WooHoo!! The new Harry Potter book is finally finished and will be released July 2005. I think I’ve read the first three at least three or four times, and book five (which came out July 2003) at least two times. I’m soooo ready for book 6!

As I read through the press release, though, I had to laugh… who do they think they are kidding?

An Unexpected Christmas Present Arrives

NEW YORK and LONDON, Dec. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling, the sixth in the best-selling series, has been scheduled for release on July 16, 2005 in the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia, it was announced today by Scholastic and Bloomsbury, her publishers…. The price will be $29.99.

Okay, now, why do they do that?? Why do they make the selling price something-99? As if we see that missing penny and think, "Cool! I’ll definitely by a book that’s $29.99… but I won’t pay a penny more!! Pa-leezze. Just say, $30, and get on with it. They do the same thing with gas prices… as if telling me the price is 1.879 is really going to convince me that I’m really not paying 1.88/gal for gas.

Give me a break.