New Toys!

And no, they are not of the X rated variety.

As I am certain some of you know, I have an amazing hatred of alarm clocks. I broke mine yesterday. The pimp hand came up and there is only one way the pimp hand can come down. KABOOM! The alarm clock is no more. So off to Target I went. It also happened to give me a great excuse to get out of mowing the lawn in the middle of the day.

Now, I could have gotten something normal. But that just would not have been me. The toy section always holds more appeal than housewares. These are the newest additions to my bedroom!

Aren’t they cute!? They interact with each other. Because they are bestest friends. When the batteries get low, their eyes glow red. Very evil of them. The ones I own are actually spring/granny smith apple green. I actually went in for just the clock, but I had to have the lamp so they wouldn’t get lonely.

The alarm functions are pretty neat. Just before the clock goes off, it lights up in a gentle glow to ease you out of sleep. When you don’t wake up and it’s time for the alarm to go off, the mouth springs open, the music starts (radio or your mp3 player), and his arms start beating up and down. Hopefully, I will have mercy on this cute thing. They smile and make little noises when you pet them. They also light up to the beat of whatever tunes you have them hooked into. 

I have no clue what all the lamp does yet. Details will follow when possible.

The best part of all, Target has them on clearance! I always did like Tiger Toys. Now I can express my undying affection in a way that will make my proper mother mad for weeks. I bet she’ll really love that I’m going to have them next to my robot flower pot. ^_^

MP3 Wars: Part Deux

So, Bestbuy is being sketchy (and that’s me putting it nicely) about whether or not the Sony Walkman 16GB will even be in this month. They cannot or will not tell me if the price will match what it has listed on their own website as “things fluctuate based on what our company decides is best.” O.K. I’ve worked in retail before. I can accept this.

What I cannot accept is that they must look at the box and read it to me to answer what kind of media it supports. I can read! Been doing it for years!. They have what, like six players that are not iPods! They can’t learn six items! I have been in charge of entire store sections and could tell you the developmental history of 80% of the items in my departments!

I also have a difficult time swallowing that they aren’t sure if they have any in stock and are unable to go to the back to check because “well, our trucks come in on Tuesday and Thursday, so try back then.” I am seriously starting to question the merits of even asking their employess about anything.  : /

And what’s this nonsense about them no longer selling Office Space?! Huh! Has the company gone off the deep end?!

Maybe I’m just asking too much? I don’t think so. But then, I do make it a point to at least attempt to show curtesy to someone about to buy a product I’m selling.

Luckily, as I fumed and came close to calling a manager, in what I suspect would have been a futile attempt, to gain insight into why a giant blue sign had the audacity to proclaim “our knowledgable associates,”  someone came to my rescue! It was an associate no less! Here was the promised one! He knew the file formats, what was and was not in stock, and what would be a comparable model! He even knew what firmware upgrades there were! This man single-handedly restored my faith in Bestbuy! Hooray!

So what did he suggest? This little puppy!

Sansa Fuze 8GB

The version I have is 8GB. It also comes in 4GB and other colors. At the time of purchase, Bestbuy only carried four colors total and were sold out of three. So I have a silver one. Which matches my phone. Not that it will stay silver long. I have stickers begging for a surface to cling to!

It has expandable memory, built in FM tuner, intuitive interface, easy to navigate menu, a scroll wheel to navigate with, and works amazingly well. The screen has very nice resolution for viewing pictures and video. A firmware upgrade (took me about three minutes to complete) gives you added file format versatility and include FLAC and WAV. The armband case will make using the power and hold button a little awkward for those with larger fingers, but works well to protect and carry the Sansa on your jogs. My only complaint so far is that the earbuds are too big for my ears. Which means, basically, I have zero complaints!

Needless to say, some people I know will be getting one of these on gift giving occasions. What? It works great and it’s fairly inexpensive ($99.99). Why branch out when I have found a diamond in the rough? That’s right! There is no reason! I have saved several birthdays and Christmas in June! Hazaa! Let the happy butt dance ensue!

Mental note: get name of that guy who was so awesome and help get him a raise. : )

Handmade

O.K. The government has flipped its ever lovin’ wig. I’m not talking about the economy. I’m talking about them trying to make every, single toy manufactuerer test their toys for safety. Now, that sounds great. Here’s the catch. The legislation isn’t aimed at big toy companies. Nope. Because that kind of law would make sense. And capital hill isn’t always big on that thar’ sense. Nope. This law is aimed at artists, crafters, and small businesses.

It’s called the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act. In a nut shell it means that the local craftsperson who makes those neat wooden games or hand sewn plush toys will have to have their toys tested by independent third party companies. Do you know what that costs? All the research and reports and proposals? It’s absolutely mind-boggling. Small businesses are not going to be able to afford this.

The act is almost a slap in the face. The lead laced toys from China will still be sold. In fact, the mercury coated bubble-gum machine rings will still be worn. But that handmade hackey sack is about to become illegal. WTF? I really don’t think I get it. We can have lawmakers get into a huff over my grandmother’s dolls, but they don’t care when we slather on cancer causing chemicals with our sunscreen or eat oranges grown with gallons of toxins or wear cotton that has drenched in non-tested chemicals? I are teh confused.

Now, I’m all about me some safety, but seriously? Have these suits thought about this? Are they insane? With the eco-friendly, craft, DIY movement gaining strength I’m not sure how this can pass. Still, you never know. It’s been postponed until 2010 as of right now. Can’t they just have independent craftspeople slap a label on their products saying “not tested” or something to that effect? I wonder what the Etsy community thinks about this?

If you are interested, you can find more information here.

Rant session ended.

Save Handmade