Thursday, September 29, 2011

Tidbits of late

 The other day I was outside sweeping the front of the store near the entrance.  I had a cigarette sitting in the ash tray on top of the trash can.  A young guy, looked like a college kid, walked up and stopped, looked at my cigarette, and picked it up and walked off.  I said, "Hey, that was my..." he stopped and looked at me.  "...cigarette, but I guess you can have it."  He turned and walked away.

The UNT paper did a write up about the photos of shoplifters from the security cameras that Chiy posts on the windows.  The gist of it was how the photos are a deterrent, because it's embarrassing to have your photo posted there for everyone to see, of you stealing something paltry like a beer or a candy bar.  They came in and interviewed me, and I told them about how I've chased shoplifters.  Most recently, a guy who picked up a 24 pack of water that was sitting outside and waltzed off with it.  I chased him down to Fry St. and he took off into the small field on the corner of Oak and Fry, then disappeared into the bushes.  He dropped the water and I picked it up.  I also told them about how I chased one guy who just walked off without paying for the cigarettes I'd just given him, another who stole a candy bar and threw it under a car when he saw me running after him, and a gas drive off, back when we used to set the pumps before people payed.  They got a real kick out of that and wrote it up in their article.

Last night I did a pencil rubbing of the raised dinosaur logo on the front of my Jurassic Park novel.  I showed it to this girl who came in and told her that I hadn't done a pencil rubbing since I was a kid.  We talked about how the book was far better than the movie, but the movie was still fun.  She stood there with the pencil rubbing in her hand and was quiet for a few seconds, and said, "Is this mine?"  I told her that it was, and she said she was going to hang it on her refrigerator.

The guy who I yelled at a couple of months ago finally came back in the other day.  I'd been hoping he would, because I've felt terrible about it ever since.  When he came up to my register, I told him how sorry I was and how awful I've been feeling.  He apologized too (we were both rude bastards that day) and we shook hands.

Last night Olivia told me that I had to come to the rock star dress up party.  It's on a Friday now, next Friday, so I guess I don't have any excuse not to go.  I'll have to ask Matt for the car, though.

Ellie came into the store yesterday for the first time in ages.  Yesterday she had art supplies with her, and I asked her if she was taking art classes.  She said yeah, that she was taking design.  I told her that I had an art degree, and that she'd better watch out or she'd wind up working at 7-Eleven. 

Another guy came in and bought a can of Barbasol shaving cream.  I told him that he'd better be careful with it, because it might have dinosaur embryos inside.  I advised him that he should stick it in the freezer immediately when he got home.  He looked at me like I was retarded.  I guess he never saw Jurassic Park.

My e-book reader came in today!  I haven't been this excited in years!  It came with a King James Study Bible, another Holman Bible, and some Bible studies.  Wow.  And some other books... The Fishing Trip - A Ghost Story, Full Blooded Fantasy, The Zen Experience, and several titles in what look like German and French.  One by Peter De Vries. That's gotta be a joke or something (if you've read Dune, you'll understand). 

It's a little smaller than a paperback, and about half an inch wide.  The text looks like it's printed on the screen, as opposed to the constituent glowing pixels of an LCD screen.  I loves it :) 

Sunday, September 25, 2011

And the angel said to him...

Getting me an e-book reader, FINALLY

Whew!  I just ordered an e-book reader, a Sony pocket reader.

Yee Haw

I looked at all kinds of different ones - I-Pad, Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Papyrus, Libre, etc. - and most of them come with all of these bells and whistles, like Wi-Fi internet, extensive online marketplace stores, ability to play mp3's and avi's, Android 2.4 with Flash support, color LCD screens, and all the stuff that comes with a tablet PC or an I-Pad.  I don't remember any of the paperbacks I've read ever doing any of that stuff, so the one I ordered is bare bones, as far as e-book readers go.  It's about the size of an actual book, it's got a 5 inch E-Ink screen, it's black and white, and it doesn't connect to any internet.  But that's what I want, and the battery will last for months on one charge.  It will also hold about 350 books.

Most of those other e-book readers, like the Kindle and the Nook, cost anywhere from 150 to 350 bucks, so I'm happy that I only paid 72 bucks for this one.

I can't wait!  Estimated delivery date is the 28th.