Guess what the temperature is today? Guess! I’ll give you a hint – yesterday, the high was 81 degrees. So know what it is right now? 36! 36 degrees! It’s like “feels like it’s practically December” weather! And it IS practically December! There’s even freezing rain in the forecast! Of course, it’ll melt the second it hits the ground, but hey – freezing rain! I’m using way too many exclamation points!!
It really WAS 81 degrees yesterday – a cold front came through overnight. It was very big news yesterday. Rick and I were listening to Jeff Ward (one of Austin’s radio personalities) yesterday afternoon, and he’d set up this whole “blizzard” spoof – every few minutes, a melodramatic voice would intone, “Blizzard 2006,” and Jeff was advising everyone to stock up on canned goods and bottled water, and to be sure to “tuck and roll.” What impressed me was the number of audience listeners who called in to play along :
“Oh, it’s getting bad here… just an hour ago it was 75… it’s already dropped down to 73.”
“I don’t know what we’re going to do – we can’t get to the store, and I’m all out of canned soup…”
“I just bought a new car, and I still haven’t figured out how to switch from A/C to heat.”
And then the pseudo-grim voice would say, “Blizzard 2006!” Rick and I were laughing so hard…
The ironic thing is that Eric flew down from Chicago yesterday, and Eric D. and Debbie and Patrick flew down from New Jersey – and instead of having a few days to bask in the Texas sun, everyone has been forced to bundle up in winter clothing. It’s actually in the 60’s today in New Jersey – so it’s one of those rare moments in time when it’s colder in Texas than it is in New Jersey. That doesn’t happen very often…
So could this be a turning point? Could we have finally entered Texas “winter”? Can I, finally, finally, at last put away my short-sleeved t-shirts that I am so very exasperated and bored with?
Sigh… this is Texas… land of unpredictable weather. I’d better keep them handy, just in case…
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Because mom asked...
Here are a couple Christmas tree pictures. One without lights:
And one with lights (sorry it's a little fuzzy...):
Don't open that door...
So last night when I was watching TV, I saw a commercial for this new baking soda thingy that goes in the refrigerator to keep it smelling fresh. Baking soda absorbs odors, the reasoning goes, so therefore any funky weird smells in the fridge will be eradicated. To prove the point, the commercial showed the baking soda thingy sitting inside a refrigerator, right next to a very large onion, an uncovered block of what looked like blue cheese, a few cloves of garlic, and a big parfait glass full of pudding. Pudding? I didn’t quite understand that one, until the commercial moved along and cut to a shot of a woman enjoying her baking-soda-fresh pudding parfait. To be honest, the whole commercial kinda made me feel sick. I mean, I don’t care HOW much baking soda is in my fridge – if my pudding is sitting right in the middle of a pile of onions, garlic, and stinky cheese, I’m NOT going to eat it. That’s just the way I am. And who leaves a big block of uncovered cheese sitting in the fridge anyway? That’s like a science experiment waiting to happen…
The worst refrigerator I ever happened upon belonged to my piano teacher Mrs. Bona – the one whose daughter I used to babysit on a weekly basis. I always had to open the fridge to retrieve whatever dinner was sitting on the shelf for her, but I hated going into that fridge. It was like opening Pandora’s box – pulling open that refrigerator door was like unleashing a hideous curse of bad smells and horribly unappetizing sights into the kitchen. Every time I heard the “wooosh” of the opening door, I would expect a frightening spirit to emerge and proclaim itself to be “the Ghost of Perishable Foods Past.” The plate of food I’d have to pull out for little Danielle would be half-covered with plastic wrap – which was, inevitably, slightly greasy and dotted with fingerprints. How many times had that same bit of plastic wrap been used? Did Mrs. Bona have butter on her hands when she wrapped the plate? Why could there never be a clean piece of plastic wrap in that stupid fridge??
One of my refrigerator nightmares occurred when I was living in my first apartment with my roommate Lori. Lori was an “aspiring model” (who, at 5 foot 4 and a size 6, was obviously never going to make it in the world of fashion – everyone knows you have to be 5’11’’ and a size zero…) and she was meticulous about her appearance. Every eyebrow hair had to be in place, every pair of shoes had to match every bag… the living room had to be perfect, because that’s the room people saw the most – and the couch, which was Lori’s couch, had to be treated with kid gloves. You could sit on it, but definitely not lay on it… and God forbid you allow a shoe to touch it – all Lori Hell would break loose. She always liked to brag that her couch was custom-made and it cost two thousand dollars… ugliest two thousand dollar couch I’ve ever seen. Some time I’ll have to tell the story about how Rick threw up on it when he had food poisoning. I never told her about that…
Anyway… Lori was careful about everything except the refrigerator. She would buy all kinds of fruits and vegetables, swearing for the millionth time that THIS time her diet would stick and she’d fit into a size four. But, after every one of her grocery trips, she’d end up ignoring the fruits and vegetables and eat nothing but Slim Fast for a few weeks. There was one particular time when I realized Lori’s vegetables had been sitting in the fridge for who-knows-how-long, and, with slight trepidation, I decided to open the drawer she used on the bottom of the fridge. Whatever those vegetables had been, they’d been rendered unrecognizable. The entire drawer was filled with a mushy, greenish-brown liquid. For someone who was so careful about being neat, the mush-filled vegetable drawer was like the worst offense I could think of. I would’ve MUCH rather seen Lori wearing a clashing shoe/bag combo. I ended up cleaning the whole thing myself, because I couldn’t stand the thought of that stuff sitting in the bottom of my fridge.
Ever since then, I’ve been careful about checking all the fruit and veggie drawers in my own refrigerator, just to make sure I haven’t left anything sitting around too long. And I’ve never needed any kind of nifty baking soda thingy to soak up weird smells, so I guess I’ve done a decent job. But if I ever want to surround my pudding with onion and garlic and cheese (eeeeewwwwww), I’ll know what has to be done…
The worst refrigerator I ever happened upon belonged to my piano teacher Mrs. Bona – the one whose daughter I used to babysit on a weekly basis. I always had to open the fridge to retrieve whatever dinner was sitting on the shelf for her, but I hated going into that fridge. It was like opening Pandora’s box – pulling open that refrigerator door was like unleashing a hideous curse of bad smells and horribly unappetizing sights into the kitchen. Every time I heard the “wooosh” of the opening door, I would expect a frightening spirit to emerge and proclaim itself to be “the Ghost of Perishable Foods Past.” The plate of food I’d have to pull out for little Danielle would be half-covered with plastic wrap – which was, inevitably, slightly greasy and dotted with fingerprints. How many times had that same bit of plastic wrap been used? Did Mrs. Bona have butter on her hands when she wrapped the plate? Why could there never be a clean piece of plastic wrap in that stupid fridge??
One of my refrigerator nightmares occurred when I was living in my first apartment with my roommate Lori. Lori was an “aspiring model” (who, at 5 foot 4 and a size 6, was obviously never going to make it in the world of fashion – everyone knows you have to be 5’11’’ and a size zero…) and she was meticulous about her appearance. Every eyebrow hair had to be in place, every pair of shoes had to match every bag… the living room had to be perfect, because that’s the room people saw the most – and the couch, which was Lori’s couch, had to be treated with kid gloves. You could sit on it, but definitely not lay on it… and God forbid you allow a shoe to touch it – all Lori Hell would break loose. She always liked to brag that her couch was custom-made and it cost two thousand dollars… ugliest two thousand dollar couch I’ve ever seen. Some time I’ll have to tell the story about how Rick threw up on it when he had food poisoning. I never told her about that…
Anyway… Lori was careful about everything except the refrigerator. She would buy all kinds of fruits and vegetables, swearing for the millionth time that THIS time her diet would stick and she’d fit into a size four. But, after every one of her grocery trips, she’d end up ignoring the fruits and vegetables and eat nothing but Slim Fast for a few weeks. There was one particular time when I realized Lori’s vegetables had been sitting in the fridge for who-knows-how-long, and, with slight trepidation, I decided to open the drawer she used on the bottom of the fridge. Whatever those vegetables had been, they’d been rendered unrecognizable. The entire drawer was filled with a mushy, greenish-brown liquid. For someone who was so careful about being neat, the mush-filled vegetable drawer was like the worst offense I could think of. I would’ve MUCH rather seen Lori wearing a clashing shoe/bag combo. I ended up cleaning the whole thing myself, because I couldn’t stand the thought of that stuff sitting in the bottom of my fridge.
Ever since then, I’ve been careful about checking all the fruit and veggie drawers in my own refrigerator, just to make sure I haven’t left anything sitting around too long. And I’ve never needed any kind of nifty baking soda thingy to soak up weird smells, so I guess I’ve done a decent job. But if I ever want to surround my pudding with onion and garlic and cheese (eeeeewwwwww), I’ll know what has to be done…
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Yum... a phone...
I finished decorating the tree, which always takes a surprisingly long time. It really shouldn’t surprise me anymore, seeing as I do this every year… but for some reason, the memory of the previous year tends to fade between tree trimmings. When I was a kid, decorating the Christmas tree was a family event – we all played a part in the eventual final creation. Dad would string the lights, which mom always said was the hardest part. (Years later, as I stared at a box of lights in the aisle of Wal-Mart and realized I would have to string them up on the tree myself, this long-held idea caused me some momentary panic. Until I got the lights home and strung them up on the tree and realized it really wasn’t so difficult, after all. I think mom’s delegation of light-hanging was a subtle way of saying, “I’m not gonna do all the work myself.”) After the lights were up, mom would drag out the boxes of ornaments, and she and Eric and I would hang them on the tree. I remember my absolute favorite ornament when I was kid – the one I HAD to hang myself – was an angel. 
When I think back on it, it was really a rather ugly little ornament. It was pretty flimsy – I think it was made of cardboard – and it was covered in orange feathers. It didn’t even make sense – why would an angel be covered in feathers? And if it IS going to be covered in feathers, why would they be ORANGE?? Regardless, for some reason I loved that thing when I was a kid… (I wonder whatever happened to that weird little orange cardboard feather-covered angel?)And, following up on my denouncement of “toys” in yesterday’s post, I have to mention – I got a new phone! It’s pretty cool – it’s a Chocolate phone… or, more specifically, a Cherry Chocolate phone. And no, it’s not edible. Found THAT out the hard way… (that’s a joke… I really didn’t try to eat my phone…) I have no idea why Verizon calls this phone “Chocolate” – there’s nothing chocolately about it. I suppose it’s just some kind of
marketing gimmick. Well, it sucked ME in, didn’t it? And that’s really sort of bizarre, when you think about it – I mean, obviously the Chocolate phone is NOT really made of chocolate, nor does it have anything whatsoever to DO with chocolate. It isn’t boxed with a Hershey bar, it doesn’t come with a coupon for truffles, it doesn’t accrue points for free hot chocolate at Starbucks with every call made… so why is it called Chocolate? And why would I instinctively WANT a Chocolate phone, knowing full well it’s simply a communication device, and NOT a yummy sweet dessert? Is my brain wired to crave chocolate in all forms, even if that form is non-edible? And does Verizon KNOW this? Apparently they do… sneaky Verizon marketing department…All this talk of chocolate is making me hungry… and since it IS lunch time, I suppose I should go scour my cupboards for something to eat. But not the phone… can’t eat the phone… do NOT eat the phone…
Monday, November 27, 2006
I dream of chocolate...
Oh, the weather outside is… still frustratingly unseasonable. (Yeah, Christmas songs just don’t work well in Texas.) I’m so glad I had that week in Hawaii to get away from this blustery 75-degree weather. Although supposedly a cold front is on the way. (Or supposebly… Does anyone watch Friends? Remember that episode where Joey was convinced that it was “supposebly” and not “supposedly”? As in, “supposebly there are people who think comfortability is a real word.” But I SUPPOSE it’s just as much of a word as "supposebly.")
Anyway, I’m excited because we’re starting to get some plans finalized to travel up to Chicago right before Christmas. I’m very much looking forward to that – not only will I most certainly have a chance to wear my oft-neglected purple wool winter coat, but I’ll also have the chance to see Chicago at Christmas. I love big cities at Christmastime – I used to love going into New York just to see all the lights and decorations. (Although I have to admit the first time I saw the tree in Rockefeller Center it was a bit of a letdown. It just seems bigger on TV… in person, it’s not quite as impressive for some reason.) And oh yeah – Eric is in Chicago, so I’ll get to see him, too. (You’d better be taking us to Ghirardelli, Eric… I don’t CARE if it’s 20 below zero – I want a hot fudge sundae… I’ll shiver my way through it… it’ll be worth it.)
So today I’m planning on unearthing all my Christmas decorations from wherever they’re buried in the spare closet. I already set up my fake, makes-me-feel-like-a-Christmas-sell-out tree (some day I’ll have a real tree again…) but I haven’t decorated it yet. So right now it’s just a big green plastic cat chew toy. (Hey, I’ve TRIED to keep her away from it, but the crazy cat actually seems to ENJOY ingesting inedible substances.) I can’t even remember what kind of ornaments I have… didn’t I MAKE some last year? Yeah, I think I actually wrote a post about that, didn’t I? :)
Somewhere within the myriad of holiday commercials on television yesterday, I saw one for a toy train set – not a little one, but one large enough for a child to ride on. It comes with a kitchen-table-sized circle of train tracks, so kids can ride their trains around in circles in the middle of the house. And at the end of the commercial, the announcer says, “make your child’s dream come true!” Apparently most children’s fondest dreams consist of riding trains around until they get dizzy. To be honest, I can’t remember what sorts of “dreams” I had when I was two or three years old, but I suppose riding around on a train in my house WOULD have been pretty cool…
But that ad made me think about how different things are once you’re a “grown up.” How great would it be to know your “dream” was something as simple as a toy train? Nowadays, my dreams tend to point more toward less tangible acquisitions – like happiness and contentment and love. But perhaps when you’re three years old, if you know – as all children should – that you are loved, then all you need to be happy and content is one really great toy. At least temporarily. Because it’s funny how the “toys,” whether children’s toys or adult toys – like cars and TVs and jewelry – always eventually lose their ability to charm. In the end, the “toys” are nothing more than things, yet the dreams of happiness and contentment remain. Do you suppose human beings will ever truly believe the “money can’t buy happiness” adage?
Well, it can’t buy happiness, but it can definitely buy a hot fudge sundae at Ghirardelli…
Anyway, I’m excited because we’re starting to get some plans finalized to travel up to Chicago right before Christmas. I’m very much looking forward to that – not only will I most certainly have a chance to wear my oft-neglected purple wool winter coat, but I’ll also have the chance to see Chicago at Christmas. I love big cities at Christmastime – I used to love going into New York just to see all the lights and decorations. (Although I have to admit the first time I saw the tree in Rockefeller Center it was a bit of a letdown. It just seems bigger on TV… in person, it’s not quite as impressive for some reason.) And oh yeah – Eric is in Chicago, so I’ll get to see him, too. (You’d better be taking us to Ghirardelli, Eric… I don’t CARE if it’s 20 below zero – I want a hot fudge sundae… I’ll shiver my way through it… it’ll be worth it.)
So today I’m planning on unearthing all my Christmas decorations from wherever they’re buried in the spare closet. I already set up my fake, makes-me-feel-like-a-Christmas-sell-out tree (some day I’ll have a real tree again…) but I haven’t decorated it yet. So right now it’s just a big green plastic cat chew toy. (Hey, I’ve TRIED to keep her away from it, but the crazy cat actually seems to ENJOY ingesting inedible substances.) I can’t even remember what kind of ornaments I have… didn’t I MAKE some last year? Yeah, I think I actually wrote a post about that, didn’t I? :)
Somewhere within the myriad of holiday commercials on television yesterday, I saw one for a toy train set – not a little one, but one large enough for a child to ride on. It comes with a kitchen-table-sized circle of train tracks, so kids can ride their trains around in circles in the middle of the house. And at the end of the commercial, the announcer says, “make your child’s dream come true!” Apparently most children’s fondest dreams consist of riding trains around until they get dizzy. To be honest, I can’t remember what sorts of “dreams” I had when I was two or three years old, but I suppose riding around on a train in my house WOULD have been pretty cool…
But that ad made me think about how different things are once you’re a “grown up.” How great would it be to know your “dream” was something as simple as a toy train? Nowadays, my dreams tend to point more toward less tangible acquisitions – like happiness and contentment and love. But perhaps when you’re three years old, if you know – as all children should – that you are loved, then all you need to be happy and content is one really great toy. At least temporarily. Because it’s funny how the “toys,” whether children’s toys or adult toys – like cars and TVs and jewelry – always eventually lose their ability to charm. In the end, the “toys” are nothing more than things, yet the dreams of happiness and contentment remain. Do you suppose human beings will ever truly believe the “money can’t buy happiness” adage?
Well, it can’t buy happiness, but it can definitely buy a hot fudge sundae at Ghirardelli…
Friday, November 24, 2006
Who's hungry?
So has everyone finished digesting all their turkey or whatever copious amounts of food were eaten yesterday? And did everyone rush out to all the after-Thanksgiving sales this morning? I never quite understand why people WANT to rush out to after-Thanksgiving sales… especially the ones that start at some ridiculously early hour like 5 a.m. Are there actually people who get up at 4 in the morning the day after Thanksgiving so they can run down to Wal-Mart and buy a cartload of wrapping paper and ornaments priced 10 percent off? I think I’d much rather sleep in and pay full price. There’s even a big craft/decoration/housewares store here in Austin that does some kind of “72-hour sale” thing around Christmastime. They actually stay open for three days straight, so if you happen to find yourself out and about in the pre-dawn hours after a raucous holiday party, and can’t help but think about how you’ll be going home to a boring, plain front door, you can stop off at the store and buy a lovely Christmas wreath. I can’t TELL you how many times I’ve wanted to buy a mug or a picture frame at 3 in the morning, but have been held back by the constraints of reasonable retail hours…
Did everyone enjoy their Thanksgiving? Ours was nice, except for the fact that it was 80 degrees and felt more like the middle of May than what is, in reality, a month shy of winter. (Although I have noticed that the leaves are really starting to fall now… some of them have even morphed into almost-vibrant colors.) We started the day yesterday with a late breakfast over at mom and dad’s house, and then Rick and dad went on a quest to find The Coffee Shop That Cares Not For Its Employees and Forces Them to Work on Thanksgiving Day. And they found it pretty quickly – Seattle’s Best was closed, but the Starbucks a couple miles away was open. Yes, we are all very, very addicted to caffeine…
We all headed over to Rick’s parents’ house in the afternoon for dinner. And I’m sure we all ate waaaaaay too much, and I had another couple cups of coffee, and I was all hyped up on caffeine and calories – which was good, because Rick and my dad and Nick and I all decided to go to a 9:45 movie last night. We went to see the new James Bond flick, and I have to say – I was pleasantly surprised. I’ve been wondering if the new James Bond actor would work out okay – he didn’t necessarily seem “Bond-like” to me when I first saw him. But he definitely pulls it off – and like a lot of the reviewers have said, this is probably the best Bond film in years. It’s a little less campy, and a little more stylish. It even has a surprise ending – you never get that with a Bond film. Usually they always follow a specific “formula.” I guess the idea with this movie was to attempt to revive the franchise with a glove compartment defibrillator (if you’ve seen the movie, you know what I’m talking about… and if not, well, I guess you’ll have to see the movie. :)). And it seems to have worked pretty well.
And now I believe I’ll go jump on the treadmill, in a vain attempt to burn off the three thousand calories I ate yesterday. Hope everyone’s been having a chance to spend some time with family and friends this week!
Did everyone enjoy their Thanksgiving? Ours was nice, except for the fact that it was 80 degrees and felt more like the middle of May than what is, in reality, a month shy of winter. (Although I have noticed that the leaves are really starting to fall now… some of them have even morphed into almost-vibrant colors.) We started the day yesterday with a late breakfast over at mom and dad’s house, and then Rick and dad went on a quest to find The Coffee Shop That Cares Not For Its Employees and Forces Them to Work on Thanksgiving Day. And they found it pretty quickly – Seattle’s Best was closed, but the Starbucks a couple miles away was open. Yes, we are all very, very addicted to caffeine…
We all headed over to Rick’s parents’ house in the afternoon for dinner. And I’m sure we all ate waaaaaay too much, and I had another couple cups of coffee, and I was all hyped up on caffeine and calories – which was good, because Rick and my dad and Nick and I all decided to go to a 9:45 movie last night. We went to see the new James Bond flick, and I have to say – I was pleasantly surprised. I’ve been wondering if the new James Bond actor would work out okay – he didn’t necessarily seem “Bond-like” to me when I first saw him. But he definitely pulls it off – and like a lot of the reviewers have said, this is probably the best Bond film in years. It’s a little less campy, and a little more stylish. It even has a surprise ending – you never get that with a Bond film. Usually they always follow a specific “formula.” I guess the idea with this movie was to attempt to revive the franchise with a glove compartment defibrillator (if you’ve seen the movie, you know what I’m talking about… and if not, well, I guess you’ll have to see the movie. :)). And it seems to have worked pretty well.
And now I believe I’ll go jump on the treadmill, in a vain attempt to burn off the three thousand calories I ate yesterday. Hope everyone’s been having a chance to spend some time with family and friends this week!
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Happy Thanksgiving!
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving already? This year really seemed to fly by. Except for the instances when it seemed like time was crawling too slowly… maybe it was a combination of the two. Part of the year went by too slowly, and part of it went by too quickly. I mean, there was definitely a week in March that seemed to last about a month. And the last month has felt like a week. (And I pretty much have no idea what I’m talking about right now…)
Actually, I’m a little distraught that Thanksgiving snuck up on me this year. I usually have at least a FEW Christmas gifts purchased by now, but I don’t have ANYTHING yet. And now I only have a month to get everything done. Since I like to do all my shopping over the internet, I can’t wait until the last minute to shop – otherwise I run the risk of dealing with backordered merchandise that shows up much too late. And then the whole “avoid mall crowds by shopping online” thing is moot, because I end up needing to go out at the last minute to buy something anyway. Yeah, I really need to start my online shopping…
Talking about last-minute shopping reminds me of a story I wrote about a million years ago. It was actually based on a true anecdote I’d heard somewhere, about how a store had to honor a ridiculously low price on merchandise, because it had been mistakenly marked. I think I was about fifteen when I wrote this, so if it’s horrible, that’s my excuse:
Penny for Your Sled?
“Attention shoppers. Macy’s Day Before Christmas Sale has begun.”
I grasped my styrofoam cup of coffee a little tighter as shoppers rushed past me into the department store. I was a little ashamed of myself, coming out to the mall on Christmas Eve for the sole purpose of watching procrastinating gift-givers. It was just a small glimpse of my twisted personality. Sipping the hot coffee slowly, I smiled inwardly, secure in the knowledge that my presents were all wrapped and under the tree in my family’s home. I looked into the crowded store, trying to decide whether or not to venture inside. Macy’s had gone all out with their decorations this year, and the glittering white lights on the many bow-bedecked trees almost blinded me as my eyes surveyed the area. I walked in, took one last sip of coffee, and threw the cup into a trash can next to the cosmetics counter. A woman with shopping bags in both hands sideswiped the back of my leg as she hurried by.
“Sorry,” she mumbled, glancing back to see who her victim had been. I decided to take a look at the winter sports equipment, which was being displayed in a less-crowded area. As I made my way toward the skis, I noticed a stock boy with orange hair and freckles marking down prices on everything in sight. He was working on boots when I reached the displays. I glanced at a tag on a pair of them and almost gasped.
“That’s a markdown?” I said to myself. I figured a large part of Macy’s inventory was out of my price range, and with one last look at the tag, I turned to leave. It was at this particular moment when I heard it. A voice, high-pitched and filled with excitement, that made its way above the bustle of the store, and crying out, “the sleds are a penny! The sleds are a penny!”
Now, I could have just left, I could have passed the screaming woman off as a product of holiday madness, but curiosity got the better of me, and I let my eyes wander to a display I had overlooked.
The fanatical shopper was standing next to a mountain of beautiful sleds. Not just any sleds – these were made in Germany, with glowing, polished wood and stainless steel runners. These were perfect-for-a-snowy-hill-just-like-Rosebud-in-Citizen-Kane sleds. I could already feel the frosty wind whipping through my hair as I walked closer to the shopper and looked down at the price on one of the sleds. One penny. Impossible!
“The sleds are a penny!” the woman yelled out again. By this time, the freckle-faced stock boy had noticed the commotion, and with fear in his eyes, he ran through a pair of swinging double-doors behind the sled display. He returned very quickly with a gray-haired man in a business suit.
“What is going on here?” Mr. Business demanded of the ever-increasing crowd in front of the sleds.
“The sleds are a penny!” the shopper said, more quietly this time. I was beginning to wonder if that phrase was the extent of her vocabulary.
“I’m sorry folks, there’s been a mistake. We obviously can’t sell the sleds for--”
“Now wait a second!” Ah, so the fanatic did have a broader vocabulary. “I used to be a buyer for A&S and I know my rights – you HAVE to sell us these sleds for a penny!”
I began to move closer to the display, eyeing the sled on the very top of the arrangement. It was so perfect. And only a penny! What a steal.
Mr. Business and the fanatic seemed to be having an in-depth discussion on the rights of shoppers. After lengthy minutes of debating and arguing, Mr. Business threw up his hands and growled, “the sleds are a penny!”
A cheer arose from the sled crowd, and I managed to grab the perfect sled from the top of the pile before the shoppers descended on them like vultures after the kill.
Proud of myself, I sauntered up to a confused cashier and dug in my pocket for a penny. All I had were a couple quarters. I placed one of them on the counter, smiled the smile of a satisfied shopper, and with a surge of generosity said, “keep the change.”
After all, it was Christmas.
Hmmm… I guess that wasn’t too horrible, was it? :) I can actually remember writing this story in my head while I was lying in bed one morning, and then getting up and running downstairs to the computer in the family room so I could type it up. I do have these occasional “Rainman” moments where I can write a story in my head and then remember it when I go to write it down. In fact, I wrote most of this post last night when I was trying to fall asleep. I seem to do a lot of pseudo-writing when I’m lying in bed… I guess because I have a hard time quieting my mind sometimes. Unless I’m drugged. My drug of choice being Benadryl. (Seriously – Benadryl is great when you can’t fall asleep and you have random stories running through your mind that you’d rather not be writing…)
Well, to prevent myself from sounding even more crazy than I already do, I’ll go ahead and wrap this up – in case I don’t have a chance to write anything tomorrow, I hope everyone has a very happy Thanksgiving!!
Actually, I’m a little distraught that Thanksgiving snuck up on me this year. I usually have at least a FEW Christmas gifts purchased by now, but I don’t have ANYTHING yet. And now I only have a month to get everything done. Since I like to do all my shopping over the internet, I can’t wait until the last minute to shop – otherwise I run the risk of dealing with backordered merchandise that shows up much too late. And then the whole “avoid mall crowds by shopping online” thing is moot, because I end up needing to go out at the last minute to buy something anyway. Yeah, I really need to start my online shopping…
Talking about last-minute shopping reminds me of a story I wrote about a million years ago. It was actually based on a true anecdote I’d heard somewhere, about how a store had to honor a ridiculously low price on merchandise, because it had been mistakenly marked. I think I was about fifteen when I wrote this, so if it’s horrible, that’s my excuse:
Penny for Your Sled?
“Attention shoppers. Macy’s Day Before Christmas Sale has begun.”
I grasped my styrofoam cup of coffee a little tighter as shoppers rushed past me into the department store. I was a little ashamed of myself, coming out to the mall on Christmas Eve for the sole purpose of watching procrastinating gift-givers. It was just a small glimpse of my twisted personality. Sipping the hot coffee slowly, I smiled inwardly, secure in the knowledge that my presents were all wrapped and under the tree in my family’s home. I looked into the crowded store, trying to decide whether or not to venture inside. Macy’s had gone all out with their decorations this year, and the glittering white lights on the many bow-bedecked trees almost blinded me as my eyes surveyed the area. I walked in, took one last sip of coffee, and threw the cup into a trash can next to the cosmetics counter. A woman with shopping bags in both hands sideswiped the back of my leg as she hurried by.
“Sorry,” she mumbled, glancing back to see who her victim had been. I decided to take a look at the winter sports equipment, which was being displayed in a less-crowded area. As I made my way toward the skis, I noticed a stock boy with orange hair and freckles marking down prices on everything in sight. He was working on boots when I reached the displays. I glanced at a tag on a pair of them and almost gasped.
“That’s a markdown?” I said to myself. I figured a large part of Macy’s inventory was out of my price range, and with one last look at the tag, I turned to leave. It was at this particular moment when I heard it. A voice, high-pitched and filled with excitement, that made its way above the bustle of the store, and crying out, “the sleds are a penny! The sleds are a penny!”
Now, I could have just left, I could have passed the screaming woman off as a product of holiday madness, but curiosity got the better of me, and I let my eyes wander to a display I had overlooked.
The fanatical shopper was standing next to a mountain of beautiful sleds. Not just any sleds – these were made in Germany, with glowing, polished wood and stainless steel runners. These were perfect-for-a-snowy-hill-just-like-Rosebud-in-Citizen-Kane sleds. I could already feel the frosty wind whipping through my hair as I walked closer to the shopper and looked down at the price on one of the sleds. One penny. Impossible!
“The sleds are a penny!” the woman yelled out again. By this time, the freckle-faced stock boy had noticed the commotion, and with fear in his eyes, he ran through a pair of swinging double-doors behind the sled display. He returned very quickly with a gray-haired man in a business suit.
“What is going on here?” Mr. Business demanded of the ever-increasing crowd in front of the sleds.
“The sleds are a penny!” the shopper said, more quietly this time. I was beginning to wonder if that phrase was the extent of her vocabulary.
“I’m sorry folks, there’s been a mistake. We obviously can’t sell the sleds for--”
“Now wait a second!” Ah, so the fanatic did have a broader vocabulary. “I used to be a buyer for A&S and I know my rights – you HAVE to sell us these sleds for a penny!”
I began to move closer to the display, eyeing the sled on the very top of the arrangement. It was so perfect. And only a penny! What a steal.
Mr. Business and the fanatic seemed to be having an in-depth discussion on the rights of shoppers. After lengthy minutes of debating and arguing, Mr. Business threw up his hands and growled, “the sleds are a penny!”
A cheer arose from the sled crowd, and I managed to grab the perfect sled from the top of the pile before the shoppers descended on them like vultures after the kill.
Proud of myself, I sauntered up to a confused cashier and dug in my pocket for a penny. All I had were a couple quarters. I placed one of them on the counter, smiled the smile of a satisfied shopper, and with a surge of generosity said, “keep the change.”
After all, it was Christmas.
Hmmm… I guess that wasn’t too horrible, was it? :) I can actually remember writing this story in my head while I was lying in bed one morning, and then getting up and running downstairs to the computer in the family room so I could type it up. I do have these occasional “Rainman” moments where I can write a story in my head and then remember it when I go to write it down. In fact, I wrote most of this post last night when I was trying to fall asleep. I seem to do a lot of pseudo-writing when I’m lying in bed… I guess because I have a hard time quieting my mind sometimes. Unless I’m drugged. My drug of choice being Benadryl. (Seriously – Benadryl is great when you can’t fall asleep and you have random stories running through your mind that you’d rather not be writing…)
Well, to prevent myself from sounding even more crazy than I already do, I’ll go ahead and wrap this up – in case I don’t have a chance to write anything tomorrow, I hope everyone has a very happy Thanksgiving!!
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
How many scoops?
So I’m trying to get back to the real world after spending a week in Hawaii. It’s really easy to forget there IS a real world out there when you’re in Hawaii – no matter which way you go, you always end up with a view of the ends of the earth. If the world were indeed flat, it would drop off into infinity all around Hawaii…I’ve also noticed that the service at this place I’m staying now is not nearly as good as the hotel where I was staying. For instance, apparently I’m expected to make my OWN bed and to cook my OWN meals and to clean my OWN bathroom. I woke up this morning and wandered around looking for the breakfast buffet, but all I could find was a package of instant oatmeal. Now, there IS a pool out back, although it’s not nearly as big as the hotel pool… but I can’t find the ocean ANYwhere. I’m calling the concierge…
One of the things we really liked about our hotel was the ice cream – they had the best ice cream at that place. This was something we discovered on our first night in Hawaii, when we
were struggling to stay awake past 8 o’clock. We ate dinner in the dimly-lit, perfect-for-dozing-off restaurant, and then decided to order some dessert. Normally I would order something chocolate, but I couldn’t find anything that sounded very chocolatey on the menu. So I settled on plain old ice cream. It was three scoops, and you had a choice between vanilla, chocolate, Kona coffee and macadamia nut. I got one each of the vanilla, chocolate and Kona coffee, and shared it with Rick. Dad got a whole lotta vanilla (or maybe vanilla and one scoop of Kona coffee), and mom opted for no dessert.But when our ice cream arrived, mom noticed that it wasn’t served in a regular bowl – it was in some kind of almond praline bowl. I’ve never been much of a praline person myself, but mom apparently thought the praline thing was the best thing EVER – she loved it so much that most nights we’d all meet up at the outdoor lobby terrace, where you could order drinks or appetizers or desserts. And Rick and I would share an order of the ice cream (the macadamia nut ice cream was really good, too), but mom and dad ordered their OWN ice cream – dad because he just
loves vanilla ice cream, and mom because she loved that praline bowl thingy. There would be no sharing. And mom was very adamant about that ice cream bowl – one night we ordered the ice cream, and it showed up in a CERAMIC bowl. And mom demanded, “where’s my praline? WHERE?” and then she proceeded to throw the waitress over the terrace balcony into the fountain below. (Okay, that might be an exaggeration…) However it is NOT an exaggeration that as we were leaving the hotel on our last day in Hawaii, mom turned back and said, “good-bye almond praline ice cream bowl!” Most people, when they think of Hawaii, would probably think of sun and beaches and tropical flowers and snorkeling – but not mom. She’ll always remember the almond praline ice cream bowl…We probably ate way too much ice cream last week, so now I’m attempting to eat a more balanced diet once again. Which should last for about two days. Until Thanksgiving. Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, it seems like all bets are off. Cookies and cake and candy and pie are all over the place this time of year… that stuff just appears out of nowhere… like it’s all airdropped onto our front lawns when we’re asleep. And it doesn’t matter if you somehow manage to keep your OWN house free of sugar-dusted butter cookies and chocolate-covered peppermint-filled popcorn balls – eventually, with all the visits to family and friends, you’ll stumble upon a tin of homemade fudge or a gallon of hot chocolate…
Or maybe, if mom is really lucky, an almond praline ice cream bowl. :)
Saturday, November 18, 2006
What time is it??
We got home from Hawaii this afternoon... at least I think it was this afternoon... my time is all screwed up right now. We left Hawaii at about midnight, spent a sleepless night flying to Phoenix (although Rick insists I slept at some point... if I did, it must've been for about 45 minutes or so...) and then we groggily wandered around the Phoenix airport until we found our gate connection to Austin. By the time we took off from Phoenix, I think all of us had finally dozed off. We got to Austin at 1:30 in the afternoon -- which was 9:30 Hawaii time, and about the time we've been eating breakfast for the last week. So except for that 45 minutes between Hawaii and Phoenix and the hour or so nap between Phoenix and Austin, I've been awake now for about 35 hours... what time is it? It feels like fourteen thirty o'clock...
But since I'm trying to stay awake until the time I'd normally go to bed on a Saturday night, I decided to download all my pictures to my computer and post a few more random Hawaii shots:
Me and the ocean on one of the days we were wandering around aimlessly...
This was our last stop yesterday (or the day before yesterday?) -- Rainbow Falls near Hilo. Since we had an entire day to kill after checking out of the hotel, we drove back to Hilo in the afternoon...
Even better than the falls -- the Big Island Candy store in Hilo. They give out lots of free samples... can't go wrong with free chocolate...
But since I'm trying to stay awake until the time I'd normally go to bed on a Saturday night, I decided to download all my pictures to my computer and post a few more random Hawaii shots:
Me and the ocean on one of the days we were wandering around aimlessly...
This was our last stop yesterday (or the day before yesterday?) -- Rainbow Falls near Hilo. Since we had an entire day to kill after checking out of the hotel, we drove back to Hilo in the afternoon...Even better than the falls -- the Big Island Candy store in Hilo. They give out lots of free samples... can't go wrong with free chocolate...
The candy factory -- the store is in front, and the factory is in the back behind a glass wall so you watch the candy being made... (and yes, I did buy some chocolate... :))
One of the reasons mom loves Hawaii so much -- her name is much more common there. When she says her name is Leilani, nobody says, "huh? How do you spell that??" They know exactly how to spell it... of course, then she has to explain why she has a Hawaiian name even though she's not Hawaiian...
No, I don't know what I was looking at... couldn't have been that interesting...
There were lots of birds around the hotel, and this red-headed variety was especially pretty -- mom was trying to get a picture of one all week, but somehow kept missing the opportunity. (So if you want a copy of this, mom, let me know. :))
Sunset and a sailboat...
Me at the Umauma falls...
Dad snapping a picture of the "No Parking" sign near Kiluaea...
This is the sort of terrain we would've been climbing over for three miles to get to the lava. If we'd been better prepared, I'm sure it could've been doable, but it'll have to wait for our next visit. Yeah, that's right, Pete -- we'll be back some day...
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Thanks for nothing, Pete...
My blogging was temporarily delayed because Rick needed to write up a three-page paper for the class he's taking this semester. It had to be emailed to the professor yesterday afternoon, before class time, because apparently "I'm on vacation in Hawaii" is NOT a good enough excuse for not turning in your homework. Even when you're on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific, you're supposed to do your homework. (Well THAT doesn't seem fair, does it?) And my blogging was further delayed by an extremely slow internet connection last night -- I was attempting to post something, and I finally gave up because I couldn't even get the Blogger page to load.
Anyway... moving on... when we were in Hilo a few days ago, we stopped at a place called Hilo Hattie's -- it's like a really touristy place to buy Hawaiian souvenirs. Great place to find Hawaiian shirts and coconut leis and macadamia nuts. When we were in there, Rick noticed a poster for sale on one of the walls -- it was a painting of an active volcano and a woman with long hair adorned with flowers. Rick read the caption underneath the picture and asked, "who's Pete?" I looked at the picture more closely and said, "that's not PETE, it's PELE -- you know, Pele? The goddess of fire?" But of course, as often happens with things like this, the name "Pete" stuck. So on Wednesday, as we drove to Volcanoes National Park -- home to Kiluaea, the most active volcano in the world -- we wondered if Pete would be angry enough to show us some lava.
But what we didn't realize, until after we'd driven three hours from the hotel to the park (which was a pretty drive, but still a looong drive...), was that in order to actually SEE any lava, you have to drive another 20 miles down to the ocean, and then WALK three miles over fields of cooled lava (and if you've ever seen cooled lava, you know it doesn't exactly make for a level, smooth walking surface). Leave it to Pete to deny easy access to her firey light show. Needless to say, we opted out of the three mile hike. We did, however, drive the 20 miles down to the ocean, where we could see the steam rising off the water in the distance from lava spilling into the ocean. We also walked over some of the recent lava flow from the 1990's -- the road we were driving on was covered right up by the lava, and you can still see a "no parking" sign peeking out from the black rock.
So it was not Pete's will that we get an up-close-and-personal view of the red hot lava, but we still got a few decent pictures, and we definitely got some good exercise. Here's the latest batch of pictures:
Anyway... moving on... when we were in Hilo a few days ago, we stopped at a place called Hilo Hattie's -- it's like a really touristy place to buy Hawaiian souvenirs. Great place to find Hawaiian shirts and coconut leis and macadamia nuts. When we were in there, Rick noticed a poster for sale on one of the walls -- it was a painting of an active volcano and a woman with long hair adorned with flowers. Rick read the caption underneath the picture and asked, "who's Pete?" I looked at the picture more closely and said, "that's not PETE, it's PELE -- you know, Pele? The goddess of fire?" But of course, as often happens with things like this, the name "Pete" stuck. So on Wednesday, as we drove to Volcanoes National Park -- home to Kiluaea, the most active volcano in the world -- we wondered if Pete would be angry enough to show us some lava.
But what we didn't realize, until after we'd driven three hours from the hotel to the park (which was a pretty drive, but still a looong drive...), was that in order to actually SEE any lava, you have to drive another 20 miles down to the ocean, and then WALK three miles over fields of cooled lava (and if you've ever seen cooled lava, you know it doesn't exactly make for a level, smooth walking surface). Leave it to Pete to deny easy access to her firey light show. Needless to say, we opted out of the three mile hike. We did, however, drive the 20 miles down to the ocean, where we could see the steam rising off the water in the distance from lava spilling into the ocean. We also walked over some of the recent lava flow from the 1990's -- the road we were driving on was covered right up by the lava, and you can still see a "no parking" sign peeking out from the black rock.
So it was not Pete's will that we get an up-close-and-personal view of the red hot lava, but we still got a few decent pictures, and we definitely got some good exercise. Here's the latest batch of pictures:
The cauldera of Kiluaea...
Steam vent -- these are all over the park...
One of the craters, with spots of yellow sulfur... the whole park kinda smelled like a fireplace... I soooooo needed a shower when we got back to the hotel...
More steam vents...
Some of the cooled lava ribbons...
Lava flow from the 1990's that covered the road...
No Parking sign...
Steam coming off the ocean in the distance (I guess about three miles in the distance...)
Looking out over the lava toward a grove of palm trees...
The fury of the goddess Pete...
This was a lava tube -- lava used to flow through the rock here, and eventually it cooled and left a tunnel behind...
Back at the hotel -- one of the many waterfalls on the grounds...
The guy who lights all the tiki torches at night...
Dinner outside in the wind last night (it was very windy last night...)
View of the sunset from the restaurant on the beach...
So that's it for now... I have to go help Rick finish packing, because we need to check out of the hotel in about an hour. Our plane doesn't leave until around 11 tonight -- so in the meantime, we have to find other things to do. We're thinking of driving back to Hilo and visiting a candy factory someone told us we should see -- I've heard that they dip just about anything in chocolate. Maybe they dip chocolate in chocolate... that'd be great... I'll be sure to find out...
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Cooofffffeeeee...
This morning after breakfast, we drove down to Kona, which is about a half hour south of here. It's a bit more touristy than Hilo -- we've decided that most of this side of the island is reserved for tourists, seeing as it's generally sunny and warm. And the locals all live over in Hilo. We think eventually, the locals will stage an uprising and decide they'd like this side of the island back... there will be a mutiny, because they're sick and tired of living in the rain (and why should the tourists have all the fun?).
Anyway... Kona is not only tourist-friendly, it's home to world-famous Kona coffee. I've been looking forward to the Kona coffee ever since I realized we'd be on the same island where the stuff is grown. There's a Starbucks right down the street from the hotel, but this morning I decided to forgo my usual Starbucks fix and wait until we arrived in Kona before indulging in some caffeine. After parking in a lot in Kona and wandering around some of the shops, we found a tiny little coffee kiosk with a very persuasive saleswoman. She was giving out free samples of the award-winning coffee (I believe she said it was considered "number one in the world" or something like that... it was like the winner for Best Java in the Coffee Oscars...). We tried a medium roast, a dark roast, and a flavored macadamia nut vanilla. Each one was served black -- no cream or sugar -- yet had no bitterness whatsoever. The macadamia nut vanilla even tasted slightly sweet -- as if someone HAD added sugar without anyone's knowledge. I was sold -- I bought a bag of dark roast and the macadamia nut vanilla. Even Rick liked them -- and he's a lot more picky about his coffee than I am. So now I understand why there's so much fuss over Kona coffee in the world of caffeine conoisseurs...
We're trying to get to sleep early tonight, because we're hoping to get an early start in the morning -- we want to drive over to the volcano tomorrow, which is a two or three hour drive (depending on who you ask...). So hopefully I'll have some cool volcano pictures tomorrow. But here's some pics from today:
Anyway... Kona is not only tourist-friendly, it's home to world-famous Kona coffee. I've been looking forward to the Kona coffee ever since I realized we'd be on the same island where the stuff is grown. There's a Starbucks right down the street from the hotel, but this morning I decided to forgo my usual Starbucks fix and wait until we arrived in Kona before indulging in some caffeine. After parking in a lot in Kona and wandering around some of the shops, we found a tiny little coffee kiosk with a very persuasive saleswoman. She was giving out free samples of the award-winning coffee (I believe she said it was considered "number one in the world" or something like that... it was like the winner for Best Java in the Coffee Oscars...). We tried a medium roast, a dark roast, and a flavored macadamia nut vanilla. Each one was served black -- no cream or sugar -- yet had no bitterness whatsoever. The macadamia nut vanilla even tasted slightly sweet -- as if someone HAD added sugar without anyone's knowledge. I was sold -- I bought a bag of dark roast and the macadamia nut vanilla. Even Rick liked them -- and he's a lot more picky about his coffee than I am. So now I understand why there's so much fuss over Kona coffee in the world of caffeine conoisseurs...
We're trying to get to sleep early tonight, because we're hoping to get an early start in the morning -- we want to drive over to the volcano tomorrow, which is a two or three hour drive (depending on who you ask...). So hopefully I'll have some cool volcano pictures tomorrow. But here's some pics from today:
Something we've noticed as we've driven around -- people use white coral rocks to write out things on the dark lava rock -- it's like this all over the highway...
Walking through Kona...
The Kona Coffee Cafe -- yum...
After we got our coffee, we walked down to the beach and sat on the seawall...
As we were watching the waves roll in, I noticed shapes in the water -- eventually I realized it was fish... they were being lifted up by the waves, and for a couple seconds before the waves broke, you could see them through the water -- all those yellow spots are fish...
The beach at the hotel -- it's sort of a protected cove, so the water is very calm...
Endangered sea turtle on the beach near the hotel -- they have a little section of beach fenced off for the turtles...
Sunset...
Me and Rick and the tiki torches...
Hanging out after dinner...
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Scary stuff...
Today we drove to Hilo, the largest city on the island. (Well, "city" is probably a bit of a stretch...) It was about a two hour drive from our hotel, on the eastern side of the island -- also known as the "rainy side" of the island. At least that's what we're assuming... the weather here at the hotel (on the western side of the island) has been great -- but start driving east and the sky eventually darkens, welcoming visitors with spotty, scattered rain showers. But the rain is obviously what helps to create the lush green landscape, completely different than the lava rock fields around the hotel. This island, just like Maui, is a concentrated study in contrasts -- dry and sunny one minute, rainy and green the next... balmy and humid at sea level, chilly and arid in the mountains.
One of the interesting things we discovered today is that the big island is home to lots of mongooses (mongooses?? mongeese??). I haven't managed to get a picture yet, because they seem to be a bit skittish. But the many many mongooses/geese WOULD explain the decided lack of cobras on the island...
After wandering around Hilo (which is really rather unimpressive, to tell the truth), we started driving back toward the hotel and saw a sign for the "World Botanical Gardens and Umauma Falls." We turned in on a whim, and after a drive down a narrow, bumpy, winding road, we were rewarded with a view of the falls. We were also rewarded with a much-too-close view of an unusual spider that was hanging out on some bushes near the waterfall overlook. That thing looked mean... I needed a mongoose to protect me...
So here's some pictures from today:
One of the interesting things we discovered today is that the big island is home to lots of mongooses (mongooses?? mongeese??). I haven't managed to get a picture yet, because they seem to be a bit skittish. But the many many mongooses/geese WOULD explain the decided lack of cobras on the island...
After wandering around Hilo (which is really rather unimpressive, to tell the truth), we started driving back toward the hotel and saw a sign for the "World Botanical Gardens and Umauma Falls." We turned in on a whim, and after a drive down a narrow, bumpy, winding road, we were rewarded with a view of the falls. We were also rewarded with a much-too-close view of an unusual spider that was hanging out on some bushes near the waterfall overlook. That thing looked mean... I needed a mongoose to protect me...
So here's some pictures from today:
Fish in a pond at the hotel...
Cloudy, dreary Hilo...
Purple flowers at the botanical gardens...
This kitten was hanging out on the porch of a little gift shop at the World Botanical Gardens and Umauma Falls... the kitten, by the way, was MUCH cuter than--
This horrible, horrible spider!! Argh!!
While we were there, the spider caught itself a nice, tasty fly... it had that thing wrapped up in a web in about ten seconds...
Strange tree on which people have carved names and initials into the leaves... I can't imagine that's good for the tree...
Umauma Falls...
Driving back to the hotel...
Sunset reflecting off the ocean...
And here I am showing off my already-obvious Hawaii tan... (I think I'm so white I'm actually glowing... well, some of that might be the camera flash...)
Tomorrow we're planning on sticking around near the hotel, and maybe swimming and hanging out on the beach. So there's hope for that tan yet... maybe...
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