Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Brilliant invention

Awesome keyboard.

Fortunes

I'm not one to buy into the superstition of fortunes (those found in fortune cookies), but I gotta say that sometimes they're strangely bang-on.

Today's (from the monster bag of fortune cookies my neighbor gave me):

- A small lucky package is on its way to you soon - I've received fudge from a friend and a videotape of some interesting "Dr. Who" material from another. Hm... this one is good.

- Work on improving your exercise routine - yeah, I've been saying that already. Barely valid.

A series of totally off ones:

- Soon someone will make you very proud - I can't see how this can be valid.

- Focus on the color purple this week to bring you luck - that's going to be odd. I dislike the color purple.

- Your hidden creative talents will soon be revealed - my what? Um...

- You will be involved in many humanitarian projects - another crack-headed one.

The following are, collectively, a bit creepy and sound interrelated:

- There are big changes ahead for you - sounds sinister

- A new relationship is about to blossom. You will be blessed. - somewhat less-sinister

- Soon a visitor shall delight you - unexpected visitors never "delight" me. I hate surprises.

- An unexpected event will soon make your life more exciting - this sounds... um... sinister in relation to the others

- You will travel to many exotic places - I'm planning on doing that in 2010... hm...

ticking down

The year is nearly over. What do we have left? Nine days?

2009. What a crazy year. Can't say I'll miss it.

It was great to see Obama sworn in and it's been great that I've weathered the economic meltdown (so far), but otherwise this has not been the best year I've ever experienced.

Seems to me that everyone and everything just gets crazier and crazier.

2010 isn't looking like it's going to be a whole lot saner. Not much I can do about that, I guess.

My goals for 2010 will involve whatever steps I need to take to make my little slice of the world less-crazy:

- exercise more (hah!)
- find some kind of way to incorporate some self-discipline into my life to change some bad habits (spending, eating, etc.)
- waste less energy worrying about what I don't have and focus more on what I do have

I guess that's all common sense. We'll see how this goes.

Holy mother of uber-violence, Batman



(BoingBoing)

Monday, December 21, 2009

Exhaustion

I'm glad it's a short week.

Had my office holiday party on Saturday followed by a family thing Sunday.

I was asleep by 7pm last night. Slept straight through.

The intermittent sinus headache is not fun. The whining is therapeutic.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Lovely timing

My office party is this weekend and I'm fighting a cold.

Wunderbar.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Tips for the Holidaze

For people buying stuff:

1) When in line to make your purchase, have your sh*t together before you get up to the cashier. Saves everyone time and headaches.

2) Don't use the cashier as your information desk. This is especially true if the line is twelve-deep behind you and said store has a specific area for helping you find stuff.

3) Read your coupons before trying to use them. Saves you having to argue later when the cashier can't apply it to your order.

4) Store staff are not your babysitters. If you can't keep your kids under control, you shouldn't expect some minimum-wage making sales clerk to do it for you as you're trying to make your purchase.

5) Read the signs around you so you know where the line starts, if there are any restrictions or special conditions going on, etc.

For people selling stuff:

1) If you've got a line starting to form, you might want to get extra cashiers sooner rather than later. Lines encourage people to get their stuff faster... making longer lines...

2) If some idiot gets to the cashier and still isn't ready to make a purchase and there's a line behind said idiot, send said challenged soul to someone who can help. If your store isn't situated to handle that basic workflow, they probably need to look at their processes.

3) Clearly label where the line starts and stuff like that. Keep it simple and use big print.

4) For God's sake, if you have people wandering the floor doing whatever and there's a huge line of people waiting to buy stuff, get some more cashiers working! Is it that hard to figure out? Seriously? You want their money! There's a recession on!

*exhales*

Aah. I feel better now.

And I'm very grateful I don't work retail anymore.