The Thanksgiving Post

Thanksgiving weekend was terrific. I headed back home to Virginia and spent the extended holiday weekend with my family. It was the longest time I’ve left Coolio unattended, but with her automated water/food setup she has now she was fine. Spent the time doing all the family goodness I miss down in Florida. Played a few fun rounds of Pictionary, all saw a movie together, had breakfast at Ihop and of course gorged on the usual excellent Thanksgiving dinner. Sarah was with me the entire time which was brilliant and we spent one night out in Arlington hanging out with Eric which was great. Got to meet Jake’s Lauren and Stefan’s Courtney finally, which was long overdue by very nice, and even got an unexpected call from the soon to be wed Paul Macleod. Quick visits with Ali and Bob and Duncan where possible too now that Sarah can ferry me around in her spiffy new car. It’s very her.

We did the classic Black Friday shopping too, but opted for a slightly later rise than years past (since when is 5:15 considered a late start…yikes) primarily because there where no specific sales we wanted to capitalize on. We all enjoyed a healthy does of merchandising though, and got a large chunk knocked out of my ever expanding shopping list for the holidays. As always its sad to have to leave, but knowing I’ll be coming back in a few short weeks for my favorite of the family holidays definitely helps.

The Seasonal Post

It’s that time of year (some might say the most wonderful time even). Christmas season officially kicks off right after Thanksgiving next week, and then the feverous merchandising that is the holiday begins. Last year I didn’t put up a tree in my apartment, and the end result was a very un-Christmassy feel until the weekend I went home for the actual holiday. This year I wanted to make sure I got on the hype train early and picked up a little fake tree at Wal-Mart for the new place. Not much too it, but just enough to remind me that its holiday season and feel merry. I have already started to amass a few presents for people which I decided to stick under it, and while not wrapped (for transporting reasons) the effect is still there…sorta. We will be getting a small tree for the office too and Susan and I are starting a communal Christmas music bank where we will store all our holiday tunes to listen too over the next month.

The Ikea Mob Post

Ikea opened a new store here in Orlando on Wednesday. The store is right in the Millennia area and is about 2 minutes from my house barring traffic. Today however it took 20 minutes, a team of professional parking organizers, a squad of cop cars and guys yelling from rooftops to get in the damn place. It was a total mob-scene. I haven’t seen that many people in one place less maybe City Walk in the summer. Insane. The store itself is exactly like the Potomac Mills location in Virginia, so it wasn’t anything new for me really, but just getting through the serpentine showroom took the better part of an hour. Once I was inside I was just determined to get out, I’ll come back in a month too see what’s there as far as stuff for the new apartment, its just too crazy at the moment. The parking lot overflowed and people where being parked, Disneyworld herd-style on surrounding grassy areas. There where guys positioned on rooftops yelling to their dispatch below where free spaces opened up, and guys on stilts talking over the sea of people. Inside there where mariachi guitarists wandering the showroom singing and playing away, as well as more stilt guys and balloon animals. It was a freaking carnival. How anyone could go through the relatively demanding Ikea checkout procedure in all that mess I have no idea. I wanted to chill and get some Swedish meatballs and see if it died down, but they had crowd control for the restaurant and a line at least 300 people long, so I ended up skipping that too in favor of hitting the local mall and getting some Christmas shopping done. I love merchandising and I love some good holiday hype- but this was too much even for my tastes. Black Friday is going to be a beast this year…