Feeling Dated

Even though we are a few days into 2011, I finally got around to going calendar shopping. I like to have two calendars in my room: the standard wall version with one page for every month and the 365 day-by-day calendar. It is not just because I constantly want to know what day of the week it is, either. One helps fill up a giant gap in my wall space and the other comes in handy should I need to jot down a quick note at some point during the day. Now, when you wait this long to actually begin looking for a calendar it can be a very hit-or-miss prospect. Most people are organized enough to know that they will get the best selection if they buy before the new year begins, but on the flip side of that argument is the common knowledge that calendar prices are immediately slashed as soon as the ball has dropped in Time's Square, to the point you almost feel bad for the people who paid full price for a product that is half-off just two days later. So, basically it comes down to this: if you go into it without having to have one specific calendar in mind, you can still walk out happy and with some money left over.

[Sidebar: Seriously, can you think of another product with such an unbelievable price cut considering the thing is still about 99% useful? There is food in the grocery store being sold after its expiration date which isn't that marked down. (Trust me, I have bought my fair share of soda still on the shelves passed the 'best by' date. If you think about it, 50% off would make sense in June when the year is half over and the calendar is half-useless, but it's January 4th. There are 361 days left in the year. What is the hurry to off-load these things? You mean to tell me people aren't going to need a new calendar in March? Drinks get spilled on desks all year-round, forcing people to try and find a new calendar, but you try and find a 2011 edition by the end of February. Can't be done.]

Well, as expected by waiting this long, I actually didn't find a wall calendar to my liking. (For the fifth year in a row, still no Shakira calendars to be found anywhere.) But, it doesn't matter, because that is not the point of this post. (Yep, seriously, I still haven't gotten there.) What was bugging me today was the practice of putting the phrase "16 Month" calendar on the front of all those wall calendars which feature the last four months of 2010 on the first page. Now, you know as well as I do that no one bought a 2011 calendar in September of 2010 and thus this page is never going to be glanced at after its up on the wall. Putting it in doesn't even seem necessary. Yet, we gladly accept the phrase "16 months" as if it weren't some kind of giant scam. I would just like someone out there to offer to work on a project for sixteen months and then quit after 12, citing the fact that the first four months were done retroactively. You'd be sued for failure to complete the work. I'm not saying I want them to start making calendars that last until May of the following year - I just want the calendar publishers to stop patronizing me. I know I'm not getting 16 months out of this thing, you know I'm not getting 16 months out of it - lets just agree to end the charade.