Toys and Chocolate!

….I didn’t just spend the evening playing with Caitlin’s Christmas Present…honest!

well, maybe I did…….just a little bit…

But it’s all packed away again now ready for wrapping, now that I’ve thoroughly iinspected it.
I had originally planned on getting her the 4″x5″ model – as that was only around $130 – the 6″x8″ was about $200 at the cheapest – but when I finally went in to Harvey Norman today to buy it, they didn’t have any 4″x5″ ones. Instead, they had stacks of the Digital Photography Kit ones and plain 6×8 ones.
The Digital Photography kit ones were $150, and I assumed they were 4×5 – and since it was for drawing, not photo manipulation that I expected her to use it for, I was about to leave and go look somewhere else.
But then I noticed that it appeard to be the 6×8 version. I looked closer and it very definitely was 6×8.
They had the plain 6x8s there for $200, so what was different about the Digital Photography Kit versions (apart from being silvery) that made it so much cheaper? (and only $20 more than the plain 4×5). I examined the box carefully, and it still came with a drawing / sketching / painting program, and also included Photoshot Elements, which the 4×5 ones didn’t. So as far as I could tell, it was a far better package than the plain 4×5, and much cheaper than the plain 6×8 – so still rather bewildered, I bought it.

When I got back to work, I did some more research and the RRP for the DPK is $267 – and every web site and store I found had it for at least $250, even those that had the plain 4×5 and 6×8 for less than Harvey Norman.
There was no indication that it had been marked down or anything at Harvey Norman, so I have a very strong suspicion that it was incorrectly priced – by about $100
I’m definitely not complaining about that – I hadn’t been too sure about the small drawing area of the 4×5, so havingthe 6×8 fall within the realms of affordability was a nice bonus.
So I guess if you’re in the market for a 6″x8″ Wacom Graphire 3 – I’d have a look at your local Harvey Norman, RIGHT NOW, before they figure it out and change the price.

In other news, the Within Temptation CDs I ordered last week appeared in my letter box either Monday or Tuesday (I didn’t check the mail till tuesday) – Which means they arrived either 2 or 3 days from when I received the dispatch email, and only 3 or 4 days from placing the order. Over a weekend, during the Christmas period, from a UK based web site (CD-Wow).
The packages themselves came from Hong Kong, which explains some of the speed – but not all of it. I would have expected the Australian leg of the journey alone to take that long.
I’m not sure if they have a few distribution centres around the world to speed up delivery (and probably lower their costs – as they don’t charge for delivery) or if they actually run out of HK. I’m guessing the former, as they do appear to be very much UK based.
The CDs were cheap too – about 8 pounds each, so I got two import CDs – one of which was a special edition for a total of $AU42 – I think I’ll definitely be looking at using their service again.

And speaking of deliveries – I just got a hamper full of Chocolate from my landlord, lots of yummy stuff, from chocolate dipped fortune cookies, to very deadly fudge, to some “Strawberries and Cream” – which are dried whole strawberries coated in white chocolate. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted anything like it. Very, Very yummy…hehehe