Catalog Shopping Saves Time... But Space'll Cost Ya

Have you looked at this year's Neiman Marcus holiday catalog yet? What? You haven't started Christmas shopping? You know there's only 81 shopping days left.

Well, if you're stumped to find gifts this year, Neiman Marcus has a solution. Purchase a gift from their catalog and stay away from all the holiday crowds, I mean way away!

For only $1.76 million, you can charter a flight on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo for yourself, and five friends.

Everybody gets a physical, pre-flight training and a ride into sub-orbital space where you'll spend some five weightless minutes marveling at a glorious view nearly 1100 miles in every direction. Afterwards, you will all attend an after-party, where you'll meet Sir Richard Branson at his Caribbean retreat.

This is one of several so-called fantasy gifts the retailer offers every year in it's holiday catalog (other, more "down to Earth" alternatives include a ritzy BMW convertible, and a $40,000, 7-foot-tall skyscraper made of thousands of No. 2 pencils. We're not making this up.) The company says it doesn't try to make money on them, they're just supposed to be inspirational.

We'd say a ride into space is pretty inspirational. But if that skyscraper were made by hundreds of oversized EAA pens, well...

FMI: www.neimanmarcus.com