No More Crap: A Guide to Good Gift Giving

I have an obsession with crap. Lately, that means getting rid of crap and not buying any more of it. When you don’t have money to buy yourself anything good, it helps to tell yourself that you are “simplifying” your life–and it sounds kind of zen. But no matter how many old sweaters I give away, how many knick knacks I sell at tag sales, or how long I go without buying anything that isn’t food, Christmas always delivers a new round of stuff to my closets, shelves, and floors. I appreciate the generosity of my friends and family, but have been stressing over the last few years that I would really prefer not to get crap for crap’s sake-I just don’t have the room for it.

This is a problem because Christmas is a big deal in my family. My grandparents have been lavishing gifts upon us all since before I can remember, mostly because they like to see us open gifts, our eyes starry from the Christmas light reflections. It’s hard to retrain people to this way of thinking and make them understand that I would rather receive one good, or meaningful, gift than 10 randomly chosen items. I’d rather get a new MP3 player from the whole family than 12 sweaters–or have someone make a donation to Heifer International rather than buy me yet another Yankee candle that will collect dust and rarely get lit (and give me a headache when I do spark it up).

So, with that in mind, here is my guide to good gift giving.

Sushi Coshi: They Know My Face

About once a week or so, the two girls from my office and I head over to Sushi Coshi in Wilton. I’m no connoisseur of sushi, but I like their lunch specials. I’ve had everything from the sushi box to the shrimp tempura box–the boxes come with a few California rolls, these yummy dumplings, and won-ton type things. You get a salad and miso soup with pretty much anything you order, and the price hovers around $10.

Party Like You’ll Be in a Turkey Coma Tomorrow

Normally Wednesdays don’t inspire too much excitement about local nightlife. Maybe there’s an open mic at the local bar, or some national act happens to breeze through at the Webster or Toad’s Place. But not Thanksgiving Eve. Tonight is THE party night. You’re back home to meet up with high-school and college friends, you don’t have to work Thursday, and there’s nothing good on TV (although is anyone else intrigued by Rosie O’Donnell’s live variety show? Could be awesome, could be a train wreck). Anyway, what are the hot spots to head out to tomorrow night?

Stamford’s Thanksgiving Parade

Never to be outdone by NYC, Stamford ow has its own version of The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Of course, it doesn’t actually take place on Thanksgiving–it was last Sunday–but it does have giant freaking balloons, and several hundred thousand fewer screaming people. Next year, you just might want to check it out. Watch!

Job Openings!

So, I think I figured out what those financial services workers that M. Jodi Rell wants to retrain can do. Apparently “tool making” didn’t die out when our primitive ancestors learned how to use sticks to kill things, and people who can design and make them are in big demand.

Labs Good for Something

Apparently, a Black Lab named Homer saved his whole family from a fiery death. Of course, a properly working smoke detector could have done the same thing.

‘Tis the Season

Welcome to the season for Bleeding Heart Liberals.

As an NPO worker, this is the time of year we traditionally see more people think about others and not just themselves. While part of me wants to say “Why does it take a certain time of year for people to give?”, really, what matters is that people GIVE. Whether it be time, money or items such as food, clothing, holiday presents, toiletries, etc (what we in the biz call in-kind donations/gifts in kind/GIKs) I encourage you all to give something.

And if you’re just heartless and mercenary: it’s a last minute tax break.

To make it harder for you NOT to give, here’s a list of some of our favorite charities and causes–international, national and local:

India Oven: Ben-Golly, this place is good!

India Oven on Park Road in West Hartford has an incredibly unassuming store front. Okay, it looks like a hole. But, the food inside is delightful. The boyfriend and I went there for dinner since we were both having Indian food cravings, like a pregnant woman in her second trimester.

Return to BJ Ryan’s

Normally, we wouldn’t repeat a review but I felt this update was necessary.

A Connecticut Yankee* in the Big Easy

"Mixed Drinks To Go" are how you know you're in New Orleans.

What do you get when you mix a Mexican-spring break and the incredibly uninhibited nature of Amsterdam? You’ve got a giant gumbo pot, which you might end up calling New Orleans. Being the Constitution State and all, we tend to be a bit reserved here in Connecticut. Maybe it has to do with the weather but it’s generally frowned upon when you see a person stumbling through the streets in a total drunken stupor. Going down south is always an eye opening experience for any northerner but going to New Orleans is about as close to going to a foreign city as you can get while not needing a passport.

Madison: Can You Nominate an Entire Town for the Darwin Awards?

Earlier this week it was reported that high levels of uranium were found near Kathleen H. Ryerson Elementary School and Dr. Robert H. Brown Middle School in Madison. Uranium? Isn’t that what we’re trying to keep Iran from getting its hands on? We’re supposed to be scared of this stuff. It’s bad enough that uranium was found in the drinking water at the schools. What’s even worse is that town officials knew about it for two years and didn’t do anything. The town health director was notified by the state public health department in 2006, but didn’t bother telling anyone in town about it. It took an anonymous letter to school officials for someone to take action.

Poor Hedge Fund Managers

Apparently, the Rellster and her New Jersey (ick!) and New York counterparts are begging the federal government for help. “For what?” you ask. Well, you might be inclined to think they were asking for help with our Hindenburg of a budget, or perhaps for some help with all those unfunded mandates from No Child Left Behind that angered Dicky Blumenthal so… You’d be wrong.

M. Jodi and her tri-state buddies are asking for $48 million to retrain financial workers who have lost their jobs. Oh, the irony.

Not So Proud of Darlene

To tell you the truth, I was just looking for a way to work this Keith Olberman video into a post, and thanks to Darlene Kadlecik, of Waterford I now have a perfectly good reason to help Olberman spread his “liberal bias.”

Just Plain Weird

There are so many bizarre things about this “kidnapping” story, I just don’t know where to begin. First there is the “buying stolen jewelery with your kid in the car” part. Pure genius. That ranks right up there with getting drunk, tossing your toddler in the front seat, and then going to buy crack.

Lieberman: Still Hanging On

In the immortal words of the (possibly) retarded Sarah Palin: “Say it ain’t so, Joe.”

Apparently, the Democrats are letting Joe Lieberman keep his spot on the Homeland Security committee and have, instead, taken away his subcommittee chairmanship on the Environment and Public Works Committee. Basically, they probably relievd him of a job he didn’t care about anyway.