how to know your wife has assimilated -- and no driving for gifts

i have the tri-fecta of gifting for december: wife b-day, anniversary (10 years this year!), and the holidays.  yikes.  needless to say, we go broke in december.

i love my wife.  i really do a lot -- but i love it even more when she makes things easy for a neanderthal like me.  if you haven't figured it out yet (unless you're really astute in your relationship), shopping for women is hard.  it exponentially increases in difficulty when clothes are thrown into the mix.  this year my wife detailed a list of things she wants/needs for the tri-fecta holiday season.

so how do i know my wife is assimilated?  (into technology at least.)  well, first she emailed me the list.  one word: sweet.  she knows i suck at life multi-tasking and that i spend most of an average day in an inbox of some sort.  boom, gift list: flagged.  okay second reason i know...here's the first line:

Victoria's Secret -- any of the following:

item <blah blah> size <blah blah> -- you can enter "slipper" in the promo code to get free slippers

note: blahs added by me to protect her desires :-)

that was the first item -- no where did it mention go online or the website...nice -- she's finally got into my head -- i almost cried when i saw "you can enter the promo code" -- sweet bliss to see that "promo code" is now a part of her vernacular.

anyhow, last night i had a free moment to acquire some of the items from the 2 page aforementioned email (yeah, not kidding).  so i hopped in the car and took off.  then i suddenly realized...why am i driving anywhere?  first, my brakes are going out (on top of a flat tire this week as well) and i don't really live close to anything.

u-turn.  back home.  hop on computer.  i purchased everything she wanted (from what i decided was appropriate ;-)) from the comfort of my own home.  what about shipping? well, most online retailers are offering free shipping during the holidays so that was okay.  sure there were a few items that i didn't, but i'll get those during regular errands.

it was awesome.  i remember a colleague the other day asking about how much i buy online.  almost exclusively now.  really.  if it is a product in a retail (excluding food), i seek it out first online (and actually at ebay first -- a lot of retailers are using that as a channel for their 'real' goods), then determine the value of getting it online versus if i can get it on a normal errand run.  most of the time online wins.  i haven't tried out groceries, but i'm willing too...

anyhow, happy shopping!