the world is your acorn

So, I was just flipping through an Eastbay catalog. Is Air Jordan not a Nike brand anymore? And why are Adidas Gazelles $99.99?! I’m sure I bought mine for $25 or something like that.

On Friday I got my latest internet order in the mail: A Tiny Cat Pants mug! I’m going to use it at school, I think. It’s a cute little logo, and it makes me feel like I’m contributing to Aunt B’s enterprise, in some way, and thanking her for giving me something to read all these months. Well, hopefully she makes some kind of profit.

In related news, I have a couple more internet purchases on the way. One is some flannel pants that were on sale from LLBean, which are hideous (they have “wildlife” on them, apparently), and some polos (”summer uniform”). The other is a purchase that I made just this past weekend, of a slightly larger scale than the clothes order. Let’s just say that there is not much tax refund money left to take The Litte Red Haired Girl out to dinner when we’re in San Francisco. Don’t worry, there is enough. And I will totally show off the new purchase when it arrives. Whoopee!

One of the things that I complain about (I know, there are so many) is that it is difficult to get the Asian groceries here in Nashville that I’m used to having access to. Well, I was encouraged on Sunday when The Little Red Haired Girl and I went to check out the new K&S Market on Charlotte Pike, near White Bridge Road. We have been going to the one on Nolensville pretty regularly, and it definitely has a pretty good selection of vegetables, fish, meat, frozen foods and canned items. The new store on Charlotte Pike, however, is amazing. Since it’s still new everything is well-stocked and organized, the aisles are clean, and there is tons of space between aisles. There seems to be more selection of certain items, like frozen dumpling-type yummies and canned goods. I also found Black Currant Frutips, which was super exciting. I’ll have to stock up, in case they decide to stop carrying them. We did not get to check out a whole section off to the side filled with appliances and dishware, but we will this weekend. In addition, there seem to be freshly prepared items; we saw a case where roasted duck and chicken will presumably hang. If that becomes a reality, I will have little more to complain about in terms of Asian groceries here. Bravo K&S, and bravo Nashville!

The Little Red Haired Girl and I spent our day shopping and running errands. Sometimes it is a pain in the butt that her weekends fall on Sunday and Monday (like last night when everyone left our little cook-out early because they have to work on Monday like normal people). On days like this though, when we can have the stores all to ourselves, it’s great. First we went to Red Cross so that The Little Red Haired Girl could give blood, which she did. I didn’t, since I gave last month. I got a lot of reading done, which is good.

The rest of the day was pretty much spent shopping. We went to the outlets in Lebanon, which was somewhat good and somewhat disappointing. We were hoping to find a BR or J Crew. I got a good pair of cheap pants at Gap though, which was key. We also hit best buy to spend that bonus gift card. I had decided on DDR Extreme 2, which we may start playing soon. We also did some TV shopping. Time to replace this 7-yr old piece of junk. We aren’t upgrading to lcd just yet though, call us shortsighted or call us poor.

Some other exciting things probably happened to us today, but now that I’ve said DDR Extreme 2 I gotta go.

Etsy is a site for people to sell and buy handmade items. They say, “If human hands put some love into the object, odds are you can sell it on Etsy.” You can find art, bags, jewelry, books, and lots of other stuff. I think it’s a neat idea, and a cool place to find unique gift items. If I made stuff I’d maybe try to sell it there too. But I don’t.

Nashville Women’s Rugby is helping the men’s team sell wreaths. We are offering two different types:

Spirit of the Season Wreath: $36 (pictured left)
22″ Mixed Evergreen Gift Wreath
*A beautiful combination of noble fir, incensed cedar and berried juniper
*Delux pre-tied plaid bow

Jack Frost Wreath: $40 (pictured right)
28″ Noble Fir Gift Wreath
*Large, dramatic noble fir wreath
*Pre-tied red velvet water repellent bow
*Snowy pine cones attached

It will be delivered right to your door (or whoever you want to gift it to), and all proceeds benefit the Boys and Girls Club! You can order directly through the men’s team’s website:
Nashville Rugby Wreath Sale.
Thanks!

I did a lot of internet shopping this weekend. It’s actually one of my favorite hobbies. The abstraction of the credit card number in conjunction with the mediation of computer monitor, mouse, and keyboard make the whole thing very game-like. Like playing dress-up when you’re little. The upside is that, a few weeks later, you get a little prize in the mail. There was a time, right after college, when I bought so many things online that I had a couple of credit card numbers memorized.

Come to think of it, the ease of online shopping has probably not done much to help with my reluctance to go out in public and interact with strangers. I’d like to think of it as assistive technology, if that’s ok with you. It’s not really ok with The Little Red-Haired Girl, who (understandably) gets frustrated when I’m in one of those moods where I refuse to run out by myself to the store for milk or whatnot. I guess that is one of the things that people worry about with the internet, that people will forget how to interact face to face. Although, it’s not that I’ve forgotten, I just prefer not to sometimes.

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed my shopping experience this weekend, and I hope that it did not awaken some kind of dormant addiction. Because I know of a lot of great video games that have just come out (or are about to), and not only can I not afford them, but I also do not have time to play.

Soda Can Resealer (Via bookofjoe). I’m constantly wasting soda because I’m using it as a mixer for a cocktail, and I only use half a can. And, apparently, I only drink odd numbers of servings per binge.

Ok, my penny-pinching friends. With the exception of a few of you who have sold your souls for luxury, most of you who read this are poor like me. Those 2 pennies per gallon on gas make a 30% difference in your snack money for the week. Well, there’s a cool site called GasBuddy which lets users report cheap (and expensive) gas prices. There seems to be a pretty comprehensive and relatively up-to-date database for many cities, including New Haven, Boston, and Nashville.

GasBuddy: Find Cheap Gas Prices [Quick Online Tips]

It’s been a busy week, and will continue to be, what with commencement and Pride coming up. I do, however, want to mention this gem that I just read about in Boing Boing:
Clothes for chickens! Designers from Austria and Japan have come out with a line of clothing for chickens, and have been displaying their wares in a world fashion show tour. Farmers are ordering outfits with their farm named displayed, and advertisers like KFC are talking about sponsorship. Woah.

Clothing for Chickens [Ananova]