Tag Archives: Westgate Mall

business news

Christmas shopping can be done … with ease

christmas-shopping

I am announcing today that I completed my Christmas shopping with 11 whole days to go before the big day.

Are you proud of me? I hope so, because I’m proud of myself.

I’ve developed over time my own philosophy about the holiday season. It centers on my refusal to let anything about it stress me out.

So often during this time of year, I get the question: Are you ready for Christmas? My answer: I stay ready! I was born ready!

I grow weary of hearing tales of woe from friends, acquaintances and total strangers who say, “Oh, this time of year just stresses me out. I can’t take it! I can’t wait for it to be over.”

Really? Are you kidding? What about it causes the stress? Having to shop for those you love? Baking all those goodies you take to holiday parties?

Good grief! This is my favorite season of the year.

So, today I venturedĀ to WestgateĀ Mall in AmarilloĀ to take care of my shopping needs. I got it done in about three hours. How do I accomplish this? It’s easy, folks.

I write a list of things I need to buy; I plot my course throughout the city. I stop at each location on my list, walk in, make the purchase and then leave for the next stop on my route.

I consider Christmas shopping to be something like a surgical strike. I select my target, hit it, then leave. I’m a Delta Force commando shopper. Boom! In and out! Just like that!

There’s no stress doing it this way. I set my goal, meet it — and then declare victory!

So, my shopping is done! Now I’ll sit back and enjoy the rest of the season. I won’t worry about a thing. This is a joyful time of the year … the frigid Texas Panhandle weather notwithstanding.

***

By the way, I looked for Santa Claus at Westgate Mall, hoping to see him fielding requests from children about what they want for Christmas. I didn’t see him, nor did I see any sign of that nimrod “pastor,” David Grisham, who made a spectacle of himself the other day berating parents and kids, telling ’em Santa ain’t real.

I fear what I might have done had I encountered that clown.

Not to worry. Tonight I’m a satisfied Christmas shopper.

Mission accomplished.

business news, local news

Here’s how you shop for Christmas gifts

maxresdefault

I am considering writing a shoppers’ manual.

It’ll be from a guy’s perspective. I believe I have mastered the technique for Christmas shopping. Today, I took it to a new level of brutal efficiency.

Here’s how it went … and please forgive me if I sound a bit boastful.

  • I left the house this morning at 8:30. I headed for a major department store. I had one thing in mind to purchase for my wife at this store. I found it, took it off the rack and then sauntered toward another part of the store. I found another item and took that off the rack.
  • I thenĀ hot-footed itĀ to another pre-planned location within the store. Grabbed the item. Then I paid for all of it. I left the store.
  • I drove across the street to the regional mall: Westgate Mall.
  • I marched through the mall entrance and then went to a store specializing in West Texas apparel. I then found another pre-determined item. I bought it.
  • Then I wandered into a health store and found some cool things to put in her stocking. I bought them, too.

There you have it, fellas. I was done in less than two hours.

Start to finish. Could we ever persuade ourĀ wives and/or girlfriends to do it this way? You may stop laughing now.

What’s my secret?

Write a list. Stick to it. Head to the retail outlets early in the day before most of your community has had its final cup of coffee in the morning.

Be disciplined while you’re looking. Stay focused. Consider it to be akin to a surgical strike.

Does it sound like a tried-and-true men’s shopping formula for success during this wonderful holiday season? I think so.

Hey, I got all this done with four whole days to go before Santa arrives.

 

International news, national news

Vigilance required … even right here

If the 9/11 attacks more than a dozen years ago taught Americans anything it all, they should teach us to be on high alert no matter where we live and what we’re doing.

Thus, warnings to mall shoppers have gone out across the country in the wake of a threat made against The Mall of America by an al-Qaeda affiliate, Al-Shabaab.

Yes, that means Westgate Mall in little ol’ Amarillo, Texas.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/21/us/al-shabaab-calls-for-mall-attacks/index.html

Al-Shabaab has threatened to strike malls in three western countries. Department of Homeland Security officials take the threat seriously. The Mall of America is in Minneapolis, which is home to a large Somali immigrant population. The Twin Cities region also reportedly has produced many recruits who’ve signed up to fight with Islamic State and other terrorist organizations.

Make no mistake, these threats go right to the heart of where we need to be alert. Malls represent — to many people around the world — some elements of American excess. Americans, of course, do not see it that way, nor should we. Do we stop doing business at these places just because a terrorist group has leveled a threat? Of course not.

But these monstrous organizations have shown how seriously the world must take their threats.

The 9/11 assault should stand as proof that these organizations mean business.