Touch Me (but more importantly, please Touch my wife!)

Originally, Lauren and I planned on not getting each other Christmas gifts. The plan was that we were going to put our money toward a trip to Italy over spring break. The best laid plans of mice and men being what they are, however, that fell apart when we realized exactly how expensive flying would be, since even at 20-some pounds our girl is required by law to have her own seat. Well, shoot.

So we're getting presents for each other after all. Amazon.com appeared to make things easier for us Sunday when they had a one-day-only special on the newest 32GB iPod Touch. Lauren has been wanting such a device from the moment the iPhone first came out, but some Scrooge shot that down with basic math and household economics. Still, they are awfully shiny, so Scrooge has come around on the issue, especially with all the new iPod Touch has to offer. So: iPods it would be for our Christmas gifts to each other.

Now, the deal was this: the iPod Touch was offered at a discounted price compared to what pretty much everyone else is selling it and you got a $25 Amazon gift card. Just add both to your cart and, Amazon assured me, all would be taken care of.

Well, it wasn't. They charged me $25 for the $25 gift card. So I had to call customer service, and for some reason the guy couldn't promo the gift card, even though, you know, that was the deal, so he cancelled my order and ran it again, discounting the iPod by another $25. Fine--as long as the math checks out, I'm good. Lauren placed her order--they were separate because, of course, there was a limit of one per customer--and it didn't work right for her either, so she called customer service as well. They handled things a bit differently for her--they credited her account for $25. But again, as long as the math is good, we're good.

Or are we?

I'm expecting mine to arrive Wednesday, but I go through Amazon's website to track my package and... it's already been delivered. Whoa! I go over to the post office, expecting to pick up two shiny new iPods, but only mine has arrived. Weird. Ordering an hour later apparently made it a day later...? But now I was left in a quandry: I have this shiny new thing, but Lauren does not have her shiny new thing. How can I, in good conscience, spend all evening playing with a new toy right there in front of her? Clearly, I cannot.

I didn't get much playing done in the afternoon either, because work duties called--I got it configured and got music moved over from my computer, but that was it. In the evening, I studiously avoided mentioning anything Apple-related, though when Lauren put Thea to bed (or went to settle her back down when she woke up), I grabbed my new toy and began exploring the app store in fits and starts.

As we were getting ready for bed, I made a tactical error. After doing such a good job of not revealing my new iPod's arrival, I wanted to know that Lauren would be getting hers the next day, so I could openly play with mine. And that's when I made my mistake. I asked if she had tracked her shipment.

"No. Did you?"
"Uh... yes."
"So where is yours now?"
"Um... in the living room."

At that point, she called me a not-very-nice name and the game was up. I think I managed to convince her that my ruse was for her own good, but since she still hasn't received hers, she won't be happy about any of it. And, consequently, neither will I.

She contacted Amazon yesterday and they gave her some vague response and credited her account $10 for the trouble. When it still hadn't arrived today, they asked her to call tomorrow and promised to either send it super-fast to us here or send it on ahead of us in our upcoming travels to Ohio. It's baffling, though: how did one get here very quickly and the other not at all?