Time to hit Wally World again. They must get such a huge chunk of sales I’d rather shop elsewhere just to keep the competition alive. Target is the only chain in the area that really competes with them, but you only have to drive by their lots to see Wal-Mart is clearly ahead around here.
In contrast K-Mart always looks like dead retailer walking. So I go there when I can, anything to keep another competitor open. For a while they had some self-check-out terminals. Then those were closed with a sign that said, “Closed so we can add more checkouts to serve you better.” That made no sense, of course. There were still a dozen checkouts and no more than three are ever open at a time. Spin is everywhere.
To be realistic, what else are they going to say? “We aren’t making enough money to maintain the new terminals, so we’re just shutting them down?” They haven’t pulled them out, they’re just blocked off and they’re used as a storage area. That chain has problems. I wonder if they’re in a death pool, and what the odds are.
One thing the kids and I like about K-Mart is that they have an Icee machine after the registers. Pay for the cup with your other stuff and fill it up on the way out. Trainboy and Ms. Pikachu each get one. They have to alternate filling it up between the red and blue. While they have official flavors of raspberry and cherry that’s just a comfort mechanism. Truth in advertising would be to just call them Red and Blue.
Back to layers of Red and Blue. Sometimes when you suck it up through the straw you get lines of both colors and the same time. That’s kind of cool. When you get near the end the colors start to mix, and that’s when anyone can see that Red and Blue make Purple. So there’s an art lesson to be had too.
But we went to Wally World anyway. Because if you’re going shopping with kids and need food, pet bedding, auto supplies and anything else needed for daily living you only want to get out of the car once and just get it over with. Wally World is good for that.
-icee
Thursday, July 17, 2003
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
We went to see the latest Rugrats movie. It’s playing at a small theatre in a nearby town. Two adults, two kids for $11.00. We loaded up on pop, Milk-Duds, and Dots for a couple more bucks. Small-town living may seem boring, but it’s cheap. The Cheapwife likes that.
After about a half-hour I blinked and failed to un-blink. The next thing I was aware of was being nudged with a “Dad, wake up.” It’s not my fault, once you learn how to sleep sitting up it’s like riding a bicycle. So’s snoring, hopefully it wasn’t so loud it bothered anyone. I didn’t ask, they didn’t tell.
I also didn’t ask how the movie ended. In a few months we’ll probably have it on DVD and I don’t want it spoiled. So I’ll be in suspense for a few months, if it seems I’m a little tense you’ll know why.
RugratsGoWild
After about a half-hour I blinked and failed to un-blink. The next thing I was aware of was being nudged with a “Dad, wake up.” It’s not my fault, once you learn how to sleep sitting up it’s like riding a bicycle. So’s snoring, hopefully it wasn’t so loud it bothered anyone. I didn’t ask, they didn’t tell.
I also didn’t ask how the movie ended. In a few months we’ll probably have it on DVD and I don’t want it spoiled. So I’ll be in suspense for a few months, if it seems I’m a little tense you’ll know why.
RugratsGoWild
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
I finished ‘The Hunt for Bin Laden,’ an excellent book. It’s a chronicle of the Green Berets that were dropped into Afghanistan after 9/11. Conventional forces take months to mobilize, Special Forces take days. For a fast response they were it.
They would link up with the local rebels, plan attacks and call in air support. The Taliban had had it all their way since the rebels of the Northern Alliance didn’t have the hardware to mount an offensive and take ground. Once our guys were in the bombs started to fall and they kicked butt from one gutter to the other and back again.
It’s a thrilling read, page after page you want to cheer and say, “You guys kick ass.” The Berets actually rode to battle on horseback singing ‘The Ballad of the Green Beret.’ That’s the kind of stuff that if it were fiction critics would say it was just too far. Forget Hollywood, these guys were bigger, and real too.
There are odd things, like when you find out the Alliance and the Taliban know what radio frequencies the other uses. Security anyone, anyone? Perhaps they figured people switched sides all the time, or there were plenty of spies, but it would still make sense to try to keep the other side from overhearing you.
There are funny moments, like when a Beret is talking to a weapons officer in the Spectre flying overhead. An Alliance commander hears the voice of the female officer and seizes the opportunity. He tells the Taliban the US has so little respect for them they send their women to fight them. Then he patches her through and she talks to them. She says she’s there because of the terrible way they treat their women- quite an extreme insult in itself. She becomes known as the Angel of Death.
They brought 5,000 patches from the NYPD and FDNY with them, many of them embroidered with a name from the slain. When they conducted a raid, or just pounded them into the dust, they’d leave patches- to let them know it was payback for 9/11. One time they had a sizable number of Taliban cornered and the Alliance commander tried to negotiate their surrender. A Beret said, forget that, we want to kill them all; it was payback with a vengeance.
I don’t recall any Beret being killed by Taliban, but there were some who were killed in friendly fire accidents- such terrible wastes of our nation’s finest. But accidents happen, especially in a war zone.
They were able to kick the Taliban out of Afghanistan with about a hundred Green Beret in a couple of months. Since the Berets would take care of the population when they weren’t fighting, when the Taliban were gone, the Afghans weren’t just glad the Taliban were gone, they often became pro-American.
It’s a book that makes you proud of the men who fight for this country, and grateful that they do. There are so many terrific stories it just screams for a ‘Band of Brothers’ treatment.
Is it a detached, objective book? No. Around 1964 the author trained with the Green Berets and then wrote ‘The Green Beret.’ He’s their friend and squarely in their corner. He’s an enthusiast, and that’s the perspective it’s written from.
TheHuntForBinLaden
They would link up with the local rebels, plan attacks and call in air support. The Taliban had had it all their way since the rebels of the Northern Alliance didn’t have the hardware to mount an offensive and take ground. Once our guys were in the bombs started to fall and they kicked butt from one gutter to the other and back again.
It’s a thrilling read, page after page you want to cheer and say, “You guys kick ass.” The Berets actually rode to battle on horseback singing ‘The Ballad of the Green Beret.’ That’s the kind of stuff that if it were fiction critics would say it was just too far. Forget Hollywood, these guys were bigger, and real too.
There are odd things, like when you find out the Alliance and the Taliban know what radio frequencies the other uses. Security anyone, anyone? Perhaps they figured people switched sides all the time, or there were plenty of spies, but it would still make sense to try to keep the other side from overhearing you.
There are funny moments, like when a Beret is talking to a weapons officer in the Spectre flying overhead. An Alliance commander hears the voice of the female officer and seizes the opportunity. He tells the Taliban the US has so little respect for them they send their women to fight them. Then he patches her through and she talks to them. She says she’s there because of the terrible way they treat their women- quite an extreme insult in itself. She becomes known as the Angel of Death.
They brought 5,000 patches from the NYPD and FDNY with them, many of them embroidered with a name from the slain. When they conducted a raid, or just pounded them into the dust, they’d leave patches- to let them know it was payback for 9/11. One time they had a sizable number of Taliban cornered and the Alliance commander tried to negotiate their surrender. A Beret said, forget that, we want to kill them all; it was payback with a vengeance.
I don’t recall any Beret being killed by Taliban, but there were some who were killed in friendly fire accidents- such terrible wastes of our nation’s finest. But accidents happen, especially in a war zone.
They were able to kick the Taliban out of Afghanistan with about a hundred Green Beret in a couple of months. Since the Berets would take care of the population when they weren’t fighting, when the Taliban were gone, the Afghans weren’t just glad the Taliban were gone, they often became pro-American.
It’s a book that makes you proud of the men who fight for this country, and grateful that they do. There are so many terrific stories it just screams for a ‘Band of Brothers’ treatment.
Is it a detached, objective book? No. Around 1964 the author trained with the Green Berets and then wrote ‘The Green Beret.’ He’s their friend and squarely in their corner. He’s an enthusiast, and that’s the perspective it’s written from.
TheHuntForBinLaden
Monday, July 14, 2003
We watched ‘Mr. Smith Goes To Washington,’ another wonderful Jimmy Stewart movie. It’s a sweet movie with some rough edges suitable for family. There are several opportunities to have discussions with the kids- ethics, government and civic responsibility can be started with the pause button.
The dramatic culmination is his filibuster of the Senate in the face of overwhelming odds. Trivia question- Who holds the record for longest filibuster? Answer- Strom Thurmond.
Apparently he had a lot of stamina. Question- Is it time for a nasty comment about his reputation as a ladies man? Answer- No, that would be rude, we speak only kindly of the stiff.
It was a lot of fun to watch a good movie with the family, the bonding thing is a good thing, good.
-MrSmith
The dramatic culmination is his filibuster of the Senate in the face of overwhelming odds. Trivia question- Who holds the record for longest filibuster? Answer- Strom Thurmond.
Apparently he had a lot of stamina. Question- Is it time for a nasty comment about his reputation as a ladies man? Answer- No, that would be rude, we speak only kindly of the stiff.
It was a lot of fun to watch a good movie with the family, the bonding thing is a good thing, good.
-MrSmith