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< 1 minute read

May 18, 2005, 10:07 AM

I just went over to Mom and Dad’s room and fished Greta out from under the bed. Today was Merry Maids day, and so they came and gave the house a cleaning. And Greta goes and hides under Mom and Dad’s bed while they’re here.

This goes back to a recurring thread with Greta. She thinks she’s a ferocious watchdog, protecting her family from intruders. But a watchdog she is not. She barks at the TV, and when the Merry Maids show up, she hides under the bed, and barks from there. She goes under the bed on one side, and crawls all the way over to the other side, and stays there. Some watchdog. And then once the Merry Maids leave, she stays there and continues to bark. Sis tried to fish her out earlier (which involves calling her to come out), with no success. So an hour or so after she tried, I successfully extracted her, picking up the dust ruffle around the bed, and calling to her to come out. She came out the same way she went in. And she still won’t shut up. Once she figures out that no one’s around, she’ll be satisfied.

Categories: Greta

2 minute read

May 17, 2005, 5:44 PM

You know, a weekend is a state of mind, and not necessarily two specific days. My weekend is usually Wednesday and Thursday, and like most people for Saturday and Sunday, I’m so glad when those two days roll around.

It’s interesting how that mindset is, too. If you call Wednesday and Thursday your weekend, then it’s your weekend! So many people at work complain about not getting weekends off, yet you don’t ever hear a peep out of me. My weekend just doesn’t happen to match with the days traditionally designated as weekends. I’ve in fact asked not to be scheduled off on traditional weekend days because I like my mid-week weekend.

So I normally start my week out on Friday, and so Friday is like Monday to me. So the traditional weekend is like Tuesday and Wednesday in my week. Then my “Friday” is actually Tuesday. So for me, today was like Friday, where I know that if I can make it through the day, I get two days of freedom from that big, green building known as Wally World (our store, for those not familiar, is tan and green instead of the normal gray and blue).

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Categories: Myself, Walmart

2 minute read

May 15, 2005, 7:27 PM

I’m going to the ophthalmologist’s office on Wednesday to get my eyes examined, mainly to see how much my vision has changed since January 2001 when I last got things checked (that’s when I first started wearing glasses). My guess is that I’ll probably need to get new glasses when it’s all said and done. Ask my coworkers at Wal-Mart, and they’ll tell you that I have occasionally remarked that I need new glasses.

So… as a result, this gives us the chance to update my look. And glasses do make quite a difference. Compare for a moment:

Glasses:

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Categories: Glasses, Myself

2 minute read

May 15, 2005, 4:08 AM

I’ve been working straight mornings (7 AM to 4 PM) for a while now and will be working that for the foreseeable future (read: as far as the schedule goes for). It’s weird, because as a result of this kind of schedule, I’m becoming the one thing I never thought I could be – a morning person! I’ve been getting up before my alarm clock, and turning into Mr. Sunshine in the early morning with little to no caffeine. It’s weird. For years, I was like, “Oh, how I hate mornings,” and now I’m actually becoming one of those morning people.

And of course the benefit is that I get off at 4:00, when the day is still in its prime and I have the whole evening. Not bad.

And meanwhile, I need to make some phone calls about my vacation, which I’m again going to take to Virginia Beach this year. Before I book, I’m going to inquire a few things of that new Travelodge, to make sure that they have the amenities that I want. That would be a refrigerator in the room, and solid sides on the balcony. As you can see from my photos from past beach pics, Ocean Holiday has a fridge, and the balcony does not have solid side walls. Ocean Holiday’s balcony sides were just railings, so you don’t get much privacy on your balcony.

Otherwise, I’m getting an eye exam on Wednesday, and possibly new glasses as a result. That will be interesting. Everyone at work is trying to convince me about what style is “me”. One person went so far as to say my current style is “old fashioned”. Still, I’ll keep you posted as to what I get.

And lastly, the day after the eye exam, on Thursday, I’m going out to Lake Moomaw again! The last time I was out that way was June 14 of last year. So that will be nice to revisit.

Categories: Myself

9 minute read

May 12, 2005, 10:10 PM

Yeah, this was not your average Washington DC trip on Wednesday, though not like I noticed anything different aside from the buzz of the people throughout the city.

Normal start, though. Get up, go on up to DC, and find a parking space at Vienna. This time, I actually found a pretty good one, though. As luck would have it, a woman was leaving the parking garage as I was hunting, and so I got a parking space on the top level of the garage, no more than fifty feet from the elevator. Very nice parking. I saw her walking towards the cars, and I said, “Where are you heading?” She pointed to the car, and I positioned myself to get into place. She pulls her car out, and mine goes in.

Then from there, I did my usual Rosslyn thing, and then went back into the Metro right around noon or so.

Meanwhile, in DC, the fun began, as air controllers noticed a small Cessna plane flying into restricted air space over the White House and such. This led to evacuations of the Capitol, the White House, the Supreme Court, and a few other government buildings.

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Categories: DC trips, Photography, Washington DC, WMATA

< 1 minute read

May 9, 2005, 11:24 AM

Finally, after about two weeks of server problems, everything is working properly once again, and I can do regular updates again. I am just tickled.

I know that everyone on the discussion forums will be happy, too, since the server problems caused more issues there than anywhere else. After all, that’s probably the most complicated part of the entire site. Most of the site is fairly simply done.

And then once everything got rectified, then it was a matter of cleaning up the forums. Any new topics attempted during the outage were lost, and so I had to manually create text files and posts for them (since the titles still showed up), and then delete them.

In any case, though, I’m just glad I have my site back.

Categories: Schumin Web meta

3 minute read

May 8, 2005, 10:25 PM

Note the “as far as I know” part of that. I went through Sis’s room tonight and grabbed up everything that was mine that I put in there in January for my botched clean-out project that I didn’t get on Friday. I did, however, stash most of it in the corner of my room here, which hopefully will give me enough space to clean out the closet. If I forgot something, I’m sure Sis will let me know. But I’m pretty sure I got it all.

Otherwise, here’s a tip for all of you when handling fresh flowers, particularly roses. Watch for thorns. A customer today brought a bouquet of fresh roses to my register. I, without giving it a second thought, grabbed them to scan just like I do for most flowers – by the stem end, so as not to mess up the flowered end. And I got a handful of thorns, with a particularly sharp one poking my right middle fingertip. No blood, thankfully. But that was enough for me to quickly drop the arrangement back onto the counter and reassess how to pick up those flowers. That hurt.

Also, have you ever thought about the real scents that companies name their products for? My favorite is the fabric softeners, specifically the “Fresh Rain” scents. I remember the commercial where they say, “Snuggle’s nose knows that the best scent to be found is after the rain falls down.” Have you ever smelled the air right after the rain falls down? It is not a particularly pleasant smell, and it’s certainly not what’s in that bottle of fabric softener. If they made it really smell like the smell of fresh rain, I’m certain it would be a real stinker, both literally and figuratively.

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Categories: Advertising, Myself, Personal health

< 1 minute read

May 6, 2005, 10:49 PM

So I didn’t make my goal of getting everything out of Sis’s room. So sue me. But I am almost there, having gotten everything out except for one nearly-empty tub and some small odds and ends. I’ll tackle that after work tomorrow. Still, I’m proud of myself. I got most of the junk out, and I placed it all in a corner of my room that would otherwise sit idle due to the way the furniture’s positioned.

And then once I get the rest of my junk out of Sis’s room, I’m going to start on the closet. I suggested that we just park a dumpster outside my window, but Mom shot that one down. Seriously, though, most of the junk in my closet is just that – junk – and needs to be given the old heave-ho. I think I’ll start with the floor and once I clear that, I’ll work my way up to the shelves.

All in all, it will be a very liberating feeling indeed to be rid of all that junk.

Categories: House

2 minute read

May 6, 2005, 2:32 PM

Today, being off from work, I’ve decided to tackle some things around the house.

My main goal for today is getting all of my junk out of Sis’s room. I put it in there way back in January for a planned cleaning up/out in my room, with the intention of ultimately cleaning out the closet and unloading tons of crap-ola that I don’t ever use. Heck, I haven’t even touched the closet in some years, so this ought to be interesting when I eventually get around to it. My original plan was to do all this clean-up work in February. But with the whole to-do that ultimately led to the surgery at the end of that month, the project was shelved. A shame, indeed. I still do intend on cleaning out the closet, though. Just give me time.

I’ve also started a few eBay auctions for old stuff of mine that I think might be worth something. They are a Chick-Fil-A Christmas cow, Lethal Enforcers for Sega CD, a University of Arkansas vanity plate, an IBM PS/2 keyboard, and the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Official Fan Club Video. If you find any of this interesting, please bid.

Otherwise, life is good. I’ve gotten into a very nice rut at work. 7 AM to 4 PM, and off Wednesdays and Thursdays. I used to grumble at the thought of mornings, but then after having quite a few of them, they’ve come to grow on me. Now I like the mornings, and it’s nice to get in early and get out while the best part of the day still lies ahead. I don’t know what I did to get all these mornings, but I’m certainly not complaining!

I also can’t believe it’s been a week since I last wrote in here! I’m usually far better than that. I like to write in here every couple of days at the very least. But a whole week… goodness!

Categories: House

6 minute read

April 29, 2005, 3:05 AM

First of all, on Monday, my off-day, I managed to get a lot accomplished. I went to the bank, to the Toyota dealership to get windshield wiper inserts (you can only get them there since the front wipers are so large), and also to Staunton Mall for shoes. I had said before that I was going to make my Airwalks last through A16 before I replaced them. A16 was about nine days past when I went shoe shopping.

Now do you remember a few weeks ago, in the April 15 Journal entry, which is six entries above this one (if you’re reading this on the archived page) or below this one (if you’re reading this on the Journal main page), when I tried on the Chucks while I was down in Blacksburg? Well, I looked at the photo that I took with the cell phone from that time, and decided to give the Chucks another try-on. So I tried them, and what do you know – I liked them! I ended up getting myself a pair, though I didn’t like that I couldn’t lace them all the way up.

So this led me on a bit of a wild goose-chase around Staunton. In pursuit of long enough shoelaces (the Chucks came with 63″ laces, which only left an inch on each end when laced to the top – I needed 72″ laces), I went to Super Shoes, Wal-Mart, Athletic Annex, Hibbett Sporting Goods, A&N, and even Claire’s (it was a long-shot). After all of them, I came up empty handed. So I had my too-short laces, and figured out how to make them work for now. I looked at a file photo from the Million Worker March of a person wearing Chucks, and laced them that way. I ultimately found the long laces I needed online, at a place called The ChucksConnection. They are currently in transit. Once they show up, I’ll lace all the way up.

Continue reading…

Categories: DC trips, Driving, Retail, Shoes, Toyota Previa

< 1 minute read

April 25, 2005, 9:01 AM

First of all, I have survived seven consecutive days of Wally World and made it to a day off – that is an accomplishment!

And after those seven days, after going to bed last night, you know who appeared in my dream? Mecca Marsh, whom, you may recall, was my hall director all three years in Potomac. And in this case, the situation was amicable, unlike the last time Mecca appeared in my dream. This time, it was a chance encounter in a shopping mall, and it was a meet-and-catch-up affair. And a quick one, as both of us were in a hurry in this dream. All in all, very strange. Though it has been two years since Mecca and I last saw each other (and hasn’t it been pleasant?), so catching up would be in order if we ever ran into each other.

Still, weird. How this dream got formed, I shall never know.

Categories: Dreams

< 1 minute read

April 22, 2005, 10:46 PM

It seems I can always find a way to make fun of the cigarette register at Wal-Mart (where the customers can’t hear me, of course). I had the term “vice counter” back a few weeks ago, and now I’ve got a new one. I hold up two fingers as if holding a cigarette, and then in my best lifetime-of-smoking voice, say the slogan for a cigarette brand. It really cracks people up, and makes people laugh OUT LOUD when I do that voice.

Imagine me doing a smoker voice, and pretending to hold a cigarette, saying something like “Come to Marlboro Country”, “We built the House of Menthol” (Kool), and, the one that gets the most laughs by far in the smoker voice, “You’ve come a long way, baby!” (Virginia Slims)

The things I come up with… it even surprises me sometimes.

Categories: Walmart

< 1 minute read

April 21, 2005, 4:51 PM

I still don’t understand how I managed to get a screw lodged in my tire on Tuesday. I must have run over it somewhere between Wal-Mart and home on Tuesday, since the tire was in good shape when I went to work on Tuesday, and it was in good shape when I left work on Tuesday. And I had no problems on the ride home. Then on Wednesday morning leaving for work, the tire was deflated.

So we ended up rearranging the cars in the driveway, and I took Sis’s car to work. Her car has air conditioning. My car, you see, had air conditioning at one time. It no longer works, along with a whole bunch of other things on that car. Once I find a real job in DC, getting a new, smaller car is on my list of priorities.

Still, on my lunch break today, I took the car around to Tire and Lube Express (TLE), and I picked it up after work. I got a new tire on it, and so now the car is happy again. It was also nice to not have to walk practically halfway across town to get to my car after work, which is where associates normally park for work. I just paid for my tire and then slipped out through TLE.

Meanwhile, one of my coworkers told me on Tuesday that I was driving slowly coming to work. And this on a day when I was pushing it on speed. Thus now we have nicknames for each other. I say, “Hey, speedy!” and they say, “Hey, slowpoke!” I’m just tickled by the whole thing, since I was in a hurry that particular morning that I got told I was driving slowly.

So all in all, life is interesting.

Categories: Driving, Toyota Previa, Walmart

< 1 minute read

April 17, 2005, 10:50 PM

Seems that after the Washington Nationals got some bad press due to their decision not to pay for extra Metro service, the DC Sports Commission stepped up to the plate and agreed to keep Metro running. And a spokesman for the DC Sports Commission, according to the article, “insists there will be a deal in which the Nationals agree to cover any costs.”

I learned about this just moments after putting out the Journal entry about A16, where I discussed, among other things, “corporate welfare”. As long as the Nationals actually pay for the extra service that their events require, I’m satisfied. Though that will evaporate if the Nationals don’t pony up the funds, since all that this move does is take the cost of extra service out of Metro’s hands and move it to the DC Sports Commission, which is also a governmental agency – an independent agency under the DC government, but a government agency nonetheless. And I’m not particularly fond of tax dollars going to subsidize professional sports.

I’m all for the Nationals, as long as DC doesn’t sell its soul for them.

Categories: Companies, WMATA

13 minute read

April 17, 2005, 10:15 PM

April 16, 2005 was definitely an interesting day for all involved. It was on this day that a large demonstration against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund was planned. As is the usual case with days that I go to big demonstrations, I fit the trip into the framework of my regular trips to Washington DC that I make every two weeks or so. The big difference on this trip, though, was that I took my sister with me. I normally don’t take anyone with me when I go on my DC trips. It’s just me. Last time I took anyone to DC with me was when Mom and Sis and I went to Washington DC on August 9, 2003, when we did my A Day in DC photo set. Since then, I’d met both Dad and Mom on trips to Washington DC in April 2004 and July 2004 respectively, but since our agendas were so different, each made their way up to DC separately.

So at the early hour of 5 AM, Sis and I set off for Washington DC, but not before the car gave us trouble starting up. Don’t know what caused that, since it was working fine the day before, and also worked fine on the rest of the trip. So who knows. On the way up, we made my usual stops – one at the Sheetz in Mt. Jackson, and once at Wal-Mart in Manassas. Sis got to give the self-checkouts in Manassas a whirl, and we got a shot of that:

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Categories: Black bloc, DC trips, Friends, WMATA, World Bank