MadMup.com

I made my weekly trip to Barnes & Noble for a hot chocolate and then to Best Buy yesterday. I poked around, drank my chocolate, bought a couple of things, and went home. I came up to my computer to check my email and other sites… and saw the 15% off member coupon I had for Barnes & Noble. And then I saw that the expiration date was that very day.

Dilemma.

Usually once I’m back in the house, I’m back in for good. I’ve made the trek, that’s it, I’m done.

But there that coupon sat, taunting me.

I started doing some math. For every ten dollars something cost, I’d get $1.50 off. There was CD there last time I looked that was a bit more expensive than I was willing to pay. The 15% off might make it worthwhile… but how could I know for sure? I asked a couple of people via IM and they all wanted to spout math at me. I knew, though, that math wasn’t the answer to this question. I knew that I would have to feel my way through this one, and that meant going into the store.

By this time it was a little after 10 p.m. I’d spent a good part of my day wondering about this. Barnes & Noble was only open until 11 and I had to work this morning. I didn’t even dress up to go in, just went in my shorts and my MadMup.com t-shirt which I rarely wear outside the house because I think maybe it’s a little weird to do that (weird for me, not for you!).

Barnes & Noble is usually more expensive for CDs and DVDs, but they have a more eclectic mix of stuff than Best Buy does. The CD I was particularly after was Red Dirt Girl by Emmylou Harris, on the recommendation of a friend. While I was there, though, I also checked on a few others I’ve had in mind:

• The Napoleon Dynamite soundtrack
• The Rushmore soundtrack
• City by Jane Siberry
• Silver and Gold by Neil Young

Then, for some weird reason, while I was there, it hit me to ask the fellow if they had any CDs by The Nylons, an a cappella group I hadn’t heard in years. Turns out they did.

Hmm.

Another dilemma.

See, I know the reason they give the discount coupons for one item is because they expect you to buy more than one thing while you’re in the store. I don’t want to give them the satisfaction. At the same time, these two albums were ones I’d wanted a long time ago and never bought. But… they were cheaper than most other albums, so the discount coupon would almost be wasted on one of them.

I took a deep breath and did what any corporation’s plaything would do - I bought all three albums:

• Red Dirt Girl by Emmylou Harris
• The Nylons
• One Size Fits All by The Nylons

I could almost hear the cash register cackling at me.

Self-adhered chains are the hardest to free yourself from.