Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
Huh. I’d forgotten about Fashion Valley.
I’m with you on the Amazon.com thing. Had already decided that yesterday.
My God Lex you really ARE a committed adrenaline junkie, aren’t you?! You ventured out on Black Friday – I don’t know whether to be impressed or send you literature on psych wards in your area.
I do about 75%-80% of my holiday shopping online. That percentage gets larger every year – this year it could top 90%.
Which is a very good thing indeed.
And when you get ready to shop via Amazon, remember to do so via GoodShop, using Soldiers’ Angels as your charity, and they will get a percentage of your purchase as a donation!
You couldn’t have PAID me to go anywhere today. Not with Wal-Mart employees being trampled to death and shootings taking place in TRU. No thanks. I’ll stick with the crazy we have right here at home, thankyouverymuch.
I’d say that 90% of our Christmas shopping is done and the rest will be taken care of first thing Monday morning while all the crazy people are at work, earning those last few dollars with which to spend on things they don’t need. NEX opens at 9am and I’ll be there. Other than that, I have no plans to set foot in a store unless I need food. And I wish I was able to order that on line too!
And when you get ready to shop via Amazon, remember to do so via GoodShop, using Soldiers’ Angels as your charity, and they will get a percentage of your purchase as a donation!
You couldn’t have PAID me to go anywhere today. Not with Wal-Mart employees being trampled to death and shootings taking place in TRU. No thanks. I’ll stick with the crazy we have right here at home, thankyouverymuch.
I’d say that 90% of our Christmas shopping is done and the rest will be taken care of first thing Monday morning while all the crazy people are at work, earning those last few dollars with which to spend on things they don’t need. NEX opens at 9am and I’ll be there. Other than that, I have no plans to set foot in a store unless I need food. And I wish I was able to order that on line too!
Crud – tried to edit it and instead it just reposted. Sorry! I need a drink.
I see the signs for MCRD on the way to NASNI but didn’t actually think it was open for business. Hmph.
Thanks to our somewhat tottery condition, my husband and I have decided not to go out in the Big Houston World and shop this season, seeing as our fornerly fleet feet have degenerated into a wobbling hobble, thus rendering us unable to escape the Bad Guys. Instead, like Homefront Six and Kris in New England, we are doing our shopping online. If our Loved Ones pout about it, shame on them.
Meanwhile, all you Sweet Things who populate Lex’s site, more power to you, and if you plan to pass through Houston, stop awhile at Chez Matthews for a cup that cheers. {We still plan to go to the grocery store and the liquor store at least.] And that includes you, Subsunk. You live right here in Houston, after all.
Marianne
When I heard from a couple of my wife’s cousins at Thanksgiving dinner last night (hey…they’re my cousins too, after 35 years) that people were putting up backpacking tents near Target and Best Buy to be in a good spot to begin Friday’s sales…
And that was in the greater SF Bay area, not Rawlings, WY. (Lovely place, don’t mistake my meaning.)
I remembered that I had a lot of stuff to do at home today.
It’s 45 miles to the mall, 10 miles to the nearest town which has a single stop-and-rob sort of place in it. Shopping on-line for us country folks is little different than shopping from the Sears catalog used to be. ‘Cept you can’t order guns. And in spite of the jokes the Sears catalog no longer finishes its mission in the outhouse.
Can’t think of a thing I’ve bought in the past 6 months as a gift that’s not been done on-line.
‘Cept for the car. The old family vehicle had 312,987 miles on it when it finally either warped a cylinder head or blew a head gasket. I didn’t much care, not worth replacing.
Flew to Florida, bought a Honda CRV for $3K under book, drove it home for $170 in gasoline.
Couple of hundred for the flight, I think I came out ahead. Saw psuedo-ranches in Florida I’d pondered at $500K a year ago asking $240K last week. I’m still not biting on those, I buy homes to live in, not as investments.
Argue what you will about the economy, if you were frugal it’s a buyers market.
And *nothing* beats avoiding the crowds at the mall like shopping on-line. In my pajamas, perhaps. Sipping coffee and secure in the knowledge sombody else has to get it to me.
Which, with a year-old daughter is no trivial matter. Seems that for a 1-year-old we need to pack more into that CRV than Lex packed to spend 6 months at sea.
Pondering, this does not bode well for brick-and-mortor establishments unless a significant segment of their market likes to browse.
– Max
Lex, You’re lucky. MCRD-SD has what is probably the best X in the whole MCX system. I know we are eliteist, but Marines long ago realized that that AAFES and NEX tend to be no more than Walmart with a uniform. MCX carries a generally better line of gear which, of course is fitting, since we are certainly a better quality of customer.
But we don’t mind letting you mere mortals share our shopping experience.
Max,
Having three children, I understand completely why my father drank.
It is amazing that just a simple venture somewhere with a small child requires the planning of an Alpha strike, complete with rendezvous and tanking options. You need at least 2 pack mules and a porter to go anywhere, and by the time you get the basic stuff loaded into a car, it’s not at all uncommon to be mistaken for one of the city’s homeless.
Car seat, stroller, diaper bag, spare clothes, wipes, food(s) plaything(s). Sigh. I am happy those days are behind me, but I do remember them well.
Happy shopping, everyone!
I got so busy w/ mitigating erosion on our recently graded lower lot I forgot what shopping day it was until I pulled in to the Home Depot for to buy some more sand bags and annual rye.
Oy!
Still, HD is my kind of Xmas shopping store — and it’s only 3-4 blocks to El Cajon Gun Exchange.
Online’s fine but some shopping is better with the tactile (and tactical) element.
Black Friday = stay home.
Marine6, I couldn’t agree more. Did more shopping there than anyplace in my 22 years in San Diego. Loved that place, and not just the exchange. Good, friendly staff, got most of my degree at the Navy Campus there, rented camping trailers there for quite a long time. They really know how to do it right there. God bless ‘em all. Course, us squids do take pride in giving your boys a ride now and then if’n you’re itchen for a fight with some scumbags! So, we got that going for us.
I was in the woods in WV, about a 80 minutes west of the promised land, with a .30-30.
Didn’t get anything.
Didn’t matter…
Those who speak the praises of MCRD X should also check out the X at MCAS Miramar. Sweeeet. Oh, and lots more parking.
Had never done it. Always played golf or hunted quail with Dad instead. But this year, I had my daughters with me for the holiday, so midnight, when I should have been sleeping off a pre-hibernation-worthy daylong meal, I headed to the mall with said daughters. OMG! Dropped them at the door and entered a holding pattern for 20 min before being cleared to land in one of the last half dozen spaces on the back forty. Hiked back to the mall just to watch the madness. Crushed Christmas. Wish I’d never seen it.
Had to take the youngest out the next day and introduce her to the rifle, the 9mm, and the 12-gauge just to shed the uggies. I was proud of her. Every shot in the 10-ring (dry-firing pays off), and she even hit a couple clays on the fly. Check that box.