And I'll do it again.

I gave my kid an AT-AT for Christmas. And its awesome. Over two feet high, with electronic sounds, a speeder-bike, a pilot...its amazing. Better than the AT-AT of my generation. Its not a symbol of my love, its not a way to connect with my youth. I'm a geek. So is my kid. He loves Star Wars. He likes cool toys. Here is the embodiment of all things cool about being a geek.

I bought it about a month ago, from a Wal-Mart in southern New Jersey. I'd been to several other stores, and they'd all been sold out. Yeah, there was a little panic. It was unavailable over the internet, according to my wife. This was the one big thing that the boy and I looked at earlier in the year, something that, when I saw it, I said, "Yeah, you're getting that for Christmas."

I'd turned a corner in the store, after seeing the empty shelf-space where the AT-AT should have been, and saw it there, on the floor. It was just there in the middle of the aisle. There were a few people around shopping, but no-one in the immediate vicinity of the toy. It could have been picked up by the folks with the kid looking at the Legos. It could have belonged to the nice people looking at paint.

Its possible someone had just put it down. If that's the case, they shouldn't have put it down.

I picked it up, and walked in a calm, patient manner to the registers (because running implies guilt). I paid for it, thanked the cashier, walked out to my car, put it in the cargo area, and drove away.

I doubt anyone had actually picked it up for a present. More likely, someone's child picked it up, brought it to their parents, and they said no. Or said they'd think about it, and dragged the kid away to look at things more reasonable (whatever reasonable people look at for their reasonable kids). I don't know. I don't really care. But it was an opportunity, and it was for the boy, and I took it. And I'll do it again.

My kid's a geek. He's putting together a huge Lego set right now. The AT-AT is next to the tree. Its huge, looks like some kid could ride it (there's actually something in the instruction manual that says, "Don't Ride It!"). In less than a half hour, we're going to watch the Doctor Who Christmas episode. And it'll be the best day ever.