Commercial Activity

 Went out and did some shopping today; most of it is now done, which is good, and I think I may finish it off tomorrow -- we will see!  My brother-in-law is not that hard to shop for, but shopping without ideas is a challenge in its own way.  Anyways, getting it done and organizing the presents shouldn't be that hard, and then it's a monkey, of sorts, off the back.  Next up is actually getting in the attic, getting the decorations, and finding a tree.  It's time.

Shopping was mostly fine; stores are crowded but not terribly so.  People do shop online more, I suspect, and I don't blame them.  It is quite convenient and prolly worth paying shipping fees and such to buck lines, crowds, and morons.  

The last book I finished was The Shootist, and it is indeed the novella from which the John Wayne movie came -- I sometimes like to read the novels on which movies are based, and for Westerns, they are generally quick reads.  Indeed, The Shootist was about two hours, with 180 slender pages.  I was surprised at how similar the book was to the movie; normally Hollywood likes to chop stuff up, but this mainly was the movie, save for a few changes -- most notably in the ending and the character of the son.  Other parts, though...the dialogue was exactly the same as the movie, which was...odd.