Oy. Shopping today was insane. I hope the local news programs asked those insane people who spent the night outside Best Buy what in the world it was that they hoped to purchase. We pulled into the parking lot of our local Best Buy at 5 a.m., the magic opening hour, and realized there had to be more than 1,000 people waiting in a line that stretched across the strip center parking lot and down a couple of blocks before disappearing into the dark beyond. Holy shit.

Being the shopping wimps that we are, Joe and I promptly abandoned all hope and opted for breakfast instead. :) Obviously, gift shopping was the motivator, but I also wanted another external hard drive. I take a lot of pictures and it has come to my attention that I'm running out of space on my existing external HD. Best Buy had some good deals and good selection of things on my various lists, but not anything to wait outside all night for. But maybe I'm missing a gene and this behavior makes sense to others.

I'd already found alternative sources for everything on our lists from Best Buy ("minimum 10 per store has," in my experience, has meant, "we'll sell 10 at this price and restock after the sale is over") so I wasn't unduly phased. Target and Radio Shack filled in nicely. Unbeknownst to me, Joe was shopping today for a Play Station 2 for himself. Obviously he wanted one as he waded into the quagmire of people at Target buying 19" LCD TVs. We may have been the only people in the store without at least one in our cart. I felt like may I, too, needed a 19" LCD television. Weird psychology but I'm blaming it on lack of sleep.

Nothing like a system being obsolete to bring the price of a Play Station 2 down to something almost reasonable. He has, since then, played Grand Turismo non-stop. Me? I have the new hard drive plugged in to my ancient computer's USB (so ancient it doesn't have USB 2.0*; the card I installed to upgrade never took despite our futzing) so transferring two years' worth of photos looks to be a really, really long process.)

While waiting in line to pay at 6:45 a.m., my phone rings. Must be Mom. I was greeted with, "I want you to know that waiting in line is part of the gift." I heart my Mom. She was - surprise! - at Best Buy. No line down in Corpus to get in but the line to get out? Two feet forward in 45 minutes. My mom loves us. :)

Got lots of gifts today - yay!. Still have lots to go *whimper* and I'm reminded of why I shifted to online shopping. Amazon is my friend. Land's End is my friend. Deep Discount DVD is my friend.

I extorted gift lists out of all five nephews in attendance at T-giving dinner. You know what they all want? Best Buy Cards**. Thank god I can get those at the grocery store when I check out. Makes my wrapping duties manageable, too.

I see I owe lots of people comments, which I shall get to as soon as I can. Tomorrow I'm making a pilgrimage to Fort Worth with my long-time friend Amy to gaze upon the Hatshepsut exhibit. I expect to find, upon my return Sunday evening, that Joe has melded with the Captain Kirk chair in our living room from having spent endless hours playing with his PS2.

* Perhaps I've answered my own question? Maybe those people outside Best Buy need a new computer, too, but they're just more determined than I?
**Okay, one wrote, "CASH $$$" large enough to fill the page. But then he wrote a tiny, "Thank you!" next to it. ♥