Started Christmas shopping today, and I have no idea what to get most people. I used to be good at Christmas shopping, but now I've lost the knack. We succeeded in getting gifts for Shannon's father's family today, but nobody else. I'm thinking about getting the first volume of Ghost in the Shell for my brother, but they didn't have any in stock at Comic Relief. I'm going to read about it on Amazon in order to decide whether to order it at CR. I won't buy it on Amazon unless our local store is unable to get it for some reason. Is anyone familiar with Ghost in the Shell? Or any other comics/manga that focus on a blend of sci-fi with relationships? For my mom, I want to get a book about Florida, since she's moving there in mid-2007.

Then Shannon and I came home and read some Freakonomics, which we'd seen discussed on The Colbert Report recently. Shannon is reading it aloud to me, and it's very interesting. It's all about using the science of economics to analyze more everyday processes, such as the working of the KKK, Sumo wrestlers, or real estate agents. The discussion of the KKK was particularly interesting, as it was about a journalist -- Stetson Kennedy -- who infiltrated the organization in the 1940s and seriously impacted it, most effectively by using the Superman radio show, of all things. Really interesting stuff.

Well, I'm off to do laundry. Terribly exciting.