My Sick Mind

I'm nothing if not persistent. To the point that it becomes less about the object I'm buying than it is about just finding it. I think it comes from my woebegone days as a baseball card collector looking for the random error card of a guy who was lucky to be in the big leagues to begin with. Months of searching to spend 25 cents just so I could say I found the damned thing. Such is the case with the elusive snow shovel. To recap, check here . Just as we are digging out of the 28 inches of snow that was dumped on us on Saturday, another foot or so is expected on Wednesday. Since I was lucky enough to find the leftover Mexican snow shovels in the shed the last time, I figure that luck can't continue, so I took out for The Home Depot with the misplaced optimism that three days would have made some difference in their snow shovel inventory. As I entered, I was accosted by one of those orange-bibbed workers, asking, "How can I help you?" "You can tell me that...

An open letter to The Home Depot and Lowe's: It snows during the winter. Even though I live in a condominium, I occasionally have the need for a snow shovel. If we get more than four or six inches I have to dig my car out of the parking space. Otherwise, I just brush it off and roll out. The shovel I have is best suited for loading gravel onto a lorry, but in a time of need it can do quite nicely as a snow shovel, since it barely knows the difference between gravel and snow. I wound up with it because the last time we had a significant snowfall I went to The Home Depot the night before the snow only to find that you were fresh out. On Friday night we are expecting more. In the vicinity of one to two feet depending on your source. Either way, it's way too much to brush off with a broom, so once again I ventured to both of your huge warehouse stores in search of an adequate snow shovel, and once again, I was told you were sold out. "We got a palate of them in yesterday an...

That physical specimen on the right is Miss Brazil, Natalia Guimaraes during the swimwear section of the Miss Universe final in Mexico City's Auditorio Nacional May 28, 2007. Guimaraes was the first runner up. First runner-up? I'm assuming that the winner was the judge's daughter or something. Some girl from Japan won, while Miss USA wowed the judges by falling during the evening gown competition. I'm not all that interested in beauty pageants - at least not as much as I am interested in the contestants - but it would be nice to see the local girl make a good showing. Since I am not from Brazil, the local girl would be our Miss USA, who appears to have some difficulty walking and looking pretty at the same time. Rachel Smith (left), Miss USA 2007 gets up after falling during the evening gown competition of the Miss Universe 2007 beauty pageant in Mexico City. Meanwhile, it looks like Tony Romo would like to get him some: IRVING, Texas - Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony...