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Tagged: shopping

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What I did on my summer vacation

It’s been a while since I’ve written. Since it’s my policy not really to talk about the boring details of my day or my week, I’ve been reluctant to write much at all. Actually, my life has actually been really busy, but it’s all been that kind of minutiae I’ve had to manage. When you take it day to day, it’s not so bad, but when it’s added up it’s a bit of a fright.

So, in the last couple of months, here’s what I’ve been up to.

I’ve moved downtown into the horribly misspelled “ConneXtions Lofts” building. It’s a nice place to be, and I’ve been having fun worrying about what kind of furniture to buy and what to paint the walls. It’s kind of got me in a state of paralysis because I don’t want to decide. Also, I’m really tired of shopping and choosing. I have managed to spend $497.11 at the Container Store and I feel like I don’t have a damn thing to show for it. (Come see how I finally have plastic bins to put my Thurgood Marshall black history stamps in!)

And in minor news: I made a great weeklong vacation to D.C., Delaware, N.J., and Philadelphia, where I visited the National Constitution Center. My good friend and co-worker Rajni Dutta was made a citizen of the United States at the federal District Court here in Columbus! And Sunday I squoze in one last hurrah, a trip to Cedar Point, thusly capping a pretty good summer.

One other thing I’d say in apology for not writing is, you know that I also like to discuss political events here, but again, so much of what I’d say is obvious or would have been covered by the commentariat so much better. I can say that I checked the voter registrations of almost everybody I know in town and they were all correctly registered — congratulations, Franklin County friends! I’m sure you will all vote correctly. Sample ballots will be available for download on billcash.org later this month.

I’ll leave you with this last thought. I was at the gym recently and overheard a guy say to another guy, “Hell no, I don’t want to go to some damn web site and see somebody head get chopped off!” Can you remember a time when a conversation like that would have been unusual? It seems rather long ago.

2015 update: I don’t even remember what beheading we were looking at back in 2004.

Recipes

A visit to the grocery store

Well, I’m fresh back from a trip to the wonderful Kroger — a trip that, I maintain, would have been made partly unnecessary by the Fishline.

It appears the pimply, nice U-Scan boy who used to work every single night has quit. I haven’t seen him in about two months. This a shame, because I love him. Even if it’s actually slower than using a cashier (who can say?), doing U-Scan just feels faster. He was the fastest vegetable code number typist I’ve ever seen. So, wherever you’ve gone, Face, I salute you.

Is it just me, or can the steady erosion and decline of American values be traced to when Sunny Delight changed its name to Sunny D?

And finally, it appears that you can now buy these fabulous Butterball chicken breasts that have been marinated for you. This is a Godsend for anyone who is not getting enough sodium in his diet. But here’s the best part: they’re sold in individually sealed chicken bags. No more touching raw meat — ever! All you have to do is carefully cut them open with a steak knife, dump that knife into the dishwasher, and Keshia Knight-Pulliam! you just got off scot free. I can’t emphasize how many “out, damned spot!” washing experiences this could have saved.

City life

Eat it

I’ve had it with grocery store discount cards.  They know.

I used to go to Kroger and sign up for a fresh “Kroger Plus Card” every time I bought something. This was great fun for me because it held up the line (which I feel, ultimately, punishes the store, somehow), and because I always fill in a fake name, like Jodie Zaragosa or Marko Nuckles. There was always a twinge of excitement and guilt when I’d realize (again) that I’d given a fake name while paying with a credit card that has my real name on it. They never called me on it, though, which was a little disappointing.

Kroger caught on to me this year and started making you have to go to the customer service desk to sign up for a new card. This really cut down on my card-signing-up activities, since I usually forget to sign up for the card until I have ice cream, and then it’s this boring race against time to get home.

My big beef is, since when did it become reasonable to jack up the average bill 18%, then make people use a card to get the prices back where they belong? I don’t want to give out my personal information, but I don’t want to pay $11 a pound for fish either. Is it really worth six bucks to them every time I go in there for them to find out what I’m buying? It’s the biggest hassle. And I refuse to carry the card or hang it on my keyring, because if there is one thing I am not it is some kind of corporate tool. Obviously.

The biggest excitement came tonight, when I sadly indicated I didn’t have my card — sometimes the cashiers will take pity on you and give you the discount anyway. Not this hardass. But she did say you could go to customer service and ask for the discount on your next visit. Isn’t that great? Kroger owes me hundreds.  Where are my receipts?