Fourth Quarter Consumer Spending

Started: 2003-12-07 19:27:29

Submitted: 2003-12-07 21:13:57

Visibility: World-readable

Last night Gem and I headed to our local cinema to see love actually, which was entertaining. I suppose I like romantic comedies that have at least as much comedy as romance.

Last Thursday, I dropped by Temptation Zone and acquired a boxed copy of Starcraft for US$10. I spent an inordinate amount of time playing the real-time strategy game in the Commune, so I thought the price was right to continue to amuse myself with the game. I've been playing my way through the Terran campaign, which is entertaining, although frustratingly easy. I know I'm playing horribly, but I still win every time without much trouble.

My mother decided to have a celebratory breakfast for my new job. Between Willy's lifeguarding job, Bethany's supervision at Campion, and Dad's return flight to Oklahoma, we ended up meeting for breakfast at 1230 at The Egg and I in Longmont. Gem and I got there ten minutes early, realized there was a line waiting to get a table, and put our names on the list. Bethany showed up on time; Mom, Dad, and Willy showed up a bit later. Getting our food took longer than it really should, and then Bethany had to send her egg back twice to get the yolk solid.

Gem and I headed next to Boulder, where we picked up a case of Bawls Guarana (and a ream of paper), then to Norlin to pick up a handful of books for Gem's youth services final paper, due this Wednesday. (I've wandered through the science stacks and the periodicals stacks at Norlin, but I hadn't made it to the general stacks until now.

Next up was Temptation Zone, where we picked up second season Alias on DVD and a 1/8" stereo jack, which I seem to be short on for some mysterious reason. Gem suggested perhaps we should take the opportunity to boost fourth quarter consumer spending and acquire a tv to replace the tiny tv currently serving our living room. I contemplated the available selection and we decided to acquire a twenty-seven inch flat crt produced by Sharp. Unfortunately, it wouldn't fit in our car, so we called my mother, who happened to be driving down US 36 at that exact moment to take my father to DIA. We arranged to trade vehicles; I met my parents in the parking lot five minutes later and swapped keys and stuff. I headed back inside, found Gem poking around the DVDs, and attempted to flag down a salesperson to give us a hand. This was a little more complicated than it should have been; apparently they were all enthralled by the thought of selling an expensive camcorder. Half an hour later, one showed up; we finally made it to the front of the store with the tv on a little cart and waved the magic Visa to transfer it into our possession.

We got the assistance of some guy to carry the tv out to the car. As I was shuffling around the contents of the aft cargo compartment to make room for the tv, he spotted the case of Bawls Guarana and queried where I got it. I told him CompUSA and he said, "It figures."

Gem and I managed to get the tv into our apartment without much trouble and proceeded to rearrange our living room to make it fit. Our existing tv cabinet was entirely inadequate, so we moved an less-than-elegant cabinet the printer was sitting on into the living room, which works, but we'll want to acquire a superior stand at some point in the near future.

I'm quite pleased with our new viewing device. Now we can watch tv without squinting nearly as much.