Black Friday

Yesterday was Black Friday and my Big Box did very well. Place was jamming all day long, with every cash register ringing like the Bells of St. Mary. It was so busy they asked me, along with most of the early shift, to stay for eight hours.

It wasn't as awful as I thought it would be. In fact, on some level it was sort of nice, in the way that people bond during a disaster. Customers were mostly patient and good natured about the lines. They had managers standing at the front the whole time so you could resolve customer complaints without chasing anyone down. And I rang up so many sales that I had to break two rolls of quarters and three rolls of pennies, which never happens. And especially remarkable since the bulk of my sales were on credit and debit cards.

Worked five hours on Thanksgiving too. It was almost as busy since they were running a one day sale. And I've got another six hour shift today. Hoping my back holds out. It's a little twingy this morning and I don't have a day off until Wednesday.

Anyway, I've never worked retail before and Lord knows I've never shopped in the stores on Black Friday, so I'm glad in a way to have had the experience but it's not one I want to repeat. If you're the praying sort, pray that I get a decent job soon and don't have to go through that again. And if you don't pray, send a good thought into the universe for more meaningful -- and better paying -- employment for me in the near future. Thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone has a great holiday with good food and the warm company of friends and family. I'm thankful for every single of one of you that shares my world in this lifetime. And keeping with my personal tradition, here's the full WKRP Turkey Drop episode. It just never gets old.

If you prefer the just the punchlines, here's the 30 second version.



Safe journeys to those who travel to celebrations.

Mon Cher

I admit Cher has been a guilty pleasure of mine for decades. Granted she's a walking miracle of cosmetic surgery, but at 64, she surely looks better than I did at 30.

I bet I know all the words to all her songs and I watched all her teevee programs. I loved when she was the shocking fashionista of the the rock and roll world. Cher is a true original with an interesting life. She surely has more talent than Katy Perry or Myley Cyrus. And she's a much better actress than she generally gets credit for.

Not sure why she's suddenly in the news, but good to see her looking so well.

Welcome to the interwebs

My childhood friend Marc Catone from Danbury finally started his own website. He's a big Beatles fan so there's a lot of stuff about them but he also has a photo gallery of old pictures from Danbury, mostly of the now defunct Great Danbury Fair. Check it out.

Another friend gone

I'm not absolutely postive about this because all I saw was a news story and not an obit as of yet, but it looks like my friend from Noho, Tom Major commited suicide last week. Very sad and surprising. He didn't seem the type who would hang himself.

He was only 56 years old and a talented musician and a craftsman. If I recall correctly, he built, or at least restored guitars. He spruced up my cheap old guitar years ago. Sorry to see him gone.

Little City Stories

My life is full of strange little synchronicities like this. I was telling my Dad yesterday evening how much I was craving a burger. Haven't had one since the summer barbecue season. An hour later, I just happened to be on the front porch when a Five Guys mini-van pulled into my driveway. (For those up north, Five Guys is famous for burgers.)

It sat there for a long minute, then left, driving back the way it came from. I almost went over to ask if they had any burgers in the van. Sadly they didn't offer me any and if they were making a delivery, they were really lost. Nearest Five Guys is over ten miles away from here.

No meteors for me

The Leonid meteor shower was at its peak last night. I went out a few times to check out the sky, which was brilliantly clear. Sadly, I didn't see a single one. Of course I don't have a wide view of the heavens where I live right now, but on the bright side, I did see the stars, even with the moon so bright I could make out the constellations. And on my last trip out, just before dawn, I heard a hoot owl. So there's that.

Meanwhile, I found this picture of Key West on twitter yesterday. Reminded me of the trip I took to Key Largo a long time ago. I tried to drive down to Key West while I was there but didn't make it past Islamorada. But all sunsets in the Keys look pretty much like this and everyone stops to watch.

Just had two days off in a row. Don't know what happened to them. I have so much on my to-do list that still didn't get done. Why is it that time off flies by and work time drags so? But it's back to work today for another six day run before I get one day off.

Did get some necessary shopping done though. Most exciting buy was my new flannel lined, black felt slippers. Exact replica of last year's model. Paid $1 more. Worth it for warm feet. I was lucky. Once again, they were the last pair in the store. And I really needed them. I was holding the old ones together with duct tape after the bottoms all cracked up.

Went to Aldi for the first time. Wasn't anything like I expected. Thought it was going to be big and dark and warehouse grim with giant purchases required, like a Costco deal. As it turned out, it was smaller, cleaner and less depressing than the little Food Lion that's closest to my house. AND I got some great deals on food I needed.

Went to to look for cans of unflavored seltzer water, which the Food Lion seems to have stopped carrying and I take to work every day for my break. Sadly, they don't carry it either, but I scored one of those little bears of Canadian honey, a great big can of Mexican coffee, and some dairy items for at least seven bucks less than it would have cost me at the regular grocery. And you can buy in small amounts. Some of the packaged stuff looks suspiciously like it could come from China, but the dairy and produce looked great and was really cheap. I'll go back again.

Meanwhile, I haven't had a little city story in while. It seems my local high school is winning their sports competitions. Last couple of games they've been cheering so loud I could hear it from my porch. And much banging of drums and tooting of tubas. Pretty sure I also heard a vuvuzuela in the mix. Keep thinking I should go over to check out a game, but they seem to start and run really late. Too dark and cold for me.

Oh and if you missed this, it was the best video I saw on the news all week. They were taking down this tower in Ohio and it was supposed to implode and collapse onto itself. But something went wrong and the tower tipped over sideways. Took out a bunch of power lines but miraculously didn't smash any of the houses or any people far as I've heard. You have to watch it to see how close it came to being a major disaster.

I hate changing my clocks

Moving the clocks always make cranky. Even though this change gives an hour extra sleep, it means it will be dark so early that it will be even more depressing. And it's freezing here today. Heat running just to keep the main part of the house at 60 degrees.

Almost successfully blocked out that this was happening. Didn't even think about it until I saw people talking on the internets this morning. On the bright side, at least I won't show up to work today, an hour early.

On the not so bright side, thinking it's going to be a zoo at work today. The computers(cash registers) have been a mess for days since the gurus came in to "fix" them. Crashing regularly. Sundays are always horrible because the sales change and either people misread the circular or the computers don't ring the sale items up correctly. PLUS they're running a special promotion today offering 10% off on everything -- except -- a whole bunch of items. And customers have already gone into their holiday cranky mode. AND I have a late shift so I have to deal with the weekend night crazies.

Glad it's a relatively short shift and at least I don't have to close.

Good news in Big Box City

Got the word on Black Friday from a trusted cohort at the front of the store. Yeah, we will have to be there at an ungodly hour, but maybe not until 6:00am, which somehow sounds much better than 5:00. Also, pajamas will not be mandatory. So there's that...

Little City Stories

For those who have been kindly following along, my Dad is okay. The battery of tests showed no permanent damage and he's looking great. Thanks to all who sent good thoughts and emails.

I've been working a lot of days, even if not enough hours to pay the bills at my paltry pay scale, so I don't have a lot of stories from the little city. Was very sad to miss the balloonfest here again this year. Had to work right through it and the balloons didn't fly to this side of town as they apparently have in years past. The newspaper coverage tells me it was a great success. They had perfect weather for it.

It's getting cold again and sound carries further on the crisp night air. Apparently my local high school team won some contest a couple of nights ago. The cheering was so loud it felt like they were right next door instead of a few blocks away. I may wander over one of these nights to catch a game. It's in comfortable walking distance and it might be fun to see how the locals entertain themselves.

The last night it was really warm, which was last week, a very black man dressed all in white was walking down the sidewalk late at night. He was carrying two very full white grocery sacks. He was singing, "Please don't take my sunshine away." I think he was singing about the weather because we had three days of rain after that. Anyway, I love when people sing on the street.

And sadly, I missed my chance to take a photo of the odd flower that popped up in the lawn. No leaves. Just a stalk with a round flower head with red petals and very long stamens. Looked kind of like fireworks. By the time I managed to get out with the camera, it was already passed. I'll have to see if I can ID it at some point. Would love to know what it was.

Oh and speaking of work, I had a chance convo with a co-worker I've never met before. She tells me that on Black Friday, which I'm sure you know is the day after Thanksgiving, every single employee has to be at the store at 5:00am. Also they may require us to wear pajamas for the day. Which of course we will have to buy from them. Gah. I really need a new job...