Who needs comics when you have the Skymall catalog?

I am always amazed at the stuff people buy from the Skymall catalog. Here are just three examples.

Those paper towel dispensers at public places are annoying enough there; why would you want to bring one home? And pay $60 (plus postage) for the thrill?

(The sandals are the least remarkable. I only featured them for their unique ugliness.)

SkyMall amazingness, part 2

I was amused by this waterproof mp3 player. My thoughts are: isn't it nice to have a few moments of quiet? Wouldn't it be good to use the swimming time to just let your head rest a bit?

And the 10-minute marinade device for $150. They say time is money, but unless you do tons of marinading, that's a lot to spend. And of course I'm skeptical about how well a marinade could "take" in just 10 minutes.

Finally, my favorite pick - the tailgate party chairs. I'm thinking the weight limit of 250 lbs. per chair might not be enough. For $200, though, how much easier would it be to throw some folding camp chairs in the back of your pickup and have a lot more left over for party consumables?

(Here's the first post in this series, for those of you who missed it.)

On the plane again

I made another trip for my job last week. I go roughly once every three or four months, which is not bad at all. A major bonus of these trips is that I usually get to see my mom, sister and niece, who live near Dallas. (The office I work for remotely is in Arlington - between Dallas and Fort Worth.)

The 1.5 - 2 hour flight goes by quickly when I watch something on my laptop. But I only had about 20 minutes of TV to watch this time. (It was a free download from iTunes.)

Another way to spend that time is to see the amazingly expensive and laughable stuff for sale in the SkyMall catalog. (A post is coming about the latest incredible items offered.)

As I said before, I fly infrequently enough that I will never get a free flight from air miles. So I travel with whichever airline gives the best deal and best arrival/departure times. This recent trip, I flew American on the way down and Frontier on the way back. I like Frontier better.

Excess, part 372

This is another culling from the amazing Skymall catalog.

This particular treasure is for people who have so many expensive self-winding watches that they can't keep them wound. The machine does it for you. It gently simulates the motions of your wrist.

My point is, if you buy one, you should wear it! Oh, let's see, today, should I wear the platinum Rolex, the leather strap Breitling, the Chopard dual-dial, or the IWC Spitfire?

I dunno. Maybe that guy needs to have the rarely-used IWC ready at a moment's notice to make just the right impression on that important client. But if he were really secure in himself, he'd be OK wearing a decent Casio. If Steve Jobs wore a Casio instead of a Breitling, would he sell fewer Macs? No.

An analogue might be the person who hires a dog walker because he doesn't want to walk the dog himself. Poor doggie. (Me, I just have the kids walk the dog.)