I woke up at 3:19 am this morning. Why? Because it’s fun to check out lines of shivering people wrapped around electronics stores. Best Buy at 28th and the Beltline had people lined up from the entrance, around the old Dunham’s building, and almost back to the Beltline when we rolled up at about 4 am. Incredible. I generally do my best to avoid the whole Black Friday extravaganza. And I knew the lines were forming already last night when I watched the late news, but I’ve always wanted to see the chaos. Mary and I ended up waiting in a shorter line at Circuit City even though there wasn’t anything in particular there we were looking for. The rush through the store at 5 am was amusing to see. Even so early in the morning people seemed generally upbeat and perky. Later we wandered through Target, where the clientele (and staff) were decidedly less cheerful. I can’t even begin to imagine the mood at the mall by the end of the day.

Well, anyway, we got some cheap DVDs and a $30 DVD player. I was tempted by a couple of the flat panel HDTV deals, but really, as good as the deals were, they were pretty comparible to everyday online deals.

I can’t remember the point when my hand no longer fit inside of a Pringles can. You know when there is just that small stack of chips left at the bottom of the can and if you kind of roll your outside knuckles in toward you palm and reach in so you can pluck a few chips with your index and middle fingers? Doen’t work anymore. I remember when my hand barely fit and I’d usually break a bunch of chips on the pull-out, but now I just get denied. Kind of sad. Maybe they should make adult-sized pringle cans.

Previously on lostamoeba… when we last left our fearless leader he was reading books in a library.

So, anyway, I was at the library. I guess I should add that my whole point in going to the library in the first place was to find out if a couple of movies and a book I had placed on hold were ready or not. March of the Penguins was ready (and I must say is a generally captivating film until frozen baby penguins make everything all sad), but my book, No Opportunity Wasted by Phil Keoghan (you know, that Amazing Race host) was not.

Well, I am not a patient man, so I drove to Schuler Books and Music, located the book in the self-help section, found a chair and read the first four chapters. Well, the writing wasn’t superb (but was conversational and easy to follow) and really wasn’t that convincingly inspirational or anything. But the guy definitely seems more geniune than most in trying to push people into more interesting lives. I guess, it was convincing enough to get me thinking about those really spectacular places/things/activities that I’ve seen already and what I still want to do. The end result of all this blather I suppose is that there may be a few lists showing up in my posts in the near future. So here’s a start (I’ll probably add to this list over the next few days or so as I think of things:

Amazing Things I’ve Seen/Done

Africa

• Tracked/seen Mountain Gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda.
• Whitewater rafted class V rapids on the Nile River in Jinja, Uganda.
• Safari at Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda.
• Boat ride on the Victoria Nile to Murchison Falls, Uganda.
• Safari at Kruger National Park, South Africa.
• Cable car ride to Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa.

South America

• Machu Picchu at sunrise, Peru.
• Boat ride on Lake Titicaca, Bolivia.

Caribbean

• Mayan ruins, Tuluum, Mexico.
• Snorkelling in Atlantic Ocean, Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.
• Living nearly five years in Haiti.

North America

• 35 days in San Juan Mountians, learning mountaineering/survival skills, Outward Bound, Colorado.
• Rockie Mountain National Park, Colorado.
• Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Utah.
• Class II/III kayaking Colorado River, Utah.
• Bouldering, Joshua Tree National Park, California.
• Surfing Pacific Ocean, Oregon.

Europe

• Downtown Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Oog. I played full-speed basketball for the first time in months on Monday and could barely walk yesterday. Then played again this afternoon on still tight legs. Tomorrow morning should be amusing.

It’s good to be active again though. I’ve been missing that lately. That solid two hour block of cardio to get some endorphines kicking. Now, I’m ready to get back into a weight room as well. Before everything is completely atrophied.

The weather’s actually been fairly pleasant here for the past week or so. Sixties, reasonably clear skies. Gives the hate a tiny vacation. Makes for good car-cleaning weather.

Last night I was jonesing for for some mind candy so I spent a couple of hours perusing the local library. Broke out Watership Down again, a book I haven’t read since 8th or 9th grade. Good to see you old friend. Oh, and incidentally, I also thinks it’s amazing that you can buy a used copy of that book on Amazon for eleven cents. Sweet, sweet progress.

Also checked out The Five People You Meet in Heaven, a book I for some reason always assumed was another heavy-handed religious book, but, at least through the first fifty or so pages has been nothing of the sort. Kind of works along that whole interconnectedness of humanity theme, a la Lost. Post mortem of course. Good pithy earnest writing thus far too, fine indeed.

I have more to write about my wild book night, but just typing the word “lost” in the paragraph above reminded me that I should probably wander on home from this library and catch the fall finale. Maybe tomorrow. That’s what we in the biz call a cliffhanger.

And, yes, my time stamp below is an hour off.