Full Day

Woke up this morning around 9:30 (after having "snoozed" my 9 AM alarm). Threw on some PJs and took the dog out. He proceeded to bark inexplicably and I could only distract him with a game of fetch for three throws. I spoke to our neighbor, Mr. Brown, for a few minutes and learned a few things:

• His 82nd birthday is MONDAY (Memorial Day).
• His daughter is visiting on Wednesday.
• His daughter (in-law?) is a songwriter/musician who's won accolades for country and Christian music. She has also apparently worked with Dolly Parton.
• He served in the Korean War.
• He used to be an artist (though, to be fair, can you ever STOP being an artist, even if the hands you use to perform your craft are no longer capable of completing a project?).

Let the dog run around for a few more minutes when the cat approached for a good belly and back rub. Went back inside, where I turned down the A/C (why can't we get a house that doesn't overheat and overcool?) because I woke shivering. Cut up some veggies and made breakfast:

• Hash browns with onions and sweet peppers
• Scrambled eggs with onions, peppers, mushrooms, and Havarti cheese
• Maple bacon

Discovered that I'd unknowingly put the ice cream in the refrigerator last night. Tried to salvage the cream by using it to flavor last night's leftover coffee. Fail. But no harm, because I was really underwhelmed by the ice cream. (I had expected a Peanut Butter fantasy for all the excitement promised on the packaging.) I suppose there's part of Jason that will wonder how I managed to eat half a carton of ice cream on my own, but I feel like he'd feel more pain if he learned it went to waste so I'll just let him believe his wife is a heifer.

Ate breakfast with Jason while we watched the first season of America's Got Talent. It was kinda "meh" though I'm realizing now that the big reason I enjoyed it last year is because I watched the interactions between the judges and we just fast-forwarded to get through the performances in time for me to go to work. Maybe I'll not do that for the next episode.

Went to work sans booty with a huge cup of caramel flavored coffee (again, don't tell Jason -- I was supposed to stay away from "his" creamer since I bought three others. They were on sale!). Things were steady -- mostly with grills and propane tanks -- but not too hectic until the very end of the night when all the assholes showed up feeling all entitled to shit.

But I'm getting ahead of myself; I must use this space to its full potential and detail my meals. OF COURSE. Lunch:

• Baked potato with sour cream and garlic salt
• Raspberry blended yogurt
• Honey wheat pretzels with Port Wine cheese spread
• Chocolate chip granola bar
• SUPER SOUR Pink Lemonade (how did I drink that stuff every day during Ohio summers?)

Closed with Libby, which was cool aside from the fact that she rushed out of there when 8:00 rolled around -- leaving me solo with the crazies. (Thank God Isiah came by to help out. And Becca...eventually.)

Crazies:

1. Guy who'd told us he wouldn't be in until Monday comes in without warning FIVE MINUTES to close to pick up 50 landscape timbers that had been stashed in the overhead in a bundle of 100 (and would have to be rebundled again before they could be put back up for safekeeping). Gave half-hearted apologies and did not take my very strong nonverbal hints to leave. How rude!
2. Bargain hunter comes in 4 minutes to close requesting a price match (which for some reason the returns cashier Libby sent my way rather than dealing with herself), claiming that our competitor has paver blocks for half the price of ours. Such a price difference is not common, so I went to the trouble of calling the competitor, despite the fact that we're trained to JUST DO IT when it's a piddly markdown. They gave me a price 20 cents more expensive than the one she'd given and I told her such and she proceeded to show me a receipt from the competitor in which they had MANUALLY given her a markdown (probably because she told them that we had it cheaper, no doubt). Since she found it necessary to lie to save $1.20 and since there were only 2 minutes left at this point, I ran with it and scoffed as she walked out the door.
3. Two guys came up to the desk AT CLOSING TIME on the dot with a cart full of merchandise and a SKU number for bigger merchandise they had originally told their salesman (who had given me a heads-up on the situation) they were coming back for the following day. They decide to throw all their bullshit at me full-force, whining about "not having known" the store was closing early (despite 8PM being our regular closing time on EVERY SUNDAY) and then whining about not being able to get the $19 rate for a truck rental when the rental center closes promptly at closing time and the computer automatically charges overnight rentals the full day rate BECAUSE (get this) THEY HAVE SUDDENLY DECIDED THAT THEY'RE GOING TO TAKE THE LARGE ITEMS WITH THEM ALSO (despite one of them being in the overhead). They can't seem to understand that the store closes at the time posted on our door and ask me WHY??? can't they just drop off the truck within the 75 minute time frame that we offer DURING NORMAL BUSINESS HOURS because *surely* someone will be available in tool rental to check it back in for them despite the fact that the store (including tool rental) closes at the time posted on our door. I also want to say that they didn't have their car insurance card with them (required for a truck rental) but I didn't do that part so I dunno. Either way, they were super irritating.

Swung by KRYSTAL for a #1 with cheese and a Corn Pup (because I couldn't resist). Feel blegh now but it's all good because I need to go to bed and *maybe* just *maybe* I'll start a resolution tomorrow to exercise and eat right and it won't matter how shitty I behaved/ate Sunday. Watched a few episodes of DR. WHO -- halfway through the second season now! My viewing plan (if I can stick to it) is to watch a season of one show before moving on to the next, then coming back around and picking it up again (kinda like REAL TV works). I dunno if this is my way of clinging to normalcy in this era after cable/satellite. (How sad is it that I can divide my life into "before" and "after" TV? Damn, I need to do something more valuable with my time.) Anyway, the series I'm watching now:

• Dr. Who
• How I Met Your Mother
• Star Trek: The Next Generation
• Star Trek: The Original Series

 After these, I'll have to get another rotation...or another hobby. But I highly doubt I can wean myself off of Netflix, what with all the movies and shows at my fingertips. Not to mention how lazy/tired I am after a day of work...not that it's physically exhausting, but just take a look at 1-3 and multiply that by eight hours and again by 5 days a week. Sigh, retail is dumb.

After the Netflixing, I decided to bumble over to blogger and do some writing. I couldn't muster up a short story but I copied a few word-of-the-day entries to the electronic world and am now attempting to reopen a blog (not having had one since MySpace -- what the hell is going on over there these days, I wonder?). I can't say my life is all that exciting but maybe within the ore of this blog there will be some salvageable jewels (which I will promptly transfer over to my word-of-the-day/creative writing pursuits)?

Jason had a show in Tucker, Georgia, today (sounds far away, even if I can't point to it on a map without Google's help). I thought I might stay up late enough to say "hello" before passing out but it's 1:40AM and, while I don't work tomorrow, I have been up for 16 hours and it's long past time to start snoring.

Well, thanks (self?) for the opportunity to throw my rants and raves on [virtual] paper. In other news, I really am enjoying ALEX CLARE. He's got soul but his stuff has got some dubstep/heavy bass elements and I dig it.

In other news, I'm an INTP (Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Perceiver) and Jason is an ENTJ (Extroverted iNtuitive Thinking Judger). We're CONTRASTS apparently but the descriptions are right on. Not quite sure what motivated me to look into personality quizzes but it's fun sometimes to have a complete stranger (an automated one if you can manage it) analyze you.

In other other news, dog has fleas again. I'm convinced there's something outside (in the shed?) that's full of them, as we've fogged the house already. Giving him another flea bath tomorrow.

Still waiting on Jason to tell me if his vacation got approved so I can get seriously started planning our road trip up north. More news as it becomes available. Adios.