IKEA

Since we got the boot on Sunday to let people look at our house, and
Shelly had been wanting to go, we went to IKEA.

Now, I am not a fan of crowds. I generally don't go rushing to places like
the State Fair, Valleyfair, Taste of Minnesota or anywhere where thousands
of people congregate. Since the IKEA has been open for a couple of weeks,
I figured that the initial rush might have died down. If what I witnessed
on Sunday is after a few weeks of being open, I can't even imagine the
carnage during the first week.

I watched the escalator going up to the showroom for a few minutes and
there was NEVER a gap between people. That escalator just moved a solid
mass of people up to then bump into each other while gazing longingly at
Swedish furniture.

The funny thing is that when we left, we went over to the Mall of America
because we still had time to kill and that place felt abandoned compared
to IKEA even though there were normal crowds there.

I think that if I need cheap birch and steel furniture, I'll just order
online or show up on a Wednesday morning or wait a year or so for the
novelty to wear off.