I live in Central Fl land of golf courses and retirees. Until today I had seen no signs of anyone stocking up (except me) Today I saw two couples,seniors, with several cart loads of case lots. As I walked by one, I said, "is that all yours"? The woman whirled around and said, "We are buying for a club" I told her we must belong to the same club, but I had finished my buying. Tonight on the local Orlando news station they did a short on y2k and will do one all week. Said to have your pencil ready for tomorrow as they would tell you the things you need to do to prepare. STAND BACK.....ITS GI DAY IN FLORIDA!

-- Taz (Tassie@AOL.com), February 17, 1999

Answers

Here is the northeast, at least at my local Sam's club, the innocence is seemingly still here, as in "gee, you sure like rice! Or "you folks, must eat a lot beans". Well,we just grin and agree without much discussion because shortly they'll be no need for discussion. By thy way, it is 27 degrees and snowing, add 1 yr. = the same.

-- knownow (donow@care.com), February 17, 1999.

I decided to lay off buying storage food for a while. Went to the store just for a couple things and there was special on rice. Twenty pounds for $3.99. Couldn't resist.......

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), February 17, 1999.

Yeah, my hubby and I bought about $ 250 worth of canned goods at Sam's when we first became GI's and the lady ringing us up said, "Boy, you're stocked up on your canned goods for a while!" I thought to myself, "You don't know the half of it."

Another time I was standing in line at Sam's with two cases of Safe Heat (those little things they put under buffets to warm them for alternative cooking source) and felt a little strange as that was all I was getting that day. Guy behind me said, "Man, you throw some hellaciously good parties!" I laughed and said, "yeah, I do" Ah-hem

I Like Dinty Moore

-- I Like Dinty Moore (likingstew@sams.com), February 18, 1999.

Careful I like, you may have a copyrite problem with that handle! <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), February 18, 1999.

A friend of mine had a woman who had already bought HUGE amounts of tp at a sale RIP a package of tp out of her hand in a huff. TP WARS!!!

Personally, i get questioned about my shopping habits all the time. You must be going on a long camping trip? What do you use those for? Wow, you are really stocking up! What are you buying those for? etc.... and lots of strange looks. I try to shop out of town.

-- me (justme@aol.com), February 18, 1999.

Speaking of not getting run over by a shopping cart...we were having our weekly Y2K meeting at work and several of the attendees stated that they noticed that several of our area Meijer stores had banners posted on the front of the buildings stating to the effect "get your Y2K food and water supplies here". Wow! Hard to believe. I can't confirm this as I don't pass a Meijer store in my daily routine...but local awareness could be notching up. If you are unfamiliar with Meijer's, they are about the same size and carry the same goods as a large Wal-Mart. Meijer's is based in Michigan and operates a number of stores in Ohio and surrounding states.

-- Jeff DeVore (jdevore@prodigy.net), February 18, 1999.

God, Jeff, if the Supermarkets finally start pushing it...

I forget the myth where somebody's sentenced to rolling boulders up a hill, only to have it roll back down over & over. Or maybe I'm too lazy to look it up. Whatever. Anyway, people who have been hoping & praying for national preparation have been kinda stuck in that myth: just when awareness starts to show a tiny surge, somebody (usually Koskinen) jumps in with spin and disinformation..

The point is, the minute the grocery stores GI and the invisible hand FINALLY TAKES OVER THE PREPAREDNESS/AWARENESS CAMPAIGN, us alerters can take a well-deserved breather.

Just imagine when Y2K shopping becomes competitive! Yeehaa!

-- Lisa (lisa@work.com), February 18, 1999.

Well, what do ya know,

Sombody likes me! :>

-- Moore Dinty moore (not@thistime.com), February 18, 1999.

Hey, Moore Dinty Moore, we've always liked you! One day long ago, we gasped at the grocery shelf, seeing Dinty Moore stews for the first time. Didn't know until then your name was reality-based :) It was a Y2K Forum moment :) You just don't post often enough.

It's hard for us vegetarians to find canned stews. The only subby that's halfway tolerable is Worthington turkee (fake) slices, pretty good & slightly smokey. But not really healthy ;( We've been trying out our sprouting; the green peas do wonderfully but taste a little *too* healthy. Guess when eating more naturally and really hungry, they'll taste great. Will mix 'em with the turkee ;-D

Our most interesting shopping cart experience yet was when we canned at the Mormon cannery. Never saw such a combo of industrious cooperation, fast & furious hard work, determined survival greed, fun group learning, and ferocious purposeful GIs. Whew! Eye-opener. It was the last batch of folks who were non-Mormon let in, with some Mormons there to teach us the ropes & can too. We respect those ppl! They sure do work ya; not a church for the lazy.

Ashton & Leska in Cascadia, experimenting with the shopping cart goodies

xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), February 18, 1999.