Else what's a heaven for?

I think it's sort of funny how Black Friday has become its own special holiday. I'm surprised at how muted it's been this year: is it just me? On Friday we ended up going to the main shopping district in my hometown. Parking was slightly more difficult than a typical weekend, but Saks wasn't particularly crowded. I tried on a few dresses; the one I wanted most looked better on my sister, as usual. Someday I'll remember not to go shopping with her. In the end, my brother pronounced it not all that flattering on her either, so through a series of barters, I traded an expiring gift card for one with no expiry and some cash. win.

I didn't see many deals offered online, either. I never caught the Sephora ones, I'm tired of buying gear and didn't respond to the EMS ones. Jon is training me to like Philadelphia by taking me shopping there and it felt good to reclaim the Conshohocken REI. I tried on eleventy-seven pairs of pants and found one pair that fit. They are overpriced, but they do amazing things to my butt and once I get them hemmed, I may wear them aroud, rather than just hiking. I'm, er, not convinced they are practical for hiking. oops. I tried on REI's Sahara pants and discovered they are 1-2" too long for me - and have a zipper so they can't be inexpensively hemmed. GRR. After I inventory my current hiking pants, I have extensive notes so I can buy more pants if necessary. Not that I plan on doing outdoor sports any more or anything.

The Shutterfly deals looked good; maybe I'll finish a photo book or presents in time to take advantage of them. I bought another lecture series from the Teaching Company, mostly bc Jon looked over my shoulder and said he'd like to listen to it too, which was enough to tip me over. If I'd been clever, I'd've downloaded some Sunday morning so we could listen to them on the way home, but we didn't really hit traffic and we had too much fun talking about showtunes and the Nazi economy.

No, the only Black Friday deal that really caught my eye was the basic Nook going for $59. I'm debating whether yesterday was sufficiently productive to be day 3 of the current shiny game, but for $59, I could buy myself a Nook when I get rid of all my current magazines. I still haven't found a guideline for reading magazines, which is why they accumulate. I want an iPad bc I want to read the Economist and the WSJ on it. For regular book reading purposes, my iPhone is wonderful, bc it's always with me, although I find I have so many choices, I don't read anything anymore. An iPad (or a Nook) would be great for reading PDFs, like the accompanying notes to Building Great Sentences, to which I stopped listening bc I wasn't absorbing it well. I have both Kindle and Nook books though (more of the former than the latter bc their DRM isn't as annoying). Unfortunately, I couldn't watch Teaching Company lectures (I don't own) or play PvZ on a Nook, which is why I'll probably wait for Hanukkah Harry or 25 straight days of shiny, whichever comes first.

Edit: Apparently I visited the Brigadoon of REIs on Sun, bc when I went to see about getting another pair of pants online, the only ones I tried on that were on the website were the Saharas. ARGH! (a) this includes the pants I bought there and (b) I checked REI, EMS, AND Sierra Trading Post. I give up: buying pants is too hard for me. I'll just go naked when the current pair wear out.