Archive for December, 2012

Boxing Day Rehab

Dec
27
2012

Over the years I’ve become quite the shopaholic. I have a penchant for finding great deals and never pay full price for anything I buy.

But after mulling over my credit card statements and finding it increasingly difficult to make a Christmas list for myself (since I have everything I “need”), I decided to take it easy on the Boxing Day shopping this year.

When I was you get I used to round up a few of my friends and we’d wake up at sunrise to head to brave the shopping mall crowds. But with the increasing popularity of online shopping, and the barrage of deals that are available through merchants even before the 26th of December, it’s become much easier to shop from home.

Not only is it more convenient to shop from the comfort of your home, you avoid the crowds, are able to get more sleep, and you’re able to multitask so to speak via several open browser windows. This year all I purchased for Boxing Day was a couple of DVDs and an electric can opener for my mother from Best Buy. But it took me 5 minutes to do (not including the 17 minute checkout wait time as the site was bogged down with other online shoppers, but at least my browser didn’t crash), and my purchases will be shipped straight to my door (free shipping).

Now I understand that shopping online may have some disadvantages: purchasing clothing and shoes can be a pain if you’re not sure of the sizing. But many stores (eg. Old Navy, The Bay) have an excellent return/exchange policy. When I had to return some clothes to the aforementioned stores, all I had to do was go into the store and show the cashier my shipping receipt and I got a full refund.

What I’ve found about Boxing Day “deals” recently, is that they don’t really compare to the discounts that I’d see in previous years. Sure there are still some great deals (more than 50% off in some cases), but with the addition on Black Friday to the Canadian market in recent years, Boxing Day doesn’t seem to add up much.

In attempts to compete with their American counterparts and keep consumers in our side of the border, a lot of Canadian-based retailers offer Black Friday/Cyber Monday discounts the weekend of American Thanksgiving. This year I scored a lot of great deals on items and actually bought more that weekend (The Body Shop and Adidas had a huge sale), than I did on Boxing Day (in which most online sales began December 24th at 8pm).

That being said, now that my credit cards have gotten a workout, they need to go back in hibernation for the next little while.

Merry Christmas! (Yeah, I said it)

Dec
25
2012

From everyone here at alotaboutnothing.com (which is just me), I’m wishing you a very Merry Christmas! Don’t celebrate Christmas, you say? Well then, Happy Holidays to you. Hopefully you didn’t feel ‘offended’ with my non-politically-correct post title.

I honestly miss the days when I didn’t have to second-guess myself when wishing someone happiness during the holiday season, for fear that they’d wind up offended and stalk away (trust me, I’ve seen it happen). And renaming the “Christmas tree”  for a “holiday tree” is a bit like me renaming the Jewish menorah the “holiday candle stick” or the Diwali lanterns as the “holiday lighted objects”.

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In all honesty, as a Christian, I would not be offended if a stranger came up to me with a smile and wished me a “Happy Diwali”, “Happy Hanukkah”, or a “Happy Chinese New Year”.  Why not? Because I know that each culture’s annual celebration is grounded in positive thoughts, respect, happiness and spending time with loved ones.

I don’t want to feel ashamed about celebrating Christmas, due to all this unnecessary political correctness surrounding the holiday.Check out Conservative MP Nina Grewal’s recent statement in the House of Commons:

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As a Sikh, I am not offended when Christians celebrate Christmas in a traditional way. Rather, I am pleased to celebrate with my Christian friends. – Nina Grewal, MP

When it comes down to it, historically Christmas (for Christians) is about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Over the years traditions may have changed, including pre-Christian influences of other winter traditions (e.g. Santa Claus, Yule logs) as well as other secular aspects (e.g. gift exchange  decorations), but the message is basically the same:  spending quality time with your family and friends, peace, being thankful for what you have, Golden Rule love and ‘good will to all men’.

No matter what you celebrate over the holiday season, remember to cherish your loved ones, and be kind to others this Chrismahanukwanzakah. Merry Christmas everyone!

Happy Mayan Calendar Apocalypse Day!

Dec
21
2012

Well, it’s a good thing that I didn’t check everything off my bucket list before today, otherwise the rest of my life would be pretty boring.

December 21, 2012 has come and we’re all still here. This time around I wondered if people would’ve learned their lesson from the Y2K fiasco that held some type of Skynet-esque promise (okay, not really), that planes would fall from the sky, nuclear meltdowns, power and water failures.

I noticed that some news sources were covering reports on people buying doomsday bunkers and stocking up on supplies to keep them sated through the apocalypse. What a load of hooey.

I’m guess I could be called lucky: I survived both Y2K and the Mayan Apocalypse. I can’t wait to hear about what the next apocalyptic phenomenon will be.