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Buying stupid crap is fun

I've read some articles in the PF blogosphere about people who preach frugality, but have gaps in their spending where they buy seemingly stupid things. Some people get a kick out of "outing" these people as frugal frauds.

I saw another post at Get Rich Slowly titled The Lure of SkyMall, about being tempted by the gadgets in the airplane catalogue.

Well, here's a post of mine, and you can read it as confessional or boasting. Me, I don't care.

I bought some crazy crap recently at thinkgeek.com. And I'm not ashamed.

Purchase One was the Annoy-a-tron 2.0. (Pictured here.) It's a credit card-sized circuit board that makes annoying noises at random intervals. It has magnets for hiding. It has a switch to toggle among six sound choices: beep, 12 kHz electronic noise sound, 15kHz, cricket, doorbell, and alternating between all sounds. I set it on 'cricket' last week and annoyed some coworkers. It was fun.

Purchase Two was Tengu, a USB-powered LED face a little smaller than a deck of playing cards. It moves its face in time with speech. I've put Tengu beside the scanner at work, so when the fire department is called out to a false alarm at a school, we can watch a funny face talk along with it. See tengutengutengu.com for more.

Purchase Three was the Beating Heart Stress Relief Pillow. Amanda's been stressed to the max lately, so I thought it'd be a nice gift. The web site says:

... every time you turn it on, an entirely unique heartbeat rhythm is created. In fact, every rhythm itself gradually changes and subtly dances, algorithmically modeling the heartbeat in a deep meditative state. This isn't a pre-recorded rhythm and this isn't a "heartbeat sound." This is a physical heartbeat that realistically changes over time.
Our hearts naturally begin to dance and sync with the hearts of other we hold or hug. This is a phenomenon we have observed for ages. Hugging the Beating Heart a few minutes allows the calm and dreamy beat to relax the body, ease the mind, and cajoles the spirit.
So, there are my recent buys from thinkgeek.com. I think they're pretty cool. And so what if they set me back about $100 US? I don't buy myself a lot of junk any more. Being frugal in other areas allows me to splurge on crap when I feel the need to.
What have you bought lately that people might think you foolish for?
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