Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Dumbest Gift 2006

Last year as Wendy & I browsed through the local Brookstone, we noticed a number of ridiculous gift items. The second most ridiculous was the spatula with buttons and a speaker to play "Happy Birthday", "Pomp & Circumstance" and other wonderful songs. The most ridiculous was the mousepad with a built in calculator and clock. After all, a mousepad is only useful when you're using a computer... which presumably has a built in calculator and clock.

This year's stupid gift - a winder for your self winding watch. Think about that for a second. You've got an expensive, self winding watch. The whole point of which is that it requires no winding. But you can get their special winding machine for a mere $90! What a deal!

A fool and his money....

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

So was it a winding machine for the watches that wind by normal daily movements? (kenetic energy?) If someone has the money to buy those ridiculously expensive watches, chances are they own multiple watches to choose from each day. What happens if you don't wear a non-battery watch for a day or two? It stops. Bad news for the rich to have to re-set their watches!

Okay so I am not rich, nor do I have a desire to have this winding machine, but I see how someone could have a use for it.

My fun watch story: I just got an old snoopy watch from a friend, and it needed a new band. So I took it in to get the band replaced and a new battery, and my ignorance on these matters was soon brought to light. The sales guy made me feel completely stupid when he explained that this was an old winding watch, and requires no battery. I have never HAD a winding watch before, how was I supposed to know? Anyway, it is nice to know I never have to replace the battery, but it can be kind of annoying to re-set the watch if I haven't worn it in a couple days (or have remembered to wind it even if I didn't wear it). I just don't think the watch winder you saw applies to my old 1970s snoopy watch.

I loved your commentary on the ridiculous gifts. The spatula was my personal favorite. I know people who would actually get use out of that mousepad though...