I've probably whined previously about retailers pricing everything with 99 cents at the end. Obviously it works, or they wouldn't keep doing it. The eye sees $2.99 and thinks $2 instead of three; I have an Economics degree and it gets me nearly every time. But though this annoys me, I'm not so much complaining as criticizing it as a business strategy. Because when I get to the checkout counter and find out that my purchase that I was expecting to be $7 turns out to be $9, I'm going to be pretty sorely annoyed. This happened yesterday at Whole Foods; they are possibly world champions of the "and 99 cents" strategy.
It occurs to me that this is where the Whole Paycheck nickname came from; when every customer comes out of the store spending more than they thought they were spending, your store is going to get a (well-deserved, in this case) reputation for having very high prices. I can't help but think that Whole Foods customers would probably still buy most items if the price read $3 instead of $2.99. And maybe if we could thus keep a more accurate running count of what we're spending, we'd be less annoyed when we came out. When your business ethics compare unfavorably to Dollar General, perhaps a rethink is in order. Don't ya think?
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Bag lettuce
Edit: This was yesterday's (i.e., Monday's); I published it, but it reverted to draft for reasons of its own. Go figure.
One of the lesser problems with being a singleton is trying to buy lettuce. Head lettuce is great for a few days, but then you have almost an entire head of lettuce that looks rusty and tastes terrible. Bag lettuce is usually excellent, but it's bagged to be used for a salad or possibly two. What I use it for is a bed of lettuce for my green bean frittata at breakfast-time; even using a pile of lettuce, it takes me about a week to use up a bag. These bags of lettuce nearly always say that they're triple-washed, and that's neat. I just wish that they were triple-dried as well. I always wind up with nasty, rotten lettuce before I get to the bottom of the bag.
Until now. I finally found a winner, but it's so pretentious sounding that I'm reluctant to mention it. Trader Joe's wild arugula actually lasts to the bottom of the bag. I don't know if arugula is just hardier or whether they indeed triple-dry it. Nor am I a brilliant endorser, because obviously very few people use lettuce like I do, so not very many need it to be this hardy. For all the claims on the package, I'm not noticing any distinct spiciness; it just seems like lettuce to me. Still, if you like me are having difficulty finding lettuce that lasts as long as you like, I can give a qualified endorsement to TJ's wild arugula. Making my breakfast more pretentious since 2014!
One of the lesser problems with being a singleton is trying to buy lettuce. Head lettuce is great for a few days, but then you have almost an entire head of lettuce that looks rusty and tastes terrible. Bag lettuce is usually excellent, but it's bagged to be used for a salad or possibly two. What I use it for is a bed of lettuce for my green bean frittata at breakfast-time; even using a pile of lettuce, it takes me about a week to use up a bag. These bags of lettuce nearly always say that they're triple-washed, and that's neat. I just wish that they were triple-dried as well. I always wind up with nasty, rotten lettuce before I get to the bottom of the bag.
Until now. I finally found a winner, but it's so pretentious sounding that I'm reluctant to mention it. Trader Joe's wild arugula actually lasts to the bottom of the bag. I don't know if arugula is just hardier or whether they indeed triple-dry it. Nor am I a brilliant endorser, because obviously very few people use lettuce like I do, so not very many need it to be this hardy. For all the claims on the package, I'm not noticing any distinct spiciness; it just seems like lettuce to me. Still, if you like me are having difficulty finding lettuce that lasts as long as you like, I can give a qualified endorsement to TJ's wild arugula. Making my breakfast more pretentious since 2014!
Dates with assorted nuts
I love my coconut-cocoa butter cookies, I do. But I still felt that they needed something more. I had previously thought that that something was raisins, the black-colored ones made from red grapes. But I was never happy with the result when I put them in; too grapy I guess.
So I thought I'd try golden raisins. These (I think I remember) are the secret ingredient in the Archway oatmeal cookies that I used to live on during a previous dietary regime (the omnivorous one). I think they're sweeter than the dark ones, but I checked the box and the sugar content is the same.
But here's another thing that was on the box: they use preservatives. This is something I've raved about before: food items that are especially prepared such that they shouldn't need preservatives, whether it's by drying or freezing or canning but somehow have them anyway. The dark raisins didn't have preservatives. I can only guess that the golden raisins sell slower so it's thought to be necessary to add preservatives to keep them shelf-stable. But perhaps I'm romancing; I should have thought to compare the expiration dates.
Regardless, I decided that I would be happier without golden raisins, especially since you can only buy them in a largish box. Publix also had dried dates. The chopped ones had added dextrose; the pitted ones (presumably the chopped ones are also pitted, but I'm just reporting how they were labeled) didn't. As the sugar content was the same again, it must have been very little dextrose, but I went with the pitted anyway. I'm not sure if they improve the cookies or not, but I'm quite sure they don't make them worse. As it happens, I ran out of pecans and had to fill out the cup with walnuts. This allows me to call the cookies Dates with Assorted Nuts, which is the kind of stuff I live for.
So I thought I'd try golden raisins. These (I think I remember) are the secret ingredient in the Archway oatmeal cookies that I used to live on during a previous dietary regime (the omnivorous one). I think they're sweeter than the dark ones, but I checked the box and the sugar content is the same.
But here's another thing that was on the box: they use preservatives. This is something I've raved about before: food items that are especially prepared such that they shouldn't need preservatives, whether it's by drying or freezing or canning but somehow have them anyway. The dark raisins didn't have preservatives. I can only guess that the golden raisins sell slower so it's thought to be necessary to add preservatives to keep them shelf-stable. But perhaps I'm romancing; I should have thought to compare the expiration dates.
Regardless, I decided that I would be happier without golden raisins, especially since you can only buy them in a largish box. Publix also had dried dates. The chopped ones had added dextrose; the pitted ones (presumably the chopped ones are also pitted, but I'm just reporting how they were labeled) didn't. As the sugar content was the same again, it must have been very little dextrose, but I went with the pitted anyway. I'm not sure if they improve the cookies or not, but I'm quite sure they don't make them worse. As it happens, I ran out of pecans and had to fill out the cup with walnuts. This allows me to call the cookies Dates with Assorted Nuts, which is the kind of stuff I live for.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Gender bender
Lately I've been dreaming I'm female. The dreams aren't in any way sexual or even physical; nor did it make a difference that I'm female. Nor is it exactly me; more a case of dreaming in first person where the first person happens to be female. Damned confusing, isn't it? Well the details won't help because I barely remember any. The first time, I had just been fired from my job, apparently for trying to write a novel, and was up in arms to get only $2100 in severance. The second time, now here's a surprise, I was traveling somewhere. I can't remember details. It's just odd that this should happen two nights in a row. It could be another result of playing old-time radio shows in my sleep, of course.
The traveling dream that I liked better was the one where I was flying from Philadelphia to Philadelphia. Not on a helicopter, but in a plane, presumably a jet. It does occur to me though that we are reaching a point where soon rich people will start doing this, i.e., having multiple personal airports in one city, even though helicopters and heliports are more convenient and economical (or for that matter limos and drivers) just because they can. But I doubt my subconscious mind was trying to make a political point, and I still think it was pretty cool.
The traveling dream that I liked better was the one where I was flying from Philadelphia to Philadelphia. Not on a helicopter, but in a plane, presumably a jet. It does occur to me though that we are reaching a point where soon rich people will start doing this, i.e., having multiple personal airports in one city, even though helicopters and heliports are more convenient and economical (or for that matter limos and drivers) just because they can. But I doubt my subconscious mind was trying to make a political point, and I still think it was pretty cool.
Saturday, April 26, 2014
"Are you mad?!"
After all my braggage, I too showed a certain inability to control my temper at dialysisville today. They have moved Dad's chair time earlier as of this past Thursday, but so far have been unable to provide an actual chair (or in his case, bed) at this time. In fact, both times he wound up going in later than his previous time. So Margaret has to get up earlier to get him breakfast, I schlep him in, and then we sit and wait.
When I finally asked when he would be allowed back, I was told that they know he's here and it would be soon. Then a nurse (or technician; I'm never sure about titles there) whom I'd talked to Thursday came out. She had told me then that they knew about his new time and that they would surely try harder to get him in earlier today. So today, after another half-hour wait that wiped out the earlier time that THEY had insisted on, when she told me it would be another 15 minutes, I got a little annoyed. The subject line above was the result.
Anyway, they got him in within 5 or 10 minutes, and I thanked her for her help. And I wasn't jumping up and down, using profanity or otherwise abusive. It was more a British comedy kind of "Are you mad?" then a serious imputation of insanity. I hope I didn't hurt Dad's situation any. I am sincerely sympathetic with the staff. I think they have an administrator who believes in magic. "I say he has a new chair time and POOF! He has a new chair time." I suspect she might need to take a more hands-on approach.
So an annoying morning, but hopefully no harm done. If I can find some more or less diplomatic way to make common cause with the staff against their administration, I'll try.
When I finally asked when he would be allowed back, I was told that they know he's here and it would be soon. Then a nurse (or technician; I'm never sure about titles there) whom I'd talked to Thursday came out. She had told me then that they knew about his new time and that they would surely try harder to get him in earlier today. So today, after another half-hour wait that wiped out the earlier time that THEY had insisted on, when she told me it would be another 15 minutes, I got a little annoyed. The subject line above was the result.
Anyway, they got him in within 5 or 10 minutes, and I thanked her for her help. And I wasn't jumping up and down, using profanity or otherwise abusive. It was more a British comedy kind of "Are you mad?" then a serious imputation of insanity. I hope I didn't hurt Dad's situation any. I am sincerely sympathetic with the staff. I think they have an administrator who believes in magic. "I say he has a new chair time and POOF! He has a new chair time." I suspect she might need to take a more hands-on approach.
So an annoying morning, but hopefully no harm done. If I can find some more or less diplomatic way to make common cause with the staff against their administration, I'll try.
Friday, April 25, 2014
Dashiell Hammett stuff
Memory is dropping in and out on me a bit lately. The other week, something caused me to wonder if any previously unpublished Dashiell Hammett stories had come out since I had last checked. Unrepublished? Unbooked? As this was only a week or two ago, I'm almost embarrassed that I can't remember what put the question in my mind, but regardless I checked the library and found what I thought were books I hadn't seen before. They were "Lost Stories," "Nightmare Town" and "The Return of the Thin Man."
"Lost Stories" was a little short on Hammett, as the stories were generally very, very short. The book could be fairly described as padded, but that isn't to say that it wasn't entertaining. "Nightmare Town" came out at the end of the last millennium; apparently I read it then, because I could just barely remember some elements of some of the stories. This was what inspired me to post on Facebook that aging isn't so bad; you get to read stuff for the first time over and over again! This is true, but another instance where I'm starting to worry a little about my formerly nearly infallible memory.
An odd thing about "Nightmare Town" is that in the introduction, written in 1999, a writer remarked on something happening early in "this century." It seems like in 1999, one would have a pretty good notion that most of his readers would be reading him in the next century and would therefore say "early in the twentieth century." At least he didn't say "turn-of-the-century," though it wasn't that early.
"Return of the Thin Man" is Hammett's story treatments for two Thin Man movie sequels. In the book, the editors point out that the second sequel is lifted pretty completely from Hammett's Continental Op story "The Farewell Murder." Even though I haven't read that recently, I've read it often and would probably have recognized the plot and characters without the tipoff. Anyway, it would have made me crazy, knowing I'd seen it before somewhere! The first sequel lifts a lot of stuff including complete scenes from Hammett's original draft of "The Thin Man," published in, you guessed it, 1999 in "Nightmare Town." I was suddenly very glad to have reread that, because I definitely wouldn't have remembered that I had read it before and the editors for some reason didn't mention the, uh, recycling.
The original "Thin Man" draft is fun and interesting and worth the look at "Nightmare Town" for it alone. The only similarities with the actual Thin Man book are an eccentric genius named Wynant and a detective named John Guild. In the novel, Guild is a NYC police detective; here he's a private detective and the main character. Wynant has different given names, but is already thin. Hammett didn't get far enough in the draft to be able to say for sure that the ending would be similarly tricky, but Guild was very suspicious that Wynant wasn't the crazed killer he was being painted as, just as in the novel. Anyway, it's a hoot; Hammett fans who haven't read it, or who haven't read it this millennium, should definitely give it a look.
"Lost Stories" was a little short on Hammett, as the stories were generally very, very short. The book could be fairly described as padded, but that isn't to say that it wasn't entertaining. "Nightmare Town" came out at the end of the last millennium; apparently I read it then, because I could just barely remember some elements of some of the stories. This was what inspired me to post on Facebook that aging isn't so bad; you get to read stuff for the first time over and over again! This is true, but another instance where I'm starting to worry a little about my formerly nearly infallible memory.
An odd thing about "Nightmare Town" is that in the introduction, written in 1999, a writer remarked on something happening early in "this century." It seems like in 1999, one would have a pretty good notion that most of his readers would be reading him in the next century and would therefore say "early in the twentieth century." At least he didn't say "turn-of-the-century," though it wasn't that early.
"Return of the Thin Man" is Hammett's story treatments for two Thin Man movie sequels. In the book, the editors point out that the second sequel is lifted pretty completely from Hammett's Continental Op story "The Farewell Murder." Even though I haven't read that recently, I've read it often and would probably have recognized the plot and characters without the tipoff. Anyway, it would have made me crazy, knowing I'd seen it before somewhere! The first sequel lifts a lot of stuff including complete scenes from Hammett's original draft of "The Thin Man," published in, you guessed it, 1999 in "Nightmare Town." I was suddenly very glad to have reread that, because I definitely wouldn't have remembered that I had read it before and the editors for some reason didn't mention the, uh, recycling.
The original "Thin Man" draft is fun and interesting and worth the look at "Nightmare Town" for it alone. The only similarities with the actual Thin Man book are an eccentric genius named Wynant and a detective named John Guild. In the novel, Guild is a NYC police detective; here he's a private detective and the main character. Wynant has different given names, but is already thin. Hammett didn't get far enough in the draft to be able to say for sure that the ending would be similarly tricky, but Guild was very suspicious that Wynant wasn't the crazed killer he was being painted as, just as in the novel. Anyway, it's a hoot; Hammett fans who haven't read it, or who haven't read it this millennium, should definitely give it a look.
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Nickel-nursing weasels
So yesterday's GI doc appointment took longer than it should, but it wasn't so bad. We had to wait more than an hour, but compared to four or five it was but a trifle. What Dad mainly wanted to talk about was a letter he'd gotten from the company administering the State Health Plan. The doctor had finally found a laxative that works for Dad. Of course it's very expensive so of course the company doesn't want to pay for it. So Dad asked the doctor to write them and the doctor did. He emailed a prescription for the expensive laxative to Dad's pharmacy and we went along. Naturally, when we got to the pharmacy they said that the State Health Plan had balked and that they had sent the doctor the paperwork to get him the medicine. Point is a) that it's kind of ridiculous to hunt and search and finally find a medicine that works only to get balked by nickel-nursing weasels; and b) we were pretty quickly no longer annoyed about the wait but instead united against said n-nws. It was kind of a fun day.
In the reflection of the glass doors at the doctor's office, I thought I could see my brake lights, or rather I thought that I could see that they weren't working. I looked it up on the Internet (being John) and found that the likeliest cause of a brake light indicator going on was a blown fuse. So I went to Advance Auto Parts with the goal of getting a new fuse, but first the guy came out and looked. Brake lights work fine. Go figure. So now I follow Terry's suggestion and add brake fluid. Or check to make sure the CV joints haven't gotten up in there.
In the reflection of the glass doors at the doctor's office, I thought I could see my brake lights, or rather I thought that I could see that they weren't working. I looked it up on the Internet (being John) and found that the likeliest cause of a brake light indicator going on was a blown fuse. So I went to Advance Auto Parts with the goal of getting a new fuse, but first the guy came out and looked. Brake lights work fine. Go figure. So now I follow Terry's suggestion and add brake fluid. Or check to make sure the CV joints haven't gotten up in there.
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