REI Recovery - Part I

ok. let's keep this moving. (i should not set myself up for tasks that i know i probably can't finish...)

We are on Day Three: Saturday, 9/2, also known as Michael's Birthday.

Dave and I managed to get up rather early, feed ourselves, get some coffee in me and drive over to, oh yes, you know it – REI – in order to stand in line for their Used Gear Sale. This was a special sale in addition to their already pretty awesome Labor Day Sale. Ok – so basically, REI has a 100% guarantee on everything they sell, which means that they have an amazing return policy. If you used it and broke it, you can bring it back. Of course just like other stores, you can use the 'didn't fit', 'don't like fabric', etc. sort of reasons, but at REI, you can buy a pair of climbing shoes, wear them for a year, get holes in the soles and then have the audacity to bring them back and say ANYthing from 'didn't like them' to 'they were too small'. It seems ridiculous… and I think that most of us would not abuse the policy, but clearly some people do and then REI is left with a bunch of used gear (anything from hardly ever used to clearly battle scarred). So they need to unload it, but would like to make a few dollars in the process. Literally. Just a few. These things are marked down so far, well, it's almost silly. Nice wicking sports bras for $1.93?!?!? it's awesome. Well, if you can find your size and something you like, it's really awesome.

Anyway – we got there about 9:30am. Made friends in the waiting line with other people who have NEVER stood in line to go SHOPPING before. Met someone who had just bought the same shoes that I had for $19.93 (list price $120) and we shared our excitement. At 10am the doors opened and people went for it. As far as these things go, i had the feeling that people were fairly polite, but at one point dave got ahead of me - I turned the wrong way and got caught behind a divider and as I was stepping over it to get back into the traffic flow, two guys joked, “we're gonna have to mow you over, no pity no pity.” I have a feeling that if it had been Macy's or WalMart, I would have actually gotten mowed over. But these nice young men in their North Face and Tevas allowed me in and we resumed the journey to the famed 'Used Gear Room'.

It wasn’t all that big. The room. Not nearly big enough for all the people. Or so I thought. But I don’t like being too close to people I don’t know. Especially ones that smell. It’s part of why I hate MUNI. Anyway, as always, I digress… Dave and I spent from 9:30 – 12:30 at REI. At 11:30 I was toast. At 12:30 I was spewing gibberish and totally protein deprived and unable to deal. Dave totally outlasted me, which is kinda funny I guess, but then again he was the winner of the day. We did really well: Day packs, backpacks (like really backcountry camping backpacks), a walking stick, ANOTHER pair of shoes for Dave!, an altimeter, a pedometer, nice side bags for dave’s bike…oh god I can’t even remember anymore, the exhaustion was overwhelming and all-consuming.

Ok. We HAD to eat. Figuring that out was NOT pretty because by then Dave had become hungry as well and we were both fairly useless. But we did eat and went home fed and loaded with bags.

and here will end Part I of Day 3 as it is all I can manage as today is insane. to be continued....