I think I must be the queen of practical gifts. I would much rather receive a gift that I know I will use than one that looks pretty but serves no practical purpose. Culturally, the Amazing Egyptian Dude thinks that he should buy me gold jewelry for every occasion, but I'm not into jewelry and hardly ever wear anything more than my wedding ring. It took about fifteen years to convince him that instead of a necklace or bracelet, I would much rather have some books, a pair of comfy slippers, or some nice smelling bath & body products. To him, these mundane and everyday items aren't gifts; to me, they are the perfect gifts.

Finally, I decided to tell him what gift I wanted and where to get it. For example, last year he got me (ahem) an awesome speaker dock for my iPhone. Ever practical, I cart the speaker along with my laptop so that he can share the music on my phone when we're at the office. Not only was this speaker dock an excellent gift choice, it is a gift that we can enjoy together. This year, he got me (ahem, again) a portable media player. It's got a 1TB drive in it and came with all the hardware necessary to hook it up to the television once it's got all my stuff on it. So now, instead of carrying around gazillions of DVD cases, I can copy them to the drive, hook it up to the TV, and have my own version of video on demand. How amazing is that?! And just imagine how many documentaries this sucker will hold!

My gift arrived yesterday, and I can hardly wait to start playing around with it. First, though, I have to get all the grading done and final grades turned in. Then it will be, watch out world -- she scores big time!