Entry 30: In Which We Are Reluctant To Sniff

Isn't it interesting how some things get more and more expensive every year (T-fare and movie tickets come immediately to mind), while other things get cheaper and cheaper? I don't really get it..... never was much good at economics.

This comes up because I had to replace my calculator this week. (Warning: geeky content ahead!) I got my first scientific calculator back in the 90's for around $40, as I recall. It was a really good calculator, though not super fancy. Scientific, but not a graphing calculator. (I have never actually used a graphing calculator; did all that stuff the old-fashioned way.) The things we've been through, that calculator and I...... chemistry, calculus, physics, o-chem (*shudder*)...... Oddly enough, I really enjoyed calc and physics, absolutely despised chemistry and of course o-chem (*shudder again*). Anyway, my calculator was totally reliable throughout it all, never crapping out in the middle of an exam, not even on the day I spilled tea on it. (The buttons did get stuck pretty frequently after that incident, though.) I got to the point where I didn't even have to look at the buttons; I could do everything by touch.

Sweet mercy, am I a huge geek or what.......
.....don't answer that.

These days I don't use my calculator much at all, except to balance my checkbook, and occasionally for population genetics problems in lab. I should have known it was on it's last legs, but I was still disappointed when it died earlier this week after 12 years of reliable service.

Long way around to the main point: I bought a replacement today, the exact same make and model, and it only cost $13. That's like a third of the original cost back in the '90s. Weird.....

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In other news, my absolute favorite TV show, My Name Is Earl, is having a "scratch and sniff" episode this week, one of the single weirdest gimmicks I've ever heard of. You are supposed to get a scratch and sniff card in the TV guide, and I guess there is some sort of signal during the show as to when you're supposed to sniff certain things. I'm not sure whether to play along with this.... I think it sounds like a fairly stupid idea, though I suppose it could be funny if it's done really well.

I wonder how important it is to, you know, "smell along." Will I be missing much if I don't? Will the episode still be funny if you don't know what everybody else is smelling? These are the questions that haunt me.... (hey give me a break; it's refreshing to worry about something less critical than my thesis for a few minutes!) I'll be disappointed if this turns out to be as dumb as it sounds. It's such a funny show, and I'd be bummed if it turned stupid.