Wal-Mart in Covina

(from the LA Times)
...
Becky Willison, 31, of Covina was one of them, standing watch over a boxed Cabbage Patch Kids doll. She hoped to nab the $9 item for her 15-month-old daughter Mackensie because “it’s smushy,” she said.

The former middle-school English teacher, who was laid off in June, saved $550 of her unemployment checks for Christmas shopping.

“You’ll never know when you go,” she said. “It’s really bad, and just really slow.”

But Willison had been out shopping for hours, starting at 4:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day at K-Mart, before detouring home for dinner. She then struck out for the Coach factory outlet in Ontario at 10 p.m., where she picked up a $330 red purse. Next was the line at Toys R Us, which she abandoned at 1:30 a.m. for the Wal-Mart queue.

“No guts, no glory,” explained her partner in crime, mother-in-law Carol Garnett, 57, of Covina.

I am not making this up

Yesterday I was waiting in the customer service line at Price Chopper to buy a 10-trip bus pass, since the fare was just raised to $1.50 and I never seem to have any change. Not to mention 10 trips cost only $13. The woman in front of me, who I would guess was from Trinidad or Guyana, was sending a $650 Western Union money order to Lagos, Nigeria ($689 total cost, including service fee). It was a very slow transaction.

I spent the time trying to think of any possible reason this deal might be legitimate, and whether ethics or courtesy demanded that I chime in. Of course, the answers are none and no. At the end she asked the cashier not to tell anyone she had been there. The cashier returned a look of extreme puzzlement, raised her palms, and said "none of my business". Since I made no such pledge, I'm sharing my story.

That's two posts in one day!

"Can you watch my things?"

Today at the beach, there was a mother next to us with four kids. She absolutely never shut up. I told Bernie she's the sort of person who has children just so there's a captive audience to listen to her non-stop stream of trivia. When she gathered the family to go for a hike, I was relieved. Until she asked me to watch her things.

She smiled fetchingly. As far as she was concerned, this was a formality.

We could be leaving as soon as twenty minutes from now, I replied flatly.

That's all right, she said, clearly confused that my response wasn't unconditional. She wasn't really worried about people, she emphasized: it's the birds that try to get into everything.

Was she asking me to fight off birds?

I'm not beating away birds, I told her firmly. I'd be happy to yell at people, I added, but only because she'd already indicated that wouldn't be necessary.

She flashed a knowing smile. Of course common courtesy dictated I'd step in at the first sign of trouble.

She went away. I returned to my book. And the birds went to work.

Another Salt in Wound Mystery

Bernie and I got married at the Bellagio Hotel. There was a big party with a lot of logistics that my wife is unaware of to this day. This is a picture of me arriving with some of Bernie's family to the pre-party in our suite.

Why am I arriving to my own party? Because I was constantly going downstairs so I could get guests onto the elevator.

There is a lot of security at the Bellagio. The lobby is a zoo. I don't think I could have gotten three large men onto the elevator without a hassle. It's why I question Javon Walker's account of being robbed in his room, carried unconscious through the hotel and then tossed into the street.

Is it possible he was robbed...





...in the street?

Friday round-up

It really has been quite a week. First we had Frank's mirthless situation, we had our poor pregnant marine labeled a 'compulsive' liar who actually turned up buried in a backyard, and now this: a scrapbooking tale of woe.

Absentmindedness

I'm pretty absentminded, but for the most part I've learned how to handle it. It helps to have many of the same necessary objects. I'm always putting down my reading glasses and then can't find them, so I have ten or so pairs scattered around my apartment and office.

Today I hit the pinnacle of absentmindedness though. I couldn't find my glasses, so I went to the bedstand, found a pair, and tried to put them on, only then it turned out I had a pair on already.