I'm so glad everything made it intact. It was fun to put together. I had to stretch it a little to make a theme, but I thought it was all plausible (considering my theme is usually hodgepodge, hehe). I'm glad you like that bowl, David...looks like it goes well with those placemats. I wish I would've gotten one for me, too, but that potter will be back in the fall. He said he'd bring more next time...it's a new design and he was almost sold out by the time I got there.

a really good-quality umbrella (men seem to like those huge golf ones that make some sort of territory-grabbing statement, which is really annoying in NYC). tickets to some event you think he'd like (though if you get him a pair, he may feel he HAS to take you--depends on the dynamics of the relationship) a new wallet--if you can see what style he's using already. My DH gets these from time to time, and they are useful, bcs his wear out eventually. Does he use a day planner or a PDA? Could you "up the ante" by getting him a new binder, or a new case for it? Perhaps a higher-quality one than he's got? And who cares whether he can get a better deal on it than you can--the point is not how much it cost, but that you thought of it in connection w/ him. And there are always books, if you know what he likes to read. Or DVDs. And, don't pressure yourself too much. Once people get to be grownups, the importance of presents falls a little--just one small, nice thing is great. Oh--oh--TOYS! the phrase "once people get to be grownups" made me think of this. Grownups don't get toys--not TRUE toys. We get "toys," w/ quotation marks. We get iPods instead of GameBoys, DVDs instead of action figures. Get him a toy, even if it's a smallish one. Lego makes these really great little things called XPods, I think, that are $10 or so, and you can make little bitty cars, or robots, or whatever is in the Pod. (here's a pretty good selection--they change the colors periodically, though) and for $20, they have kits for making dinosaurs, etc. And for $7, there are "mini Designer" sets The XPods are neat, bcs they result in a little result, which means they go together fast, and he can stick it on his computer monitor at work, or something, without looking like an immature geek. (not that a guy who puts together Lego dinosaurs is an immature geek, mind you...) I gave the Xpod to every one of the guys in my family at Christmas this year--they didn't go ballistic, but they were amused and they thought it was fun.

Wait until unwanted gift amasses some dust. Then pick it up, break it, and I mean really smash that little bugger to smithereens! Just think, how long has it sat in your home, every day with you having to look at it with anguish over its ugliness? ......explain that unfortunately you broke it when you went to clean it. LOL! This reminds me of a story. We got a Capo di Monte vase for a wedding-shower present. From a woman who, I think, was not even invited, or at the very least did not come. (My in-laws' family's idea of a "small" shower is 75 people;) It was brown, and ugly. Really, really ugly. I said, "Oh, how nice!" when I opened it. (according to the video, I said "oh, how nice" thousands of times, but usually I meant it) My MIL tried to take it back to the store whose label was on the box. He said, it's from three years ago, I can't take it back. (It had been regifted--fine w/ me; my only complaint was, it was so ugly!) My DH-to-be loaded it in the van w/ the rest of the presents, putting it in last, and leaning it against the hatchback, and leaving the top untaped, and opened the door REALLY FAST! He could not get it to fall out and break. We were telling a friend, a real iconoclast, and he said: "Take it out back and smash it with a hammer." I got that guilty bubble of laughter. Bcs that's what I really wanted to do. That became a sort of watchword for me--a reminder that really the issue is, who's in CHARGE? Me. Not the stuff. And I can smash it with a hammer. We gave it away as a gag gift to a couple who was getting married a bit later in life, merging two complete households, plus his recently deceased mother's stuff. We explained in the accompanying card that, a marriage isn't really legit unless you get two of something, or an ugly present, and we feared that their friends were all too sensible (giving them cash) or had too good of taste (giving them beautiful things). We didn't want them to be challenged on a technicality, so here was something ugly (plus a check). They thought it was a HOOT! And they passed it on, signing their names to our original card, to someone who thought it was a hoot, and did the same. The third couple, I think, thought it was beautiful. Fine! But I have always loved that "Take it out back and smash it with a hammer."

Question asked: "Why put the burden on the employees?" Well, maybe it is because the Governor started asking agency heads to cut their expenditures by 10% as far back as May of 2007 warning of serious budgets woes. It is up to the Agency Heads to do what Lindsey suggested in the post above at time of 17:44. One can hardly expect the Governor of a state with over 37 million people to have detailed knowledge of how computers/software is purchased -- so put the blame where it belongs -- on department managers and agency heads. In early November 2007, Schwarzeneggers finance department ordered agency directors to formulate plans to cut budgets by 10%. A year passes .... In November 2008 Schwarzenegger pursued a plan that called for a 1 day per month furlough of all state employees which had to be approved by the Legislature. Earlier he called for a special session which gives the Legislature 45 days to plug the shortfall. Lawmakers were unable to agree on a plan to close the gap during a three-week special session that expired the end of November, I think. Fiscal projections state that California will be broke by, at best, the end of March 2009 -- broke as in 'no money in the bank'. So ... Friday, 12/19/2008: the Governor took emergency action by announcing the now TWO (2) day a month furlough for state employees. Managers and non-union employees will receive an equivalent 10 percent pay decrease starting the same day, Feb. 1. Monday, 12/22/08: Two public employee unions on Monday sued Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to block his effort to furlough state workers in a cost-cutting measure as California's treasury runs out of money. Last week, Schwarzenegger issued an executive order to require that all state employees take two unpaid days off each month starting in February. The governor said the measure is needed to conserve cash, with the state budget gap estimated to reach $42 billion a year and a half from now. The lawsuit, filed in Sacramento County Superior Court, asserts that only the Legislature can alter the pay of workers who have labor contracts with the state. It asks the courts to issue a temporary stay to stop Schwarzenegger's efforts, which could affect 230,000 workers. As I said earlier, when it comes to cutting costs, no one want to be the one who takes a hit. It's always a case of: "it's not right or fair to cut MY pay/budget/etc. Take it from somewhere else." And, while this conversation thread has been about California these fiscal crises will continue to spread throughout the country -- big time.