Kontan.

I spent two excruciating fun-filled hours at Wal taking over the world Mart this afternoon. I think they have perfected their strategy for increased consumer spending. You can get just about everything you need in one place. Many things are cheaper because they can purchase stock in tremendous bulk. They ad match. In-store advertising is also annoyingly done. Finally, they have figured out that the longer an individual is in the store the more they will likely buy. To keep consumers in the store they move everything around on a regular basis. They are playing on our impulses and confusion people. Wal*Mart is here to stay, no doubt. They are growing and because I can’t afford to do all of my shopping at their competitors, which are considerably less annoying, I have to shop there occasionally. ALL that I ask is that they leave the blasted products in the same place week after week. They’re still getting a large portion of my check but it is frustrating as all get out!

On a happier note, I purchased a new camera today. I researched online first at Best Buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack, Sears, and even Wal*Mart. I found the best deal at Dell.com, but I didn’t have time to wait for shipping and didn’t want to pay for the overnight b/c that defeats the purpose of a good deal. I decided on one at Best Buy, but still went to a Circuit City to see if their in-store deals were better. They had only one type of Kodak camera and I wanted something with more than 3x zoom. The one I had my eye on at Best Buy was a 7mp w/ 12x zoom. It was at the high end of my price range in store, but they were willing to give me the online price. GREAT! Since I had to go to Wal*Mart anyway I thought I would look at what they had. I really hate buying electronics there, but again…cheaper. They had a comparable camera to the one at Best Buy. The difference was $40 and 1mp. Shoot. I can live with 6mp. Here is the camera I chose…the Kodak Z612

So far so good. It has more features than my Z700, better zoom, and more megapixels. We’ll have to be more careful with this one. I can’t wait to play with it this weekend and then take great pics at the beach next week!