4 AM on the way home from DC means…
2 minute read
January 7, 2006, 12:49 AM
First of all, yes, I get home LATE when I go to Washington. VERY late. It’s actually “tomorrow” for the parents when I’m just finishing up my “today”. If I’m not home by four in the morning, I get a call on my cell phone from Mom, which is basically what I call the are-you-alive call. And the call’s purpose is usually just to figure out when I am and determine when I’ll be back home.
Usually when I get this call, I’m in or close to Harrisonburg. One goal for me for the ride home is to be at least as far as Harrisonburg if not past it when I get that call.
On my December 21 DC trip, I never got that call. And when I got home, I was like, “Why didn’t you call me?” And it’s funny – first few times when Mom started calling, it did annoy me slightly. Now I enjoy them and come to expect such things. In fact, the reason that not getting called that time bothered me was because I was so ahead of schedule that I wanted to brag about how ahead of schedule I was. Just like, “Aha, look at me!” And I never got to do that, sad to say.
Continue reading…“You have to be smarter than the objects you’re working with.”
< 1 minute read
January 1, 2006, 10:36 PM
Sometimes, people just say the darndest things. A customer told me today, “You have to be smarter than the objects you’re working with.” I nearly burst out laughing. Why? Because while he was referring to the bag of dog food he was putting up on the belt, I was thinking about it from my own perspective. The object I was working with was the gentleman in front of me. And you have to be smarter than the objects you’re working with, according to this gentleman.
My exact thought came in the form of a quip from Judge Judy: “I’m very smart, and I will still be smarter than you even if you live to be five hundred.”
It took everything in me to keep from laughing at this man, because he didn’t realize just what he had said…
Categories: Walmart
Should old acquaintance be forgot…
< 1 minute read
January 1, 2006, 12:05 AM
Well, happy new year, everyone, as I write the first Journal entry for 2006.
I watched the ball drop in Times Square on NBC, and what was interesting to me is when they mentioned how long these people had camped out in Times Square. Some people had camped out there as early as noon. The hosts on NBC commented on this a few times, and how these people probably really had to go to the bathroom. One girl interviewed by a woman on the street put it like this: “And I really have to go to the bathroom!” They shouted this out loud, live on national television. I’m sure that’s something they’ll look back on and say, “What was I thinking?” The interviewer expressed hope that she could hold it in a little bit longer. Of course, if you leave to go to the bathroom, you lose your spot. So what else are you going to do?
Meanwhile, I’m hoping that this will be a good year. 2005 was a lot of fun, what with the counter-inaugural, making new friends and running into old ones, A16, a number of road trips, the vacation to Virginia Beach, the September 24 protest, lots and lots of photography, and so much more. 2006 ought to be so much fun as well…
Categories: New Year's
This makes the second time someone’s stashed something next to my car…
< 1 minute read
December 31, 2005, 6:22 PM
I don’t know what it is about my car, but it seems to be attractive to people for stashing stuff near at work. For those of you who don’t know, I park my car at the far left edge of the parking lot. And today at work, I found two gift bags stuffed under the front of my car that weren’t there when I pulled in that morning. Very strange.
Then another time last year, I found that someone had abandoned a full Burger King uniform, still in its box, on the pavement next to my car. I was inclined to leave it where it was and forget about it (the “not my problem” factor). A coworker that I was walking out with at that time took it over to Burger King the next day.
All in all, strange. Of course, people are strange in general, which is something I’ve found out working in retail…
Categories: Some people, Walmart
Meanwhile, in DC…
3 minute read
December 30, 2005, 12:26 AM
I took an “extra” DC trip this past Wednesday with Mom, Sis, and her boyfriend Chris Lysy. They had previously ordered tickets to see Wicked at the Kennedy Center for December 28, and when I found out that I would be off that day, I asked if I could come along, and Mom agreed. It turned out that my presence was quite helpful, as I knew exactly where I was going, both on the road and on the train, and also knew my way around Washington better than the rest of them. Plus I’m never one to pass up a trip to Washington, after all. Especially one where I didn’t have to pay for gas.
We were also celebrating Sis’s 21st birthday, which was on the 26th.
The trip was, to an extent, run like a regular DC trip of mine. Get to Vienna, park, ride to Rosslyn, go into Washington, run around for a bit, then go to Pentagon City. Our destinations while “running around” were things that Sis and I both picked.
Categories: Arlington, DC trips, Family, Washington DC, WMATA
People do some strange things sometimes…
< 1 minute read
December 29, 2005, 11:11 PM
When I got back from work today, I found an interesting message on my AIM. Check it out:
graphicfly2: hello mr. schumin
graphicfly2: i was led to your website based on a deletion you made on a wikipedia entry that i made regarding sheetz
graphicfly2: in it i stated that karen will make delicous pretzelwich sandmiches after 10:30pm
graphicfly2: these are facts my good sir
graphicfly2: Hi. Are you there?
graphicfly2: :-[
Pretty strange. In case you’re wondering what this is in reference to, it involves this edit made by 20.137.18.50 on the article about Sheetz. I considered the edit vandalism, and reverted it.
I just find it strange that someone actually followed my paper trail on Wikipedia to Schumin Web, and contacted me through the Web site. It’s proper etiquette on Wikipedia to conduct Wikipedia-related discussions on Wikipedia talk pages, and so this really did surprise me.
Categories: Some people, Wikipedia
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
Fodder for America’s Funniest Home Videos?
3 minute read
December 22, 2005, 8:24 PM
I went up to the Washington DC area once again on Wednesday, and all in all, I had a good day.
The daytime took me all around the Metro doing railfan stuff. I rode the entire length of the system in Virginia, going from Vienna to Rosslyn to Franconia-Springfield, to King Street, to Huntington, and then into Washington via the Fenwick Bridge. While I was at it, by the way, I also rode the entire length of the Yellow Line all at once, riding from Huntington to Mt. Vernon Square. I also checked out the new entrance at King Street, which opens out onto Commonwealth Avenue. It’s nice and new and such, and still harmonizes with the original part of the station, which opened in 1983.
I spent the late afternoon, which is bad for urban photography due to dark shadows cast by buildings (but great if you can avoid it – same goes for early morning), at Dupont Circle and also Union Station. Dupont Circle was basically a photography thing – in, photograph, back out. Then at Union Station, I got a phone call from Mom: “Where did you go today?” This is where we realized that I forgot to tell Mom where I was going. Told Dad, but not Mom. Oops. So I filled her in.
Categories: Arlington, DC trips, Washington DC, WMATA
Catching up…
< 1 minute read
December 22, 2005, 6:39 PM
First of all, despite the site outage, its resolution, and related kinks to be worked out in restoring everything, I’m still doing the Journal, though composing the entries offline to be added in later (the time, however, does reflect the time of wrtiting). It’s been so long in writing because I’ve been hoping that this would be a short downtime. Since it seems it will be longer in getting things fixed, it’s time to get some things going again.
You’ve probably wondered what happened with the previous entry, regarding whether or not I would be brilliant or stupid with clearing my window. Turned out I was brilliant, but ended up looking stupid another way. What happened? I got my driver’s side door to open, but then I was unable to get it to close again. Mom ended up taking me to work. Mom later got the door closed, too. It had something to do with some gunk. I still don’t completely understand what’s going on there. But the door closes. Previously, I’d had some trouble getting it closed on really cold mornings, but never before had I been unable to get it closed.
Otherwise, I stocked up on Vault. The 20-ounce single-serve bottles are perfect for the drive to work.
Categories: Food and drink, Schumin Web meta, Toyota Previa
This will either be seen as brilliant or really stupid
< 1 minute read
December 16, 2005, 12:01 AM
This Thursday, we received a few inches of snow and ice. And I have to go to work Friday morning. So rather than scrape my windshield in the morning when I’m in a hurry, I cleared it tonight. No problem. Windshield clear. I did it with a plastic snow shovel, too. Once I made a dent in the outer layer of ice with my hand, it came off easily.
The only way this could backfire on me (and knowing my luck, this is quite possible) is if we get any further rain or ice and it freezes into a sheet on my windshield. Then I’m screwed, because then I might have just as well left the original snow on the windshield in the first place.
So we’ll see if this time-saver works. Now I’ll still have to scrape my back window in the morning, which was covered by a sheet of ice, to make myself a peephole for driving. And the shovel is not precise enough to get that gunk off. Still, the big job – clearing my front windshield – is done.
Categories: Toyota Previa, Winter weather
Meanwhile, on Wednesday…
4 minute read
December 15, 2005, 10:45 PM
On Wednesday, I went up to northern Virginia, though not like you’d expect. This was by no means a “DC trip” like I usually do. Like my “accidental” DC trip in August, this was an off-week trip, but this time it didn’t involve the Metro at all (closest I got was driving past the 1C bus on two occasions), nor did it involve Pentagon City.
The official purpose of the trip was to make a run up to the DC metro area using US 29 via Charlottesville to see how well it would do as an alternate route. I also tested a variation on that route via Harrisonburg. Then while I was up that way, I also had a surprise in store for a friend.
So my trip went like so: I-64 westbound from Fishersville to Staunton. Swing north onto I-81, and take that as far as Harrisonburg. Here, we said goodbye to the Interstates for a while, which honestly are boring roads. I took a pass through JMU for old times’ sake, and ended up down near Valley Mall in Harrisonburg, at US 33. I took US 33 eastbound for a while. This took me through Elkton, in the eastern part of Rockingham County, and then up a mountain to Skyline Drive at Swift Run Gap. At the top of the mountain, we entered Greene County, and got into a monster of a backup. Two trucks were doing the safe thing – going down the mountain very slowly. We can’t fault them for that. Well, we could, but it wouldn’t be fair. Besides, the runaway truck ramp was snowed over, and looked pretty short anyway. I wouldn’t want to be a runaway truck and have to use that…
I would be very flattered if Wal-Mart refused to print my photos…
< 1 minute read
December 13, 2005, 8:21 PM
Let me explain that for a moment. Wal-Mart’s copyright policy on their Web site states:
“Walmart.com will not assist in the copying of a photograph that is signed, stamped, or otherwise identified by any photographer or studio as copyrighted material, or any photograph that appears to have been taken by a professional photographer or studio, even if it is not marked with any sort of copyright, unless we are presented with a signed Copyright Release.”
This Christmas, I’m getting gift cards for the family once again. It’s far easier than getting gifts, because I’m not a great shopper, and my family is hard to buy for anyway. So this year, I’m getting the custom gift cards that Wal-Mart sells. I can put my own photo on there instead of the cheesy ones that come preprinted.
I consider myself to be a photographer by hobby, and do take some real gems from time to time. So I picked some photos that I’m particularly proud of and uploaded them to Walmart.com and saved them. I’ll actually order them right before I leave for work the next time I work, which will be Friday.
And if our photo lab refuses to print them because they look professional, I will be quite flattered, to say the least. Then I’d likely have to fill out the bloody release saying that I took the photos myself. But still flattered nonetheless.
Meanwhile, I’m going out tomorrow…
Categories: Photography, 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