Well, I have to admit it...I hate shopping. I only go when I have to have something, whether it's a new car for my wife (we got a brand new Honda Element for her, delivered just last weekend and I might even let her drive her car sometime) or a bunch of bananas.

I don't like the crowds, I don't like looking for a parking place, I don't like pushy clerks, I don't like vanished clerks, I don't like attempts to coerce me into buying what I don't need.

Notice -- "what I don't need." I discovered long ago that there are many things I want, but actually little I need. My wife needed a new car, and we debated long and hard about it because the old one was doing okay.

So, we reached a deal. The old car, a 1993 Honda Accord (30+ miles to the gallon, even with 193,000+ miles on it), was sold to my neice, who'll use it for grad school. Neice reimburses us the amount we put into the car to bring it up to near-perfect shape at her convenience. Pat gets a new Honda Element (25+ mph in the city, so far) with the all-wheel drive and cargo space useful to us here in Idaho. I keep my 1999 Honda Civic, which does pretty much everything I need it to do (90,000 miles, 32 mpg).

Actually, when it comes to cars I don't even WANT much. Just what I need for transportation in safety and relative comfort. Oddly enough, I don't look to my car for self-affirmation or masculinity or anything other than a way to get from here to there.

So, yes, I'd have to say I go buying, not shopping. Shopping (except for Christmas presents!) started to bore me back around the age of 8, and it hasn't changed in the years since.