Thermos

I spent most of my late afternoon and evening yesterday trying to buy a Thermos. 

I do know that it shouldn't be that hard. 

See, I needed a Thermos for winter outdoor activities. On every winter outdoor activity I do, there are people with Thermoses who have delicious warm drinks when we stop for lunch and I instead have delicious cold drinks, which are delicious but just not the same when you are out in the snow. 

I had a winter outdoor activity planned for today, and so of course yesterday at around 4 pm I decided that I needed a Thermos now now now. 

Reviews suggested that REI had a good one, but there were also some available at T@rget that looked good, so I went there first. 

I stood in front of the Thermos section for a while, thinking, picking up various Thermos products and then setting them down again. (Thermoses are expensive, which is a fact that I did not know. $15 for a little soup Thermos that your kid takes to school? What if they lose it? What if I lose it?)

At length, I decided that I would buy the REI thermos instead of the bigger, bulkier one at T@rget, and I went off to buy some things at Trader Joe's and then to REI.

It was 6:10 when I pulled up to REI. 

It turns out that they close at 6.

Curses.

I was determined that I needed a Thermos now now now, so I went back across town to T@rget and bought the 18 oz one. 

It's amazing how easy a decision is when you only have one choice. Sometimes - many times - I think I prefer it that way. If there were not so many choices, I would not find myself standing aimlessly in T@rget for far too long. 

(T@rget is particularly bad for this. 

When I came back from Rwanda for Christmas in 2003, I remember standing in front of the snack aisle in W@lgreens while my pictures printed, mesmerized and immobilized by the row of snacks. There were so very many of them! I was used to having my snack options limited to Pringles and three types of cookies, two of which were tasteless. 

I still feel mesmerized and immobilized in T@rget, which is probably why, contrary to the rumors that circulate on the internet about never getting out of T@rget with less than $200 spent, I need either a list or my sister to get me to spend any money there. It is not uncommon for me to walk out with nothing if I do not have a list. There are just too many choices.)