Apparently one of the illegal gifts cited in the Senator Ted Stevens trial was an expensive massage chair from Brookstone:

“Mr. Stevens’s defense was largely built on the notion that he had not asked for, and had no use for, many of the goods and services he received. In the case of the massage chair, he said it had not been a gift from Bob Persons, a friend and restaurant owner who had bought it from a Brookstone store and sent it to the Stevenses’ Washington home. It was a loan, Mr. Stevens testified, even though it had remained in his Washington home for more than seven years and he once wrote to Mr. Persons that he enjoyed using it and even fell asleep in it.”

Over the weekend, I found myself flipping through the Brookstone section of Sky Mall Magazine asking who would purchase a $4,000 massage chair.  I mean, if interior design tastes alone didn’t stop able consumers from purchasing it, wouldn’t the ability to pay for a real massage?

I get it now: one receives this chair as a gift, keeps it expecting no one will find out, and then denies it is theirs calling it a “loan” when somebody finds it.  Just like my copy of the Charlie’s Angels Soundtrack.

My friends from Washington Improv Theater, Cissy and Julia, are now in L.A. and contribute to a blog called Sky Mall Product Review.  It is your comical guide to Sky Mall and definitely a gift worth sharing.