Shopping!

I was out and about yesterday. A chat with a friend at the local Paneras about this, that and the other (where we compare his iPad with my Thrive and discuss golf and past adventures). After that, I ran by the local Office Depot to see if they had a cheap keyboard for my Thrive (they did) and try not to buy too much other stuff... almost successfully.

We do that a lot, don't we? Drop into a store to "just pick up one or two things" and find ourselves with full shopping carts? Maybe it's just me... but I suspect not.

I am not ashamed to say I shop at WalMart. And I often go there just to pick up a few things (though more things than most other places) and always end up buying much more than I intended. Shirts and/or sweaters jump into my cart (you know the one... it has that wheel that drags or makes that clunk-clunk-clunk sound or both) unasked for. The occasional hat (I have a dozen or more now and I only wear them at golf), little gadgets, golf balls (don't know why that still happens since I have been given -free of charge- about 3 dozen by friends and relatives), and extra food items that catch my eye. Sometimes, I fail to get one or more of the things I went there intending to buy.

It's why I avoid going to Lowe's or Home Depot. I'm an American male. We are biologically wired to start breathing heavy around tools and gadgets. Our (and our wives') only hope is to just not go through those front doors. I can't even be trusted at a Bed Bath and Beyond or reading the golf equipment catalogs I get unsolicited in the mail.

Bookstores were once the worst. But now I read books on my Nook or Thrive (or both at the same time... as I am doing now*) and don't get that urge to splurge in a book store.

It takes a lot to avoid wandering into the showroom at the car dealership when I go in for service.


* Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom series on the Nook and Philip K. Dick's "The man in the High Castle" on the Thrive.