Braved the crowds yesterday to go to Costco and pick up some groceries with my mother. We got there just after it opened and it was already packed. In fact, it was so crowded each available parking spot had half a dozen people vying for it, so I ended up hopping out of the car to start shopping while my mother looked for parking. She ended up with ( Read more... )

I was sitting in the cafeteria of a government building when I overheard several lawyers discussing their cases. (The sound carries so I could clearly hear their discussions, in spite of them sitting 10 to 20ft away. Talk about embarrassing subjects ( Read more... )

Article in today’s paper about local homeless population riding the lone 24-hr bus line in the county all night to have a place to stay. Never thought of it, but it makes sense as it’s warm, dry, and probably safer than most shelters or staying on the street. Still, a sad commentary about the state of things to see families doing this …

Well, first call that I'm 100% certain is a scam and that wasn't a pre-recording for a timeshare or something similar ( Read more... )

It’s been 12 years since I sent that first email to my penpal’s website. I was searching for a host for some translated transcripts for a Chinese language show I liked and she was a member of a webring. It was pure luck her site was towards the top and one of the first I emailed ( Read more... )

Clerk: What seems to be the problem ( Read more... )

During a power outage at a local electronics store, the sales staff had to write out receipts by hand. Alas, there was only one calculator for all the counters to share (which was silly, as this store SELLS cheap calculators ( Read more... )

Recently, work had a voluntary severance package, where about 10% of the workforce left my employer. Since those 60+ received particularly generous packages, we’ve lost a significant amount of experience and knowledge in the past 2 weeks ( Read more... )

I've posted before about the annual Grave Sweeping holiday that many Chinese folks observe, the one where you visit the grave sites of loved ones and do a bit of housekeeping, making sure gravestones are tidy and making offerings. Many also burn paper, as a symbolic offering to the dead. The idea is the act of burning "transfers" items from this ( Read more... )

I finished "Chicago" last night and while I still think it's odd, I think it's worth a second watching, but with the director commentary ( Read more... )