Sword Evaluation, Model Investigation, Foreign Languages and Thunderstorms

It's thundering out, meaning the evening marina walk was cut short.  But, in the time we were down there, we were able to do several productive things, including (but not limited to) :

1.) find out that the "other side of the train-tracks" was VERY boring, and apparently anti-pet

2.) wander around like idiots (which is actually much more productive than most people think)

3.) head into a kid's toy shop and appear quite formal as we promptly ignored an "LOL! Rollover" toy that--as its name indicates--laughs maniacally and rolls around when it senses motion (I was able to ignore it because I was READY for it this time...) and made our way to the back of the small shop.  There, we evaluated various (toy) swords for their length, stability, design, overall quality, price, functionality, and appearance (my friend suggested "prettiness").  We took mental notes, and my friend vowed to save up twenty dollars by the end of the trip so that, at the last minute, we could dart in there, purchase a sword and shield each (in different colors so we can distinguish) for ten dollars apiece, and then spar the entire eight hours home.  In the car.  With the dog, my parents, and all our stuff.  Muahahaha...

4.) walk into the shop next door to the toy shop and investigate various models of ships and sailboats.  I was surprised by how many of the ships I actually knew.

5.) discover that the woman that...womanned...the toy shop spoke a foreign language, and that the man who...manned...the shop next door (which had models, various random things, fancy compasses, old-fashioned padlocks with small keys, false daggers that were, however, metal, chess sets in various forms, etc.) spoke the same foreign language; it sounded French or Russian.

6.) avoid electrocution, as lightning was present near the end of our walk and we were by water; however, as my friend pointed out, we were far from the tallest things around.

7.) take the stairs up to the condo, for exercise purposes as well as the fact that, if in some stroke of horrible karma the building was struck by lightning, we wouldn't be trapped in the elevator indefinitely.  (Can you imagine that phone call?  "Um...Dad?  Can you, uh...call 911?"  "WHAT?!  Why?  What happened?!"  "We're, um...stuck in the elevator." *pause* "...You're what?")

~Cara

P.S. Thunder+laptop FTW (for the win, for those of you that aren't up to par with the abbreviations--which is far too long a word for something that means a shortened version of a word.  Oh, irony...)