Gifts!

I went Christmas shopping today. I thought I'd get out there around 12:30 and everything would be cool. It mostly was... it was like a busy weekend normally, rather than a busy weekend around Christmas. That's good, right?

A few notes:

I encountered quite a few stupid drivers. The three most memorable ones:
1. The one where we were at a 4 way stop, and I stopped just after one car. So that car got to go. Apparently the second car thought that since they'd technically stopped, they could also go. Or maybe I hesitated too long and didn't take advantage of the small gap between the two cars. In any case, it was off too. Good thing I was paying attention.
2. The clumsy. I was getting into the turn lane on a four-lane road. I start coasting into the turn lane, signalling dutifully as usual, when a car starts crawling out from the road I want to get to, intending on a left turn. I've got a couple of seconds, and think they'll turn into the middle lane, look a bit, and then merge. No. They stop. In the middle of the road. With traffic a few seconds away. I have to pass my turn so that they can pull their senses together and get out of the way. Scared the pants off of me... not because I was in any danger, but because they were.
3. The indignant. When you make a turn with two turn lanes, and you're in the right lane, you're supposed to turn so that you're securely in the right lane before you make any presumption for going into the other lane. Sometimes people make a two-lane swing, and that's alright, I suppose, but it's technically not right. So when I make my turn, I get to a decent speed, check the other lane. All clear. So I signal and switch. Then I get a honk from the car that was a car behind me in the turn lane, which had just rounded the turn aiming straight for the left lane and had presumed he'd have a clear shot. Sorry! I'm just where I need to be. And I'm going the speed limit.

And of course I can't say what everyone got. Suffice to say that they aren't pimped out Corn Poppers.