Okay, one more try for me: At 1:50 p.m. Eastern (about 5 minutes from now), Amazon will have Wii Fits in stock. Will I manage to get one this time? Will you?
Get yourself logged in and turn on your 1-click ordering, that’s all I’m sayin’. Good luck to all!
Still needing a GPS unit? I’m eying the Garmin c580 at Amazon, partly because it’s down to $149.99 shipped, but mostly because it has text-to-speech (which means it announces street names, rather than just saying “turn left” or “bear right” like mine does) and a year of MSN Direct for free. Yeah—traffic and weather, integrated with your GPS.
The only thing better would be if it had full autopilot. And snacks!
If you’re like me, you’ve got a hard drive full of pictures and very few actual prints. Because it’s… hard, or something. Hey, you’re busy! You’ve got things to do! And if you have kids, somewhere there’s a grandparent lamenting the fact that she’s short on pictures.
So, sure, every now and then you print out a bunch and send ‘em along or frame them for your home. But what about that one special photo, the one that really deserves a special spot on the wall… perhaps as a special holiday gift for Grandma?
Meet Photofiddle, your custom artwork destination. You supply the high-res digital photo, they do the fiddlin’ until you have your masterpiece. I gave them a picture of all the grandkids in their matching pajamas sitting in front of the Christmas tree, and they removed the clutter (there were some toys strewn about) and turned it into a watercolor-look rendering on canvas, strung on a frame and ready to hang. Guess what my mother-in-law is getting for Christmas this year? (Shhhhh. Don’t tell!) The results are stunning—this is the perfect way to turn a photo into a keepsake.
Prices vary, but let me help; use coupon code wantnot15 to take 15% off your order (valid through the end of 2008). Photofiddle may just save Christmas, this year!
Everyone has at least one tech junkie who already has just about everything on their gift list every year. They’re impossible to buy for, because they always scoop up the latest and greatest as soon as possible.
But because they have so many gadgets, maybe they’d really dig a universal solar charger, especially seeing as how today it’s just $19.99 with free shipping (down from $140).
Save the earth, but don’t give up your gadgets. And find that perfect gift for the geek in your life. Awesome.
Because maybe you got lost on your way to it, the last time I posted this deal.
Amazon currently has the Navigon 5100 GPS Navigator on sale for $159.99. This version comes not only with text-to-speech (which is awesome—my GPS just says “turn left” or “stay right” and never announces street names, which I now sorely wish we had), but with a lifetime traffic subscription so that it’s all smart and can tell you “Hey, don’t go that way, there’s a huge traffic jam.”
I don’t know if it actually says that. But it totally could.
It’s a good deal, is what I’m saying.
According to the text message I just got from Amazon, Wii Fits are going to be available at 10:25 Pacific, 1:25 Eastern. Which is in about two minutes.
In my experience, they show up and sell out in the space of about five minutes. Get ready to click if you’re wanting one.
[Edited to add: Anyone get one? I saw it, clicked, and it was gone. Harumph.]
Don’t let my husband the professional photographer see this post, but when most of the world looks for a “decent” small camera, we’re not talking about something in the $500 range. (Go figure.) For most of us, something in the $100 - $200 range will get us something suitable to carry in a purse or throw in a beach bag and take pretty good pictures.
Granted, I’m a layperson (read: average human) when it comes to these things, but if you do a little research you’ll find that the Canon Elphs are generally well-reviewed and pretty powerful little cameras for the money. I have an Elph, myself, and I love it. Even if my husband does occasionally mock it.
Today Amazon has the Canon PowerShot SD1100IS camera marked down to $179.95 with free shipping, which is the cheapest I’ve seen it. Read the specs, but this is one of their top Elphs, with image stabilization and all sorts of fancy things. Really a nice little model.
Use “Bill Me Later” and you can apply coupon code BMLDEALS to take another $20 off, too! (Remember—if you don’t really want to use BML, simply first purchase $159.95 worth of gift certificates, then go back in to buy the camera using BML, and you’ll be able to use the discount but pay with your certs. Awesome.)
This isn’t the sort of thing you’ll pick up on a whim (I hope!), but if you were looking for a decent camera, this should definitely be a contender. Four and a half stars after 188 reviews seems like a good bet, no?
The lovely Corey writes:
Lovely Mir,
My Norton Antivirus (For PC…not yet an Apple girl.) is about to expire. It feels like with all the kids going off to college there should be a deal out there for me. I prefer Norton Antivirus (for up to 3 computers) but am willing to try something new, if it is well reviewed and cheaper!Can you help me find a deal?
I was headed off right from the first line there from suggesting that she simply get a Mac. Isn’t that the most logical solution? Oh, well. I guess I can help you find something else, if you insist on using a PC…. (more…)
The lovely Melinda writes:
I enjoyed your post on nut-free lunches, and I have a concern that is sort of a tangent to that one. I’ve recently become aware of my un”green” lifestyle and am trying to make some changes. I started thinking about the little baggies that I pack everything in for lunch and did some quick math: if every one of the 900 kids at our school threw away three baggies with every lunch, the school trash would have 13,000 baggies per week. Over the course of a year, that would be nearly half a million baggies! In my family of four kids, we’re tossing at least 2,000 of those suckers a year just by ourselves.
So, in my angst I’ve been looking for alternatives. These Laptop Lunches are super cute, but spendy. And look at the cute meals all these people make on this Flickr Pool!
Have you got any great ideas for something similar: small, reusable, cute, hard to throw away? The Ziploc and Gladware containers seem too big and I want something that fits together neatly.
Thanks in advance for the pretty thoughts coming from your pretty brain.
Melinda’s email made me hang my head in shame. Hi, my name is Mir, and I… I… I am a snack-size-Ziploc-aholic.
Melinda’s right, though, so I got to thinking. (more…)
The very pretty and witty Victoria took time out from her busy Ivy League schedule to send me the following email:
I am a very poor college student with more student loans than I can possibly pay off in this lifetime. Nevertheless, I would love to be able to furnish my bedroom with furniture not fashioned out of twigs and leaves stolen from the campus green. More specifically, I am looking for a chair: a nice, comfy, lounging kind of chair that can seat one or two, and most importantly, can support a certain amount of weight, as many of my friends are strapping young lads.
That said, I am poor, and at the end of every year I must donate or give away everything because I live on the other side of the country. Which means I would rather not spend more than, say $50 on said chair, though I can probably scrape up $100.
Is this an impossible task? Should I just give up and perhaps pilfer a dining room chair? Please help me! It is only due to my slavish devotion to reading your blog that I can occasionally eat out (restaurant.com! woo!), buy nice shoes (price matching + Amazon Friday sales!), and generally afford life. In any event, thank you! Without Want Not I would still be wearing slippers fashioned of tree sap and bark.
Let me be the first to say that I’m delighted you’re not covered in tree sap, Victoria. (more…)
