I was doing some online shopping recently.  Specifically, I was shopping for an external CD burner.  I don’t really know who makes a good one or a bad one, so I decided to do some research on CNET.com.  I figured they might know a thing or two.

They had numerous items to compare.  One that I landed on was a LaCie d2 Dual 8x DVD+/-RW.  At first I was concerned because of its French-sounding name, figuring it would frequently surrender to other computer components (ba-dum-bum…tish!), but it seemed to be fairly well recommended.  It gave a link to a place to buy it online for 20 bucks.  I thought that sounded awfully reasonable, though it seemed odd to me that the link indicated I would be going to the Disney Store Online to make my purchase. 

Well, following the provided link, to the Disney Store I did indeed go, though instead of the LaCie d2 Dual 8x DVD+/-RW that I was hoping to purchase there, I was given the opportunity instead, for the same low, low price of $19.95, to purchase this:

Yes, indeed, it is the elegant Fresco Bambi Serving Tray, from the Walt Disney Signature Collection. Inspired by the young prince of the forest's first encounter with a little April shower, this Bambi dinnerware collection is fashioned in durable melamine. It features an illuminated leaf design evoking the background paintings in Walt Disney's classic film.  Well, blow me down. 

The blurb about it on the site mentions that it’s “imported.”  I read that and thought, gee, I’d actually pay a bit more for something that’s imported; sounds very fancy.  Much better than say, “Made In China,” which is probably what it really means.  Of course, this is just a guess on my part; I don’t really have any idea where they’re importing it from, but I’m guessing it’s not France.  Heck, I’m guessing the LaCie burner thing isn’t from France either, despite the fact that La Cie, to my untrained eye, looks like it could be French.  I used a free online translator to convert La Cie from French to English, though, and it gave me “The Cie,” so I guess it’s not so French either.

The product description for the serving tray also mentions melamine.  I don’t know what melamine is, and it sounds regrettably similar to melanoma, but I’m sure it’s high quality and durable.  Wait, maybe I’d better look it up.

Uh, oh:  If Wikipedia is to be believed, melamine might not be something you’d want to eat off of.  Again with these words that are regrettably similar:  Melamine is apparently chemically related to cyanamide, which sounds far too close to cyanide for my liking.  I suppose it’s not so much the eating off of it you should avoid, but eating of it.  There’s talk on Wiki about reproductive damage and bladder or kidney stones.  But I’m sure if the fine folks at Disney are having dinnerware made out of it, it’s gotta be safe, right?

I suppose that I’ll pass on the fine melamine dinnerware for now, and really at this point I’ve kind of lost interest in the CD burner.  I’m sure, though, that next time I have to use some other computer here at the radio station to burn something I’ll be back on the shopping trail.  I can only wonder what I’ll be misdirected to next time.