Monday Monday 11.17.2008

Monday Monday 11.17

Hi Everyone,

To me it is unbelievable that I’m already thinking about Christmas Shopping again. Due to the struggling economy this year, the retail industry might have you thinking that we’re having not only black Friday but also an entire black third quarter. I made my way to the Carolina Place Mall this past weekend and to park and walk through it, you would have thought it was Christmas Eve. Fortunately we were in and out without any long lines, but we’re storing all our line waiting energy for one huge sonic boom of energy consumption next Friday. I’m anticipating line waiting similar to Disney World’s Space Mountain with the slight exception that most patrons of Disney World tend to be in a slightly better mood than a holiday shopper at 4AM. Our biggest discovery was the realization that our local mall actually has the audacity to open their doors at . . . . Midnight. That means that I’ll have to have an early Thanksgiving dinner, a relatively early second Thanksgiving dinner, and who knows if I’ll have time for a third Thanksgiving dinner because I’ll have to take a nap!

The funny thing about this whole experience is that I rarely make any alarming door busting purchases, but I enjoy going shopping to see the angry mobs of soccer moms rush through the anchor stores hoping to get in and out to the next store in record time when low and behold. . . .they have to wait in an hour long line before they can leave. Actually the tradition started several years ago when my mother and I realized that JC Penny was giving away free Mickey Mouse Snow Globes. Come to find out, the globes are only about 1 inch tall and fairly insignificant but it gets us up and out every year.

My theme for this past weekend was detoxification: no alcohol, no fried food, and not even any meat. For a weekend, you would have thought I was a vegetarian. Now that I’m back at work in the land of restaurant eating, I am about to fall off that wagon in a bad way. I’ll just have to double my efforts on the treadmill and Wii Fit to compensate.

Yes by the way, I acquired Wii Fit several weeks ago – so I have joined the legions of people that enjoy the combination of exercise and video games. I’m thoroughly impressed with the game and I defy anyone that says they can’t build up a sweat.

It’s been a long time since Maggie and I assembled a puzzle, but we started and finished a 1000 piece X-Mas puzzle this past weekend that we will glue and frame in the weeks to come so that we can hang it for the holiday season.

I know it might seem early for all this Christmas talk, but I’m telling you since the economy is so bad the world has decided to extend the joyous holiday season to brighten everyone’s mood and get them thinking about new ways to spend money they don’t have! That’s right folks – do you’re part for the economy by going out and maxing out your credit cards!

Ryan

PS – So there is no confusion, my last paragraph was not financial advice and should be filed away as sarcasm.