I just got back from a week-long trip out to the Seattle area. There's something about carefree vacation time that encourages me to buy things I really don't need. Here are a few of the more interesting items I picked up, all fairly low budget.
Lego salt and pepper shakers? How could I resist? A friend pointed these out to me while we were browsing at a Lego store we stumbled across.
Continuing the Lego theme, this same friend later pointed out this handy gadget at a different store.
Sure, it looks like a Lego brick, but, viewed from the other side you can see an iPod dock connector.
It's really an external speaker for an iPod. How cool is that? Two of the little studs on the brick are actually buttons that can be pressed to adjust the volume. The only minor quibble I have with this is it's not really Lego compatible. The brick isn't official Lego dimensions so can't be clicked together with real Lego pieces.
While visiting an interesting pet supply store (called Urban Beast) I ran across this crazy contraption.
It's a wrist rocket for launching tennis balls! I couldn't resist buying this for a friend of mine who has a dog that loves to play fetch.
This last item is something that was found in a contemporary art home furnishings store. It's a collection of non-permanent wall stickers in a Space Invaders video game theme. The artwork is pixelated so it looks like its from an old video game. Each "invader" is several inches across and the set includes 20 space ships and 20 laser beams, allowing one to create a fairly large arcade wall display. And, since the stickers are non-permanent, you can remove them with ease and re-stick them someplace else. In this picture, I have a few of the stickers on a wall near a window in my condo.
(Ha! Only two invaders left! I'm so winning this imaginary game.)