The Things I Didn’t Buy at Costco, a Trip to Cape Town, and a Post Script for Michael

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The Once Every So Often Costco Pilgrimage

I haven’t been to Costco in about 4 years and decided that I’d make the trip yesterday. It was time I got out of the house and away from JTV! I figured a weekday would be a good time to do it, so I got showered and dressed and into the car for the first time in four days. There wasn’t a big crowd. I spent the money on a new membership — ugh — and headed to the perimeter of the store to see what was available. I really only needed paper towels, toilet paper, vegetable oil, diet soda and … well, nothing else really. It’s tough shopping and cooking for one. I love my place, it’s plenty big enough for me, has three walk in closets and a few more, but the criminally large sizes of merchandise that is on offer at the big box stores is most often too much for someone like me. If I’d planned this right, I’d “share” a membership with someone, go to the store, buy what we both need, divvy it up and go home with only what I need, but that would take forethought, so I filled a cart to the brim and headed home with a wallet $500 lighter (including the membership fee) than it had been 2 hours before heading out.

Sadly, this is only a small portion of what I spent my money on

I’ve just got one question — for $50, can’t they do something to make the end result of the ID photo look at least somewhat less than scary? A little facial peel, a brow lift, a little liposuction under the chin? Something!? Anything? Please!

Left in the Aisles for Others

• A 52 inch plasma TV for $1350 — 1o inches larger than mine, 4 years newer and $3000 CHEAPER!!!!
• New specs — I don’t need new ones, but I am tired of the ones I have — both pairs
• A big 12 pack of mongo muffins — someone else can have the calories, thank you very much!
• Toilet paper — this is one of the things that was on my list!
• Vegetable oil — I picked up olive oil — it wasn’t on my list, they don’t carry good quality EVOO, what was I thinking?!
• Jasmine Rice — who can pick up those 10 kilo bags in the first place and once you get it home, where the hell do you keep it?
• A 4 pack of portable phones. Who buys those things?
• Diamonds
• A trip to the mountains
• Tires
• A watch
• A video camera
• A new mattress
• ANYTHING in the automotive aisle
• Gasoline — this would probably have been the smartest purchase of the day, had I made it, but I drove up at an entrance that is not close to the pumps so I totally forgot it was available
• …

Perhaps those Band-Aids are meant for a summer camp with, ohhh…500 kids?!

And we can’t leave out the most important part of the trip …
Why, Oh Why Did I Buy:

• Enough chicken to feed a village?
• The Singapore snack mix that is all soggy and mostly tasteless?
• A new coffee maker that really doesn’t fit anywhere
• A 3 pack of bandaids that would have been a good idea — IF I RAN A PLAYSCHOOL!
• A 3 pack of English cucumbers — now I’ll have to invite the neighbors in for tea and crumpets
• A 5 pound bag of lemons — I know I’m hooked on that chicken with garlic and lemons recipe, but come on!
• A 24 pack of paper towels — I know I am over the top with paper towels, but where will I store them all?!
• And more, much more …

And whatever happened to the Costco day pass?! I don’t want to go back there for another 4 years, but after shelling out FIFTY dollars I would imagine I’ll be back, sooner than I’d planned.

CampsBay_TV is A Virtual Trip to Paradise

Camps Bay, Capetown, South Africa, or … Paradise!

I bumped into the Campsbay_tv lifecaster last week in the Melinus room. Nice guy, great accent! Ok, so I only heard his voice for a few seconds when he picked up the phone while I was watching this morning, but I do have a great imagination. I headed over to his stream and it was as though I’d stepped into paradise. He had the camera pointed out the window as we’ve seen before. He didn’t seem to be around, but it really didn’t matter to me. It was as though I was there. The sound of the cars passing by on the street below was clearly audible along with the breeze sailing through the palm trees and the chirping of birds. I did miss the smell of the sea air, but since I couldn’t be there, this was the next best thing.

I am anxious for our friend — Camp — to go mobile. Also, it would be helpful if he’d tell us his name and post other info on the page. It’s funny how few of the people realize he’s streaming from South Africa, most seem to think they are looking at Australia. Ahhh, the two continents I need to get to in order to round out my passport before it expires in 11 months.

Synchronicity

The pool looks awfully inviting from 14 stories up on a very hot summer night.

Funny — I’ve got a call set up tomorrow morning with a guy in the global call center industry who wants to talk about a new call center venture he’s starting in Ghana. Ghana’s become one of the newer outsourcing spots and of course it’s not not South Africa, it’s West Africa, but going there could get me that elusive stamp I’ve been looking to obtain. 🙂

I picked up Thomas Friedman’s best seller, The World is Flat, during my visit to the temple of mass consumerism yesterday, so all afternoon, in between plunking into the pool to cool off, I was immersed in Friedman’s in depth, insightful, often familiar thoughts on the shrinking world and what it may hold for our future.

One thing really does seem to lead to the next and the linkage started with JTV. A lifecaster in South Africa, email from ag global outsourcing entrepreneur wanting to talk about business in West Africa, and a read by the pool about the decomposition of the theory that the world is round.

I can’t wait to see what JTV shows me tomorrow!

Post Script

NOTE TO MICHAEL — if you’re going to don the hat-cam, think about NOT EATING! It’s nothing short of digusting listening to this. And to make it worse, it’s really loud, I have one bar on the volume and it’s still enough to make me jump every time he chops, opens a cabinet, or bangs around in the sink. The belching is enough to make me wretch. As tough as it is sometimes to watch Justin, but Michael takes things to a new level.

I made the mistake of tuning into Justin’s feed as I was getting ready to record this and heard Michael in what seemed like the end of a little consoling conversation about office space. He was telling Justin that, “sometimes it takes people six months to find office space,” and something close to, “she’s an old lady, cut her some slack.” I wonder if they were talking about the landlord of the great office space that they all loved? If so, I am feeing really really bummed right now. If that lady is considered old, I bet I’m not far behind being considered old by that generation.

I don’t recall viewing people in their 50’s and 60’s as being old when I was that age, but perhaps now that I am verging on OLD myself, I just can’t remember back that far!

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