After another inglorious debacle, I (along with everyone else who interviewed/applied) got a follow-up email asking us to offer feedback on the interview process. Most people delete such requests, but I'm always stupid enough to think it will only take 3 minutes (and as I learn in Marketing Research class, that's almost always a complete lie).
Anyway, this one was like many other surveys in that they offered the promise of the chance to win a $100 gift card at Amazon.com. Whatever, I thought, no one ever actually wins those...
Until of course I won, which totally compensates for them not even bothering to recruit for my first choice office, which was filled to capacity already.
But all bottled up rage aside, I had $100 to play with at Amazon.com, and really wanted to make a good decision as to how to spend it.
The last time I got one of these, I spent it all on one thing, the complete blue-ray Planet Earth DVDs...which will be totally worth it once I actually get a Blue-ray player and before the whole technology is rendered obsolete by streaming downloads.
So I had $100, and just about an infinite set of options...
What to do...
I knew that I wanted to get several different things, and hopefully maximize the amount of awesomeness I could get with $100. They would also have to be things I really wanted/needed, but probably wouldn't buy myself.
It didn't take me very long to find my first clear and obvious purchase...
How in the world did I NOT already have this book?!?
As an avid fan of Death Wishes 1-5, this was a complete no brainer. It even has a poster shot from Death Wish 3, my personal favorite, right on the cover. Click. Add to cart. Done.
So that was $10-$15, I wanted to buy it used, but all the used booksellers were only selling it for $4 cheaper and then charging $3.99 for shipping and handling. So I could get a used one, but only at the same all-in price as a new one considering I'd get free shipping from Amazon...right used book sellers (more to the point, who the HELL is selling used copies of THIS book? I checked, it's sales rank is #363,303 in books alone, and that's AFTER I bought it).
But that was in the bag, and quick to the next spot on my reading queue. And in getting one book, I remembered another one that I've been after for some time. No book store, at least that I've been to, ever stocks it.
Action Speaks Louder: Violence, Spectacle, and the American Action Movie
400 pages of analysis on the action film's place in American culture etc. I cannot wait for this book...another ~$15 or so on the card. I also need to make a note that when entertaining, I should probably cover up my bookshelf, or at least these last two titles and my Steven Segal retrospective.
My next purchase stayed in pop culture, but moved to TV.
I can't help it, my mom's Hanukkah present got my hooked. I busted through the first season really quickly, and now I need to keep going with the second season, particularly before the third season starts. Of course, it's only available as a pre-order now, so it's led me to avoid any media about the show so that I won't have the season spoiled. The show is the reason I'm debating junking the consulting career to pursue a career in 1960's advertising upon the successful creation of a flux capacitor.
That was another $30 off the card, and with not a ton of money left, I wanted to get something that I realized I really needed.
A replacement for those crappy ipod earbuds.
I'm not really a huge ipod guy, but my commute in to work over the summer taught me a) the value of putting in the headphones and completely ignoring everyone around you, and b) that ipod earbuds are terrible. The darned things just won't stay in my ears, and the sound wasn't spectacular.
So, a quick purchase later, and I've solved that problem. It'll take me closer to my goal of being able to move from home to work without ever noticing another human being.
I'm still waiting for the package(s) to arrive, but I'm already pretty excited.
Sure beats a job offer.
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