Compass & Coffee Spoons

Safeway Versus Harris Teeter; Or, Evil Versus Sanity

I've blogged before about how much I hate the shopping experience at Safeway (here and here). Yesterday, I was able to experience the juxtaposition between shopping there and at Harris Teeter. I've shopped at HT a lot recently. I haven't shopped at Safeway at all. Lest I forget how annoying it is, I went yesterday. It was actually to get baking chocolate for the cupcakes I was making. Safeway was closer...that's about all it is. Here's how it went.

Harris Teeter. I parked my car in the underground lot at the Pentagon Row HT and walked up and into the store. I sanitized the handle of my cart and walked to the freezer section. I leisurely strolled around, picking out my food. I reached the soda aisle and was disappointed to find out that there was no HT brand diet ginger ale. I asked the guy stocking wine if they had any in the back. Even though he didn't work in the soda section, he looked me in the eye sympathetically, and said he would go and check if there was any in the back. He was sincerely apologetic that they were all out, and suggested I check back the next day when a shipment would be coming in. I went to the deli and got freshly sliced chicken breast, where the deli worker asked me if the thickness was okay. I waited about 2 seconds in line before being checked out by a friendly cashier.

Safeway: I parked in the lot and dashed through to avoid getting hit. Mind you, I only had one item to get, so the shopping part of it was pretty painless. If I had to buy a whole order as at HT, I can tell you how the situations I encountered would have gone:

• Soda aisle--I wouldn't have been able to find anyone. If I had, they would have taken about 2 seconds to pretend to listen to what I was asking before they summarily dismissed me by shrugging and saying they didn't know.
• Deli--I would have been given presliced meat and given attitude if I asked for it fresh. I probably wouldn't even have had a choice of chicken. They would have had one flavor and it would have been Safeway's "primo taglio" (which I'm pretty sure is Italian for "tasteless") brand.

As for my actual experience yesterday, I stood in the "express" lane for an inordinately long period of time during which it appeared the checkout woman wasn't doing anything. Also, a dog ran through my aisle. Better than what I thought it was at first (a rat), but still--a dog! Followed by a girl.

It goes without saying that I can't wait until the HT opens in my 'hood.

Flowers of the Week

Not that my blossom experience wasn't gratifying enough, but I still bought some flowers for the week. Harris Teeter had Alstroemeria and Daisies on sale for $3 a bunch. I hadn't gotten flowers last week, so I decided to get 2 kinds. Some of my old Alstroemeria were hanging in there, but they fell apart finally when I moved them. I bought three bunches--2 daisies and 1 alstroemeria. The little vase in my bathroom is all the little not-quite-formed daisies.

10 Days Clean and Sober

It's been 10 days since I read AT. It's hard some days, but I realize the benefits too. I've had more time to check other design and non-design blogs. I've also spent a lot less time at work reading things on the Web, thereby improving my productivity and making me feel better about myself. Wow, a clean life feels so great! :) Truth is, I went there so often because it was updated frequently and it was an easy way to waste time...so if at work when I was confronted with an unfun task (not that that happens at...work) or wanted to procrastinate, it was an easy fill in. I hadn't been liking it as much as I once had anyway...the insultingish comment was the last straw. Going cold turkey for me is the only way to go!

Life is Just a Bowl of Cherry Blossoms

Like the nuts we are, Erin and I decided to brave the crowds and visit Japan's greatest gift to the U.S. other than the Wii and sushi, the beautiful Cherry trees around the Tidal Basin. Thanks, Japan!

We joined about a trillion other people in the same idea. The past few days were sort of like basic training for dealing with what I affectionately term the "tourons." Working a few blocks from the White House and next to the Mayflower Hotel does not do much for isolating you from the craziness. Did I mention there was also the Smithsonian Kite Festival, the opening of the Nationals new stadium, and the National Marathon was also this weekend? Anyway, we survived.

Erin and I ended our day with dinner at Cafe Mozart--in my opinion, a hidden DC gem. Nothing too fancy, but it is kind of like stepping off of gross NY Avenue and into Europe.  It was exactly what we needed at that moment.

Public Service Announcement...I'd like to take a moment to rail at people who feel their photo opp is more important than the tree. People, don't climb in the trees, sit in the trees, hit the trees, pick the blossoms (which opens the tree to infection...I heard this on WTOP), trample all over them. They're a treasure; respect them so others may enjoy them. Sheesh.

I'm hoping to hit the blossoms (figuratively not literally) with Leslie, my blossom-crazy friend! I'm also thinking of doing some pre-work walks.

Never seen so many people at the WWII Memorial! This doesn't even begin to get at the vast quantity of people.

"Blossoms, I love you!"

More crowds.

Resource: Archival Storage

I recently bought some archival file boxes from University Products. They sell archival products to, as their name suggests, university libraries and museums. However, they're also a good resource for home organizing and crafts. I got several of the same (or at least they appear exactly the same) file boxes that the Container Store sells for $19.99 each for $5.20 each. They give volume discounts (for small to large orders), and my mom and I split an order of 10.

I particularly like these because they look unobtrusive on a shelf. And, when you split up your files into different boxes, they aren't as heavy or bulky, which I feel is key to actually using the files. Having separate boxes gives you flexibility that drawers just don't.

In addition to these, they sell all kinds of useful products, including,(Beware, this can excite "oh hey look at this, I need it" syndrome):

• Display cases and stands
• Photo and scrapbooking supplies
• Bone folders, cutting tools and other things used for paper crafting/book binding (including cool French marbled paper)
• Framing supplies
• Stools and shelving

Check 'em out!

Social Networking, or Does LinkedIn Know Me?

 

Is it God behind the scenes? Are we all just six degrees away from each other (hence the Kevin Bacon pic)? I am truly weirded out by the connections LinkedIn has found. One of the "people I may know" it pointed me to is a woman I met at a happy hour while on a job in another city. Um, HOW DOES IT KNOW THIS? We don't work in the same field, live in the same city, or anything. Another one is someone who also taught ESL where I do. Random. Does it have access to my emails? Does it spy on me at night while I'm sleeping. Seriously! I do enjoy the social networking sites, though--I've been in contact, even if peripherally, with people I hadn't spoken with for years!

Picture of Kev by SAG Indie on Wikimedia Commons. 

Fun Gadget: Can Colander

I thought I'd share one of my favorite kitchen utensils. It has the makings of what Unclutterer calls a "unitasker," but it's not. I admit that when I bought it, I was thinking "Here I go buying another thing to collect dust," but it turned out to be very helpful. It both fits into a tuna can to press out all the liquid without risk of cutting yourself on the can edge and over a bean can to drain them. I am a big canned bean fan, so it's indispensible for that. It's also helpful for little colander tasks; I've used it for rinsing small quantities of berries, too. It's also affordable. Available at Ace Hardware online for $3.89 or at pretty much every home goods or hardware store. I have also seen it in stainless steel for slightly more money.

Peep Show Time!

You gotta check out the Washington Post's Peep diorama contest.  The contestants set up scenes using the infamous marshmallow candies from Jus' Born candies (a Pennsylvania company!) So funny and creative! And, you can vote for your favorites. Here are some of my favorite candidates:

Kate Bowen's "Peepator Craig's Wide Stance"

Rebecca Guerrerro's "It's a Major Peep Award!"

John Klingler and Jane Slatter's "Elvis Peepsley"

Jodie Smolik's "Peep Set me Up!"

Check them out and vote for your fave! Happy Easter!

Blogging, 12-steps, and the Nature of Reality

One day at work this week, I was feeling a bit down in the mouth. I wondered why, but being the great student of self-help books that I am, I identified the reason and then felt immediately pathetic: I had one of my photos posted on ApartmentTherapy.com.

What could be awful about this you ask? I have been a self-professed obsessed fan of AT. Okay, it's like crack. I was addicted ever since I first found it by looking for something about apartments three or four years ago. I was practically in line at the bookstore when founder Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan's book came out. Well, this is what it said after my photo:

"Okay, the pics aren't great, but Christine in DC's back and has nice flowers for both weeks"

(see the original post on AT here).

Woah. What? "Nice flowers," but the "pics aren't great"? I may be dense at times but I'm pretty sure that's at least mildly insulting. I felt like Carrie (the one from the Stephen King novel) except, unfortunately, without the powers to set things on fire. Like I was asked to the prom by one of the cool kids only to then have pig's blood spilt on my dress or something. Maxwell broke my poor little heart.

I doubt it was with purposeful bad intentions (I'm not paranoid). Still, I don't really understand the objective there. Pointing out who's not cool enough? Not wanting anyone to think HE'D taken the low pixel photo? I'm no expert blogger or businessperson, but I do know insulting one of your fan/supporters isn't smart. Still, I don't know him, never met him, how could I possibly be offended?

I came to my answer thinking about the nature of internet "relationships." People talk a lot about the anonymity of communication on the web. But, in some ways, we create quick relationships without really knowing anything about the people. While somewhat anonymous, the relationships are anything but surface. Because of the somewhat anonymous aspect, we share more than we would with people at work or strangers on the street. We share interests with them, share our opinions, our embarrassments, and in this particular case, our homes. You'd think NBC's "Dateline: To Catch a Predator" would have warned me off of sharing too much and forming naive feelings, but it didn't.

So, I'm sort of starting my own therapy--like any good addict, I've realized when I've gone too far. I'm staging my own intervention. I'm going to go 12-step on AT. I'm still going to keep checking the blogs from the fun people I "met" through there, and doing my own home improvements, but I doubt I'll be frequenting AT as much as I used to. "Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over our addiction - that our lives had become unmanageable." Being insulted by a guy on a web site to the point where I write a blog entry? Uh, yeah, check, I think that qualifies as unmanageable!

Apologies to all those AT people who are visiting me here...I know I'm sort of flogging a dead horse!

100th Post! Nothing Special

I felt like with this being my 100th post, I should post something meaningful and spectacular. So, instead, I'm posting a pretty picture of my green apples! I recently got the hurricane at (of all places) Ross Dress for Less for $4.