samedi, septembre 27, 2003 Today, something actually happened in my life! I went out! Yes, out that front door... into the world... where there are actually people... many many people... After the long self-imposed exile to this seat in front of my computer, I went out... to IKEA.It's still nice and cheery; I was shopping for boxes to keep my university trees in (read: mountains of notes), an alarm clock for a friend, who explicitly stated she doesn't care if I'm giving her a watch or clock or whatever, she just needs to get up in the mornings, tradition be damned, and a table lamp for another. Although I'm happy to report that I bought two boxes (only $8 for two happy red boxes! Which were so bulky that they could only be transported back home with help from Sheryl Crow on earphones and a blasé expression on my face), I'm sorry to say that Ikea does not make good alarm clocks nor table lamps. The alarm clocks look great - they look like this: 
or this: 
and I was sorely tempted to get her this: 
But alas! All the alarm clocks had problems with their design, some fatal flaw which persuaded me that I would be better off keeping my money, and saving to buy an iPod instead: 
The problems: 1) They're too hard to wind up. 2) Too complicated to set the time/alarm. 3) Too expensive (one was $25!) 4) No snooze button. 5) The alarm-off button was a miserably tiny, miniscule little lever camouflaged somewhere in a recess on the back of the alarm clock, and not at a convenient location where you can smack it in a sleepy haze, leaving you free to oversleep. Lamps were no better. You had really funky lamps like this, which kinda didn't really fit the image of the guy I was getting it for (hey, it came in hot pink, so be glad I didn't buy it on a whim, and thus you just had to keep the horrendous thing), 
or they were too wimpy, 
too bendy , 
too non-functional, 
or just plain weird:  (this is a lamp?!)
So I left the place with my two boxes, and that was my day. Although I must say that the most unusal piece of anything I brought away from Ikea wasn't furniture - it was this free handout given by some distributer of flyers from QBHouse - you know, the place which cuts your hair in 10 minutes for $10? This girl handed me some paper, which I just tucked into the back of my jeans pocket. I took a closer look at it when I got home: Before picture: (the "flyer" that I got) 
After picture: (what was inside) 
Yes, QBhouse was giving out not just one, but TWO plasters as a publicity gimmick! Conclusions? Gee, think I'll be visiting them anytime soon? [I-kea-ed!] |
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