Well, yes, as Eric D. pointed out in his jinx-laden comment below, C.C. Sabathia FINALLY pitched a decent game the other night. I’d actually benched him, with the intention of simply watching to see whether he was able to string together more than two innings without allowing fifteen runs. But about five minutes before the deadline to change my line-up, I decided to go ahead and play him. A little voice in my head kept saying, “he has to win SOME time… and if you don’t play him, it will definitely be today…” Fortunately, he won in spite of the fact that I played him. (It’s ABOUT TIME…) But now I’m facing a conundrum – Sabathia’s next start is against the Yankees. And if I decide to play him, then obviously I’m wishing for a Yankee loss. And not just a Yankee loss, but a really BAD Yankee loss. Like a shutout. A shutout with 15 strikeouts. What’s more, I have FOUR Yankees on my fantasy team – and if I play Sabathia, I have to hope they all play well, but not TOO well. Perhaps they could all hit singles or doubles or triples, but NO home runs. And they certainly can’t hit when anyone else is on base… and no one ELSE can hit when any of THEM are on base. I mean, this could just be the most nerve-wracking game ever… Of course, now that Eric has jinxed me, C.C. will probably start falling apart again… :)
So yesterday I went grocery shopping at the Randall’s store where I usually shop (although lately, Rick and I have been liking Whole Foods, too… they have great produce and all sorts of organic stuff – like organic chocolate, for instance…). I had written out a shopping list, and I took great care to list everything according to the way products are laid out in the store. I had the entire layout memorized, from my many trips up and down the aisles. The bakery section is first, followed by pastas and soups, then canned fruits and vegetables, and so on and so forth… So I got my cart, quickly found a loaf of bread, and then hurried off to the pasta/soup aisle. But the expected shelves full of Prego sauces and Campbell’s soup were no longer there. In their place were shelves full of snack foods – I was surrounded by Doritos and potato chips and Planter’s peanuts. Confused, I steered my cart into the next aisle, hoping to find what I was looking for – but again, instead of finding any of the items on my list, I was confronted with a wall of soda cans.
Eventually, I took a more observant look around (I don’t usually pay that much attention to my surroundings in the grocery store) and realized that many floor tiles were ripped up, many shelves were torn down, and the entire store seemed to be undergoing some sort of makeover. The produce section has already been redone, with wooden floors and a slightly more exotic fruit and vegetable selection. In fact, I got the feeling that Randall’s was attempting to restructure itself in a Whole Foods sort of manner. I guess Rick and I aren’t the only ones who really like that store…
I told my friend Cindy about my confusion at the grocery store, and she sent me an article about the things grocery stores do to entice patrons to spend more money. One of them is to restock their shelves in a brand new layout, so even people who are familiar with the store are forced to spend more time browsing the shelves. They’ll also sneak in a few new items, so while you’re just innocently searching for the new location of the oatmeal, a shelf full of brand new groceries will appear out of nowhere, veering you off course and resulting in extra items in your cart. And it’s funny, because I DID notice an aisle full of all sorts of new foods from around the world. And I DID get sidetracked when I saw a shelf full of Indian food. And I DID wind up with a tin of curry powder and a jar of Bombay curry simmer sauce, neither of which was on my list. Argh! Those sneaky grocery store plotters tricked me! But I’m on to them now… they will NOT reel me in with their trickery again.
Oh, who am I kidding… of course they will. And gosh, I love curry…
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