can i please say that i hate people’s free internet?

i love panera, but right now i want to shoot it.

i wrote a lovely post about my thanksgiving, and when i went to post it, panera decided to take a survey of how i like bread, erasing my post. i hate bread, thanks.

let’s try this again.

my brother brought his new zealander roommate for thanksgiving. that was fun, mimicking his accent for a week. he didn’t really get the whole thanksgiving thing, but he was polite and made good coffee, so we let him stay. even though he bad mouthed the macy’s thanksgiving day parade.

we took him to my dad’s side’s thanksgiving in the middle of nowhere. we ate obscene amounts of green bean cassarole and my grandma’s german cooking, then we went out in the pasteur and shot stuff. we’re classy. jacob says guns are illegal in new zealand. my only concept of new zealand is lord of the rings, and frodo only had a sword, so i have to believe him.

thanksgiving evening, i went down to the lord’s diner to do a story for the sunflower. it was a lot of fun, actually. the people are very nice and friendly. sometimes a little too friendly–a few 65+ men asked me out. i said, thanks, but it would make my boyfriend sad.

then came the main event: friday morning shopping. corrie and i were going to sleep in my car in front of best buy, but then we decided that cheap stuff isn’t as fun to play with if your hands fell off from frostbite. instead, we were at walmart by 3:45, standing in the already long line for the electronics department.

along about 4:20, jack, the friendly walmart line keeper, announced that the line had split into 5 lines and everybody needed to get in the right one. the natives panicked and all herded into one fat line, squashing corrie and i in the process. we were so hot from our preventative layers that we nearly passed out. it really wouldn’t have matter much, though, because we were packed in so tight, we wouldn’t have fallen.

so, we get about three people back in line. our eyes were on the prize and victory was about to taste very sweet. then corrie asked jack if the mp3 player she wanted had rechargeable batteries.

it didn’t.

we left. but we managed to shank a couple $4 coffeemakers and a toaster on the way out. we hit a couple more places, then feigned illness and went home to pass out on our parents’ new carpet.

friday was my mom’s side’s thanksgiving. lots of people, lots of artery-blocking food. jeff felt like he needed to pull his weight in the meal, so he brought a very popular lipton parmesan noodles dish. he had been planning on bringing a few bowls of hamburger helper, but decided at the last minute that hamburger clearly doesn’t go with turkey, and every meal needs cheesy pasta.

friday night was duane frazier’s going away party at sidepocket, the official lutz hangout. i’ve only worked with duane for a year, peanuts to gary’s 26, but i’m pretty sad to see him go. he was a great guy and a lot of fun to work with. also, his departure bumps jeff up into his vacant spot–as my boss. i don’t know yet if we’ll have to go sign a statement with corporate…