Happy holidays indeed

[melchar]

Survived Xmas [at my mom's, despite her attempt to have a screaming row with everyone]. Got the games I wanted [Fallout 3, Persona 4, Eternal Poison] - and managed to surprise gil_liant with a few presents. [Is very hard to surprise him with anything!] His family is wonderful and a joy to be around.

Then got up at 5am Friday to do Boxing Day with his mom. Got to the shops before 6am and looked around. I was disappointed to not find much at -all- of interest. And most of what was there was so -very- overpriced. [IMO it is not a 'bargain' to see something that has been priced at $60, then offered for sale at 60% off when this object is not worth $20 to start with. Uck.] I carried some of her purchases back to the car, so she could shop easier - but didn't get much myself. Then we went to Target and I DID get some wrapping paper and bows and xmas lights at decent prices. So that was nice.

Also went to my Aunt's bday party at a Chinese restaurant last night and that was really nice. Considering that she was on the brink of death less than a year ago, she has fully recovered and looks wonderful. whew!

Comments

[nobarking.livejournal.com]

Woohoo Fallout 3!

I'm glad you had some good times, even if some really sucked. I agree with the Boxing Day stuff -- I can't believe places will jack up the prices of normal DVDs or books and then pretend they're offering you a deal! I'll bet most people don't fall for it, either.

Nom nom chinese food.

[vrghr.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on the successes (especially surprising Trey!) and the good times in the midst of the trials. Sounds like the game machine is going to be a-hummin' in the future. *grins*

And that's VERY good news about your Aunt. Excellent!

That "jack up the price so you can sell it normally but say its on sale" gimmic is an old trick. Doesn't make it any less annoying though. Another trick is the "loss leader"; advertise some item at deep discount where you take a loss or just break even on the sale, but jack up all the better versions or related goodies to go with it so you make more than the loss back. Like the DVD player for $20, but the one with the remote control, next model up, is $80 when in fact it normally sells for $50. Or we'll sell you the player cheap, but double the price of the cables to hook it up.

[melchar.livejournal.com]

Compared to last year, I saw far fewer people [me included] buying a lot, so I'm guessing other shoppers didn't fall for it, either. And in the news I'm hearing the economists sounding so puzzled as to why the numbers are down. [shakes head]

...and the Chinese food was indeed nomulous. I tried some dishes I'd never had before - including a dish that was 95% green beans in a dark brown sauce with [some] red peppers. Surprisingly good. There was also a tangerine chicken that was nom-worthy. The dishes were placed 'family style' so all 12 of us were passing dishes around. That was kind of fun, too.

[melchar.livejournal.com]

His brother has an xbox 360 that they are playing Halo 3 on right now. We got his brother 'Fallout 3' and he also got 'The Force Unleashed' - so we're getting a chance to see that in play, too. I may have to get 'Force Unleashed' [smiles] Such good games!