I didn't intend to be one of the crazy 6 a.m. Black Friday shoppers. We (my sister, mother, sister-in-laws, etc.) prefer to go out gang shopping later -- say 9:30 a.m. -- and I mostly go for the Ruby Tuesday's salad bar and frozen margaritas we treat ourselves to.

But, I've been longing for a laptop ever since we went wireless at Cassa Cass. The thought of surfing the 'net from the comfort of my couch, or the convenience of the kitchen table overrode the objections of my inner penny-pincher. I'd been leafing through the electronics section of every Sunday circular for weeks, resisting the urge.

I gave in on Black Friday and ventured to the neighborhood WalMart "just to see" if they happened to have one left. They did. Merry Christmas to me.

I was surprised to find that WalMart wasn't all that busy at 6:30 a.m., so I decided to try and pick up a few bargains I saw at K-Mart. Big mistake. I waited nearly an hour in the check out line only to find out that the items I really wanted (BOGO Leapster Games) were not on sale until Saturday.

Fortunately, the morning got better. I didn't think the lines at the mall and surrounding stores (including Target) were all that bad (I avoid notoriously awful places like Toys R Us and Kohl's). In fact, the longest, most frustrating wait came when we tried to go home. Getting up Peach Street to I-90 was madness...compounded by the freak snowstorm that kicked up that evening.

In the end, I got through at least half of my holiday shopping list on Friday. Then, made my way through half of the remaining list on Saturday -- cyber-shopping from the comfort of my couch on the best Christmas gift I've ever given myself.