A Happy Diversion

I am, I fear, about to go mental.

The proverbial straw came today at Sam's. I was there to purchase cupcakes and other junk food related items for a youth party we're having at our house tomorrow night. Easy, right? I was all proud of myself -- I had the veggie tray (knowing full well that I would be the only one to touch it), pizza rolls, flautas, lots of cupcakes, stuff to make cappuccinos and mochas with, and I was ahead of the game because it was only Monday and I wouldn't have to go out again tomorrow. Yeah. Too easy. I knew there would be a catch.

So I get up to the front of Sam's, prepared to pay, quietly celebrating my ahead-of-the-game-ness, when the guy tells me that I can't use my Visa as a credit card. They ONLY take Discover (who the h*** only takes Discover?). He said, "Well, you can use your Visa as a debit card." Okay. Now hold on. I have a CORPORATE PLATINUM Visa. I suspect I am not the only business customer at Sams who needs to use a company card. Thing is, most people who have Corporate Visas DO NOT HAVE A PIN NUMBER because that's not something a common employee would have. So I'm screwed. He says, "Well, don't you have a check or something?" I said, "No, I'm pretty sure I've never had any trouble EVER using a VISA to buy something." So they suspend my sale and drag me and my cart off to the side, and the manager comes over and says, "I'm sorry ma'am, but we only take Discover. But what I can do is hold your order, and you can drive to Walmart and use your Corporate Visa to buy a Walmart gift card for the amount of purchase, and then you can come back here and use it to buy this stuff."

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

I know I looked at him as if he were spurting green foamy substances from his facial orafices.

I couldn't believe he was asking me to drive to another store and purchase an item in order to complete the transaction here at this store. IF I WANTED TO GO TO WALMART, I WOULD HAVE GONE TO WALMART!!! I CAME TO SAMS!!!

I said, "It is absolutely freaking ridiculous that you guys would put your customers through all of this just to buy from you. I don't have time to go to Walmart. I came here to SAVE TIME!"

He said, "Well, see, we have to pay more for Visa and Mastercard purchases, so in order to keep our costs down, we only take Discover."

What?

That is the most lame reason I have ever heard.

I was SO FREAKING MAD!

I'm really feeling very much like George Costanza lately. I am about *this* close to running through the mall screaming, "SERENITY NOW!!!"

I am tired of evil customers. Why do people have to be evil at Christmas time?

Of course, I guess I sort of acted like an evil customer today, too. But it was warranted. That is the stupidest policy I have ever heard of. Don't punish your customers because you're to dang cheap to pay the extra .0167% that Visa charges for your transactions.

Ugh.

On a happy note, though, I used my personal monies there at Sams to buy the much-anticipated DVD set of the 24 Season 3!!!!!!!!! YAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!! We have been waiting for a long time. You know how I get about Keifer. I obsess. I can't stop watching. I suspect we will watch 2-3 eps tonight, and then David will have to pry the remote out of my hands so we can go to sleep, and then we will stay up till 4 am tomorrow night and watch 4 more episodes, and I will not be able to breathe, eat, or sleep until I have devoured the whole season. I am so excited. MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmm..... I can't wait.

And Season 4 starts Jan. 9.

Since the X-Files is gone, I had to find another obsession.

Maybe it will help to escape for awhile. It has been a very taxing couple of weeks.

Cheese

Oh, I'm so excited I want to cry!



I love Narnia. I love Narnia. I love Narnia.

When I went to London I saw a lion on the south side of the Westminster Bridge that looks just like Aslan. His face is the perfect blend of strength and gentleness... it's almost cuddly in a powerful way. Anyway, the Aslan in the movie models looks very much like the South Bank Lion. Here's the model:



Oh, do, let's count the day until December 9, 2005: 357!!! yaaay!

Today is David's and my 9th anniversary. Wow. Hard to believe. Time has flown and we've squeezed a LOT of living into 9 years. Seems like we've had a major life change every 2 years or so, and it's been very exciting and cool to see where God has taken us.

Got to see the meteor shower the other night. Punky and I got up at 2 am to watch. Some some really cool ones. That was very fun.

Okay. Must drink my coffee... be back in a sec...

Alright. So right now I'm hooked on mochas. Because I'm a chocolate nut, and because it's a fun treat for the holidays, and because it's really easy to add Hershey's Syrup to my quad, I'm now making a quad grande nonfat dry mocha cappuccino. Hooray coffee.

We are doing better with school. We've been really focusing on keeping the schedule every day, and with the new curriculum it's been easier to stay on task. We still have some difficult days, but it hasn't been as bad as it was. I was about to put him back in school and that would require me to go work full time, but I was so over the daily battles that it almost seemed like the only way.

I dreamed last night that I was wandering around a college campus barefoot trying to find the computer center, and I ended up in a day care center talking to the lady who ran it. I was looking for some computer part I needed back home for my computer, but I never did find it. On my way back to the apartment I was staying in, the girl I had just met at the day care center ran after me and gave me a mini loaf of pumpkin bread and then offered to drive me back to the apartment. We had to cross a low causeway to get to the apartment (which, apparently, was on the beach), and as we were driving across the tide came in and this big huge wave of water swept over the car. I remember I was in the back seat and I look over where Punky was sitting and he was just being flooded with water... I asked him if he was okay, and he was crying, and I unbuckled his seatbelt and got him out. It was a very vivid dream. Weird.

Time to go teach school now. And then we get to go have a fun anniversary day. Someone asked me last night if Punky was coming with us on our date! HA! I said, "Was Punky at our wedding? Well, then, why should he be on our date?!" Was that mean and insensitive? David and I NEVER get to go out together alone. There you go.