I’ve had gift cards collecting on my kitchen counter for the over a year now. I love the little buggers – hard plastic works out so much better than the old fashioned paper gift certificates (which are easily destroyed). I usually get a bunch of gift cards over the holiday season and I normally spend the first two months of a new year debating on what to buy. Last year I got too busy with work to think about it, which is why I had a surplus that included a mall-based card, a Filene’s card, and an AmEx-certificate. Today I went shopping for slippers.

Yeah, that’s right, slippers. I’m trying to accept the fact that I’m a billion years old now and I’m resigning myself to act accordingly. So nyah. I figured Filene’s was a good place to go [non-locals, think Macy’s, Bon-MarcheBon-Macy’s, Kaufmann’s – any of the May Stores] so I started there. Went past the women’s department, then the Coach counter, the iPod display, the Movado counter… ?! iPod display? What the hell is that doing there?

Yes, it seems that Apple has worked it’s way into department stores that sell almost no electronics, aside from home appliances – the even had the “alien” speakers set up for the on display demo. I ended up talking to the manager – he had to unlock the case to get out a 20GB iPod for me – and he was telling me that they had sold out of them just before Christmas, across the entire northeast. How does a store sell out of something that they aren’t even supposed to sell? Got me, but they did it. It flies in the face of every economics and marketing class that I’ve ever been forced to sit through – it’s totally illogical, yet, they did it.

And I did it, too. Got the iPod for less than I would have gotten it for online – even with the Educational discount – and I beat shipping and handling charges. The cashier that rang me out got the bug eyes when she saw hoe much it was: I got the typical “all that money for that little box?” expression – funny how women never seem to think about ring boxes the same way… Doesn’t change the fact that there’s a 20GB iPod charging on my desk right over there. *points*

Oh, and I ended up buying slippers at Sears. My old pair, now over eight years old, were about to be duct taped to keep them alive – it was time to replace them. I also bought a vintage Transformer (sealed box, which is how it will stay) from eBay last week, so yay me.

Screw getting old. I will not comply.