I actually got up early this morning. The weather forecast had been threatening rain, so before I got distracted or it began to shower, the wall out back needed backfilling. It was standing in a trench a foot deep at the bottom of a hill. If it started raining before I got to it, the trench would collect all the runoff from the lawn and potentially undermine the wall's foundation.

So it was, an hour earlier than usual, that I willed myself from bed. My arms, back, and hands aching from digging the foundation yesterday, I stumbled into some clothes and stretched painfully as I wandered out into the back yard and resumed shoveling. By 9am, the work was done. My day could now begin.

One of my top priorities for the day was finding a new scanner. The five year old Epson I currently have has burned out. Primarily, the bulb is shot. When I bought it back in 1995, it cost $630 brand new. It's performed well over the years, doing time connected to both Macs and PCs, but with new scanner prices well below the $200 mark, I couldn't justify repairing the old beast.

So I read a few scanner reviews, browsed all the big websites, and decided I'd stick with Epson. The 636U is the editor's pick in every shootout I could find, and at $149, the price was in the right ballpark. Off to Delaware we went.

Home of Tax-Free Shopping, the welcome sign reads as you cross from PA into Delaware. There's a CompUSA right across the border that generally has just what I need and their prices are usually within a few dollars of the best prices on the Net. In a few cases, I've even done better than the Internet by shopping there.

At the front of the store, a big display had just been assembled. Nintendo 64's were on sale. Michelle and I paused for a moment, stared at the pile of console game units, then I pulled her along. I was shopping for a scanner, not a game unit.

The scanners are kept in the far back corner of the store. They have two solid rows of display models from all the major manufacturers, including Epson. What they didn't have was a 636U. My second choice, the HP 5200, was a good $50 more than the Internet average price. As I stood there disappointed at their scanner selection and price, Michelle mentioned something about the Nintendos up front.

Not wanting to waste a trip to Delaware, and having spent a good portion of Easter Sunday playing Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, I took the bait.

Once we got back home, I hunted down the best scanner deal on the Net then started fishing wires and moving extension cords to set up the Nintendo on our TV downstairs. I just got it hooked up as Michelle was leaving to teach her class. Controller in hand, I took it for a quick test spin.

And that's where Michelle found me. Four hours later.