Monday, August 30, 2004

Stranger in a strange land

I tell you, switching grocery stores can be a traumatic event. My regular store is screwing around with the parking. There is maybe a 1/4 of this huge lot available to park. There are like 4 spots in each aisle available unless you go to the far end of the lot. It feels like you are walking 2 blocks just to get into the store. So I decided to try the "new" place with their huge nice parking lot. Now, I feel like I should have brought my passport.
Talk about a different world! You never notice how your mind is trained for the old store. In the old store, I can walk in and know exactly where everything I need is and basically go on auto drive and move through the place. In the new place, you are wide eyed wondering where the can soup is. You move through each aisle gazing at the different brands. You notice that the coffee is located next to the laundry detergent. Huh? You like the deli and produce area as it is wide open and huge. They have fruit that you never heard of, vegetables you have never seen.
Too bad the rest of the store isn't like this. The aisles narrower than you are used to. I get behind this older lady whose ass takes up the aisle itself. It doesn't help that she keep parking the cart on an angle to totally block the aisle. The meat section is tiny. Where is the cheese? What is with the huge section of makeup? I make the mistake of asking someone about the "savers card" and get a spiel on not only where to sign up but the entire process. I thank him 4 times but he keeps talking. I look around trying to figure out where I am, where do I need to go, and how much is the toilet paper (10 fourpacks for $10- man, that is a lot of crapping to do!).
I can't take it anymore. The walls are closing in. I need to get out, pay my bill and leave. Ah, fresh air. I can't wait for the old store to finish the lot.

Saw the marathon yesterday. One of the best moments in all of sports is watching the lead runner enter the stadium and seeing the crowd go nuts. Too bad the stadium was barely half full. Worse was the leader getting mugged by some psycho. Sad.

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