I generally don't have much of an opinion of Oprah Winfrey either way. I was never a fan, but then again, I never hated her.

Until a few minutes ago.

I'm usually up late (reading, e-mailing, or just lying on the floor contemplating the apocolypse, which may happen really, really soon), and I usually have the TV on in the background. So here I am, just puttering around my apartment, when she comes on, and I hear that she's going to go shopping at Costco, where you can find the best bargains ever. I agree with that.

What pissed me off, though, is what happened afterwards. It just seemed to me that Oprah was just an ultra-rich woman marvelling at what us common folk have to go through. She kept saying how amazing it was, and was in awe of the ultra-huge bargain sizes of everything. She was also amused that you could buy Cartier watches, jewelry and toilet paper at the same place. "Truly one-stop shopping" she said. And then she asked for the bargain designer clothes section. Like she can't afford the full price ones. Yeah, Ope, we can dress just like you without having your income. Surprise.

Oooh, what really pissed me off was when she went to pick up a jumbo box of Tide. She thought it was "cute" that it had it's own handle. Cute. Yeah. It's cute when you're hauling your entire family's wash to the 24-hour laundromat at 2am.

THen she joked about the junk food aisle, where she looked at food she said she wanted to eat but shouldn't buy. She looked at the chips and drooled and talked about how much she wanted to eat them, then she said "OK, back to reality." So she went off to the gourmet section to buy lobster tail, giant prawns, and white wine. Who's reality Ope? Not ours.

C'mon, when is Oprah Winfrey ever going to use her Costco card again? You think when the cameras turn off she's ever going back there? And if she ever does go back there, you think she's just going to pull up by herself and drag her own cart around and lug cases of water into her basket?

It reminded me of when the press saw George Bush Senior buying groceries at the local supermarket, and how fascinated he was at the price scanner. We have to go through this shit every day, it's not fascinating to us, it's common, everyday stuff. Both Bush and Oprah made me realize how out of touch with everyday people they both can get.

I was really happy though, that when she wrote a check for her purchases, they asked for her ID and phone number for check approval. Yeah, Oprah, there are some things your fame can't get you past.