Well, here it is Sunday night, and I'm winding down - just about to put another perfectly good weekend to bed. I've been in a bit of a stupor this weekend due to hayfever. That Zyrtec does a fine job of dealing with the eyes, nose, and throat aspect of allergies, but I can still tell that the pollen has made me stupid. I have a hard time stringing together sentences when I'm in a stupor like that.
Today I did something really dumb.
I was looking to buy a new pair of sneakers. Yes, I just wrote "sneakers" even though I don't normally call them that. What I used to say is "running shoes" but it's been so long since I've run, that it seems ridiculous. Sneaking on the other hand... Well, anyhow, thinking I could avoid the mall, I wanted to go to a small local merchant that I've bought shoes from before, and that caters to runners. It's been a few years I guess, since I've been in there, but I remember getting personalized service, so I headed out there. When I got there, I stepped about one foot into the store, and realized that apparently things had changed. It looked like a pink bomb had gone off in there, because everywhere I looked, it was women's shoes and running clothes. If they had any men's shoes, I don't know. I didn't stick around.
That's when I did the dumb thing, and went to the mall instead. I hate the mall, but dammit, that seems to be the place for shoe stores doesn't it? Well, I guess we can call the recession over, because the mall was packed with shoppers like I haven't seen in awhile. And every one of them seemed determined to get between me and my mission of finding new shoes. I thought about this song, and even though I'm not a Ludacris fan, I could relate.
The stupidest thing I saw today - I shit you not - was a middle-aged guy with his child - I'd say 4 to 5 years old - on a leash. Yes, the child was on a leash, but that's not all because the child was riding a bicycle - in the mall - on a leash. I guess if you're going to let your kid ride a bike through the mall, you might as well have them on a leash so they can't cause as much damage. I just never would have thought that you could do that. Then again, I've seen some real idiotic stroller-pushers who could rival any mall-cyclist for who can cause the most damage to toes and kneecaps.
Anyhow, with the shoes, I eventually was able to find some that didn't seem too fluorescent or goofy-looking, and seemed to feel okay.
I did not choose to join this particular store's customer loyalty club to earn discounts, and I did not purchase an extended shoe warranty, custom inserts, fabric protection or undercoating. And I will not call the number on the receipt for a quick survey and a chance to win $500. I was ready to get out of there.
Yuppie coffee
So, a few years back I worked at an office where all the coffee machines were those Keurig K-cup brewers. They had endless supplies of the good stuff and all the best creamers and fixins, so I pretty much stayed wired all the time when I was there. Come to think of it, I had the highest billable hours in the company for one of those years and I remember my boss saying "nice - thanks for making all that money, but knock it off before you burn yourself out". Anyhow, it really is good coffee, compared to the regular drip-brewed coffee. So for years I've been eyeing them and sort of wanting one, but also knowing they're a bit ridiculous in price.
Well, tonight thanks to the combination of a tax return, Fluffy's urging, the encouragement from my youngest son, and probably allergy stupor, I sprung for a nice middle-of-the-line Keurig machine. Fluffy and I are sitting here drinking decaf. It's pretty good stuff, and seems to brew really hot. You know how you go to a restaurant or hotel, and they seem to have coffee that's just so much better than what you seem to be able to get out of your drip machine? Well, I think this comes close.
Sore
So in addition to being a little lighter in the wallet, and feeling like my head has been placed in a hyperbaric chamber, I think every muscle in my body hurts right now. Saturday, the whole family volunteered for Keep Lewisville Beautiful, and today I worked out in the front yard a bit. I think I've overdone it. My hamstrings feel like piano strings. It shouldn't be like this. I'm so out of shape.
Changing the look at LTJ
As you probably have noticed, I've rearranged some navigation here on the Lewisville Texan Journal site. That new menu bar on the top is something I've been meaning to add since late December. That's just how far behind I am. I've got even more cleanup I want to do with it, so expect to see some of the crap to the right to disappear and be subsumed into the menu bar up top. I like having that because I plan to add more reference-style articles with links to various resources.
One thing I'm really behind on...
I realize I've had very little coverage so far of this year's city and school board elections. Usually I'm a little further along on that than I am now. I still have time before early voting starts. I've had a few people ask me what I thought about the school board races, and my answer is that I am still undecided right now. I did go to the forum on Thursday and was glad to hear more from the candidates. I've actually had very little contact with them this year, but hopefully I'll get a chance to talk with each of them and learn a bit more.
I think this is mostly good news because it means there's not really anyone in this race that I feel strongly against. They all seem to be in it for the right reasons, and they all seem to bring something to the table.
The thing that will be hard is that each of the races has people who I personally like and admire running against each other. I'm going to have to pick one and not pick the other.
Anyhow, I'll get busy on wrapping up those loose ends in the coming week.
One thing i'm going to do is attend Wednesday night's Karaoke candidate forum at Tierney's in Old Town. As my regulars may know, I sing every Wednesday night at Tierney's anyhow, so it's awful convenient to have a candidate forum with adult beverages and karaoke. I might just have a good song picked out. I hope to see some of you there. The forum starts at 9 p.m.
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Shuz