Traitorfish
The Tighnahulish Kid
New thread concept: people post brief, factual statements, and then we all imagine Solid Snake responding to them.
"A sphinx? Hnnggh."
"A sphinx? Hnnggh."
The Very-Many-Questions-Not-Worth-Their-Own-Thread Thread ΛΕ
- Thread starter Takhisis
- Start date
- Status
Not at all. How 'whelmed are you when I point out that Cleopatra VII, last Pharaoh of Egypt, is closer in time to us than she was to the building of the Great Pyramids?
Synobun
Deity
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2006
- Messages
- 24,884
I am so whelmed.
My grandfather's family fled French Canada in 1757 and settled in Louisiana.
They felt that it was in their best interests to find a new home. A combination of forces were at work. IIRC they were based in what is now Nova Scotia. Maybe they didn't like the newly imported Scottish food.
Well, the Nova Scotia French weren't given a choice about leaving. https://cdnhistorybits.wordpress.com/2016/12/13/was-the-acadian-expulsion-justified/
Heart and soul. 90% of those with my last name live in Louisiana. My grandfather, though, left in 1910 and moved to Hawaii to run a sugar plantation on the Big Island. His specialty was was sugar cane and at that time the cutting edge of the industry was not Louisiana.
What a cool link! Thanks.
shadowplay
your ad here
Any good Civilization-like games available for Android phones?
Whatever happened to uttering a polite "thank you" and if you don't like the gift, either re-gift it or donate it, or do something else with it? It's not like it actually cost you anything.
I've had to re-gift some stuff I got as tips from my typing clients - namely flowers and a Peanut Buster parfait.
My dad was bemused about the flowers, but surprised and rather pleased when I took the Peanut Buster parfait out to his place (he'd built an apartment onto the garage). He asked me what it was, I told him, and said it was a tip from one of my regular clients (obviously I'd have preferred a cash tip, but I smiled and said a gracious 'thank you' anyway). He asked why I'd brought it out there - did I want to leave it in the fridge? (I just had a mini-fridge in the house since the big one quit and I couldn't afford to replace it).
I told him no, and he asked, "What do you want me to do with it?"
"Eat it," I said. "I'm allergic to everything in it, so somebody should enjoy it."
That was back when I couldn't tolerate much - allergies were just haywire, and if I'd eaten even a spoonful of that thing I'd have been pretty sick. So my dad perked up, was very pleased to get a treat from the Dairy Queen, and ate my tip.
Thankfully I've got things under control more now, and there are some kinds of chocolate I can manage.
Hopefully people would give a gift card to a place they know you'd shop anyway. People have given me gift cards to Walmart and I never turned my nose up at them.
Don't some of them have codes now so they can be redeemed online?
Giving me a gift card to Chapters would be throwing money away if I actually had to redeem it in person. Chapters is waaaay across town and I haven't physically set foot there in years. I don't even shop there online much anymore, since Amazon's prices are so much less.
An Amazon gift card, on the other hand, would be just the thing. My telecom has a reward points thing, and apparently I've accumulated enough points to get a $25 gift card for Amazon or a couple of other places, or to put toward my next bill. I've been considering the Amazon option, since there's a new C.J. Cherryh book coming out in the next few months that I really want, badly enough to not wait for the paperback.
The warmest socks I own came from the dollar store. They're ugly and have sparkles on them, but I've managed to overlook those flaws when venturing out in -30C.
Not whelmed at all, since I already knew that.
Short answer:
Yes.
Long answer: Yes, but that's, as i understand it, wholly not @warpus ' point.
There are in fact virtual gift cards which can be spent online and purchased online, however what - as i presume to gather from context - warpus is referring to is the social approval related to the necessity to leave ones abode to aquire by use of currency an actual physical gift card.
Who said people don't do that? Doesn't stop them from being unhappy with the gift though. And gift cards have such a bad stigma for a reason. Gifts are supposed to be thoughtful and gift cards are anything but. Getting a gift card sends the message of "I didn't really want to get you anything, but I felt obligated to, so here you go." And that's actually more insulting than not getting the person anything at all.
Or it could be "I really want to get you something but have no clue at all what you'd like or what you might already have, so this is a way of allowing you to choose something."
I used to exchange Christmas presents with a high school friend, but honestly, there was one year when every single book she gave me (2nd hand books) were duplicates of ones I already had. I thanked her graciously, and put the box they'd been packed in to good use.
I wouldn't have turned my nose up at a gift certificate for my favorite book store, since back in those days even $5 would get you two or three new paperbacks.
Apparently, one of my favourite games of the last few years, The Battle for Wesnoth, has an Android version. It's turn-based tactics rather than strategy, but I recommend it.
Snerk
Smeghead
Civ Rev is available for android (and iphone?). I think it's called Civ Rev 2 but I think it's pretty much the same game just upgraded for a mobile platform.
I completely agree how gift cards basically are saying "Checked you off my list!" and aren't really a gift. I've read somewhere how if you're giving people gift cards, you may want to reconsider if you really need to be exchanging gifts with this person. My feeling is gift giving shouldn't be so commercial, and giving a gift card feels like you feel obligated to make a financial transaction but you don't really want to spend any time or effort getting me something, and to me at least I find it's that time and thought you spent that really matters, I couldn't care less how much you spent on me.
I do however feel one time where gift cards are totally appropriate are in business settings, like from employer to employee or for your clients or something, you know? Because there really a financial gift makes a lot of sense, and gift cards are at least not quite so impersonal as just giving money. Each year my boss gives me a $100 Amazon card for Christmas, and I'm appreciative of her gift, she knows I like books, and although she and I are friendly I don't feel it's totally appropriate to get too close to your boss, right?
I myself even really prefer activities as the most wonderful gifts: instead of buying me something, I'd much prefer someone invite me over to her house, treat me to dinner, and just have fun together. I have a coworker who usually takes me out for lunch on my birthday, and I feel that's really sweet of him and I'd rather he do that then spend money and just hand me something, you know what I mean? And my nieces draw me pictures and make cards, which is sweeter I think than anything my sister could buy and give to me from "them".
And myself, I like to bake treats as gifts, which takes me some time but always seems appreciated.
I do however feel one time where gift cards are totally appropriate are in business settings, like from employer to employee or for your clients or something, you know? Because there really a financial gift makes a lot of sense, and gift cards are at least not quite so impersonal as just giving money. Each year my boss gives me a $100 Amazon card for Christmas, and I'm appreciative of her gift, she knows I like books, and although she and I are friendly I don't feel it's totally appropriate to get too close to your boss, right?
I myself even really prefer activities as the most wonderful gifts: instead of buying me something, I'd much prefer someone invite me over to her house, treat me to dinner, and just have fun together. I have a coworker who usually takes me out for lunch on my birthday, and I feel that's really sweet of him and I'd rather he do that then spend money and just hand me something, you know what I mean? And my nieces draw me pictures and make cards, which is sweeter I think than anything my sister could buy and give to me from "them".
And myself, I like to bake treats as gifts, which takes me some time but always seems appreciated.
Lexicus
Deity
I give my younger brothers gift cards to businesses around where they live because that's what they tell me they want 
True story:
A Dutch comedian, since long dead, grew up in a poor miners family with many children.
When it was his birthday he got "the envelope". A nice white envelop belonging to the world of important things.
When the moment was there that he received it, with everybody gathered, the cookies and lemonade still untouched on the table, the singing, the thank you kiss-kiss dear mama-dear all....
he was not supposed to open it, because that was a secret.
After the birthday party the envelope, that miraculously was still white, was given back to mama, that carefully stored it in a drawer, to be used for the next birthday of one of the children.
A Dutch comedian, since long dead, grew up in a poor miners family with many children.
When it was his birthday he got "the envelope". A nice white envelop belonging to the world of important things.
When the moment was there that he received it, with everybody gathered, the cookies and lemonade still untouched on the table, the singing, the thank you kiss-kiss dear mama-dear all....
he was not supposed to open it, because that was a secret.
After the birthday party the envelope, that miraculously was still white, was given back to mama, that carefully stored it in a drawer, to be used for the next birthday of one of the children.
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked
