Been trying to get people to play softball on Saturdays for the last few weeks, but just haven't been having a lot of luck at getting anyone out to play. Sat at the field this morning for about a half-an-hour before giving up and heading over to the local supermarket to pick up a few groceries. When I got out, I noticed that it was about five minutes to ten and there was a store right across the road that I wanted to visit. They happened to open at ten o'clock and so I made my way across the street and parked my car.
The store is called Deseret Industries, and I love to visit it. It's a store that is pretty much (I think) only here in Utah. Not sure if the LDS church owns the store, or just sponsors it but it's pretty big here. Really, it's just a second-hand/thrift store. People can drop off stuff whenever they want, and it's not very often that I drive by and don't see a car or two dropping off some stuff. I love going there because they have a pretty big book section where I can buy hardbacks for $3-$4 and paperbacks for less than a buck. Just makes my day to be able to walk into the place and find a great buy. Of course, I'm quickly running out of room at home to store any more books and my wife keeps "softly suggesting" that I not buy any more books. It's just so dang hard not to. Yup. I have a habit. At least I'll admit to it. :)
Anyhow, as I drove into the parking lot of DI, I noticed that a large number of people were milling about on the sidewalk near the front doors of the store. Now, I've seen the commercials about Mervyn's that has the lady sitting in front of the glass window repeating, "Open. Open. Open," as she blinks her hands open and shut, and I've even arrived at a Border's bookstore a few minutes before opening a time or two and waited with the other one or two people for the store proprietors to unlock the doors before we could go in. But seriously, there were probably thirty or forty people standing at the doors, waiting for the starting bell.
I sat in my car for those few minutes, listening to some great music (Load, by Metallica), and at the top of the hour got out of my car and headed towards the waiting mob of people. I was about halfway there, when the glass doors slid open, and said mob started funneling through the opening. As I walked, I looked around and noticed that there were probably about a dozen more people weaving their way through the parking lot, along with me, towards the storefront.
I came up to the doors and noticed that there was a semi-offical looking guy standing behind them finishing his job of flipping all the locks. He glanced over at me with a somewhat flustered look and I asked him if he had that many people standing outside the doors everyday. He responded that he did, but that usually they ran into the store after he unlocked the first door. I chuckled a bit at that, but he said that he was quite serious. They actually ran into the store. I'm guessing this is so they can find the best deals first and get out before someone else snags 'em from them. Eh. People.
I wandered through the outdoors section, looking for a used bike seat for my youngest kid. No luck. Then I mosied on over to the furniture section, hoping to find a decent chair for my kitchen table. Again, for the youngest. Decided that the high-chair just wasn't good enough. Actually had some luck there. One of the employees asked me if I wanted to buy one particular chair that I was looking at. He said that he only had two of them. I told him that I only wanted one. So, he slapped a pricetag on it that said $5, and I threw it over my shoulder. Hoping that this great find would soothe any possible confrontations after I got home, I headed towards the back of the store to find some books.
Truthfully, I was pleasantly surprised to find what I did: a hardback copy of Stephen King's Duma Key for $4; The fourth Temeraire book by Naomi Novik (also hardback) for $4; a christmas CD of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square, $4; and the biggest surprise: all ten books in L. Ron Hubbard's Mission Earth Series in paperback. All ten.
Despite the fact that I found the kitchen chair AND the Christmas CD (which my wife was really quite happy about), I still got blistered when I got home for all the books I had bought. Luckily, I had stacked one of my shelves with paperbacks in a very uneconomical way, and so after a little reorganization was able to find places for all the new books. Phew!
And at the end of the trip, I couldn't help but be pleased with the things that I had found by heading into DI at opening time. Usually, I only make it in some time after work, after everything has been picked over by everyone's greedly little fingers for the entire day. So, maybe it'd be worth it to make a weekly stop at DI on Saturday mornings. Maybe I should show up those ten minutes before opening time each week, and wait with bated breath for the click of the doors, and the whoosh of others feet as we all scramble in to find the great deals. Maybe it'd all be worth it?
Nah. Waiting to shop just isn't for me.
28 June 2008
18 June 2008
#12 -- Laugh at another's dilemma
So I had just gotten to school today when the power in the building went out. At that point, I had to assume that it had gone out for the whole building, and not just my office. Everything was completely dark. With the understanding that I'm an engineer, and as any good/typical engineer I work in a small brick room with no windows at a cubicle with nary a bit more than just my computer and a few papers atop the desk, I'm sure you can appreciate just HOW dark it was. Took me a good three minutes to get out of the room and into the hall that was partially, but poorly lit. I tell ya, you never know just how long three minutes actually is until you're wandering around in the dark for the entire time.
Because the power was out and I therefore had nothing feasibly able to accomplish, I decided to head down to the small convenience shop here on campus and get a drink. After working out this morning with a friend, I was completely smashed and really hoped that a Vitamin Water (genius drinks, people--go out and try one) would help perk me up. Well, unfortunately the power was out there too. Apparently, it was out over the entire campus, and it didn't take long before the sounds of fire engines and ambulances came along one of the nearby roads.
To pass a little time, I sat down on one of the outside benches (people were being herded out of all the buildings at an alarming rate and we were all told to stay out until the power came back on) and tried to do some reading. Really not enjoying this most recent book, but getting through it nonetheless. Fifteen minutes later, the convenience store was still not open, and so I decided to return to my office. Power on. No network access. Nuts. Back again.
By the time I returned to the convenience store this third time, they were re-opening their doors and so I waltzed in, hoping to find my self-promised drink.
As I was passing the registers and the flurry of activity surrounding them, I couldn't help but notice a guy approaching said registers with an energy bar and a drink in his hand. He plopped the bar down on the counter and took a long pull from the previously opened drink container.
Now, I need to take a moment to admit to a tiny pet peeve. I find it EXTREMELY annoying for someone to start consuming any food/beverage before they've paid for it. I don't know, it's just something that's always bugged me. I just can't see that any item that I'd like to buy is really mine until AFTER I've paid for it. Once, I even asked a clerk at Wal-mart if this practice bugged her. She said that it didn't for the most part, but once she had had a customer come through her line with the empty peel of a banana that she had already eaten. And, in case you might have forgotten, bananas are sold by WEIGHT. Uh-huh. Yeah. So, anyhow, I saw this guy, rolled my eyes in his general direction, and turned to walk on past.
Then my ear caught one of the clerks behind the counter saying to this guy, "Sorry, our registers are still down, and I don't have any way of charging you for that stuff right now."
I turned and saw him roll his eyes and give out a big sigh.
I just had to laugh. HA! And not a thing there was that he could do about it but sit and wait for their networks to come back up because he had already opened the stupid can and taken a drink.
Serves him right.
As a side note, I might mention that I returned approximately fifteen minutes later (after another boring dip into the aforementioned book), pulled my choice of tasty beverage from the cooler, promptly paid for it, and walked out a happy customer.
Because the power was out and I therefore had nothing feasibly able to accomplish, I decided to head down to the small convenience shop here on campus and get a drink. After working out this morning with a friend, I was completely smashed and really hoped that a Vitamin Water (genius drinks, people--go out and try one) would help perk me up. Well, unfortunately the power was out there too. Apparently, it was out over the entire campus, and it didn't take long before the sounds of fire engines and ambulances came along one of the nearby roads.
To pass a little time, I sat down on one of the outside benches (people were being herded out of all the buildings at an alarming rate and we were all told to stay out until the power came back on) and tried to do some reading. Really not enjoying this most recent book, but getting through it nonetheless. Fifteen minutes later, the convenience store was still not open, and so I decided to return to my office. Power on. No network access. Nuts. Back again.
By the time I returned to the convenience store this third time, they were re-opening their doors and so I waltzed in, hoping to find my self-promised drink.
As I was passing the registers and the flurry of activity surrounding them, I couldn't help but notice a guy approaching said registers with an energy bar and a drink in his hand. He plopped the bar down on the counter and took a long pull from the previously opened drink container.
Now, I need to take a moment to admit to a tiny pet peeve. I find it EXTREMELY annoying for someone to start consuming any food/beverage before they've paid for it. I don't know, it's just something that's always bugged me. I just can't see that any item that I'd like to buy is really mine until AFTER I've paid for it. Once, I even asked a clerk at Wal-mart if this practice bugged her. She said that it didn't for the most part, but once she had had a customer come through her line with the empty peel of a banana that she had already eaten. And, in case you might have forgotten, bananas are sold by WEIGHT. Uh-huh. Yeah. So, anyhow, I saw this guy, rolled my eyes in his general direction, and turned to walk on past.
Then my ear caught one of the clerks behind the counter saying to this guy, "Sorry, our registers are still down, and I don't have any way of charging you for that stuff right now."
I turned and saw him roll his eyes and give out a big sigh.
I just had to laugh. HA! And not a thing there was that he could do about it but sit and wait for their networks to come back up because he had already opened the stupid can and taken a drink.
Serves him right.
As a side note, I might mention that I returned approximately fifteen minutes later (after another boring dip into the aforementioned book), pulled my choice of tasty beverage from the cooler, promptly paid for it, and walked out a happy customer.
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