The holiday shopping season has begun...

[southern_sweets]

and guess who was first in line at Target this morning? That's right, it was me. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]
(even ended up on the news...wow!) The things we do for our kids toys!
After 10+ hours I'm almost done with Christmas shopping, and hopefully the boys' birthday. My little guys will be spoiled again this year. And, yes, I did pass up the Easy Bake Oven.

Anybody else get any good deals today?

[veruca salt]

yup. I just bought an awesome telescope for my boyfriends brother & sister in law.
I'm pretty impressed with it really.
I want one myself.
I've not done much else though.

[Chiwas]

women....



[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[southern_sweets]

Men...

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[MFFL]

My store was swamped the last two days. All I bought was a drill for myself.

My honey does all the Christmas shopping, she likes to shop.

[Base Line Guy]

Veruca has a boyfriend? I was holding out for her. DAMN!

BLG

[Chiwas]

<< Veruca has a boyfriend? >>



<< I just bought an awesome telescope for my boyfriends >>



It seems that more than one...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

[Base Line Guy]

So your saying there's a chance!?!

BLG

[veruca salt]

Veruca has a fiancee.
Only one though..she's got awful grammar [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[MFFL]

<< Only one though.. >>



BLG - I guess you still have a chance (maybe she's a mormon)

[Smiles]

MFFL!! You're so mean!

don't tease BLG that way! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]


[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[Base Line Guy]

Here's hoping she's Mormon. WOOHOO!

BLG

[veruca salt]

I was coming here to post some more presents I bought....then i remembered what
this thread had deteriorated into!
Oh well, anyhoo...
I bought my Dad 4 CDs (Oasis - Heathen Chemistry, The Datsuns, The Libertines - Up The Bracket &amp; The Strokes - Is This It?)
My brother is getting this COOL robot building kit. So excited. I love christmas, I just hate the fact I've not seen them in 3 christmases! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

[southern_sweets]

Back to shopping. Thanks Veruca.

The boys' haul so far (Christmas and Birthday):
Lite Brites
Ice Age DVD
Rescue Heros game
Let's Go Fishing game
Toy Story race track
Small Skateboards (yes, I know, they will break their necks)
Rescue Heros Aquatic Rescue Command
Talking Buzz Lightyear Action Figures (purchased after xmas last year at 75% off!!)

Help! I'm running out of ideas.

[Chiwas]

A camcorder to record the necks breaking. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img]

[southern_sweets]

Chiwas!
When they are the next Tony Hawk you'll be sorry!!

[Chiwas]

I can be their agent! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

[Base Line Guy]

My shopping season doesn't really start until noon on Christmas eve, so I'll get back to you guys. If you're at the Frisco mall on Dec 24th, keep an eye out for me. I'll be one of the many single guys trying to get all thier shopping done.

BLG

[Usually Lurkin]

right on BLG.
when I read Chiwas post:

women....

I thought, &quot;how true it is.&quot;

The holiday shopping season for me consists of whatever time it takes me to drive from my place to wherever I need to be to give someone a present.

[southern_sweets]

BLG and UL. This works (kind of) when you are single. However, when you have children they will be pretty disappointed when all they get is picked over crap that's left on Christmas Eve.

Also, if you are shopping for the women in your life, we know when it's last minute (and we will remember). When I used to work in retail we had a name for those guys, the &quot;oh h*ll it's Christmas better go get the bi*ch something&quot; crowd.

Have you boys considered on-line shopping?

[Base Line Guy]

Very true Sweets! When I wait till the last minute for my girl, I just pick up some jewelry. Picked over or not, if it sparkles, we're in business.

BLG

[veruca salt]

you go out with easy women then!
I'd scream if i was ever given jewellery.
To me it's a gift that says &quot;Hey, i got cash, but i don't care about you&quot;
[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[Usually Lurkin]

luckily, my wife hates Christmas. Well, not Christmas, but the overt commercialism, and the insincerity of giving a gift because it's 'the day to give gifts'. I kinda like the overt commercialism. It's bright and shiny.


Course, what it really means is I've got to get her stuff throughout the rest of the year [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

My family is large enough that everyone went broke buying everyone else presents, so we do a dirty santa thing now. I'm thinking of putting in a package of tube-socks to see what everyone does.

[Hoopsmeister]

<< BLG and UL. This works (kind of) when you are single. However, when you have children they will be pretty disappointed when all they get is picked over crap that's left on Christmas Eve.

Also, if you are shopping for the women in your life, we know when it's last minute (and we will remember). When I used to work in retail we had a name for those guys, the &quot;oh h*ll it's Christmas better go get the bi*ch something&quot; crowd.

Have you boys considered on-line shopping? >>



On-line shopping is the best, I completed my Christmas shopping over the weekend and only had to actually visit 2 stores to complete my shopping for my two daughters. Then had to take them out to shop for grandparents, etc but its nice to be finished.

[Base Line Guy]

Damn, Veruca just gave me the Heisman! Sorry if I rubbed ya the wrong way Salts. If you buy the right jewelry you're fine. You have to be careful to not say too much and can't say too little. Takes even more thought than any other gift IMO.

BLG

[veruca salt]

I was just trying to scare you really [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

[Base Line Guy]

kind of worked!

BLG

[southern_sweets]

BLG, if you really hate to shop Christmas Eve is the last day you should be at the mall. Try a weekday and, if possible, get there when they first open. It will take a lot less time and stress and you should end up with a better gift.

Of course, you could always give your parents a year's supply of yard work. That way you wouldn't have to shop. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[Base Line Guy]

LOL, no way on the yard work. My parents should give ME a free yard pass for the remaining year for my Christmas present.

BLG

[senorfrog]

<< yup. I just bought an awesome telescope for my boyfriends brother &amp; sister in law.
I'm pretty impressed with it really.
I want one myself.
I've not done much else though. >>



Johnny and Jamie said thanks. They said you can use it any time. See you at dinner.

[senorfrog]

<< and guess who was first in line at Target this morning? That's right, it was me. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]
(even ended up on the news...wow!) The things we do for our kids toys!
After 10+ hours I'm almost done with Christmas shopping, and hopefully the boys' birthday. My little guys will be spoiled again this year. And, yes, I did pass up the Easy Bake Oven.

Anybody else get any good deals today? >>



I got a nickel bag of pot, and a brick of coc in downtown NY for $2000. Those corner dealers really get competitive after Thanksgiving.

[veruca salt]

<<

<< yup. I just bought an awesome telescope for my boyfriends brother &amp; sister in law.
I'm pretty impressed with it really.
I want one myself.
I've not done much else though. >>



Johnny and Jamie said thanks. They said you can use it any time. See you at dinner. >>



Why me!? [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img]

[Chiwas]

<< Why me!?[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img] >>



You´re naive.

Just keep shopping...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[southern_sweets]

[/i] >>

Just keep shopping...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img][/i] >>



This is good advice Chiwas. I think I'll take it.

[southern_sweets]

The countdown's on!
Only 10 shopping days until Christmas!

It was crowded out there, but I managed to get a Playstation 2 and Rescue Heros Aquatic Rescue Command. I think I'm done shopping for the boys now. Any more toys and we'll have to get a bigger house.

OK you last minute guys (like BLG) time to get shopping!!! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

[Chiwas]

<< OK you last minute guys (like BLG) time to get shopping!!! >>

I start the 24th at 5:00 and finish at 6:30. Give the presents to a chosen nephew to wrapping and we finish by 7:45. 12 gifts. My shopping season lasts 2.75 hours.

(Men... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-frown.gif[/img] )

[southern_sweets]

9 shopping days until Christmas!

Please don't wait until the last minute guys. We don't want that picked over crap.

I've never forgotten the year I got a cheese slicer and a Beavis and Butthead t-shirt.


And remember...nothing says &quot;I love you&quot; and celebrates the miracle of Christ's birth like a mass produced item purchased in haste at a crowded retail establishment. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[MavKikiNYC]

Nothing like the threat of a transit strike to spur retail sales and thwart last-minute shoppers......

Threat of Strike Sends Shoppers Into Early Rush
By ROBERT D. McFADDEN

With a transit strike looming in New York tomorrow, battalions of anxious buyers swarmed the city's retail emporiums, toy outlets, bike shops and grocery stores yesterday in a scramble to finish Christmas shopping early, to stock up on food and other supplies and to look at alternative wheels, just in case.

Despite an overcast sky and a cold, misty drizzle, there was a Christmas Eve mood in the mid-December day, as if thousands of last-minute shoppers had been caught in a time warp 11 days early. Many were lined up for 6 a.m. openings of department stores, and they were out for more than stocking stuffers.

Transit strike accessories like comfortable walking shoes, windbreakers, in-line skates and Razor scooters were selling briskly. So were milk, bread, eggs and other perishables that often disappear from supermarket shelves just before a major snowstorm.

&quot;I think they are going to strike, and we live in Brooklyn, so we had to come today,&quot; Art Neri, a tired veteran of the shopping wars by late morning, his arms laden with packages from F. A. O. Schwarz and Macy's, said at Herald Square. &quot;I don't know how long they'll strike, but we are going to be ready.&quot;

No breakthrough was reported yesterday in negotiations at the Grand Hyatt Hotel between Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the subways and buses. Indeed, there were conflicting reports on how the talks were going, with the M.T.A. and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg speaking of progress, and the union accusing management of &quot;bad faith&quot; and saying that the talks were deteriorating.

A strike by 34,000 transit workers would not only paralyze the nation's largest mass transit system, forcing 7.2 million daily riders to scramble for alternate ways to get to work and school, but would also severely damage the city's economy at the height of the Christmas shopping season. The around-the-clock talks were expected to go down to the wire, with the possibility of a strike anytime after the union's contract expires at 12:01 a.m. tomorrow. Roger Toussaint, the union president, and Gary J. Dellaverson, the chief management negotiator, were said to be talking intensely, and 21 subcommittees were poring over wages, pensions, worker safety, disciplinary procedures and other issues.

Elsewhere, on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, huge throngs waited to get into Saks, Bergdorf Goodman, Disney, J. Crew, Banana Republic, Tiffany and Lord &amp; Taylor. Outside Radio City Music Hall, Salvation Army bells rang and Frank Sinatra's mellow voice filled the air with &quot;Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.&quot;

&quot;We thought we'd better get into the city before the strike,&quot; said Jean Cruthers — the mother of Frank P. Cruthers, the chief of the New York City Fire Department — who was waiting for a bus outside St. Patrick's Cathedral with two friends from Long Island. They usually get together just before Christmas, she said, but &quot;we couldn't be doing this if there was a strike.&quot;

A survey of bicycle shops around town found some window-shoppers, but few buyers. &quot;They're waiting to see what happens,&quot; said Don Muraco, the owner of A-Bicycle Shop on West 14th Street. He added, &quot;I think this could happen all at once —at 4 o'clock on Sunday afternoon.&quot;

Times Square was packed with people, and the Toys &quot;R&quot; Us flagship store at 44th Street was jammed elbow-to-elbow. Many shoppers said they would have been out yesterday, with or without a transit strike impending. Some tourists said they were unaware of strike talk, but many New Yorkers in the crowd said the threatened strike nagged them.

&quot;I don't believe it's going to happen,&quot; said Eddie Borroughs, of Brooklyn, &quot;but I am usually one of those `wait until the last minute' shoppers, and this made me come out a little early just to be safe.&quot; He had bought a radio and a Nintendo game for his children, and was &quot;90 percent done&quot; with Christmas shopping.

At Macy's Herald Square store, shoppers padded like armadillos against the morning cold were waiting more than an hour before sunrise for the doors to open at 6 a.m. Therese St. Juste, 63, of Brooklyn, was one of them. She spent the morning pushing through piles of merchandise festooned with gilded pine branches and &quot;50 percent off&quot; signs.

&quot;In case of a strike, I have most of the things I must have to entertain,&quot; said Ms. St. Juste, carrying packages containing silver salt-and-pepper shakers, gold table linens and a hurricane lamp. Still, she was hoping there would be no strike, so she could return for a soup tureen and a short fur coat.

By 10:30 a.m., another Macy's shopper, Jean Wade, was already heading for the exit, lugging sweaters for her children and a paper shredder for a friend. She had started at 7 a.m., just to be sure. &quot;I don't think there'll be a strike,&quot; she said, &quot;but I couldn't take a chance. If the strike is on, my Christmas is made. I'm set.&quot;

The line outside F. A. O. Schwarz, on Fifth Avenue and 58th Street, stretched east to Madison Avenue by 9 a.m., and Jim Buonagura, 31, of Babylon, N.Y., said he was glad he had been able to get his family into the city beforehand.

&quot;If there was a strike, you could be sure we wouldn't be here,&quot; he said, as his daughter, Victoria, 4, beamed at the Barbie dolls and his son, Nicholas, 21 months, gurgled at Bob the Builder toys. Mr. Buonagura said they planned to see Central Park, the Bronx Zoo and the tree at Rockefeller Center. &quot;We're going to get it all done this weekend,&quot; he said.

A sign in the window at Pedal Pusher Bicycle Shop at 69th Street and Second Avenue's window proclaimed: &quot;Transit strike? Please don't wait until the last minute.&quot; Roger Bergman, the store's owner, said he would stay open today as long as there were customers.

Koyo Tamaki and his wife, Momoko, came to the shop to rent an attachment that would convert his bike into a tandem, so that he and his 6-year-old daughter, Sakura, could pedal together two miles to her school on 25th Street. &quot;He said, `Let's have some fun with this,' &quot; Ms. Tamaki recalled.

Connie Miller, a school nurse for Rodeph Sholom School on West 79th Street, was preparing for a family ride tomorrow, too, if there is a strike. She said she and her daughter, Ingrid, 7, would cycle along the Hudson from their home in Greenwich Village, a distance of about three miles.

Supermarket chains, anticipating the crush, had prepared by ordering extra supplies of staples, aware that trucks would be banned from entering Manhattan from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. if there is a strike.

Many strike preparations were going on behind the scenes yesterday. Some corporations and law firms were reserving hotel rooms for indispensable personnel, and many companies were setting up bicycle storage spaces for those who would be riding bikes to work.

Other quiet preparations were going on in homes, where laptops and other computer hookups might make commuting unnecessary for some.

In a strike, the customary choreography of commuting would be gone, so millions of people who normally worry only about whether their trains and buses will be on time were mapping new personal strategies to get to and from work — carpools, ferries, company-chartered buses, pickup and dropoff points, walking or biking routes, and the thousands of other mundane and ingenious alternatives to the subways and buses.

Peter S. Kalikow, the transportation authority's chairman, and Katherine N. Lapp, its executive director, went to the Grand Hyatt for the first time yesterday to discuss strategy with Mr. Dellaverson. &quot;The talks are ongoing and are making progress,&quot; said the authority's spokesman, Tom Kelly.

Mayor Bloomberg, who has said a strike could cost the city economy up to $350 million a day during the peak of the Christmas shopping season, concurred. &quot;Progress is being made,&quot; he told reporters in Queens. &quot;Whether the progress is sufficient to come to a decision by the deadline, I don't know.&quot;

But Ed Watt, the union's secretary-treasurer, painted a bleaker picture, saying the authority had offered no counterproposal despite the union's willingness to accept somewhat lower wages. The union originally demanded 8 percent raises in each year of a three-year contract, but has offered to accept annual increases of 6 percent.

While the talks were described as around-the-clock negotiations, both sides said Mr. Toussaint and Mr. Dellaverson were resting from time to time to be fresh and at their shrewdest when the crisis comes tonight or early tomorrow.

[southern_sweets]

Today I returned the Playstation 2 and got the Game Cube instead. I think the controls will be easier for the boys. Now I have to find a game for them. Any suggestions?

[southern_sweets]

Only 4 shopping days until Christmas!
BLG and other last minute shoppers...you are running out of time!
I am done with my shopping and off to the Trail of Lights.
Happy Holidays! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]