Post Christmas posting and subtle bragging of Boxing Day adventures... errr.... yeah

It came and went so fast, that wonderful day of childhood, getting up early, not being able to sleep the night before, yes Christmas has gone bye-bye for another year. To be frank or Rob, or honest, I don't mind that much because it's become another day for me. Maybe that's because there aren't any little ones that show such eager anticipation to see what some old fat guy in a red costume brought, maybe. ;)

As a kid my family used to have friends of the family over, or any close relatives who lived nearby. So the house was busy most of the afternoon, but the morning was special. The kids were allowed to get up and go check out the presents, but that was it, eventually Mom or Dad would allow us to go through our stockings. These stockings were, and still are amazing, my Mom made them herself for all of us, in different colours and all were personalized. New members to our family were sure excited to get their very own special stocking from Mom/Grandma, she still does it today for the little ones.

Christmas Eve was also fun for us as we got into our teens. We already knew the deal for Christmas morning, but the night before was fun as well. My brother and I would usually head outside after dinner to play road hockey for hours, just spending energy and killing time till Mom and Dad would let us open one present. Eventually the hockey game became our Christmas ritual, one year we were outside in minus 20 temps on roller blades wreaking havoc in the neighbourhood, luckily it was too cold for anyone to come outside and yell at us. ;)

These days Christmas seems to be more about shopping, well Boxing Day is where some get the deals I guess. I was never really into the whole shopping experience, hate the crowds at the malls and stores, parking lots are filled with lunatics, the over marketing of the Holiday specials.... it's for the birds.

That was one reason why I am not usually a fan of the whole Christmas hype, however this year I was ready for it. I made plans to get some back from the advertising/marketing whiz kids, yes I spent 3 hours waiting in a line on Boxing Day. Leading up to the 26th, I knew I needed to upgrade the computer, so I went on a recon for the best deal. Researched all of the big box stores, determined what my needs were, planned my surgical strike on the opposition (the other shoppers on Boxing Day). Just days before I was trying to pin down what to do, option 1 was go to Future Shop at 4am in an attempt to be early enough to stake out a good spot in the horde's rush at 6am when they opened. Option 2 go to Staples and hope for a smaller crush of consumerism. Option 3 was to try and snake a good deal online from one of the big stores, but that came with an uncertain shipping date.

Ultimately it came down to me wanting to play with the new toy, so I went to Staples at 555am, no one there the plan looked like it might work, darted off to Tim Horton's for fuel, passed by Future Shop and saw over 150 people waiting! Yes Option 2 was looking better and better. When I returned to Staples, someone had usurped my spot! This bastard was parked where I had been not 10 minutes earlier, how nervy was this? So I parked the van, settled in for the 2 hour wait, looking over at my sleeping nemesis occasionally. That morning was especially cold, minus 15 at least with a bit of wind. I however was dressed for the elements, I had put on long underwear, lined pants, thick socks, good boots, 2 t-shirts, sweatshirt, hiking vest, thick lined coat, last but not least toque and warm gloves. I could have lasted all day, just fired up the van once in a while to take the edge off, yes the plan was working nicely, just 2 more hours to go.

At the 7am mark the coffee was ready for evacuation, Home Depot was close by and open, I knew I could zip over there, shake the dew off and then come back without losing my spot. I got out of the van, waved at the nemesis who was going towards the store and wandered across the parking lot towards the big orange box. Coming back across the barren wasteland of a Boxing Day parking lot I saw something unusual, people were out of their cars around Staples.. what was this? Lining up already? but that's not in the plan, the plan said to line up 25 minutes before not an hour, this was wreaking havoc with the plan. I got over to the store and found out that seconds after I left someone from inside the store had posted a note saying they were opening at 9am..... `Curses upon you' I thought, this didn't just happen, I could have stuck it out at Future Shop and been home by now or at least at the check out. Another 2 hours from that moment was when I'd be standing in a line with my new technological marvels... but could I wait another 2 hours?

Decisions decisions... what to do? what was the enemy doing? How should I respond to this potential catastrophe? Easy RJ, breathe, remember the ninja training, the hours spent in quite contemplation of how to be a snowflake or a leaf on a bamboo tree, calming thoughts. Ultimately the enemy (fellow shoppers) made my decision quite easy, the fools told me what there were after. One guy wanted a colour lazer printer and some software, the other guy wanted software too.... that was it? With just 3 of us in line right now, I'm still first for the laptop and printer I desired, no problem to wait 2 more hours. I told them I'd be back, raced off to Timmy's again, back with a large black with sugar, and hunkered down again.

I'll give a quick recap of the events leading to the store opening at 9am. 730am visit the washroom at the orange box again, 745am a small swarm of shoppers start heading to the store, Enemy/cohort #1 intercepts them and explains that some evil person in the store posted a 9am open sign at 705am and that he's going to give them a piece of his mind, swarm disperses, crisis averted.

840am, we all move towards the store, I'm 3rd in line, and the 2 guys ahead of me want stuff other than I want/need! I'm so golden, already planning the cartwheels through the parking lot, how I'll spend the rest of the day surfing the Internet, moving documents to the new machine... oh happy days! 9am doors open and a nice young lady greets us with Good Mornings, mumbled grumbling about 7am note is heard from ahead, the herd disperses to search for Boxing Day specials. I head towards a fairly bright eyed young man, ask for help and go through my laundry list of technological desires. He confirms what laptop and then races off to find my prize. I scramble and get a copy of Office ($50 from $150, hello bargoon!), then get a chillmat for $15 (down from $60!), final acquisition on my own was a Canon 3 in 1 copier/scanner/printer for $50!!! The helpful Staple elf returns with my primary target.... yes that's it!

Sah-weet mother of pearl! I've got everything I had on the list, the plan came together with little troubles, just need to check out now... I turn around and think "where did all of these people come from?" The checkouts were packed, except for one young lady looking around twirling her hair.... I walk over as she turns towards me, "hi, no one wants to use my till, do you need some help?" jackpot! I get through the register, pay for the techno-treasures and race off to the van screaming "Victory is mine! Victory is mine" And then the security alarms went off.... and I kept walking, didn't look back once.

Oddly enough I wasn't getting weird looks from people in the parking lot... not sure why, really no idea why, wasn't looking for a reaction but looking back at the situation if I saw some guy loaded with boxes running from a store with security alarms blaring and the guy was yelling "Victory is mine!" at the top of his lungs, I'd give that a second glance or three.

So I made it through the Boxing Day buying extravaganza without any injuries, well except the bank account but I was expecting that so the pain was somewhat deadened. That and knowing that now I have a super-duper laptop. 250Gb hard drive (I'll never fill half of that), 3Gb of RAM on a 2.0Ghz Intel Dual Core chip (fast? it's like lightning fast), yes the transition to this machine from the old Blueberry was easier than I expected oddly enough. ;)

Anyways that's it for now, more to follow in the next few weeks when I actually go back to college.

Happy Holidays, Festivus or whatever it is you celebrate, please do it safely. =)