New Bag, New Shoes

Today has been a fairly productive day. I am not a fan of shopping. We all know this. But, I went shopping today and actually found everything I needed. It was an expensive day... but sometimes you’ve got to spend a little to get what you want.

So, my day started out with a little something extra for myself. I know, I indulge myself far too much, but I had a coupon for my bookstore and I hate to let those go to waste when I know there are new books out that I need to buy. It turns out that my bookstore was running a sale on mange (buy 3, get the 4th free) but I didn’t think I’d be able to use my 25% off coupon on a book I was already using for the other deal, so I picked up a figure I had been eyeing for a long time. I brought it up to the cash register, but it was only then that I noticed the coupon was for a “book,” not an “anything in the store.” I said this realization out loud, as well as “Oh, I guess I won’t get this then.” That did the trick.

The lady behind the counter—who had an awesome slavic accent, btw—said, “No, no! I use coupon!” Yay! Edward Elric (complete with several changable arms—some with automail and some without red coat) would be mine at 25% off. I was feeling pretty good about this arrangement, so I handed her my coupon. But here’s where things get even better. I printed the coupon out from the internet, but two coupons printed on the page, the one for 25% off a book and also one for 25% off a kid’s book. You can only use one at a time—or so I’ve been told in the past. But she used both, along with the special manga deal! Rock on Slavic lady!

Feeling pretty good at this point, I moved on to DSW to look for some new tennis shoes. I have been exercising much more regularly lately, which is a good (and very necessary) thing, but unfortunately my old Nikes from school have seen better days. They’ve been giving me blisters and making my feet ache, so I knew it was time to bite the bullet and buy some new tennies. Unfortunately, tennis shoes are expensive!!! I tried on half a dozen shoes and none of them fit quite right. They were either too wide in the toe area or rubbed at my ankles. My first pair of tennis shoes was New Balance and I loved them, but I got them right after NB first came out and I think they changed them after that point because the second pair I bought rubbed my left heel and every other New Balance I’ve tried since then has done the same. There wasn’t a Nike to be found in DSW, so I was considering giving up and going to Famous Footwear instead.

Then I decided to try out some of the more expensive pairs I had been ignoring and I discovered a pair of Asics that used gel cushions. Gel is a beautiful thing. They were so comfortable! They were $70! Aiii! But they were really comfortable and actually fit my foot in every way. So, I bought them—with only a little apprehension since it’s hard to tell if shoes will be as comfortable after you’ve been running in them for awhile. I gave them a good test run later at home and they are so wonderful. Money well spent, I think.

Next stop, Microcenter. I’ve been thinking about my trip to Japan later in the year and realizing that I need a new bag to use as a carry on since I want to bring my lappy along. I wanted a backpack because it would be more comfortable to carry and I also wanted to use it on the tour to hold my shopping bags and stuff. Aside from the trip, it would also be useful when I hang out at someone’s place and need my lappy as well as drawing supplies. So, I did some looking and thinking and found a bag. It’s freaking huge. But, it has straps to make it smaller when it isn’t full, so it's not unreasonably big. It was also quite pricey, but laptop bags are all expensive and this was really fairly reasonable when you compare it to, say, a Crumpler Bag—though Crumplers are so cute and have the best names. Anyway, I tried the bag out when I got home, filling it with various things comparable to things I would be toting in Japan. I'm glad I didn’t go any smaller. I want it all to fit in the bad so I don’t get shopping bag hand. Last year I thought my fingers were going to break off.

So, I had an exciting shopping day! I also had fun with mom, who came along for the ride. She didn't have as much luck as I did with purchases, but I also have the unfortunate circumstance of being able to find something to buy in just about any store I go into. This is why my general aversion to shopping is a very good thing.

To top off my day, I decided to spend a little time playing Kingdom Hearts. I just met Auron in the gameand got all giggly and giddy about it. And his first line was “This is my story.” I squealed. It was the equivalent of a Terry O’Quinn moment for me, to which thecallowqueen can no doubt relate. He is just so freakin’ cool. And his limit break with Sora was awesome (it isn’t actually called a limit break, but I can’t help calling it that). I'm glad they included cooperative attacks in this game. They're a lot of fun. But where is that man’s sake jug? Auron’s just not the same without it.

Well, here’s to a good, productive day. As Auron would say, “That’s how it’s done!”

Sellout

It's finally happened.

Windows meets Macintosh.

The Story.


The Program.


Actually, I'd like to check it out, but you have to have Tiger in order to use it. Damn. Not that it really matters because I doubt I could play my old video games on XP anyway. Some of them I can... but not the classics. Sigh....

Muddled Language

A brief aside:Yes, I know it's been awhile. I appreciate everyone who has missed my posts and complained (really, I do appreciate it becasue it shows you care!) and I'm sorry for my absence. I can only blame lizalou (though it's really my fault) becuase I've been writing her letters about the kinds of things that I would normally post here. So, by the time I sit down to write a post I'm already bored with the stuff I could have written about and end up writing nothing at all. In the future, I will copy parts of my letters to use for the basis of posts because I'm writing the letters on the computer now. That should make everyone happy.

Now to the meat of the post. Beef stew. No, not really. Actually, I'm talking about instruction manuals. I'm working on a manual for a hand mixer at work right now, and they sent me the manual written by the factory in China for reference. I'm sure you can imagine where this is going.

Apparently, I've been calling beaters by the wrong name all these years. They are actually “muddlers.” And that dough hook? That's a “decorative tail” of course. And the beater eject button is properly called a “fork holder.” Where's the fork? My favorite sentence is “Inserting beaters.” Yes, that's a whole sentence, and it seems that at some point they realized they were actually called beaters rather than muddlers. Not all the sentences are fragments, but that doesn't mean they make any more sense. For instance, consider the following: “Hold with one hand the mixer from the handle and with the other place the beater. Put it in the hole, press and twist it until beater clicks into position.”

So, needless to say, this reference manual has been really helpful to me. I haven't laughed this hard since I got that email about the world's worst album covers.