I was a bad maus today.

I stopped by the Disney Store to see if they had any of the giant Ratatouille plushies I'd heard about.  They only had the brown rat, not the grey one that's the star of the movie, so I passed.

I did pick up a Ratatouille recipe box, an apron and oven mitt and a set of coasters.  I was tempted to buy a rat cookie jar as well, but $40 for something that didn't look like it would keep cookies very fresh was just a bit too much.

But that wasn't why I was bad today.  I was bad today because I bought a watch.  A Citizen Eco-Drive Blue Angels Skyhawk. (No, I didn't pay anywhere near MSRP for it.)  I've been wanting one for years.  I'm not sure why I finally got around to buying it today.  My old watch, a Casio Waveceptor e-Databank, is still in good working order, even if the casing is a bit worn.  I felt a bit self-conscious about it at my last job interview; I was wearing a nice suit, tie, shiny dress shoes, carrying a fancy leather portfolio and fancy looking pen, and then I'm wearing a watch with a scratched crystal and worn-off chrome.

This watch is solar-powered so it never needs batteries, it has its own UTC dial and it's got an E6-B flight computer.  All useful stuff for me.   And it's shiny.  Rats like shiny.

The only things it lacks are a backlight (though it does have glowy hands) and an atomic clock time signal, which was the only reason I bought my old Casio.

This is only the second piece of (non-cheap) jewelry I've ever bought for myself (the other was a sapphire ring I bought about 6 or 7 years back).

Good Guys

Today's Good Guy is Kaz, Inc., a company that manufactures products for a number of companies including Vicks, Honeywell, Enviracare and Pur, among others.  A few weeks ago, I bought a Vicks digital thermometer.  After a week or so, it started malfunctioning.  I e-mailed the company and they told me to mail it in and they would replace it with a better model.

I got the new thermometer in the mail today.  It's a professional model like they use in doctor's offices, a big improvement over the one I'd bought.  I paid about $8 for the old one at Wal*Mart, the new one has an MSRP of $26!

It's nice to see companies that stand behind their products.