I'll admit it. I'm a disciple of the Ikea concept. Cool looking furniture that's mass produced and cheap as hell. In shifting around CDs today I decided that I need a much bigger media cabinet and, of course, immediately decided that I'd go to Ikea this afternoon to see what they had.

It seems like I go about every six months and am slowly replacing furniture in my place. Usually I go the store in Jersey. There's one a little bit closer in Long Island but I usually choose not to go there. My rationale for that is pretty lame, it's down the street from M.'s place and I'm afraid I'll run into her. Nevermind that Ikea couldn't be further from her style of furnishings. I just felt that the possibility was there.

Today, I decided that was completely ridiculous and went to the LI store. Whoa. What a difference location makes. You see, the Jersey store is full of Manhattanites. They have free shuttles, believe it or not, from the Port Authority every thirty minutes on weekends. As a result, you get a bus loads of people looking to fill their tiny studio apartments with cheap furnishings. The Long Island store has a different theme - screaming children. Nightmarish screaming kids running up and down the overly crowded aisles. At one point, some brat was trying to hide under my chair. I'm not kidding. Children shouldn't be allowed in public. Oops! Did I just say that aloud?

For those of you who have never had the Ikea experience, you go through little showrooms that they have set up to choose your furnishings. I chose this media cabinet because it's huge and modern-looking and doesn't look cheap at all. You then go downstairs to the "self-serve" pickup area. Remember the end scene in "Raiders of the Lost Ark?" Well, it's kinda like that except the shelves are half-empty. You see where your choice is supposed to be but, invariably, they're out of stock. Nice. A completely wasted trip. Just ordered it online. See. I should be a hermit.