to stay connected. Especially since I'm pretty consistently slaughtering her. Anyway, the one downside to the game is how intrusive the ads are-- after every turn, they pop up and take over the whole screen for a second or two until I can manage to dismiss them, and there's always a bar across the bottom of the home screen with an ad. A couple of times, I've been very tempted to just click on the button that takes you to purchasing the ad-free version for $2.99. But then I keep holding back, telling myself to just suck it up and save the 3 bucks.

This is always my dilemma-- I know $3 is not a lot of money. But I guess I think it's good practice to say no to spending on any occasion where it's possible. So an ad flashes in front of my and wastes a second or two of my time, so what? As a general value and guideline for life, I want to be the kind of person who is willing to put up with a little inconvenience, who isn't a prima donna. This may be only a very small and insignificant way of asserting that value, but heck, why not just do it? It's not that I live a 100% spartan lifestyle where I always take the cheaper, more difficult option, but that's the point: every time you say no to spending, it allows you to say yes to something else in the future.

How do you feel about ad-supported apps? Are you willing to pay a few more dollars not to see ads?

The Silly Bandz Fad

Have you heard about Silly Bandz? If you have a grade school age child, I suppose you must have. The last time I visited my niece and nephew, they were playing with these colorful little rubber bands that vaguely resemble animals and other shapes when they're laid flat. Apparently all the kids at school have gone so bonkers for these things that the teachers have had to send notes home, asking parents not to let kids bring them to school. But of course the kids do anyway, stuffing their collections into little Ziploc bags so they can show them off and trade with their friends. I thought it might just be a local trend, until a friend of mine in a different part of the country posted a plea on Facebook asking if other parents knew where she could buy Silly Bandz, as one of her kids wanted to give them to her sibling as a birthday present.

I was trying to remember if there was any big fad item like this when I was in grade school-- I know there were things when I was a bit older, in junior high school: stickers, barrettes with little strawberries painted on them, a certain kind of lip gloss. But it's not surprising for kids to want status items when they're anxious pre-teens. My niece is only 6, so I was kind of surprised that younger kids like that would be so caught up in a fad. Perhaps it's less about peer pressure and status than just the wantability of the item itself-- but it's not like it's a toy that's fun to play with in and of itself-- it's just a rubber band that you wear as a bracelet, and collect and trade with your friends, which seems to make it more of a social necessity. It's nice to know that kids can still get enthusiastic about simple things that don't need batteries, but it's also a little disturbing to think that kids can start to feel like they need material things for social success at such a young age. For what it's worth, my niece had apparently been given a couple of Silly Bandz by her best friend even though she had none of her own to trade, and as far as I know, she hadn't yet been begging my sister to buy her some. But of course the minute my mother heard about them, even though she knew the teachers were outlawing them, she went out and bought my niece and nephew each a great big bag of them!

At least they're not too expensive... from prices I've seen online, Silly Bandz seem to cost less than 25 cents per band.

An Apology from Telemarketers... with a Bonus

I received the letter below a week or so after a phone call I vaguely remembered, where I politely hung up on a telemarketer, telling them I did not want to participate in their survey:


And yes, that is a real dollar bill they sent me. I was happy to get the dollar, and I guess it's a nice gesture, but what I really want is for them to stop calling me, which hasn't happened!