It was 2 am before I got to bed last night. Had gone to the Great mall after work looking for The Hat and a tux shirt. Burlington Coat Factory was my go-to place for fat guys' formalwear, so that was where I started. It took till 7:30 to get there (working late and slow traffic) and I was in there for an hour. Since the last time I was there they had completely re-arranged the entire store. It used to be a jumbled mess a quarter of the way into the store from the side entrance I usually use. Looked like Goodwill after a sale. Now it is a very organized display of suitcases and carry-ons along one wall, and lots of well maintained shelves of small kitchen stuff (mugs, glasses, etc.) leading to rows of pans and pots which would put Macy's to shame. To the left an open area containing a grid of women's clothing and accessories. All the way at the other end of the store had been the tux section, but it is gone without a trace. I take that back, there are vests. There are still suits and suit separates, socks, but where there had been tuxedos there were now sport jackets. And knapsacks.
Closer to the registers they still have the cubby holes of shirts, and unlike the rest of the store, these had not been re-organized and maintained, as a result I found my size (19) among the 15½'s and 17's, and a tux short size 20 in the unlabeled section for >18½. And then I saw racks of shirts, and found a tux shirt size 19. I bought them both. 19 fit well so I'll wear that for the wedding. Forgot to buy cuff links. I may have some in the guest bedroom.
Also bought a white baseball cap Just In Case. But will not wear it to the wedding, I'd rather go hatless or wear my off-white wide brimmed hat which I use for outdoor photography.
By the time I checked out it was 8:30, the mall shops close at 9, so it was a rush to circumnavigate, peering in windows to see if there were hats, and ducking inside if I saw something promising. Lots of "almosts", the right design in the wrong color or material, the right color but the wrong design. All the straw hats are straw color - what's that about? Forever 21 was closed by the time I got there, and it looked like they might have what I was looking for. And closing as I arrived was The Hat Shop which had not been there last time I was in the mall. Had I known I would have gone straight there from Burlington.
Many stores were still open at 9:15 when I decided to call it a day. A sign of how bad the economy is.
At one point I was amazed that so many stores had more than one location, until I realized I'd gotten turned around and was walking back the way I had come.
Home, Spook was not pleased, and yelled a lot at me. And refused to come close.
I spent a lot of time online printing Amazon return labels, and filling in Lenovo forms for an RMA.
Today started as a surprise. I had only gotten up to pee once between 2 and 7:30, and had slept soundly. I had skipped the shower yesterday, so took one today. Needed it from all that mall walking.
Work started with Boss sending us some bugs to verify on the current machine's latest build. I was assigned most of them. And I also had to go into the next machine's test cases and mark them partially tested and attach the bug number which prevents me from passing them.
And online I looked up the hat shop in Berkeley, where years ago I bought my Greek fisherman's hat. It's still there, and they have exactly the hat I want. But to get there tomorrow I would have to take about a 3-hour lunch. And spend maybe $70. Maybe if work is light enough, I'll drive to the Great Mall and take BART there.
Lunch was late, I'd lost track of time doing one of the bug tests, and I needed to drop off the two Amazon returns at the UPS Store in the Marriott. Headed for the Specialty's near Intel, but missed the exit so I went to the one nearer to work for the first time since the street next to it was open, and there was someone pulling out of the full lot, so I had a ham sandwich and their last pecan sticky bun.
Stayed late at work, because there was a game at the stadium and traffic would be lighter closer to 7. But changed my mind on the route as I was driving, because I needed cheese and they had a Norelco shaver on sale [mine is not cutting it, even after replacing the blades], so I went to Costco an spent $200 on a lot of stuff. All were things which are usually on my list, except for the lox and white fish. Things like grapes, bananas, blueberries, walnuts ($19 for 3 lbs! robbery!), lactose free milk, coconut milk.
Home, got the RMA email from Lenovo, and now the laptop and the travel charger are packed up and ready to drop off at UPS.
Plans for tomorrow:
Work
UPS
Maybe Berkeley
Pack for Bend
Closer to the registers they still have the cubby holes of shirts, and unlike the rest of the store, these had not been re-organized and maintained, as a result I found my size (19) among the 15½'s and 17's, and a tux short size 20 in the unlabeled section for >18½. And then I saw racks of shirts, and found a tux shirt size 19. I bought them both. 19 fit well so I'll wear that for the wedding. Forgot to buy cuff links. I may have some in the guest bedroom.
Also bought a white baseball cap Just In Case. But will not wear it to the wedding, I'd rather go hatless or wear my off-white wide brimmed hat which I use for outdoor photography.
By the time I checked out it was 8:30, the mall shops close at 9, so it was a rush to circumnavigate, peering in windows to see if there were hats, and ducking inside if I saw something promising. Lots of "almosts", the right design in the wrong color or material, the right color but the wrong design. All the straw hats are straw color - what's that about? Forever 21 was closed by the time I got there, and it looked like they might have what I was looking for. And closing as I arrived was The Hat Shop which had not been there last time I was in the mall. Had I known I would have gone straight there from Burlington.
Many stores were still open at 9:15 when I decided to call it a day. A sign of how bad the economy is.
At one point I was amazed that so many stores had more than one location, until I realized I'd gotten turned around and was walking back the way I had come.
Home, Spook was not pleased, and yelled a lot at me. And refused to come close.
I spent a lot of time online printing Amazon return labels, and filling in Lenovo forms for an RMA.
Today started as a surprise. I had only gotten up to pee once between 2 and 7:30, and had slept soundly. I had skipped the shower yesterday, so took one today. Needed it from all that mall walking.
Work started with Boss sending us some bugs to verify on the current machine's latest build. I was assigned most of them. And I also had to go into the next machine's test cases and mark them partially tested and attach the bug number which prevents me from passing them.
And online I looked up the hat shop in Berkeley, where years ago I bought my Greek fisherman's hat. It's still there, and they have exactly the hat I want. But to get there tomorrow I would have to take about a 3-hour lunch. And spend maybe $70. Maybe if work is light enough, I'll drive to the Great Mall and take BART there.
Lunch was late, I'd lost track of time doing one of the bug tests, and I needed to drop off the two Amazon returns at the UPS Store in the Marriott. Headed for the Specialty's near Intel, but missed the exit so I went to the one nearer to work for the first time since the street next to it was open, and there was someone pulling out of the full lot, so I had a ham sandwich and their last pecan sticky bun.
Stayed late at work, because there was a game at the stadium and traffic would be lighter closer to 7. But changed my mind on the route as I was driving, because I needed cheese and they had a Norelco shaver on sale [mine is not cutting it, even after replacing the blades], so I went to Costco an spent $200 on a lot of stuff. All were things which are usually on my list, except for the lox and white fish. Things like grapes, bananas, blueberries, walnuts ($19 for 3 lbs! robbery!), lactose free milk, coconut milk.
Home, got the RMA email from Lenovo, and now the laptop and the travel charger are packed up and ready to drop off at UPS.
Plans for tomorrow:
Work
UPS
Maybe Berkeley
Pack for Bend
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howeird- Mister Eclectic
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