There was a time when I was a kid oh so many years ago. I’d be reading a comic and think, I should order those x-ray glasses. Wow! 100 army men for only a dollar! That joy buzzer looks cool. And I’d get some of my lawn mowing money together, shove the order form in the mail with cash (I wasn’t a smart kid) and then I’d wait on pins and needles for the next 6 to 8 weeks before something would arrive. I loved ordering things through the mail. I even had my own Sea Monkeys. It wasn’t the having the item, it was the ordering and the waiting. The anticipation. I loved the wait wondering when it would show up and I’d have my prize. Sometimes I’d have three or four orders out at one time and I’d lose track.

I had a junk drawer in my dresser dedicated to all the little things I had ordered over the years. Some things broke after one or two uses, others died flaming deaths (green army men burn nicely, but smell horrible), other things I’d hang on to for a while before they got lost.

The joy was never in the having of the items. Sure I got my use out of the cheap, plastic toys, but it was always the looking for something else to purchase. The excitement of waiting for something to arrive in the mail. The sheer enjoyment of tearing open a package, envelope, box, to get at what lay inside. Some times I would be disappointed, but most times I was very happy with my little purchase. They never cost a lot of money, but brought me a lot of joy.

I think that’s why I love ordering things from http://dealextreme.com, http://tigerdirect.com, http://amazon.com, and http://monoprice.com. It’s not that I NEED the things I order or even that I feel they’re be of higher quality than what I already have. It’s the excitement of ordering something and waiting for it to show up. Right now I have five orders that I’m waiting to arrive. Lots of little things (a bigger thumb drive, some cables, a book, new earbuds) but each day I go to the mail and it’s filled with junk. 99% of what shows up in my mail box is trash. The rest, stuff for someone else (more trash) or the occasional bill (I have almost everything paperless).

Now I’m like most people. I think instant gratification is a wonderful thing. I could head off to Fry’s or Best Buy and pick up what I saw online and have it right now, but there are times that I enjoy the wait. Wondering when I’ll go to the mail box and find something interesting in there for me. There was a lot of junk today. Maybe tomorrow there’ll be something. I’ll just have to wait. 🙂

Where are some cool places you like to shop online?

Remember when I said that hitting my writing goal yesterday would be a challenge. Yeah. Unfortunately writing time didn’t happen at all yesterday. I worked through lunch, picked up my favorite daughter, went to visit my father-in-law to say Happy Birthday, attempted to fix his sprinkler system, took my favorite daughter to volleyball practice (and I even walked for 30 minutes) and then it was back home. I did take care of replacing a loose/bad outlet, renewing my driver’s license, ordered checks (we were down to 2 before I renewed my license) and I even took care of a couple needed phone calls.

Yeah, yesterday was crazy busy. Today, not so much. Or so I hope. We’ll see how it goes.

I’m treading new ground at work. That’s always fun versus just bashing out code. I’m actually having fun experimenting…until I hit a wall that is. I have a co-worker who will be helping me at some point today. I’m sure it’s either a silly mistake or I’m just not using the code as designed. I don’t think I’m trying to re-invent the wheel. Again, we’ll see.

I’ve bookmarked a couple anthologies that I’d love to submit to. I’ll post those once I decide to write story for them. The links to the anthologies, not the stories. I also need to write a couple calls for guest posts. I have a couple friends who are having open calls for guest posts. This should be fun. There’s a lot of writing I need to get done this afternoon. I’d better get at it.

Until Tomorrow!

WOO WOO!