Reddit Secret Santa 2010

Posted on 2010-12-02 17:01 in Blog • Tagged with holiday, reddit, shopping

The snow is flying, Christmas music can be heard on the radio, and thousands of Redditers are decending upon online retailers everywhere. Thanks right, time for Reddit Secret Santa 2010.

I really enjoyed the gift exchange last year. I was assigned a local redditer. I gathered up some interesting stuff: dark chocolate orange, set of Russian shot glasses, two puzzle mystery sets, and giant coffee mug. Wrapped everything up and hand delivered it. It was a blast. Two weeks later, my gift arrived in the mail: seasons one and two of the IT Crowd. An absolutely hilarious show.

Yesterday, I logged onto the Secret Santa site to learn who my match was this year. This year, it is a Redditer out on the coast, so I don’t plan on hand delivering the package. I read through their comment history but didn’t get a good feel for what they like. There was a comment regarding the difficulty of finding a few different kinds of candy. For my gift, I plan on sending them a small box of candy, making an Orange-Red envelope, and ordering them a box from SomethingStore.

Christmas is such a great time of year, and I’m glad that I can be someone’s Santa again.

Thought of the day:

Either:

1) Santa exists

2) There is a GIANT conspiracy involving thousands of parents, teachers and friends throughout the entire world to lie to children and deliver presents.

Which one is more likely?

roguebluejay


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A Frigid Morning in Line

Posted on 2010-11-30 22:05 in Blog • Tagged with holiday, shopping

Waking up at 3 o’clock in the morning to stand in line for two hours in single digit numbers doesn’t sound like a valuable use of time. But come Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving), that’s exactly where you’ll find me. Initially, I was drawn to the stores for the deals. I remember waiting to buy a 4 GB flash drive years ago for the low, low price of $40; a bargain in 2005. That drive served me well all through college, and continues to provide useful server to this day.

I’ve been braving the cold for five years running. Initially I was standing in line to buy the latest electronic trinkets for myself. Lately, however, I’ve found myself crossing items off my Christmas shopping list. This year was a little different. This is the first year where I didn’t purchase a single item for myself. I still spent a fair amount of money. I purchased gifts for my mom, dad, sister, younger brother, and my girl friend. Only three names remain on my gift list, and I have almost a month to find then something.


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