Gratuitous Domestic Griping

As I mentioned earlier, I had a full slate of business to take care of this morning.

First stop was Home Despot (motto: Don't like the way we do things? Then screw you!"). The only reason I went was because it's the only place I know of that sells bricks in bulk (and delivers) and I need some to line some flower beds. But while I was there, I thought I'd stock up on seeding supplies. Geesh! Why even bother looking? Never have I beheld a store so big yet so full of utterly useless crap and so devoid of things one really needs. As for the service? See the motto. All complaints in writing to the management.

Second stop was Target. Well, almost. The closest Target to us is in Reston, VA. For those of you who don't know, Reston was originally founded as a kind of hippy planned community. The legacy of this is a draconian code about eco-friendly architecture, minimal advertising and the like. And the practical upshot is that if you don't know exactly where you're going, you're hosed. I'd never been to Target, but I knew which street it was on and approximately where. Yet I drove back and forth half a dozen times and still couldn't find the damned place! Hunger and the need to keep to schedule eventually compelled me to abandon my search, so I'll have to try again tomorrow.
The tree-hugger crowd eager to pat themselves on their collective backs for being so sensitive to Nature in their community planning should consider how much extra gas I burned driving around in circles before they get too smug.

Finally, it was a quick jaunt over to Total Bev to pick up adult beverages for this weekend. (Mrs. LMC, together with the Future ROTC Scholarship Candidate and his lovely little sister are coming to Orgle Manor for the eldest Llama-ette's birthday celebration. Five kids in the house calls for ensuring that the reservoir is full.) Well, what do you know but I got carded - this being the first time in my forty-second year.

I suppose overall that if I had to pick one totally successful stop, the last was the one I would have gone for.

UPDATE: Credit where it is due. I went back and checked the map and discovered that Target was much farther down than I had thought. My mistake was in relying on the gonzo directions of the Missus who is, and always has been, geographically challenged. (It is still terribly hard to find things in Reston, tho.)