Taquitos? Looks more like cigars to me!
2 minute read
December 25, 2006, 11:19 AM
I was watching “I’m Dreaming of a White Ranger”, which was the third-season Christmas episode on Power Rangers. That was the one where Rito Revolto took over Santa’s workshop, forcing the elves to make Rita and Lord Zedd’s toys. The Power Rangers came to fix things up, but due to various odds and ends, they were unable to morph. Of course, the bad guys’ powers didn’t work, either, so all is fair. They just ran on being bad guys.
The scene I find amusing, though, is the scene where Lord Zedd is having his favorite snack: taquitos and dry ice. They didn’t do that great of a job showing what these things were. It looked like Zedd was having a good smoke over there, to be quite honest. See for yourself on these stills from that episode:
Continue reading…Categories: Christmas, Power Rangers
“…I pack ’em and I wrap ’em, and stick on a bow or two!”
2 minute read
December 24, 2006, 8:14 PM
Well, maybe “eventually” needs to be inserted in there somewhere. I bought all the presents weeks ago, and I haven’t wrapped any of them. They’re all still in the various shopping bags, and now it’s Christmas Eve. I have the wrapping paper and the tape, but now I’m procrastinating, trying to put off the inevitable – having to wrap the stuff, even though the paper will all fly off in twelve hours.
Meanwhile, I came up with the best term ever for last-minute shoppers: I call them “the ‘oh, s—‘ crowd”. The ones that say, “Oh, $&%#, I forgot to buy Aunt Bertha a gift!” and then run to Wal-Mart.
And we’ll be opening presents at 9 AM tomorrow morning. I want to sleep in. I said, “Will the presents still be there at noon? Then let’s open them then.” I want to sleep in on Christmas, and open presents later on. I don’t consider this to be that difficult of a concept. But the family wants to open gifts at 9 AM. And with it being three-to-one on that, I lose. Still, I’d prefer sweet sleep.
And lastly, one wonders if Santa’s ditched the sleigh and reindeer for something more modern:
Would you believe I’m already sick of Christmas?
2 minute read
December 9, 2006, 6:11 PM
It’s not even December 10 yet, and I’m already utterly sick and tired of Christmas. All I have to say is that at this rate, it’s going to be a LONG next two weeks. This is what happens when one works retail during the Christmas season. Christmas music and Santa Claus and ho ho ho and all that are piped through the loudspeaker constantly, and Christmas decor is just about everywhere.
I even was opposed to putting up a tree in the house this year. After having to deal with all the Christmas mumbo-jumbo at work, I want to go home and forget the season. You know how much Christmas decoration I have in my bedroom? None. This room basically looks the same as it did in July. Mom asked me if I wanted to help put up the (fake) tree downstairs, and I declined. I see enough trees already, thank you. On that, she suggested we don’t have a tree, then. I think I caught her off guard when I agreed with her about not having one. I really don’t want to have anything to do with Christmas in the house. I’m tired of it, and I wish it would all go away. I’ll just take a bye on Christmas this year, thank you.
Categories: Christmas
Greta enjoys her Christmas dinner…
< 1 minute read
December 26, 2005, 12:31 AM
As we have for a number of years, Sis and I went looking at lights…
2 minute read
December 24, 2005, 10:44 PM
Yes, Sis and I went looking at Christmas lights once again this year, on Christmas Eve as always, and one word comes to mind for this year’s displays: lackluster.
Christmas 2005 will definitely go down as a blah year for outdoor lighting displays. Far fewer houses decorated at all this year than usual, both in our neighborhood and elsewhere. And a lot of others scaled their displays back significantly.
First of all, though, Sis and I went looking for a set of decorations that used to reside in our neighborhood. I received a lead from a coworker on where this particular family had moved, and we followed the leads. This particular house, by the way, was just awful-looking in its decor. When they were in our neighborhood, these people had Santa, a nativity scene, large wooden snowmen with the family members’ names on them, winter-themed Disney characters, VeggieTales, and certainly much more than I’m remembering at this point. And it was all lit by large, garish white lights. So you could see this display a long way away.
The Christmas season, for my purposes, is at last over.
2 minute read
December 24, 2005, 5:52 PM
It is Christmas Eve, and I have officially finished for the day at work, which I did at 4 PM. That means that for me, Christmas is over. Opening the presents tomorrow morning is nothing compared to dealing with a bunch of cranky Christmas shoppers.
Meanwhile, there’s nothing like working retail to suck the Christmas spirit right out of a person. The phrase “Merry Friggin’ Christmas” comes to mind. And if that offends your sensibilities, then “Happy Friggin’ Holidays” to you.
And in the break room, we cozied up to reading the children’s letters to Santa Claus that were published in The News Leader today. I tell you… that was high entertainment. The letters were printed verbatim, complete with original spelling and punctuation errors, so Sis and I had fun reading them literally. As both of us enjoy Strong Bad Emails, we have no qualms over making fun of someone’s punctuation and spelling. Still, the letters ran the usual course. Children asked for a long list of very expensive toys, and so there will be some very disappointed little children tomorrow morning, when they didn’t get the three different game consoles they asked for. Same for the kid who asked for a horse and two frogs. Then for one kid, the term “oversharing” came to mind, as he said how he was a big boy who poops in the potty. All of us were thinking that this was too much, and the phrase “I did not need to know that!” came to mind regarding his restroom practices. Of course, there was a fully grown adult male who recently told me in the checkout line, in front of his wife, no less, that he wasn’t wearing any underwear. The wife and I were both telling him, “Oversharing!” Then there were some nearly-illegible Emails, where we couldn’t make out the writer’s intent regarding the words, and where the sentences were far from complete.
Categories: Advertising, Christmas, Homestar Runner, Walmart
Hah! What did I tell you?
< 1 minute read
December 12, 2005, 10:43 PM
This confirms what I’d discussed in 2003 about Santa Claus. Look:
That proves it – Santa Claus is a sick, perverted wanker. And he’s got that food thing going on, too, like George Costanza did on that one episode of Seinfeld.
Categories: Christmas
Another Santa picture…
< 1 minute read
December 11, 2005, 8:07 PM
Categories: Christmas
Christmas Eve, Christmas, and the day after
4 minute read
December 26, 2004, 9:45 PM
My, what an interesting three days.
First there’s Christmas Eve. The crowds at Wally World were just amazing. Practically all of Waynesboro crammed into our store and cleaned it out. And then at 6:00, just like last year in the Staunton Wal-Mart, all became quiet, as the store closed, and the customers went home. All of us as associates finally wished each other a Merry Christmas, and went on home. Hey, the store was closed, and we were going to enjoy every minute of it. Though I think I caught Evelyn off guard with a Christmas hug.
Speaking of Christmas Eve, I’m still sore from that day. For one, my arms are sore from all the scanning I did. Let me tell you something. I was scanning far more items than a regular day, and was scanning at warp speed. So I’m still sore from that. We’ll recover. I also got a bruise on my front. I noticed it this morning while I was getting dressed. Then at work today, remembering where the bruise was, I realized how I got it. I must have accidentally jabbed myself with the arms on the bag spinner at some point, since it was at the right height to be the spinner.
Then there’s Christmas itself. Mom was the star of the show in the morning, overacting for everything. Sure, it was a bit bad acting, but it was cute. Meanwhile, you know you’re getting mature when you realize that the Christmas presents will still be there in the afternoon, and you don’t have to open them at the crack of dawn. I had no problem sleeping until noon or later. But the family woke me up at 9:00, and so I kind of lumbered down the stairs to open presents.
Categories: Christmas, Clothing, Food and drink, Schumin Web meta, Shoes, Walmart
“That’s not a telescope!”
3 minute read
December 28, 2003, 1:40 AM
It’s amusing what happens when you try to take photos sometimes. Let me explain what I mean…
For Christmas, I got a new, heavy-duty tripod, that is MUCH better than my old one. It’s taller, has more features, and a lot of other things that I haven’t figured out how to best use yet.
So on Christmas night (the night of December 25), I took the tripod for a spin to try it out. I went over the mountain to Charlottesville, where I headed to McIntire Park (where I’ve previously photographed on a few other occasions). I chose McIntire Park because it was relatively safe, open until 10 PM based on signage, and a public park (meaning public property).
So I have Big Mavica hooked up to the tripod and I’m doing my thing. A Jeep comes into the park, parks in the lot, powers off, sits for a few minutes, then starts up again and leaves.
Categories: Cameras, Charlottesville, Christmas
Well, that was fun!
< 1 minute read
December 25, 2003, 11:04 AM
Christmas morning has come and gone, and it went well. First of all, I got a brand new tripod for Big Mavica, which is bigger and more heavy duty than my old one. I shall enjoy this, indeed. I’m going to go out and take it for a spin later today once it gets dark.
And Wal-Mart is CLOSED today! So as a result, I didn’t have to go to work today. Good. I needed the rest. Wal-Mart closed at 6:00 PM on Christmas Eve (with management hitting some of the lights to encourage customers to get finished – a strange sight, seeing Wal-Mart with half the lights out), and will reopen at 6:00 AM on December 26 for the after-Christmas shoppers. And it’s amusing how giddy we all got once we finished, logged off our registers, and turned in the money in our tills. If you can imagine, there was singing (including “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas”), and we were dancing in the aisles to an extent. We made it. Christmas Eve was over. We get a day off. And boy, do we deserve it. And so we wasted no time getting back to the breakroom to clock out and leave, needless to say.
So there you go. Now for the rest of the day, we’re going to eat, and then I’m going to play around with this new tripod, and figure out all of what it can do for me.
Giving the gift of cash…
2 minute read
December 22, 2003, 1:36 AM
And another thing… what has Christmas come to in our house? For me, at least, Christmas is really all about cash. Actually, reverse gifts to be more specific. I’m going shopping for my own gifts this year, getting them wrapped, and then getting reimbursed for them by the gift-giver. My parents don’t know specifically what they ended up getting me for Christmas, but I’ve taken it upon myself to act surprised nonetheless when I unwrap the gift that they bought me (by way of me).
Then my sister already knew what I wanted, that being a long-sleeved shirt from Wal-Mart. So since I work there, she said I can go get my gift and provide a receipt. I went and bought the shirt. And I’m still getting it gift-wrapped, though more on principle than anything else.
Speaking of gift-wrapping, when I bought my gift from Mom and Dad in Roanoke on Thursday and then had it gift wrapped at Valley View Mall and asked for a receipt, I got some very strange looks from the people working the gift-wrap station when I said I needed a receipt for the wrapping. The girl who was taking care of me said, “It’s cash-only,” to which I replied, “I still need a receipt.” They produced a receipt.
Categories: Bedroom remodel, Christmas, Family, Retail
Let’s talk hat hair here…
< 1 minute read
December 20, 2003, 12:37 AM
Ladies and gentlemen, I have severe hat hair! This is what happens when you wear a Santa hat for nine hours straight. We’ve been wearing these little Santa hats on the registers, and I have a big head, and so my hair gets crushed. So say hello to hat hair. I figure it must be Wal-Mart’s method of getting us to wear the hats all day. Once you wear the hat for a little bit, there goes your good hair day. So you keep the hat on all day and only remove it once you’re safely out of the store and somewhere where people won’t comment on your hat hair.
Meanwhile, I’ve finished sorting images for The Schumin Web Transit Center, my new transit-oriented site, and now I’m combing through those images, and prepping images for the site. Basically, I’m clearing out obviously bad images (blurry, not properly framed, etc.), and bringing out the good qualities in the ones that are left. Most of them are of DC Metro (as in Metrorail), and so be prepared to see a lot of trains…
Categories: Christmas, Schumin Web meta, Walmart