shopping
We went to Micro Center today. The big purchase was a 750GB hard drive (ST3750640AS) for the MythTV system. It was $20 more than the best price I'd seen on the web, but there's a $60 rebate. I hate rebates, but there is also the advantage of having the disk now. I'd like a 2nd disk so I'd have my own terabyte server, but I don't need that much space yet, and by the time I do, the drives could be cheaper. (Or bigger. ) I hope to keep our MP3s and digital photos on this system too - Myth expects music and photo libraries, and my laptop certainly doesn't have the space for them.
We got a bunch of little things too - recordable blank DVDs, a couple of small LED flashlights (should be good for casual camping like Baitcon and Pennsic; cheaply made, but metal, lightweight, handy, and good light, and not to big/heavy to hold in your mouth if you need both hands, so we may go back for more of those), a LED upgrade kit for Maglites, some NiMH rechargeable batteries and a recharger that will handle C, D, and 9V, and a pair of headphones for the office.
And I was able to handle the Canon S3 IS, one of the cameras I'm considering. It does seem to focus better than the S1, but there was no memory card in the display model, so I couldn't actually take a picture and examine it closely. (And still waiting to learn more about the just-announced S5....)
anniemal wasn't so interested in checking out techno toys, so she went to the crafts store next door. She found their bead selection disappointing, and they were out of wire-working tools. (I'm planning to bring pliers and rings to Baitcon for making chain mail.) But she did find long-lasting "soap" bubbles. These things can land on vegetation without popping and sit there for an hour! They do leave behind a goo-film when they finally pop.
I wasn't paying enough attention and bought the wrong disk drive (ATA/IDE interface instead of SATA), so we made another trip to Micro Center to exchange it. I had also discovered that one of the flashlights didn't work, so we swapped it too. On the way back we stopped at Merrifield Garden Center. We had considered going there earlier, but the place was swamped-crazy-busy. (They had people in the parking lot to direct traffic!) It was still busy and the narrow aisles required co-operation, but a garden center is a civil place. We got several varieties of tomatoes, a few basil plants, and I don't recall what else. The check-out line looked long, but they had staff circulating in the line with portable scanners so at the register all people had to do was pay. It went very quickly. (And we got lollipops. )
Lots of things were in bloom, and it would have been an interesting place to wander with a camera on a quieter (and sunnier) day. Looking at the people was as interesting as looking at the plants. People don't get dressed up for garden centers. Minimal/no makeup, muckable clothes. There was one woman in a clingy dress and high heels who looked really out of place.