T'was the day after Christmas...

Otherwise known as Boxing Day here in Canada (and the UK, and probably other Commonwealth Countries as well. I'm too lazy to check, to be honest).

To the left, you'll see my annual slow shutter speed photo of the Christmas tree, because it's more fun that way. Plus, you can tell by the dotted lines up top and the solid lines below that Dad has one string of LED lights and one string of old-fashioned incandescents, and that appeals to the nerd in me.

And that implies that there are parts of me that aren't nerd, I suppose. I'm not entirely sure that it's true, but we'll roll with it.

And how was Christmas? Not too bad, actually. Dad didn't think that the gifts I gave him were too stupid (gifts, plural, only because he got a few little things this year instead of one big thing), I made out nicely myself, I was (as usual) spoiled by my brother and sister-in-law and will have a shopping trip to blog about when I get the chance, and the turkey was pretty good.

We didn't go out to view the Christmas lights this time, as we often do, because it was bloody cold out there. Ah well, I was inside so that's all right. I managed to make it into town just before a heavy snowfall and will leave (probably tomorrow) as it's warming up, so my timing was pretty good for a change.

And as for Boxing Day sales? Just online ones this year for me. I don't exactly have to budget to find more things than I need, anyway.

I'll leave you with a few shots of... well, any cat owner can guess who enjoys Christmas the most, I guess.

Hope you had a merry/happy whatever.

Shopping and why it's dangerous. For me, anyway.

Today's pointless photo? Well, what else does an arachnophile buy at the post-Halloween sales?

I should mention that these are from two separate pairs of socks. If I could have found a pair with one spider foot and one web foot I would have bought it, though.

Anyway, enough about my socks (which yes, I will be wearing year-round, thank you very much). As you might have gathered, I went shopping yesterday, which is a weird thing.

I don't do much shopping. Well, other than for groceries, obviously. I don't do much shopping because I'm not all that big on malls, and big box stores don't thrill me either. I'm not a recluse -- if I need something I'll go out and get it -- but if I don't need anything I don't shop for pleasure. I've got to the point in my life, you see, where I'd really rather get rid of some stuff than accumulate more.

Um, with a couple of exceptions, I guess. I seem to be good at accumulating art supplies. And neat-looking wearable rocks (yeah, yeah, you hadn't noticed). I used to be good at gaining books, too, but lately I'm getting just as good at giving them away when I'm done with them.

Finding out that the world doesn't end when a book leaves your possession was actually a pretty big thing for me, you know.



Anyway AGAIN, yesterday I had to go shopping. Yes, had to. There was a present I needed to buy. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted, but I figured that if I was shopping anyway I may as well look around a bit. So instead of a quick trip to the bookstore, it was a trip to the electronics store which, as it turned out, opened an hour later than the other stores around it (and why? It makes no sense). So, an unexpected trip to Bed, Bath & Beyond while I was waiting. Which, by the way led to a complete WTF moment, as in WTF is it with the whole Elf on a Shelf franchise? Now you can dress the wretched creepy thing up in a tutu and have it watch its own movie with its pet reindeer? Ugh.

After the electronics store, a bit of a drive to the next "power centre" where Chapters is. But, of course, you have to visit the 50% off sale at the temporary Halloween store first to buy spider socks. Then you should probably stop at the bulk foods place to see what's new and not to buy discount Halloween candy (no, really. I didn't buy discount Halloween candy).

Then, finally, the bookstore. Where I bought what I came for. And next year's Moleskine datebook which I would have bought anyway. And maybe a couple of other things. Ok, three other things.



Are you seeing the problem yet?

When you go to a physical store you're likely to see other things that you might like. That's the point for the retailers, after all. You come for one thing; you're tempted into others. There's a whole science behind making sure you are, at least when you're talking about big chain stores. I went into a bookstore to buy A book and came out with four things, only two of which I could really justify. When I shop online? I get what I came for, more or less. The only time I get more is if I'm making up a minimum order for free shipping, and even then I usually have a couple of things that were in the back of my mind in case I need that extra couple of dollars to top off an order. In a physical store I don't have to make a minimum purchase, and yet I'm more likely to get one or two extra things.

And so I generally don't shop. Not casually, anyway.

Oddly enough, I'm much less likely to have that extra temptation around Christmas time. Maybe it's the crowds, maybe it's the annoyingly bland music; I just find myself pretty good at getting in and out as quickly as I possibly can, as long as I have a vague idea of what I'm looking for.



Anyway (the third), back to work for me now. I hope that you appreciated the extra words today. And that without a required minimum, even.

Free

This'll probably be a fairly mixed bag of short thoughts that don't all deserve individual blog posts. Bear with me.

First off, what do you do with your unwanted stuff? Toss it? Take it for recycling when possible? Swap meets? Here in this city there's a twice yearly event where people can take unwanted but usable stuff (all kinds of stuff), put it out on the curb, and put a free sign on it. At the end of the weekend you have to bring anything left back in, though. It's been working well enough that it's gone on for a few years now. I think it's pretty cool.

We have a similar, accidental thing in the student-filled apartment building where I live. People who are moving tend to leave things in the lobby with a note on them. I'm sure the management hates it, but it keeps a lot of things from hitting the dumpster. A problem arises, though, when people are too lazy to make it even to the lobby. For days now there's been an old CRT television sitting in the stairwell, free sign and all. No one will want it, and eventually (eventually... that's kind of how everything works with this management company) someone will get around to moving out to the trash. Not recycle -- that takes effort. I've seen the same thing happen with old printers, desks... move it to the end of the hall seems to be about as far as s fair number of people are willing to go. Sad, when there are options out there.

Kind of depressing about what it says about the average renter, too.

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And now, customer service. I had a couple of things that needed buying the other week, and had two very different experiences. I needed (yes, needed), a new remote and went to one of the electronics stores in fear of the usual up-sale. I was pleasantly surprised. As I was looking at the selection I was approached by an... associate, I suppose they're called... who was very friendly and quick to just accept that I'd found what I wanted. Well, she did make a joke about the $300 model that can control everything in your house, but it was so obviously a joke that there was no pressure in it at all. Sale? About $20. Oh, and batteries because I was out, but that's ok. Good job, big box electronics store.

Next, big box department store because I needed (yes, needed wanted) a silver chain that would better suit a couple of the new pendants I'd bought. I wanted actual silver because you know my feelings about plated fake jewellery. Well, I found what I thought I wanted in the locked case, hung around for a while... and no sign of anyone in the department. I looked around for someone for a fair while, but nothing. And no call button. The only salespeople that I noticed were probably in a different department, and were standing around in a group gossipping with each other and ignoring the customers in general. I finally gave up, found a costume piece that will do for now, and left. Sale? $6, and a package of nuts that I found in the grocery section. And yes, I went looking for the nuts. It wasn't an impulse.

So, big box department store? Lower prices + no service = when I do buy that silver chain it certainly won't be from you. Too bad, so sad. Well, not for me.

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And finally, tea. I haven't been keeping you up-to-date, so here goes. I've tried the Jungle Ju Ju, which is the guayusa-based one. It was pleasant and didn't give me the jitters, so that's good. I'd still go spicy over fruity overall, but I'll have no trouble finishing it. Next was the Mango Fruit Punch sample, which I made as an iced tea. I liked it. Apparently fruity is good when it's iced tea as opposed to hot tea.

Yeah, I'm weird.

Anyway, next up was the Cotton Candy sample, which I'd been dreading. It just sounded so gross. It turned out to be basically pre-sweetened rooibos, and was nothing like cotton candy. Probably a good thing, but I don't know what they were thinking with the name. And finally, today's offering was Saigon Chai. This is a good chai. Great balance of spices, and the hint of vanilla was nice. I'll be finishing this one up pretty quickly, I imagine.

So, my success rate (or, I suppose, the company's success rate) was pretty decent. Good thing, because that's way too much money on tea otherwise.

After all, I could have bought a silver chain.

Swing and a miss...

But first... did you see the spider? You had to know there'd be a spider.

And second... this tumblr currently wins the internet.

Ok, now for topic. I went to Wally World yesterday. That's actually news, because I don't think I've been there for nearly a year. Long enough ago, at least, that I have no idea where things are anymore (this particular Wally World is one of those that got expanded into a Super Centre Center, so now it's a cheap stuff/grocery store hybrid. Is there really a demand for that?). Anyway, I needed a couple of things in the cheap stuff category, so off to the Super Centre (dammit, I refuse to spell 'murcan) I went. And how did I make out? Well, here's the rough tally:

1. Watch strap. Managed to buy the wrong size even though I held the stupid watch up to the measuring gauge TWICE, so the pins were slightly too short to stay in the holes. No matter; I just stole some pins from an old watch that I'm not using at the moment. I'd need to buy a new strap for that watch anyway if I decide to put a new battery in it, so no worries there. And the fact that the strap itself is a millimetre too narrow doesn't really matter. It'll do fine until I destroy it. Erm, watch on right wrist (I'm a lefty, remember) + mousing with right hand = frequent strap replacement. Or at least more frequent than most people.

2. Bra. I don't know yet. I always need to wear a bra a bit (and maybe give it a wash) before I'm sure whether I hate it or not. I'll probably end up hating it, though. That seems to be my average with bras. And yes, I do know my proper size, or at least I'm told that I do. I just don't have a good eye for styles, I guess.

3. Coat. Oh, this one's kind of funny. I was only sort of in the market for a new fall coat because my old one's still serviceable although heading slowly to ratty, but these looked decent and the price was right (righter than I thought, actually. It rang in for $10 cheaper than I was expecting). I've been reluctant to give up my old coat, really. It's a fleece with a wind/rain resistant layer that ended up to be much better than I was expecting at the time. Plus, it's purple. I like purple but I don't wear it often (or not as often as I used to). Having a purple coat's been handy for doing programs, though, especially with older kids who might be taller than me. I'd gotten into the habit of telling them to "follow the ugly purple coat" so that they'd remember to keep an eye on me on the trails. But now I have this new one. This new... ugly purple coat. Hey, you didn't think I'd give up the purple when I had the chance not to, right?

4. Sleep tank top. It's a sleep tank top. What more can I say about a sleep tank top other than the fact that it's NOT made in Bangladesh? Well, I could tell you that it's purple.

5. Tinted lip balm. Yep. Unless it turns you orange or gives you blisters, I think it's pretty safe.

6. The big tub of Halloween candy that's currently sitting on my desk. Hey, who else is going to keep this joint properly sugared up?



And that's it. Not too bad; only one impulse purchase, and now I shouldn't have to suffer Big Box Land until at least Christmas. I suppose that counts as a run and not a miss after all, then. But I'm not going to bother changing the post title at this point...

Something I only just learned

Did you know that NeoCitran is a Canadian thing? I didn't, until just now.

I was about to mention how much I'd like to toss back a NeoCitran at the moment and just fade off into an antihistamine-induced fog for a bit (and likely will, as soon as I get home from work. The cold's coming along just swimmingly, thanks), when it occurred to me that I said something about NeoCitran on a forum years ago and was met with an almost-universal reacton of NeoWhat?

Except from the Canadians, of course, but now I know why. It's a Canadian thing. Apparently you folks in the States go into TheraFlu comas instead, and in Europe... hmmm. Gimme a sec. Does Lemsip sound right? It's what Wikipedia's telling me, anyway.

It's kind of a funny thing to me, in a way. We start to assume that the world's becoming a homogenised thing via the internet and, well, interconnectedness in general, but we still live in very different places. I'm not about to go into a whole retail comparison here (don't have the head for it, anyway. See above re: NeoCitran. My sinuses are killing me right now), but I will tell you that if I say Smarties I can guarantee you that the Americans amongst my two fans will be picturing a very different thing than the Canadians or Brits will.

And hands up all who even know what I mean by Ribena (no points awarded to UK participants. Too easy). Hey, it's a staple at my place. Way better than those powdered water-additives, as long as you don't mix it kid-syrupy-sweet.

And for those of you who do know what Ribena is... shush. I'm allowed to like Ribena. At least it has vitamin C.

Anyway. This has nothing to do with anything, and just shows where my head is. I'm going home in a while to curl up in a blanket and watch whatever stupid television programs I recorded yesterday. Sounds perfectly mindless, and I mean that in a good way.



I wonder if Ribena goes with NeoCitran?

And now... a word from our sponsors

Today's pointless photo? It snowed last night. I needed some spring.

Ok, topic. We're going to talk (briefly, I hope) about commercials today. In numbered bullet form, even, because that's what I'm in the mood for.

1. I'm not going to ask is it just me? because I've already been asking around and people tend to agree with me, so I'm just going to say it outright: Stop being so freaking aggressive with your Christmas commercials, advertisers. We get it. In your world Christmas shopping season starts the second after Halloween (if not before), but somehow this year's crop of festive holiday buy-me bulltweedle seems like it's Completely. Bashing. Me. Over. The. Head. I'm finding myself starting to wince a bit at the sound of (albeit, highly commercialised) Christmas carols... and I love Christmas carols. I have a huge collection of Christmas carols. I usually have to force myself to wait until December to start singing Christmas carols (you know -- in order to keep from driving everyone around me completely bonkers). If someone like me is already getting the make-it-stop reflex, I think that's a sign that you should, collectively, rethink your advertising strategy. And speaking of rethinking strategy...

2. Why are Dairy Queen commercials either completely stupid or completely annoying? For years we had to put up with the creepy disembodied mouth, and now we've got a campaign whose designers looked at the success of the intriguingly-weird Old Spice ads (which, incidentally, have now taken a turn for the completely stupid...) and decided that riding the intriguingly-weird train would be a fantastic idea. Well, it might be... if the commercials were intriguingly weird. They're not. They're annoying. And slightly creepy. Maybe they wanted to keep a bit of the creepy strain just in case people missed the mouth? I dunno.

3. Sticking with fast food, I'm kind of wishing that the current A & W ad didn't feature the catchy bad singing. Don't get me wrong -- I've actually enjoyed the ongoing campaign (I'm talking about the ones featuring Allen Lulu as the manager and Ryan Beil as... well, Ryan), which is saying a lot because I have a short attention span for a lot of ongoing campaigns -- but with this latest one I find my brain singing That's enough, that's enough, that's enough in pseudo-mariachi a little too often. Well sold, fellas.

4. All this food stuff is reminding me that I should go have lunch, so let me just mention one more long-term campaign that has somehow managed to not have me beating my head against the wall in NOT THAT GUY AGAIN angst. Thom Sharp. Fountain Tire. Let's face it, that actor is really, really good at what he does. He'd have to be to not be driving me nuts after all of this time.


I suppose in a way that's the main thing I ask from commercials. Just please don't drive me nuts, ok? Is that too much?






Oh all right: that, and don't make me hate Christmas carols.
















Please.

I have an idea!

I have an idea that I'm a little tired of wet things, but that's not what I was meaning to post about.

Actually, it takes a lot to make me REALLY tired of wet things. I come from a fairly dry place, all things considered, and I guess because of that I'm pretty fond of rain. Another topic for another time, though.

The idea that I really had in mind was more about where some "good" ideas ever come from. Some of the ideas out there kind of boggle me.

Example? Well, this morning when I was putting on my antiperspirant I couldn't help but wonder who it was that decided it would be a good idea for a woman's armpit to smell like pear. I mean, I like pear (obviously, or I wouldn't have bought that scent) and the perfume they used for this particular product is pleasantly pear-y, but it isn't the most obvious smell for an armpit.

Of course, the most obvious smell for an armpit is the one a person's trying to avoid by using antiperspirant in the first place, but apparently modern society isn't terribly accepting of that. Still... pear? Or cucumber, which has also graced my pits at various times?

I should say here that I have a tendency to aim towards identifiable scents for personal products because at least I know what they should smell like, as opposed to the nebulosity of things like Summer Day or Fresh Breeze or Evening Shower. Things like that make me think that someone just had the idea to cover up the fact that they had no idea what scent they'd just created by giving it a vaguely pleasant name. It's like calling a sports drink Blue because they're not really sure what the flavour is but they know they've got a lot of blue food colouring on hand.

Speaking of which...

Blue raspberry. Who on earth decided that was a good idea? Raspberries are red, raspberry juice is red, and anyone who knows what a raspberry is will be much more likely to identify its flavour with the colour red than blue. Still, go down the juice aisle and you'll find multiple variations on the blue raspberry theme. Especially juices that are aimed at the kid market. One would think that a child who likes raspberry would want it to be red and that any other colour would have as much success as those purple and green novelty ketchups they introduced a few years back (don't believe me on that one? Well, according to this article it was back in December 2000, so I wouldn't blame you if you don't remember that particular short-lived fad), but it seems that bluing raspberry isn't as morally troubling as greening ketchup.

Anyway. Before anyone says anything I do, of course, realise that companies spend big bucks just to find the things that might make us buy their products. So I guess the question is: why do we think it would be a great idea for armpits to smell like pear or raspberries to be blue?

And really? As to that... I'm sure I have no idea.

Pointless pet peeve of the day:

Pointless photo? Well, if we were actually having spring, the trees might be starting to look like that...

I should warn you -- I'm in a bit of a mood. This might be short just because I don't know how long I can hold off the grumpy.

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One thing that drives me a little mad (yeah, I know. More of a short putt than a drive) is the way that natural is used in marketing. "All natural" ingredients in food, "natural minerals" in make-up, "natural" cleaners... and now, I notice, a company that doesn't need advertising via this blog is pushing a "natural" deodorant.

It bugs me that people get sucked in by that stuff, really: natural equated with pure, wholesome, healthy, or whatever other touchy-feely sentiment you want to add in there. Well, boys and girls, I know a couple of things about nature, and I can tell you that natural isn't always a good thing.

Do you want to know something that could easily be advertised as natural? Cyanide. It's natural. You can find its precursor in members of the Cherry family, amongst other plants. And those highly-touted "natural mineral" formulations currently in fashion for high-end make-up? Well, the word natural in there doesn't mean a bloody thing. Asbestos is a natural mineral, for pity's sake, and I certainly don't want to put THAT on my face. And even something as natural as milk, if it isn't treated properly, can cause you a whole lot of dead.

I guess what I'm saying is that a person shouldn't buy into the buzz words. Yes, look for healthy products. Yes, do -- but do your research, too. Look for words that are actually regulated in advertising, not just words that make you feel all fuzzy and warm. Be smart, not sucked in.

And ferwhomever'ssake, don't assume that natural is the same as benign. The world just doesn't work that way, folks.





It'd be pretty boring if it did.

Works as advertised

Another "this'll be quick" day. Boy, this working at work thing is getting out of hand.

And speaking of working...

Maybe I'm jaded (ok, I'm totally jaded), but I generally find myself completely amazed when an advertised product actually works as advertised. I'm not even really counting the infomercial stuff here because you just know that nothing can be as good as an infomercial wants you to believe it is. I'm talking about regular, 30-second fast-forwarded-through commercially advertised products. The kind you can find in your friendly neighbourhood supermarket. Or your massive, non-friendly big box terror, as is more likely these days.

I'm not that good with claims, I guess. If something claims to work miracles, then that something had better be a deity of some sort or other. And I've not seen many deities created in factories.

Imprinted on grilled cheese sandwiches, maybe, but not created in factories.

Well, with that kind of attitude you can imagine my trepidation at having to look for a carpet spot-cleaner recently. The spot in question was large, on the carpet in my rental apartment, and of the dark juice variety. Basically, your typical oh bugger situation that had me cursing my lefty physical ineptitude; especially when none of the usual hints in the "clean everything" book my mother gave me years ago seemed to do a blasted thing to help the matter.

So what else to do besides admit defeat and kiss my damage deposit goodbye? Look for an it works miracles! product and hope for something. Anything. I ended up buying something that claimed to work instantly on everything from pet vomit to set-in red wine.

Yeah, right. Take my money and run, then.

Ah well.

Figuring I couldn't do much worse than completely bleach out the carpet (actually, if I'd thought that through I might have just lived with the stain), I sprayed the crap out of the offending area and waited the instructed five minutes. And no, I didn't sit there watching. Spot removers aren't grilled cheese sandwiches, after all.

Five minutes later the stain was gone.





Holy Whomever.

The stupid thing that I'd blotted, scrubbed, and rubbed with assorted weird household items on the advice of a dubiously helpful book was just gone.

Product works as advertised.

Who knew?









Um... does this mean I have to start believing in infomercials now?

What about grilled cheese sandwiches?

But I liked them the way they were...

I know, I know. I really need to take some new photos. Today, maybe. We'll see if I can get inspired about snow.

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This'll be short because I really should get something to eat. My fault for getting caught up in something else.

The something, if anyone was wondering, was frustration.

I can never figure out why companies take perfectly good products and either discontinue them or bugger around with them to the point where they're not good products anymore. I mean, I know that products need to be updated to keep the fickle consumer interested, but when something's good to begin with and develops a following, can't a corporation just roll with that for a while?

Apparently not, as was evidenced by my very fruitless search for winter boots this morning.

I have a pair of boots that I love, but unfortunately I've loved them for a couple or three years now and I know that this season is going to be their last. They're great boots, even for someone as hard to please as I am. Combine the ankle problem with wide feet and the fact that I'm a woman (why is it that so many companies seem to assume that women want cute boots as opposed to good boots?), and it isn't easy to find something that I can live in all winter. Or at least most of the winter.

I did, though. About... oh, maybe ten years ago.

I won't tell you the company or the style or anything like that, because in the end it doesn't matter. Suffice to say that since then I've been buying the same basic model (different styles as the styles changed every year, yes, but the same basic model) of really good boot. Last year, though, I didn't get around to looking for my replacement pair because the boots were still holding up well.

This year?

THEY'VE BEEN DISCONTINUED.

Gah.

My good boots have been discontinued, and the model that's replaced them has been getting poor reviews on several websites that I checked out this morning.

Gah, again. Stupid company. What did you do to my boots?

Ah well. I'm not in danger of being bootless in the immediate future, and in the meantime I'll keep looking for possible replacements from other companies. And if any of my two fans know of someone who makes decently warm lower-cut boots that are easy to get on and off and have good grips for the balanced-challenged among us... well, for Whomever's sake point me in the right direction, ok?





This whole thing just makes me sad. Or hungry. Yeah, lunch would probably be a good idea. Later, all.

Ouch

I have a headache.

This whole not sleeping through the night thing is getting a bit old, I guess.

And frustrating, since there's really no reason for it.

Sometimes there are reasons, you know. Sometimes it's because I worry about things (I'm a world class, olf-worthy worrier, unfortunately. And was even as a child). Sometimes it's because my brain gets too busy with other things to remember to sleep. And sometimes... it's just frustrating. Like it is at the moment.

Ah well. Headache's as good an excuse as any to avoid shopping for yet another day, I guess. Grocery shopping, that is. I'm not sure why I've been avoiding it, but I have been. It's got so that the regular routine is to stop at the local corner grocery (and incidentally, if your neighbourhood is one of the many to have lost its corner grocery, you're really missing out. I'm lucky enough to have a real, honest to Whomever, pre-supermarket-style grocery a couple of blocks from me. With a tiny little bakery and everything. It's been a lifesaver more than once) and pick up the bare minimum of whatever I need to get through the week, and then tell myself that I'll get to the bigger stores later.

Later hasn't happened for over a month.

I'm starting to run out of staples.

That's not good.

What if I need to put two pieces of paper together? Tape's not going to manage it.





Yeah, I had to make the the lame joke before someone else made it for me.

Anyway. That's all I've got. I know I was going to talk about the snakes, but since they're nothing but frustrating this time of year it would have been a very short talk. And now, I'm off to... I dunno. Look at the reading file, I suppose.

This whole work thing's sort of hard to get used to.

Pointless... wait a sec. There's something in my teeth.

Carrot. Pieces of carrot from lunch.

It's kind of annoying.

Anyway...

This'll be short. It was a late lunch, and late lunches make me less likely to blather.

Something weird happened to me the other day, & I was going to mention it earlier but forgot. I ran out of plastic bags. Isn't that odd?

By plastic bags I mean plastic grocery bags, and like most people I've pretty much always had plenty around. I use them to take my garbage to the dumpster, and since I only take out a bag a week they tend to accumulate. The other day, though, I went to replace the bag under the sink and... I had no plastic bags.

Did you know that was even possible?

I've been getting much stricter about using my cloth bags when I shop, and obviously it's made a difference. Realising that I had no plastic bags was very much a yay me moment, because it meant I was practicing what I preach at work. Not that I'm terribly preachy, really, but we do try to get the whole small changes make a difference message out there. The fact that I had no plastic bags left in the apartment was a pretty clear illustration of concept.

But...

The fact that I had no plastic bags also meant that I had no way to take the garbage out. Outside of hauling an entire bin to the dumpster, of course. It may come to that, but at the moment I'm binless and bagless and it'll be pretty high on the irony meter if I have to go out and BUY plastic bags because I don't get plastic bags anymore when I BUY things.

Life is a very strange thing if you're in my brain.

And if you're in my brain you're probably a bit on the sore side because I have a slight headache just now.




Don't worry, though. After we're done typing we'll take some acetaminophen. You'll feel better soon.

Me, not shopping

And a pointless photo of bark.

Why?

Well, why not?

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I won't be going to any Boxing Day sales today. I almost never do, come to it. I hate the crush of shopping before Christmas, so I can't see the point of voluntarily joining the crush of shopping after Christmas.

Besides, people are so unnecessarily stressed about the whole thing.

Is it worth the bargains to fight the Parking Lot O' Morons, the line-ups of cranky people who absolutely MUST return their unwanted gifts on Boxing Day (stupid move, cranky people), and the exhausted store clerks who are just wanting it All. To. Be. Over?

Why, no.

No, it's not.

Besides, I'd sooner be playing with my toys.

Of course I got toys for Christmas. Everybody should get toys for Christmas.

My main toy, unfortunately, hasn't even made it out of the box (it's the kind of toy that you don't want to unpack until you're ready to set it up because it's virtually guaranteed that it'll never again fit in the box for transport), but that doesn't mean I don't want to fiddle with my other toys.

In fact, that's the main reason that today's post is going to stop riiight about now. I have other things I could be talking about, but come on! Toys, people.

We've got to set priorities, after all.

Anyway, I hope that Christmas treated you well, and I hope that if you're actually foolish enough to insist upon joining the Boxing Day crowds you're prepared to do it with a huge whopping amount of patience and not a little bit of humour. I think you're nuts, but whatever.

I don't care, really. I've got toys.

Preferences

The pointless photo is Dirty Moe in one of his more reflective moods.

Do you get it? Do you? Oh, never mind.

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Having a bit of disposable income for a change, I've ordered a couple of things from an online company that really, really doesn't need me to name it.

This particular company (and many others, I know) now gives you a list of suggestions when you sign in. Suggestions based on your previous orders, I mean. You know the type of thing: "others who have ordered *blank* have also ordered *whatsis*"... or, "since you already own *thingumee* you may enjoy *blahdiblah* by the same author." Very helpful, those preference lists.

Or at least weirdly entertaining.

I tend to be a little bit eclectic in my tastes, and I think it's mucking with Giant Internet Company's algorithm a tad. The poor thing just can't figure me out. It can't decide whether I prefer books or DVDs, for one thing. Not a big deal there (I order both, obviously), but I don't exactly stick to the same subjects in each medium.

When I order books I'm most likely to be ordering nonfiction (it's been too long since I've bothered to get lost in a good story, to be honest), but that's about all you can count on. It might be history, language, nature (usually for work in that case), art, philosophy, or (even more likely) a complete and total whim. It might even be poetry, although there hasn't been enough of that lately either.

Automated suggestion pages don't like that kind of schizophrenia. After my last book order -- which, if I remember right, consisted of a book on language history, a poetry survey, and something about popular philosophy -- the poor thing thought I'd like to own several books about American politics.

Um, no.

Nice try, though.

My most recent splurge was the entire BlackAdder on DVD (I was going into snark withdrawal, for whatever reason. And for the pedantic fans, I should say that the main title on the box is BlackAdder, but the character's name is written as Blackadder. And yes, I did know that already). Needless to say, this purchase has completely and total confused my preference list. The last time I checked, it was trying to intersperse every silly British comedy ever made with books like Eats, Shoots & Leaves and the complete letters of Fanny Burney. And pretty much everything that Hugh Laurie's had anything to do with, of course.

Yeah, that part made me laugh too.

Maybe it says a little too much about the way I'm wired, but I get a real kick out of things like that. To the point, even, that I occasionally find myself missing the old Google banners that were standard on Blogger blogs like this one. For those who don't remember, they would use key words in the blog entries to pick "related" ads.

The old blog once went a week with ads for Mein Kampf after I'd described something as Hitlerian. It was hilariously inappropriate, and I do sort of miss the added incongruity. Not enough to put on an advertising banner by choice (and MAKE MONEY ON MY BLOG!!!), but enough to have an odd sort of nostalgia for it.

Is it too early in the game to be having blog nostalgia? Probably.

Anyway, I should go get some lunch and then spin those new discs to make sure they don't need to be shipped back. Later, all.






Hmmm. Maybe I should look into that Fanny Burney book...

You know what?

The poplar pollen count is HIGH.

Didn't even need to look that one up.

Yes, I am that talented.

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The pointless photo is, of course, not of poplar pollen. I'm not that talented.

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I've just backspaced out all of today's rant. I decided (somewhat belatedly. It would have made more sense to decide this before I'd already typed a bunch of words, but that's how it goes when the poplar pollen count is high) that I wasn't in the mood to be pseudomad about something that really isn't worth the effort.

See? Every once in a while I stop being a five-year-old for a few minutes.

However, this does leave me with a big blank space where today's topic was supposed to be.

So...





Hmmm. We could talk freaks, I guess. The freaks are in rare form because of a bunch of photos and a short snippet of video of a couple of people (ok, famous people) wearing t-shirts. It made the freaks very happy, which made me very happy since it's hilarious.

That reminds me. Wine gums at the ready, t.v. club? Oh, and is anyone watching Raines besides me? I've finally had a chance to look at last week's recording (talk about yer time-shifting viewer), and while it didn't do as much for me as previous episodes there's still a lot there to like. Erm, anyway...

Oh, hey. Changed my mind mid-topic. Let's leave the freaks for a moment (they're too busy staring at the pictures to notice anyway) and talk about t-shirts. Does anyone else find it odd/funny that custom tees have come back in such a big way? I'll admit to being old enough to remember the first flowering of that particular... art(?), and I haven't figured out yet whether the current enthusiasm has more to do with fake nostalgia, the ease of computer-driven design, or the ability to set up a website and make money from people all over the world who would never have heard of you back in the day of the small-town custom press shop.

It's interesting, though, and I have to say that I've enjoyed looking at some of what's out there in the interweb apparel department.

Looking, mind. I'm far too cheap to go so far as to actually order any of that stuff.

It's too bad, though, because some of the designers are very clever. I suppose you'd have to be to find yourself a place in such a roaring market, but there you go.

I'd love to find myself a position as a snarky t-shirt designer. Or maybe I should just start selling tees on the blog... Oh, wait. That would imply having ambition, and would also make the blog less than pointless. That's so completely not allowed.

What if I take the more magnanimous route and suggest that if you've ever seen anything here that you find tee-worthy, then be my guest to go out and have a t-shirt made. My treat. That is, no charge for the idea.

It'd mean I'd have to make an attempt to be quotable, but then weirder things have been put on t-shirts than some of the nonsense you find here.

So, yeah. Go ahead. Make me wearable. Maybe we could start something here. After all, everyone likes an in-joke.





All right, so it's me that likes an in-joke. But if enough people start wearing an in-joke then... well, it's still an in-joke. But it's a cool one. So come on, people. For the first time in my life make me cool.

Am I the only one sniggering at the mere thought of this? Probably.

But hey, what would it hurt to add another pointless t-shirt or two to the world?








Just make sure you send me a picture of it or something. I've got to entertain myself somehow, after all.

Assorted sundries

And a mouse's behind.

Yes, I took a photo of a mouse's butt yesterday. I tried to go around to the other side to take a picture of its face as well, but by that time it was too nervous and left the bird feeder before I could focus.

And why was there a mouse in the bird feeder?

For the bird seed, of course. I would have thought that part was obvious.

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I was in the local liquidation place with my father yesterday, and ended up with about $35 worth of the usual junk. Usual for me would be things like shampoo, body wash, shelf-stable food (I'm a little leery of anything that doesn't have a date on it, to be honest) and at least one item of pointless kitchenware that only got picked up because it was incredibly cheap. In this case, it was a pizza cutter.

Everyone needs a new pizza cutter now and then.

My father is the king of discount shopping, as I think I've told you before. Any excuse is a good one to check out the bargains. All it took this time was a quick mention that I hadn't been down to the place for a while, and off we went.

I'm generally pretty good about just picking up the things I need when I go to a place like that (I absolutely did need that pizza cutter. And shut up, world). I'm not terribly apologetic about doing the liquidation thing either. For a large part of the year I make little enough money that any bit of saving can be important.

Besides, going to the liquidator can be incredibly entertaining.

I'm reasonably good at picking up just what I need, yes, but I get a real charge out of watching what the other shoppers are carrying around the store.

People will buy the weirdest things if there's a discount involved.

I don't have any interesting examples from yesterday, unfortunately, since everyone was acting almost painfully normal. I have in the past, however, seen women walking around with shopping baskets absolutely full to the top with cheap nail polish (first: who uses that much nail polish? Second: are you honestly going to walk around town in that delightful shade of Floozy Hooker 193?) or expired chocolate bars.

Women, yes. The men more often go for the paint and the cheap tools. Sorry for the stereotyping there, but I can only report what I actually see.

Discount stores make perfect places for instant psychology experiments, as far as I can see, and it's probably a good thing that I've never worked at one. You just know I'd be the one risking my job by purposely mispricing the most useless items in the store. You know: put the price up as high as you can to see if the snob factor kicks in (if it's that expensive in a place like this it must REALLY be worth something), lower the price to pennies to see how many unneeded somethings the average shopper can be tempted into... that kind of thing.

I could have way too much fun.

For a couple of days.






After that I imagine I'd be looking for other work.

It's still very tempting, though. Especially when I have the Spring From Hell to look forward to at my actual job.

Ah, but we'll leave that whinging for another time. Happy Easter to those of you of the Christian persuasion; happy long weekend to the rest of you. I'm outta here.