Yes, I just got back from Target doing some last-minute Xmas purchases. I was amazed how packed the place was with fellow procrastinators. Well, I had a good excuse: b-school. If it weren’t for finals and winter break, I wouldn’t have even known that it was Christmas time so soon. Last thing I remembered was eating Turkey with the family, and driving back to CMU to continue with the daily grind. At least I had some gifts for people this year. I thought to myself, we shouldn’t have another “greeting card Christmas;” you know, the ones in which everyone exchanges “heart felt” greeting cards, in which each person stuffs a $20 or $50 bill in it, and at the end of the night you’re just as well off (or just as not as well off) as you were in the beginning at night. Ah, I can hear my finance professor saying, there’s $0 NPV in a financial transaction. So true, so true, Professor Routledge.
This year I found some great photo albums. Real quality stuff. I found that in last-minute gift-giving, its best to go with a theme. So I bought 5 photo albums for my family. (Each uniquely designed, of course). Hopefully my cousin didn’t have the same idea. In any case, I think it’s nicer than showing up as the empty-handed graduate school student. 😉
David Mantilla 