Out into the cold early morning darkness I drove. Initially I thought I was the only one on the road in my area but then two cars driven by women came from the other direction. They must have gotten what they wanted already.
The cars were all parked at the stores. Lots of people at Best Buy so I wandered over to Target. Lots of people there also. I thought about getting the "300" movie DVD and some batteries, but then I thought "I've seen the movie twice, and I think I do have some batteries still.. do I want to stand in line at the checkout?" The answer was no.
When I walked back to Best Buy the last of several tents has been taken down and packed away. Those kids spent a cold night sleeping on the sidewalk.
At Best Buy I asked about the Kodak Z712IS camera as I didn't see any out on display. The Z812IS camera was out but that wasn't on sale. I was curious if the store sold out and asked an employee and he said none were left. Later I talked with the head employee for the camera department and found they did have a number of the Kodak Z712IS left as they were stored elsewhere.
Researching cameras on the internet late the night before I discovered I didn't want the Kodak camera after all. Several reviews mentioned it had a poor battery life. The number of photos it took on a battery was about 100 less than comparable cameras. And while the camera can use AA batteries or other lithium batteries, an employee at another store that sold Kodak cameras told me the performance using those types of batteries was worse than using the Kodak battery. The camera apparently doesn't come with the battery, or a charger for the battery and that was about $30 extra. The employee at the other store told me he encouraged customers to go with a Canon or other cameras than the Kodak his store sold. He was tired of hearing complaints from people who bought that model of Kodak.
At Best Buy I found a "King Kong" DVD. Then I saw the checkout line. The store had some young kid standing and holding several purple balloons where the the end of the line for the checkout was located. The line wrapped halfway around the store. "I ain't standing in that line!" and I left.
Home Depot was nearby and I decided to wander over there. I hadn't seen their ad so I had no clue as to what they had on sale. There weren't many people there. I found they had some good items.
I bought:
- a cordless drill
- a set of 120 drill bits and accessories
- a set of tape measures
- a set of mini flashlights (to put in my vehicles)
I stopped at Borders and briefly looked at their DVDs. I didn't browse their book selection as I haven't read a book in years. I am tired of buying books only to have stacks of them to read. Between being outside most of my time and struggling to keep up with a stack of newspapers and magazines, I have no time for books. Unfortunately.
Then I drove to Ace Hardware. Yup - more tools.
I bought:
- a small cordless screwdriver (free after rebate)
- a combination US and metric wrench set
- 50 ft tape measure
- a set of screwdrivers
- utility knife
- a set of 110 drill bits and accessories
At Ace Hardware they had free donuts and coffee for the customers. I scarfed down three donuts as I hadn't eaten breakfast yet that morning. I hadn't seen donuts like these since my IBM days. No wonder I weighed more back then.
My next stop was Sears. At Sears and Home Depot my goal was to check out their small chest freezers. Sears is a small store but they had plenty of customers and I didn't wait to get an employee for help. At both places I found they didn't have as large a selection as at Rex's, and the prices of the freezers were higher.
Then it was off to Shopko at the east side of town. Ace Hardware and Sears are on the west side. Everyone wonders how Shopko stays open as most days there are hardly any shoppers. The exception is Christmas time. Plenty of people. I got some Christmas cards and - changing my mind - some batteries.
I visited Staples and OfficeMax and got a 2 GD card for my anticipated new camera. As it would be a 7.2 MP camera the photo sizes would be larger than my current camera. I also checked Best Buy, Staples, and OfficeMax to see if they sold the Pansonic camera I wanted. Only Best Buy sold Panasonic cameras and they didn't carry the model I wanted.
Then I stopped at Vann's. They are a regional (Montana) electronics and appliance company. One web site that price compared cameras actually had them in the company mix. Unfortunately their web site sucked as I couldn't get in to see their ads, and being a regional company, their ads were not posted on the Black Friday web sites I visited.
Jackpot! Not only did they carry Panasonic cameras, they had the camera I wanted, and it was on sale Friday only at $199. That was much cheaper than anywhere I had found the camera on the internet the night before.
I bought it. The camera is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8 Digital Camera. It is 7.2 Megapixels and has a 12x zoom. The Panasonic FZ18 camera is a 18x zoom with a 8 megapixels and a few more features, but it costs much more and was not in stock. Here are the stats on the camera. For an ultra zoom camera it is very light. Of course being an ultra zoom camera it is a little bulkier than most digital camera and won't fit in my shirt or pants pockets, but I think I can live with it.Vann's also sells chest freezers but they did not have any models in stock in the size I wanted.
Then it was back to Home Depot to return the drill bit set. I stopped at Best Buy and there was no longer a line at the cashiers, so I bought the King Kong DVD. Between Best Buy and Home Depot is Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I had never been in the store but decided to check it out.
My first impression was the scent as the candle scents were very strong. Actually the store was kind of neat. They had some decorative wall art and I was taken with a wooden poster of a simple painting of a bear and Glacier Park. The image was done up in the style of the old, old style of postcards and ads. It was appealing, but the price was $99. Umm.. not that appealing.
I found a solid, heavy metal bull's head with horns. It was the head and neck and had a bell hanging below it. The size was twice my fist size, so a decent size. $14.99 which was reasonable. Bed, Bath, and Beyond sends out ads which I always toss. I asked to see their ads and was told the store didn't carry any. Odd, as most stores have extra copies of their ad. The clerk looked around and found me one. A good thing as the ad had a $5 off coupon on purchases $15 and more. I was one cent less so I shopped around.
I may have been one of only a handful or men in the store. What a change from the hardware stores I visited earlier! The estrogen must have been overpowering to me as I began to find a number of "cute" things to buy. Wait! Wait! I've spent a ton of money already this morning and I need to be reasonable.
I found a few decorative tiles. I guess one can hang them on the walls, and they may be useful other ways. I found one with the Chinese word for Happiness and another one of a chef riding a bicycle with wine and bread in the bicycle's baskets. Both were "darling".
It was an effort but I put them back. I couldn't quite picture where to hang them. My place - as pointed out to me by many people (women) various times - has the feel of a "bachelor pad", lacks a feminine touch, lacks style and class. These tiles would be out of place at my place as they were kind of classy. So I put them back. Why ruin my place's "ambiance"?
I did find a fancy nutcracker to put me over the $15 purchase threshold. Now that is something practical. And I can put the fancy nutcracker in a drawer so as not to ruin my place's ambiance.
The last place on my agenda was Rex's. There I bought an Avanti chest freezer. Both my mother and brother, and my neighbors Bob and Jan, have been telling me for a few years now that I need a freezer. Bob pointed the way to Rex's and their sale. And I could use a freezer as my refrigerator's freezer is completely full. I have pumpkins yet to cook into pumpkin paste which I then freeze until use; and I need a place to store my share of the deer meat. I downside is with the extra freezer space it will be very hard to resist the temptation to buy lots of ice cream. I have a serious ice cream addiction. 
The freezer is 7.1 cubic feet which is a good size. Larger than the 2.2 and 5.0 cubic ft freezers, but smaller than the large ones sold. Rex's had it on sale for 20% off so I got it for $176. Again a price cheaper than anywhere found on the the internet.
Empty, the freezer is 97 lbs so I was able to easily move it about and get it downstairs into my basement.
On my way home from Rex's I decided to stop at the Army/Navy store. This past year they moved from downtown to my part of town. I've been meaning to stop and check their store out. It is good that I did. They had a 20% off everything in the store. Maybe it is me and not just being exposed to estrogen but I still had the urge to buy. This store was fairly equal in the male/female customer/employee ration. No, I don't need any more t-shirts no matter how neat the sayings and images are about Glacier Park.
I did buy a new book on hikes around Montana. The book I own is from the early 1990s. I also bought a book describing the climbs in Glacier Park. I have gone on a few off trail climbs this year and it is probably a good idea to get a book describing the routes to take.
And I bought a couple pair of blue jeans/work jeans. The first pants I have bought in years. No surprise if you see my pants. I like the look of patched jeans, but a number of my pants are really patched! Sue Ann has been giving me grief about my patched pants. You know women... they like things to look nice.
The store had pants in my size. One style had double material over the knee area. A little unusual, but very practical in work pants as the knees in my pants are the first to go. I bought a pair to see how they work. The pants have a loop to hang a hammer and other practical pockets. They even have a pocket for rulers or your "cell". Makes sense as I doubt any contractor goes without a cell phone these days.
I asked if they had "aqua socks". They didn't have any as they carry them during the summer season. I plan to buy a pair in case I ever have to cross an unexpected river on a future hike.
I got home at 1 pm. I had been out shopping for seven hours!! I couldn't believe that much time passed. I also spent a boatload of money. Well over $500. My shopping is done for the year. At least the money that burned through my credit card went for practical and useful things.
I cleaned the ashes out of my wood stove and lit a new fire to warm the house up. Then I had lunch. Finally food. After I finished lunch it was starting warm up and I fell asleep on the floor in front of my wood stove. It reminded my of my former cat Misty who would curl up in front of my wood stove when I had it going. I slept hard. The fire needed more logs when I woke up.
I didn't do anything else Friday. It was getting to be late afternoon when I got the sleep out of my eyes. The temperature outside was in the 20s - but it felt colder. Must be because of the inversion that hung around all day.
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