Buying Time

Calendars are a quick and easy way to add visual interest around the house or office. When I travel, calendars for the next year are often what I choose to bring home for a souvenir of the country or state visited. My family have been calendar givers at Christmas, from the bank calendar we gave to my grandmother every year, to the Far Side editions that I've given to my kids. Once the year is over, wall calendars make great images for a picture file which I often use in exercises at retreats and workshops.
Of course, being thrifty, I often wait until January when the calendars go on sale for half-price to add to my "stock". During the last year, as part of living simply and trying to limit aquisitions and spending - besides having little need for calendar keeping during sabbatical! - I avoided buying any calendars. Then came April and the realization I would be working again, and all of sudden, I had to pay attention to dates and days and times and planning.
Was it too late to purchase a 2007 datebook or a waste to buy a calendar that would remain 25% unused? Or too early for an academic year edition which would begin in September? Never fear, publishers have determined that there is a market for procrastinators!
On a browse through the bookstore, I discovered 16 month calendars which began with March of the current year and goes through August of the next - just perfect for a one-year interim beginning in May. Does this mean there is a market for 16 month calendars that begin every three months? An extension of individualization? Or will software and PDA's rule our time-keeping completely?