Visit the kelpforest....

Wow, I just realized I only need about 448 points to get another $25 in gift cards (for a total of $75) at Gather.com. I've gotten over 1000 points in the last few months for only putting up a few things. I should really start posting more pictures and photo essays over there. People seem to look at those more than anything else. Does anyone else here post over there? I'll look at your stuff if you look at mine... ;)

I know I also have enough points at MyPoints.com for over $100 worth of something - I should really cash these in before the holidays. It'd help a lot. The last time I did I got Starbucks cards for my coworkers, which then got lost before I could give them to them. Derp.

Speaking of gift cards, I keep seeing these ads for selling gift cards you don't want, with someone (a graduating senior maybe) pulling one out of a card and saying, "A gift card? Again? Why is everyone giving me these?" Or another person throwing them into a drawer in annoyance. Really? People hate them that much? With the exception of getting one from a place you absolutely would not want anything from - say, my giving everyone on my friend's list a card for Bass Pro Shops - would you really throw away a card, just because it's a card instead of a gift? We were regularly giving gift cards for bookstores when my kids went to birthday parties. Reading is always good, but that way, we're not stepping on toes in case other parents - who we don't know well - don't care for our selections of books - some people are pickier than others. Then again, if there's someplace I can buy a gift card for myself or other's at a discount, more power to it.

I guess it must come down to me not being very practical. Even when I was eating the same pot of lentil soup for a week in college, or back east when I was a fisheries observer, I would have appreciated a card for books or music, if such things existed at the time. A good story'll take your mind off the fact you've been eating the same thing for that long.

My daughter and I walked the block up to the Civic Center for a Planning Commission meeting, to register protest at the proposed doing-away-with of a small park downtown. Outside the City Council Chjambers are a few glass cases containing gifts from our sister cities of Waitakere, New Zealand, and Anjo, Japan. I knew about the stone lantern by the fountain outdoors, but wasn't aware of these smaller items. When we left, we spent a few minutes looking in the cases. If anyone has ever visited or is from those other cities, I'm curious to know what Huntington Beach has given them.

Gifts from Sister Cities
Huntington Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
6 October 2009

( more gifts... )

runsamuck and Gareth went to the model train store and brought this little guy back for me; sort of a pudgy little merman with antennae. Didn't quite get the macro properly on this one.

Wassermann
Huntington Beach CA
Casio Exilim EX-Z80A
14 February 2009

Small gifts I left for my coworkers - an origami pencil holder/calendar, chocolates, and an ornament; this one is a tiny blank book.

You can download the calendar from Oriland.com.

Coworker's desk
Los Alamitos CA
Sharp VE-CG30
24 December 2008

My brother recently sent my spouse and I these t-shirts as an early birthday present; we opened the package and started cracking up.

( Mr. Who? )

Hey, someone just sent us two of these! Was it you Dave? I know you frequent http://www.woot.com/ and http://shirt.woot.com/...

Hee! Kyoot! Thanks!

bakayaro_onna, got your package last week, what a great surprise! Thanks so much!

The mutant potholders now reside on the side of the fridge, adding some much needed color to the kitchen. One of them posed for a picture with another gift...

( Gifts... )