Three-day recap
Capture the Flag Thursday night was very cold. I arrived to find Maxine and Hillary huddled under the stairs for a windbreak. I joined them, and Hunter did the same shortly thereafter, along with a girl whose name I don't remember. The weather was quite cold and not a whole lot of people turned out, so we played a full-on game of Attack & Defend, which worked out very well. About 3/4 of the way through the game, I started having problems talking to people because my face was getting numb. The game was a little dry early on, which was surprising since the offensive team had all of the really fast and long distance runners. Erik and I ran decoy for a good long while until the attackers realized our ploy. Both of our flags were captured, but they were both trapped. Hillary and I retreated to the return pole in the event they broke through. I barely, barely intercepted Kelly on his return. The second flag came in a bit later, with much more fanfare. The flag was passed off a few times and ultimately was held by Kelly, who was tagged by Hillary. Was a good runaround of a game. Another game was half-heartedly desired, and most of thsoe who remained played Alligator Pit instead of a second flag game. Hillary and I stood by, freezing, and made commentary. (NTS: "Cheers!")
Ben and Tiffany were down yesterday. I helped them move some things from storage and pack them into their truck after I got off work. I encountered the Matrix hallway of doors. Jake called while I was helping them with that. Was surprised to hear from him. Tiffany decided she'd like to go to Red Lobster, so we disembarked from the errie storage unit. On the way there, our destination changed and we ended up at Cracker Barrell. They paid for my meal, which was most gracious of them. Our server had apparently had a long day. There's something about the Cracker Barrell ambience that I find grating. I don't mind eating there, per se, and the food is fine, but it just seems a little too countrytime for my tastes. Junk nailed to the wall, junk hanging from the ceiling... respectfully, if I want to see that I'll go back to my parents' house. I guess it's why I have a thing against all those crap-on-the-walls restaurants like TGIFridays, Applebees, and Chili's. They're all so middle-America it bothers me. I really don't understand the appeal. Then again, I'm not one for grey area, and those places are very grey area. Not fast food, not nice sit-down. O'Charley's doesn't bother me as much and I'm not quite so sure why. I think it's because they don't have shit all over the walls. They acutally seem to have a goal in mind as far as theme goes; they're not going for the theme of no theme. I really despise Chili's. There aren't many places I refuse to eat, but I've had enough of Chili's. They serve alchol, but that's a redeeming quality... not a saving grace. Chips and dip are not an appetizer. Biscuts are very borderline. Give me some fucking options, people. And charge me for them. If not, I'd just as soon spend $7 at Waffle House and get in some quality people-watching time.
All that having been said, the fish was really quite good. The horrifying photos of horrifying babies from the 19th century were a little much, though. The open gas fireplace with no safety rails was pretty entertaining, though.
After we left there, we went to my apartment and I gave the grand tour, which took all of two minutes. Showed them some funny video clips I've come across lately and also demonstrated the sad condition of my video codecs. Played DDR Extreme 2 for a bit, and ultimately the two of them decided to crash here for the night rather than trying to drive back that night/morning. I really need to invest in some sleeping bags or something. They left early in the morning after getting a call from their trailer rental place who told them if they didn't get there by noon, they wouldn't be able to get their moving trailer that day. Was good to see them again.
Today was a moderately busy day at work. Pretty sure I had platinum level sales for the first three or four hours. Apparently, if you have platinum level sales (meeting a certain sales volume in a certain department per hour) for three consecutive months, you get a senior position and a $1.50/hr raise. I could stand to have that. The platinum mark for Tech (computers) is beyond me, but given that there's no competition in Imaging and I'm good at selling there, I'm going to try to hit it in that department. I think I started too late this month, which is a shame because next month should be easy. Would like to have "Senior Product Specialist" on my nametag, too. Hehe. Need to get two more Comcast subscription sign-ups this month to waive my monthly bill. [crosses fingers]
Today plans for Black Tuesday started really manifesting themselves. I was informed that I'll be the head of the Imaging voucher team, which is to say that I'll be overseeing one person that day. I'll be running a register devoted to selling Day After advert items in Imaging exclusively and I'll have Bo to run around and get the merchandise for me and to help customers in that area. Apparently, all the members of the team that gets the highest percentage of protection plans by ticket quantity each get $50. It'll either be me and Bo or Jack and Alan in Desktops. Big Black Tuesday items that I've heard of so far: Panasonic DV camcorder: $199. Kodak C330 w/ printer dock: $199. Emachines (not sure which one) desktop: Free, after rebates. That's right, free. Get there early. We started putting down tape today to mark checkout aisles. Big meeting tomorrow (today) at 7:30AM about, as I'm told, everything. This is good since I've had some questions about giraffes lately and I'd like to have them answered. So rare that you have a meeting to answer questions about anything. There's a conference call at 9:45 that has to deal with the voucher teams that I'm not sure if I have to participate in. I hope I don't, because I really don't see the point and my shift starts at 2. Of course, if I'm on the clock for all of this (which I'd better be), then I couldn't care less. Of course, with that meeting, I'd better get some sleep. Damn, I wanted to cut my hair tonight. Grr.
Ben and Tiffany were down yesterday. I helped them move some things from storage and pack them into their truck after I got off work. I encountered the Matrix hallway of doors. Jake called while I was helping them with that. Was surprised to hear from him. Tiffany decided she'd like to go to Red Lobster, so we disembarked from the errie storage unit. On the way there, our destination changed and we ended up at Cracker Barrell. They paid for my meal, which was most gracious of them. Our server had apparently had a long day. There's something about the Cracker Barrell ambience that I find grating. I don't mind eating there, per se, and the food is fine, but it just seems a little too countrytime for my tastes. Junk nailed to the wall, junk hanging from the ceiling... respectfully, if I want to see that I'll go back to my parents' house. I guess it's why I have a thing against all those crap-on-the-walls restaurants like TGIFridays, Applebees, and Chili's. They're all so middle-America it bothers me. I really don't understand the appeal. Then again, I'm not one for grey area, and those places are very grey area. Not fast food, not nice sit-down. O'Charley's doesn't bother me as much and I'm not quite so sure why. I think it's because they don't have shit all over the walls. They acutally seem to have a goal in mind as far as theme goes; they're not going for the theme of no theme. I really despise Chili's. There aren't many places I refuse to eat, but I've had enough of Chili's. They serve alchol, but that's a redeeming quality... not a saving grace. Chips and dip are not an appetizer. Biscuts are very borderline. Give me some fucking options, people. And charge me for them. If not, I'd just as soon spend $7 at Waffle House and get in some quality people-watching time.
All that having been said, the fish was really quite good. The horrifying photos of horrifying babies from the 19th century were a little much, though. The open gas fireplace with no safety rails was pretty entertaining, though.
After we left there, we went to my apartment and I gave the grand tour, which took all of two minutes. Showed them some funny video clips I've come across lately and also demonstrated the sad condition of my video codecs. Played DDR Extreme 2 for a bit, and ultimately the two of them decided to crash here for the night rather than trying to drive back that night/morning. I really need to invest in some sleeping bags or something. They left early in the morning after getting a call from their trailer rental place who told them if they didn't get there by noon, they wouldn't be able to get their moving trailer that day. Was good to see them again.
Today was a moderately busy day at work. Pretty sure I had platinum level sales for the first three or four hours. Apparently, if you have platinum level sales (meeting a certain sales volume in a certain department per hour) for three consecutive months, you get a senior position and a $1.50/hr raise. I could stand to have that. The platinum mark for Tech (computers) is beyond me, but given that there's no competition in Imaging and I'm good at selling there, I'm going to try to hit it in that department. I think I started too late this month, which is a shame because next month should be easy. Would like to have "Senior Product Specialist" on my nametag, too. Hehe. Need to get two more Comcast subscription sign-ups this month to waive my monthly bill. [crosses fingers]
Today plans for Black Tuesday started really manifesting themselves. I was informed that I'll be the head of the Imaging voucher team, which is to say that I'll be overseeing one person that day. I'll be running a register devoted to selling Day After advert items in Imaging exclusively and I'll have Bo to run around and get the merchandise for me and to help customers in that area. Apparently, all the members of the team that gets the highest percentage of protection plans by ticket quantity each get $50. It'll either be me and Bo or Jack and Alan in Desktops. Big Black Tuesday items that I've heard of so far: Panasonic DV camcorder: $199. Kodak C330 w/ printer dock: $199. Emachines (not sure which one) desktop: Free, after rebates. That's right, free. Get there early. We started putting down tape today to mark checkout aisles. Big meeting tomorrow (today) at 7:30AM about, as I'm told, everything. This is good since I've had some questions about giraffes lately and I'd like to have them answered. So rare that you have a meeting to answer questions about anything. There's a conference call at 9:45 that has to deal with the voucher teams that I'm not sure if I have to participate in. I hope I don't, because I really don't see the point and my shift starts at 2. Of course, if I'm on the clock for all of this (which I'd better be), then I couldn't care less. Of course, with that meeting, I'd better get some sleep. Damn, I wanted to cut my hair tonight. Grr.