avocado8

Who Needs Target?

For those of you wondering what happened at Target on Friday—did we get party hats? did we get presents?—an update. It was not necessary to buy presents at Target because when I came down to the kitchen at the (early) end of my workday, I found a bag from the AT&T store sitting on the counter. I tracked Al down and said, "did you buy me an iPhone?" He smiled and nodded.

AL BOUGHT ME AN iPHONE.

I've been wanting a PDA/PIM/phone for a while now—I've been traveling a lot for work, and trying to keep my schedule straight and my e-mail correspondence up to date has been daunting—but my current Verizon contract doesn't end until March. I figured I'd get one then. Al noticed that the need for an iPhone-like device had reached a critical mass just as my birthday was approaching, however, and viola! The perfect birthday gift. So far, I LOVE IT. There were some minor problems transferring my California cell number over (well, minor is probably kind—I was on hold with various departments of AT&T for over an hour between Friday night and Saturday morning, and I eventually had to report to an AT&T store to get a new SIM card *and* call to cancel service on the 267 number that iTunes had issued me), but everything seems to be working smoothly now.

Back to Target. It was also not necessary to buy party hats, as Aura and the Beaner crafted some of their very own design. They even made enough so that my in-laws each got one.

It's debatable whether it was necessary bring cupcakes with me. My in-laws purchased a cake—a carrot cake, which I love—but this cake apparently was chock full of walnuts, to which I am allergic. (One accidental lick of my fingers after cutting slices for others had me running for the Zyrtec and my inhaler.) I ended up eating a cupcake instead, with a bit of the cream cheese frosting from the carrot cake—the Flying Monkey Patisserie frosting left something to be desired.

So yes, we did still stop at Target, even though we probably didn't really need to. The Beaner lucked out in that he got a $1 miniature Lightning McQueen lunchbox and a $1 set of Radiator Springs pencils out of the trip, we stocked up on soy milk, and I got some carrots and a granola bar for dinner (I was trying to eat light in anticipation of a cupcake). Oh, and I found a $5 bill on my way out of the store.

All in all, a very good birthday, indeed.