Ipods, pc, boomboxes and things

As I survey my students what they got for Christmas, I see that most of them got things that I never got when I was a kid. Many if not most got some type of ipod, or mp3 player, others asked and got TVs for their bedroom, still others got their wish by getting boom boxes, wow, I have not heard those things for some time. Actually its been a while since I've used a boom box.
No, I never got any of that. It seems that most things that kids get, specially those of the high school age has to be some type of electronic device.
However, I have joined some of the hoopla. I got one of those i-river mp3 players with 20 or more gigabyte, enough to store all the classic rock, blues and jazz favorites that I have collected over the years. Its great. It even connects to FM stations so I can find my classic rock station. well, there are two, but one plays stupid songs. jack FM is nothing but someones mp3 collection played by a computer. anyhow, electronic devices is the wave of the foreseeable future.
And it fits my lessons in my physics class that I teach, since we are now studying electricity and magnetism, which makes all this stuff possible.

Gift Cards

Nothing says "I don't really care that much" about someone as a gift card. To me it says, "I really don't want to spend the time on finding what you want". This is a trend that is becoming more and more common. But there is just so many things you can buy someone, as kids get older their likes and dislikes are not as apparent as when they were young kids. Now they expect more expensive toys, like mp3 players, i-pods, computers and even cars. sure, who has the money to buy such expensive gifts, well the very rich perhaps, but us regular folks, well, its just not going to happen. I remember when all we had to do was go to a local toy store, like target or toys r'us, and quickly buy the simple toys, a few dolls for a girl, cars and trains for boys, etc.. but no more. The choices too have become to numerous to even make a quick choice off the shelves, no now it takes planned strategies, a detail plan to find the child a gift that not only gives countless hours of fun, but now toys are expected to educated as well as provide fun.
So, instead of spending countless hours wondering around the malls like a lost soul, buying a gift card is not such a bad idea, this way, if they don't like what they get, hey its their own fault.
Merry Christmas.