Why I Should Stick to Shopping Online

Last week, I went with my mother to help her pick out a desktop system as a gift for my father. Trying to plan ahead to avoid the crowds, we went out to our local Best Buy on a Sunday evening at around 5:00 PM. What a cluster.

Apparently 50 other people had also decided that exact time would be a good time to purchase a desk top as well. All the desk tops are located on a single aisle and we couldn't even walk down the aisle. We had to "check-in" and get on a waiting list so a customer service person would help us. After a 30 minute wait, we were finally assigned a very nice CSR who was actually from the TV section and had little to no computer experience.

It turns out that they were out of stock on about half the desktop models that were currently on sale. We finally found one that would meet his needs and had our CSR retrieve it from the back. Then came the check-out fun. The line to check-out was around 50 feet long, even though Best Buy had 6 registers open.

We finally got to a register only to find that the computer rang up at a higher price than it was advertised. Apparently, the only way to get the advertisied price was to purchase a certain printer as well. I wish someone would have said something to us about that BEFORE we got into line. As luck would have it, the printer attached to the special price was out of stock. We had to get out of line and seek help from a Best Buy manager. He was kind enough to offer us a slightly better printer model as a substitute.

Back to wait in line at the register. Another 30 minutes later, we finally checkout. Total time invested for a desktop computer = 4 hours. To their credit, I thought the staff of this Best Buy did a good job of managing the crowds and inventory issues.

Had my mother planned just a bit better, she could have ordered a Dell or some comparable brand online in about 15 minutes and had it on her doorstep before the holidays. All without ever leaving the house.

This little example is just one of the reasons that I do about 90% of my shopping online these days. It just makes more sense to me.

Happy Holidays

History of Staplers

Aside from pens and paper, fastening staples are probably the 3rd most commonly used office supply item worldwide. Even though it's such a common item in most every office and many homes, have you ever wondered how staples and staplers came to be? According to my wife, I have lots of time on my hands to sit around and think about things of this nature.

I did a bit of research and found out some interesting facts. Staples were thought to have first been used in Iran around the 6th centry BC. They were used to tighten two stone blocks together and keep them attached. The first staples are actaully an early metal that utilized legs that were bent inward.

The first stapler device was thought to have been made in 1877 and was patented in 1880. Variations of the original design have been patented in the 1950's and 1960's. Today staples are most commonly used to affix paper together, but they are also used in roofing, general construction, fencing, automotive, and commercial manufacturing.

In addition to traditional hand operated staplers, staples themselves are now dispensed through guns (called stapleguns), electronic staplers, and pneumatic staplers.

Tombow Glue Refills

My wife has really gotten involved in scrapbooking and I happened to watch she and her friends "booking" as she calls a few nights ago. While I know very little about scrapbooking myself, I can't get over how excited my wife gets about a particular type of adhesive made by a company called Tombow. Apparently, in the scrapbooking world, it's the gold standard as far as adhesives go. I was severely chastised for even suggesting that glue was glue in my book.

Her fierce praises really spiked my curiosity so I started doing some research online. It turns out that the Tombow brand of adhesive is the definitive choice for scrapbooking as it's one of the few adhesives that doesn't contain any kind of acid.

I was surprised to find that her friends buy the stuff by the caseload every couple of months.They all buy it here: Tombow Glue.