Automatic traction control is amazing.
Driving down the middle of the highway, straddling the runway lines, going 45 MPH to avoid spinning out is awesome.
And these guys are fantastic:
The second video was filmed 10 years after the first. Totally wonderful.
Love!
~g
Monday, December 21, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Christmas is so not in the air
I was working on the whole having Christmas spirit thing this year. I'm hoping it's not completely gone, but seriously, a job in retail this time of year kind of zaps one of all Christmas spirit.
I think the real spirit-killer is the parking lots. Why is it that, with a tad of snow and obscure parking stall markings, the general population feels it is acceptable to park willy-nilly, without any sense of maintaining straight lines or proper spacing between vehicles? Also, why do people suddenly feel is it alright to walk down the middle of the lane with their tiny, rambunctious children, ignoring the fact that a car's stopping time is greatly reduced on the slick surface of the snow?
Retail this time of year is not for the faint-hearted. The days are long, the customers stressed, and the sales plans ambitious and difficult to attain. Make sure you are nice to those serving you as you are buying your Christmas presents this year.
I'm learning many lessons about values and treatment of others through this job. I feel sorry for those customers who are harried and ragged and seemingly only at the mall and in our store because of some undesired obligation. I love working with those customers who are relaxed and happy and truly giving. Money can be spent and items can be bought and given, but all that really matters is the spirit in which all of this happens. So endeth the lesson of my retail job.
In other news, my car has a name. The name just came to me one day when I was coaxing my car to find some traction and start moving on the slick slush that followed the blizzard, and since then I have been referring to my car by the same name without thought. I figure the right name came to me at the right time and that I shouldn't argue or question. Henceforth, my forest green 1999 Chrysler LHS shall be known as Roxy.
Roxy's got a lot of weight to her but it doesn't hold her back. She's got amazing get-up-and-go and once she settles in and starts cruising she doesn't want to stop. She's got some attitude to her and will let you know if she's unhappy with something, but if you treat her right she'll do all that you ask of her. She's long and wide and stable and comfortable. She's definitely a Roxy.
I have a few cards left to send and a few small things to pick up sometime in the next week, but the majority of the cards and letters have been sent and two packages mailed off to opposite sides of the country. I am scheduled to close the store on Christmas Eve and open it the day after Christmas, but I get New Years Eve off, as well as a full weekend the first weekend of January. I'm looking forward to a few days off in a row.
I have yet to do the level of research that I typically do when it comes to a large purchase like a camera or a car or, in the case currently pending with me, a new laptop. I was very happy with my Toshiba until it unexpectedly died, but part of me wonders if a Mac might be a smart investment given I primarily use my computer for media. I have never been a fan of the Mac interface, but now that Windows and the Microsoft suite is compatible with Mac I think I need to do a lot more research. I have actually come to somewhat enjoy my lack of a computer, but I know in this day and age, and especially given my ongoing hunt for full-time employment, a computer is less of a luxury and more of a necessity.
I still have some work to do on this blog, which really means I have to get Justin to sit down and take another look at the HTML coding, but the small tweaks and personalizations are coming along.
This post has officially reached the point of rambling, so I think it may be time to wrap it up and say:
Love!
~g
I think the real spirit-killer is the parking lots. Why is it that, with a tad of snow and obscure parking stall markings, the general population feels it is acceptable to park willy-nilly, without any sense of maintaining straight lines or proper spacing between vehicles? Also, why do people suddenly feel is it alright to walk down the middle of the lane with their tiny, rambunctious children, ignoring the fact that a car's stopping time is greatly reduced on the slick surface of the snow?
Retail this time of year is not for the faint-hearted. The days are long, the customers stressed, and the sales plans ambitious and difficult to attain. Make sure you are nice to those serving you as you are buying your Christmas presents this year.
I'm learning many lessons about values and treatment of others through this job. I feel sorry for those customers who are harried and ragged and seemingly only at the mall and in our store because of some undesired obligation. I love working with those customers who are relaxed and happy and truly giving. Money can be spent and items can be bought and given, but all that really matters is the spirit in which all of this happens. So endeth the lesson of my retail job.
In other news, my car has a name. The name just came to me one day when I was coaxing my car to find some traction and start moving on the slick slush that followed the blizzard, and since then I have been referring to my car by the same name without thought. I figure the right name came to me at the right time and that I shouldn't argue or question. Henceforth, my forest green 1999 Chrysler LHS shall be known as Roxy.
Roxy's got a lot of weight to her but it doesn't hold her back. She's got amazing get-up-and-go and once she settles in and starts cruising she doesn't want to stop. She's got some attitude to her and will let you know if she's unhappy with something, but if you treat her right she'll do all that you ask of her. She's long and wide and stable and comfortable. She's definitely a Roxy.
I have a few cards left to send and a few small things to pick up sometime in the next week, but the majority of the cards and letters have been sent and two packages mailed off to opposite sides of the country. I am scheduled to close the store on Christmas Eve and open it the day after Christmas, but I get New Years Eve off, as well as a full weekend the first weekend of January. I'm looking forward to a few days off in a row.
I have yet to do the level of research that I typically do when it comes to a large purchase like a camera or a car or, in the case currently pending with me, a new laptop. I was very happy with my Toshiba until it unexpectedly died, but part of me wonders if a Mac might be a smart investment given I primarily use my computer for media. I have never been a fan of the Mac interface, but now that Windows and the Microsoft suite is compatible with Mac I think I need to do a lot more research. I have actually come to somewhat enjoy my lack of a computer, but I know in this day and age, and especially given my ongoing hunt for full-time employment, a computer is less of a luxury and more of a necessity.
I still have some work to do on this blog, which really means I have to get Justin to sit down and take another look at the HTML coding, but the small tweaks and personalizations are coming along.
This post has officially reached the point of rambling, so I think it may be time to wrap it up and say:
Love!
~g
Friday, December 18, 2009
New look
So, as you can see, things are a bit different around here.
In short, I got bored with my old template. I kept everything simple with the new look, but I like the colors and the subtle designs. And thanks to Justin's help with the HTML coding, my blog actually looks like what I want it to.
I'm sure there will be more to come as I continue to tweak, but for now, enjoy the prettiness.
Love!
~g
In short, I got bored with my old template. I kept everything simple with the new look, but I like the colors and the subtle designs. And thanks to Justin's help with the HTML coding, my blog actually looks like what I want it to.
I'm sure there will be more to come as I continue to tweak, but for now, enjoy the prettiness.
Love!
~g
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Wicked Winter Weather Whips White With Wrath
Whoa. Massive alliteration Batman. Apparently blizzards are good for my vocabulary and word usage.
So, there's a blizzard. Yeah. Just in case you didn't know. :)
At 11pm at night, after only a few hours of heavy snow and wind, there is a drift outside our door that is roughly waist-high on me. I doubt any of us will make it to work tomorrow, although my manager called tonight to ask me to make a full-faith effort to get in tomorrow, but not to risk my life. The snow and wind are supposed to continue well into the day tomorrow, so we'll see how things look in the morning. In the meantime, we have three of the four cars in the driveway, bumper to bumper, and we are all snug and warm in the house.
Winter has arrived. With a grand entrance, if I do say so myself.
In other news, things have been busy for me of late with the job. I have now taken on nearly all aspects of my position and have really settled in. While I am still looking for a permanent position in my field, I am making some money in the meantime and trying not to loose faith in the human race.
For clarification, I have always been a weird person attractor. I don't know what it is, but people seem to feel they can be their strangest and often worst selves to me and around me. I don't think I am overstating the level to which I attract the crazies. Actually, I know I'm not, because when I recount my stories to people who have a similar perspective as I do the stories are typically followed by, "Something like that has never happened to me! Weird!"
Some of my favorites from Chicago were the police officer giving me the bird and the panhandler calling me a bitch for telling him to let go of me and stop hitting me up for money with an obviously fake story about having just come from his mother's funeral and his new mission in life of raising enough money to find the cure to breast cancer.
And now I can add Christopher and Banks stories to my crazy list. This past Sunday I got, in one day:
I finished my Christmas letter today and I have my cards, so be watching your mail in the next few weeks.
That's the latest from my world. It's an exciting life.
Much love!
~g
So, there's a blizzard. Yeah. Just in case you didn't know. :)
At 11pm at night, after only a few hours of heavy snow and wind, there is a drift outside our door that is roughly waist-high on me. I doubt any of us will make it to work tomorrow, although my manager called tonight to ask me to make a full-faith effort to get in tomorrow, but not to risk my life. The snow and wind are supposed to continue well into the day tomorrow, so we'll see how things look in the morning. In the meantime, we have three of the four cars in the driveway, bumper to bumper, and we are all snug and warm in the house.
Winter has arrived. With a grand entrance, if I do say so myself.
In other news, things have been busy for me of late with the job. I have now taken on nearly all aspects of my position and have really settled in. While I am still looking for a permanent position in my field, I am making some money in the meantime and trying not to loose faith in the human race.
For clarification, I have always been a weird person attractor. I don't know what it is, but people seem to feel they can be their strangest and often worst selves to me and around me. I don't think I am overstating the level to which I attract the crazies. Actually, I know I'm not, because when I recount my stories to people who have a similar perspective as I do the stories are typically followed by, "Something like that has never happened to me! Weird!"
Some of my favorites from Chicago were the police officer giving me the bird and the panhandler calling me a bitch for telling him to let go of me and stop hitting me up for money with an obviously fake story about having just come from his mother's funeral and his new mission in life of raising enough money to find the cure to breast cancer.
And now I can add Christopher and Banks stories to my crazy list. This past Sunday I got, in one day:
- Middle-aged sisters screaming at each other about our shitty clothes
- A husband who called his wife fat and lazy after telling me his wife's size
- A woman who's beautiful scarf (which she had bought from C&B 4 years earlier) was ruined when the gas overflowed at the gas station and got on her coat, scarf, pants, shoes, hands, etc. Of course, she knew we wouldn't have the same scarf, but what scarves did we have and what were the fabric compositions because really, just look at her hands, she can't wear just any type of fabric (because the corrosive gasoline, cold weather, and advanced age couldn't have had anything to do with her dry, chapped hands). On a side note, after tying up nearly an hour of my day, she bought a scarf, only to return it, TRIPLE BAGGED, the next day because she got home and her nose was running and she couldn't figure out why until she saw the scarf on the back of the couch and figured out it was the fabric or the dyes. So she triple bagged the scarf, left it in the garage all night, and drove it back to us the next day to return our poison to us because she wasn't going to be responsible for it any longer.
I finished my Christmas letter today and I have my cards, so be watching your mail in the next few weeks.
That's the latest from my world. It's an exciting life.
Much love!
~g
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