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Blogpost from the shade

Published June 24th, 2006 in Miscellaneous | 1 Comment »

I was supposed to go to a lecture with Alice Wheeler, talking about photojournalism. She is well known for her many photographs of Nirvana, all the way up through their career, from relatively unknown to superstars. The lecture was open to members of the Seattle Flickr Meetup Group, and would have been interesting for sure.

But life is what happens, when you’re busy making other plans, and a combination of three factors, made it so I never got there. First up was traffic. It was almost rush-hour bad, which meant our car was crawling along. Second was the sun. Today has got to be one of the hottest days so far this year. Third, our car has a problem with overheating when idling or moving slow. So, combine all these three. Half-way there, the car was so hot, we had to pull over, and when it was finally cool enough to get back on the road, the lecture had begun forty minutes ago.

So, instead of getting some tips and inspiration, the better half and I went out and got new chairs for the office. If all else fails: Go shopping!

The Small Pleasures of Bantering

Published May 11th, 2006 in Miscellaneous | 1 Comment »

The fine art of bantering is a household hobby, though the better half and I prefer practicing our skills outside the confines of our home. In fact, we specialize in store-bantering, or more specifically at the check-out.

Nothing makes shopping more fun, than exchanging wisecracks and bad jokes in front of the poor person, stuck with scanning barcodes on other people’s stuff for a living. Especially, since we get to watch their reactions, when we do it.

Some of them jump right in, take sides or even start their own banter. Some are too far gone, and the monotone slavery of retail has all but robbed them of any sense of humor. Others again try hard to keep a straight face, but those are just challenges for us, and we usually end up cracking them. It even happens that we get comments like: “You guys really made my day.” or “Please pick my line next time you’re in here.” and even other people in line occasionally react. It’s like putting on a show that anyone can join in on if they want to, or simply sit back and enjoy.

Personally, I’ve never been a big fan of shopping, so I welcome any (legal) way of improving the experience. I have to say though, that bantering is the best thing I’ve tried yet. If only there was a discount to go along with it.