I ordered an assortment of gems from Pehnec Gems a couple of weeks ago, and have been enjoying them with Alan and Max since they came. Small very sparkly objects give rise to a surprisingly strong emotional response. The cubic zirconia are quite beautiful, very similar to diamonds but a bit more colorful, and I'm also fond of the sapphire and emerald (real but lab-grown).
Batteries
Slashdot linked my ThinkPad battery page a few days ago. Still no response from IBM, which is really not the behavior one expects from a reputable company.