You could get him some other religious medal. Is he chosing a patron saint for the Confirmation?

Oh yeah -- Narrator, I know people who are very happy with their cheaper-than-an-iPod MP3 players. They just aren't as cool.

You could get him some other religious medal. Is he chosing a patron saint for the Confirmation?

This isn't the kind of gift that would work for everyone, but those who like it really like it -- if you know his name saint (either his confirmation name or just his own everyday name), look for a supplier of Orthodox icons (if you have no Orthodox community locally, I'm sure there's an online source or fifty somewhere on one of the internets), and get an icon of that saint. You can often find littlish handpainted icons for $20 and change, and the art is very stylized and ancient-looking and eerily beautiful.

eta: Handpainted icons (including custom orders) by an Orthodox monk at St. Skete

Considerably more expensive but beautiful handpainted icons in tempera paints on wood by an Orthodox supplier called Liturgix

Less expensive but still beautiful icons from an Orthodox artists' group called Come and See

I also think I need to get him something religious. He's got rosaries and bibles from his First Holy Communion.

teen catechism: [link]

Celtic Crosses: [link]

Chesterton's Orthodoxy: [link]

Lewis's Mere Christianity (book/CD/Tape): [link]

Go team Cindy's third link! I also feel the need to pimp this book by the same guy, which is surrealist fiction rather than theology, but is one of the weirdest and most energetically, anarchically joyous books ever written. The edition I just linked to has a fine introduction by one of the Amises (I forget whether it's Martin or Kingsley), but there's also a newer edition floating around with a truly rocking introduction/mash note by Jonathan Lethem.

eta special Buffista pimpage: I'm fairly certain that this book is the reason that Good Omens is dedicated to him and the reason that he pops up in Sandman.

Ooh, I think I know where Sail went to highschool.

If you're at all familiar with Madison high schools, you undoubtedly do.

Lee, what's your upper limit on price? Some of those $2200 apartments are splendiferous! I liked the one with the fancy inlay woodwork flooring.

Ugh. I hate being sick. Why am I sick? And more importantly, why am I still grading?

You could get him some other religious medal. Is he chosing a patron saint for the Confirmation?

oh, good idea. He picked Maximillian. His original pick was Maximus but I busted him. There's no saint he knew with that name -- it was the name of Russell Crowe's character in "Gladiator." So, he had to change it. He rejected my suggestion - Paul. His first name is Irish for John and his middle name is German for George. I told him if he picked Paul he'd have 3/4ths of the Beatles. He rejected that suggestion. Culturally deprived, that boy is.

ETA: Topic!Cindy -- I like the Celtic crosses. Maybe I could get him a tattoo of one. His mother wouldn't mind. Much.

ita, we don't have a broom closet, either. I keep the vacuum in my clothes closet--it's the only place. But there's about two feet of wall space in the bathroom between the entrance door and the closet door. I put up a bar with clamps [link] to hold mops, brooms, and dusters. And I put up a cheap, U-shaped curtain rod and a curtain to hang over the cleaning tools. It keeps them out of sight, but lets them air-dry. And they're handy. I just grab the one I need off the rack and don't have to scrabble in the back of a closet, or disentangle handles.

ETA: Topic!Cindy -- I like the Celtic crosses. Maybe I could get him a tattoo of one. His mother wouldn't mind. Much.

Hee! You do it, and I'll see if I can find some family in Charlestown or Southie to hide you out, in the underground usually reserved for Irish illegals. If there were such things. Which there *so* are not.