VT (for all of my design-obsessed peeps)

Blindman'sBluffbyGoya Peeps, Today (Black Friday), I had no plans of heading to the shops in search of bargains.  Instead I spent the morning with an old friend planting tulips and other spring bulbs.  The skies overhead were clear blue and the warm weather permitted us to work without a jacket; on the way home this evening I heard about the ruckus at the Walmart, and wondered why some individuals would prefer to spend their time in pursuit of more stuff, instead of out enjoying nature, biking, visiting the museums, and so forth.  It seems that advertisers and corporate CEO's have shrewdly capitalized on the emptiness -- found within many Americans who blindly pursue every object imaginable -- with the enticing labels of BIGGER, FASTER, CHEAPER, SALE BARGAIN, TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE, or FREE.  The latter always makes me cringe, for as we all should have realized by now, nothing is every free, and the price we will invariably incur comes at a high cost to our...