I never heard of the Peaceful Planet product so I checked it out a little.  The consumer comments at eToys caught my interest as I wanted to learn about owners' impressions of this product.  Nearly all of the fifty who commented on the product loved it.  One criticism, however, which was made by fourteen of the fifty customers, is that the product depletes four C sized batteries very quickly (every week or two with normal use).  I couldn't help but do the math:

Price of product - $24.99

Price of 4 C sized alkaline batteries - about $5
Operating cost:
   1) if batteries are replaced weekly (for one year) - $260
   2) if batteries are replaced every other week (for one year) - $130
   3) if rechargeable batteries are used (assumes purchase from
       Thomas-Distributing of 4 C sized 2200mAh Rechargeable NiMH 
       (Nickel Metal Hydride ) Button Top batteries by GP ($19.80) and
       a GP 7-Hour Fast Charger recharger ($34.90) - $53.70

All figures exclude shipping and handling charges.  I certainly understand that toys and products in general have operating costs -- no problemo there.  The estimated operating costs for this toy, however, stuck me as excessive, even if I go with the rechargeable battery solution.  Though, it could be argued that the rechargeable batteries will have much useful life after Kate is done with the Peaceful Planet Aquarium and therefore only 52/500  of the batteries' lives -- about 10% -- should be considered a direct cost for this product, which would then yield a direct cost of $5.58 (which is acceptable) -- plus electricity for recharging the batteries. (This analysis assumes that the batteries are recharged on a weekly basis for 52 weeks and that the batteries will remain effective after charging for a total of 500 uses and we will use them for other items --  e.g., flashlights -- after we are done using them for the Peaceful Planet Aquarium -- are you still with me?) 

In addition, assuming that Kate likes it, I wonder if this toy will become a necessity for her to fall asleep once she "grows" out of the stage in which the toy is meant to be used (though I guess the same could be said about musical mobiles -- and neither Ben nor Sam came to rely on their musical mobile for sleeping when they became toddlers,  I on the other hand did become dependent once on some devices that drowned out other sounds and generated their own whirring sounds, e.g., fans and the Sears Sleepmate II).  Anyway, I brought this issue to Amy and she was too tired to discuss it -- as a late Sunday evening order is similar to a Monday morning order at eToys, I postponed the purchase.

I postponed this order with some hesitancy as the Swimming Champion Barbie toy is a gift for a birthday to be held in eleven days -- and eToys standard shipping takes 4-10 days; this item must be in hand by Wednesday, July 19.

I did call eToys with two questions about the mobile -- whether it shuts off automatically and whether it spins around.  The customer service person did not know for sure and told me that a product specialist would be in at 10:00am on Monday and could answer my question.  In the meantime, I cruised over to KBKids.com and ToysRus.com to check out their mobiles.  KBKids had a cute one with animals on it -- it was labeled as the "Musical Mobile" -- and it was closeout priced at $10.00. 

One thing I wondered about was whether I would get the item as pictured because the product description included the sentence "Products and colors may vary."  I wondered if that meant that the items hanging down from the mobile could be something other than the animals.  I called KBKids.com customer service to ask about this and the assistant with whom I spoke said that it would only vary by colors.  I was not convinced, so I visited the manufacturer's site -- Manhattan Toy Company -- and saw that it had a variety of mobiles branded as "Musical Mobiles," each with different items hanging down.  I decided to not place an order with KBKids at this point due to some uncertainty. 

For the record, both ToysRus and KBKids had in stock both Swimming Champion Barbie ($16.99 at eToys, $15.99 at KBKids, $14.99 at ToysRus) and the Peaceful Planet Lights & Sounds Aquarium ($24.99 at eToys, $34.99 at KBKids, $29.99 at ToysRus).  Did I mention that I had a coupon code for $10 off $30+ purchase at KBKids (INFANT1 or FIRSTBD1) and a 20% off coupon code for eToys (C8102) courtesy of Flamingo World?  I have not used them so I can not confirm that they work.

Oy.

Oh yeah, in the wee hours, I sent in a request to Clair Motors to have someone from their Toyota dealership and someone from their Honda dealership to contact me.  Last Thursday (July 6, 2000), I sent in a request to have a Clair Honda person contact me.  I am yet to hear from this person.  I cruised through some of my emails and I saw that I had actually emailed the Honda person before (on June 20, and June 22) via Cars.com.  He did not reply the first time that I sent in my Cars.com request, though he did respond after I sent in my second Cars.com request (see some details in June 26 diary entry).  On June 22 -- almost three weeks ago -- I sent him a follow up email asking about what type of service he could offer me and why I should buy from him.  I am yet to hear from him, so I think I have my answer.