Talk about a last-minute New Year’s arrival…
January 1, 2007, 1:34 AM
Aside from Sis, everyone got home at the eleventh hour to spend New Year’s at home. I got home around 11:30, and then Mom and Dad got home with literally seconds to spare.
Funny was when Mom called me around quarter to twelve. She called on the land line. The first thing she asked me was, “Where are you?” This is the usual greeting on the cell phone. The problem was that this time, this wasn’t the cell. I replied, “I’m at home. This is the land line.” I think I caught Mom a little bit off guard.
So there you go. Happy new year, everyone.
Categories: New Year's
I’d like to take a moment to thank my relatives for the lovely Christmas gifts…
December 31, 2006, 1:39 AM
I went to Charlottesville after work today to redeem the gift cards I received for Christmas. I received a gift card to Circuit City from Uncle Johnny and crew, and a gift card to Best Buy from Uncle Bruce and crew. I was quite pleased.
So in the end, the Schumins of New Jersey ended up getting me the second season of The Cosby Show at Best Buy, and the Bowmans of Connecticut ended up getting me the third season of The Golden Girls and also Trading Places starring Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy at Circuit City. Needless to say, that worked out really well, and it will provide me with entertainment for hours on end.
And for The Golden Girls, that’s three seasons down, and four more to go.
Plus I had fun in the process. For some reason, I enjoy running around through those stores, though I admit that the help is not exactly helpful in either one of those stores. Not once was I approached by a salesperson in either place asking if all was well, and the one I approached at Best Buy didn’t even speak to me – he just pointed at the movies. I know how customer service ought to be, and I deliver it in my own workplace. I could customer service circles around those salespeople.
Along with the other DVD sets, add to this what my parents got me – the fourth season of Roseanne, which means I now have two seasons (the other being the first), with seven more to go. Not too shabby, if you ask me.
So all in all, I was pleased, and thank you to all involved for the great gifts.
Categories: Christmas
Taquitos? Looks more like cigars to me!
December 25, 2006, 11:19 AM
I was watching “I’m Dreaming of a White Ranger”, which was the third-season Christmas episode on Power Rangers. That was the one where Rito Revolto took over Santa’s workshop, forcing the elves to make Rita and Lord Zedd’s toys. The Power Rangers came to fix things up, but due to various odds and ends, they were unable to morph. Of course, the bad guys’ powers didn’t work, either, so all is fair. They just ran on being bad guys.
The scene I find amusing, though, is the scene where Lord Zedd is having his favorite snack: taquitos and dry ice. They didn’t do that great of a job showing what these things were. It looked like Zedd was having a good smoke over there, to be quite honest. See for yourself on these stills from that episode:
Continue reading…Categories: Christmas, Power Rangers
“…I pack ’em and I wrap ’em, and stick on a bow or two!”
December 24, 2006, 8:14 PM
Well, maybe “eventually” needs to be inserted in there somewhere. I bought all the presents weeks ago, and I haven’t wrapped any of them. They’re all still in the various shopping bags, and now it’s Christmas Eve. I have the wrapping paper and the tape, but now I’m procrastinating, trying to put off the inevitable – having to wrap the stuff, even though the paper will all fly off in twelve hours.
Meanwhile, I came up with the best term ever for last-minute shoppers: I call them “the ‘oh, s—‘ crowd”. The ones that say, “Oh, $&%#, I forgot to buy Aunt Bertha a gift!” and then run to Wal-Mart.
And we’ll be opening presents at 9 AM tomorrow morning. I want to sleep in. I said, “Will the presents still be there at noon? Then let’s open them then.” I want to sleep in on Christmas, and open presents later on. I don’t consider this to be that difficult of a concept. But the family wants to open gifts at 9 AM. And with it being three-to-one on that, I lose. Still, I’d prefer sweet sleep.
And lastly, one wonders if Santa’s ditched the sleigh and reindeer for something more modern:
Would you believe I’m already sick of Christmas?
December 9, 2006, 6:11 PM
It’s not even December 10 yet, and I’m already utterly sick and tired of Christmas. All I have to say is that at this rate, it’s going to be a LONG next two weeks. This is what happens when one works retail during the Christmas season. Christmas music and Santa Claus and ho ho ho and all that are piped through the loudspeaker constantly, and Christmas decor is just about everywhere.
I even was opposed to putting up a tree in the house this year. After having to deal with all the Christmas mumbo-jumbo at work, I want to go home and forget the season. You know how much Christmas decoration I have in my bedroom? None. This room basically looks the same as it did in July. Mom asked me if I wanted to help put up the (fake) tree downstairs, and I declined. I see enough trees already, thank you. On that, she suggested we don’t have a tree, then. I think I caught her off guard when I agreed with her about not having one. I really don’t want to have anything to do with Christmas in the house. I’m tired of it, and I wish it would all go away. I’ll just take a bye on Christmas this year, thank you.
Categories: Christmas
A full view of a radical cheerleader outfit…
November 2, 2006, 3:58 AM
Categories: Halloween
Happy Halloween from your radical cheerleader friends!
October 31, 2006, 11:22 PM
First of all, here’s the costume:
As you can see, I had fun with this one. From the bottom up, I’m wearing my Chuck Taylors, black tights, black shorts (no cheerleader skirt for me!), a red shirt with the sleeves cut off, on which I wrote “RADICAL CHEER”, a black shirt underneath that, black arm things with netting and chains and zippers, a black bandanna around the neck, and a red hat.
Categories: Halloween
A little preview of part of my radical cheerleader costume…
October 26, 2006, 12:10 AM
And here it is:
I basically took a Sharpie and wrote “RADICAL CHEER” on the front, with anarchy signs for the As. Then I took a seam ripper and a pair of scissors and cut the sleeves off the red shirt. Then I’m wearing a very light black t-shirt underneath it. So that’s part of the cheer costume.
Categories: Halloween
“George… George… dub-dub-dub-dub-dub-dub-dub-dub-dub-dub-dubya Bush! Da shrub!”
September 3, 2006, 12:51 AM
Did I tell you what I was dressing up as for Halloween this year? As it’s never too early to start planning, I’ve already decided, and started shopping. So I decided to go as a radical cheerleader. It’s partly a an opportunity to showcase an interest of mine (left-wing activism) in a different setting, and partly to one-up a coworker from last year who dressed as a radical cheerleader, whose costume I described as “not improvised enough”.
The coworker’s costume looked like this:
Categories: Halloween
What a wonderful dinner!
May 31, 2006, 11:17 PM
What a wonderful dinner we had at O’Charley’s! Dad met us up there, since it made more sense for him to meet us up there than go back home. So Mom, Sis, and I went up to Harrisonburg in the Sable via Route 11 (the scenic route through several small towns) and then cut through JMU to get to Harrisonburg Crossing.
Everything went well. The only point where things went slightly awry was when all the staff came out to wish some other customer a happy birthday. Sis mentioned how good of an idea it would be to mention it to our server that this was my birthday dinner. Then our server came out, and Sis mentioned it to her. My exact response was, “Don’t even think about it.” It worked out, though. Our server said she’d bring out a cake without the fanfare. And it was a nice cake.
Still, like I need the sugar and calories in a cake.
Categories: Birthdays, Family, Myself, Schumin Web meta
My 25th birthday went quite well!
May 31, 2006, 2:09 AM
My 25th birthday, unlike my 24th birthday, did NOT suck.
I was off work, and with Sis in Blacksburg and the parents at their own workplaces, I had the day to myself. I got up, I ate something, and then went to work on the Web site. I got the upcoming Outlet Village photo set very close to completion, with the goal of releasing it on May 31.
I got the photos whittled down to 65, prepped them, and placed them all on a blank Schumin Web template. All I have to do is arrange them like I want, determine a “break point” to split the set into two parts, and I’m done. I chose May 31 for a release date, because that’s the day that the Outlet Village closes for good. Thus after we won’t be able to see the Outlet Village live and in person anymore, at least we’ll still have the memories.
The goal of my day was to finally renew my driver’s license. See this entry and this entry for more information on my license renewal ordeal. This time, though, I was successful, and I got another great license picture. The only difference between my old license and my new license besides the photo is the license number. The old license had my Social Security Number as the license number. I now have one of those “T numbers” on there (e.g. T00-00-0000). So all in all, good deal.
Memorial Day weekend…
May 28, 2006, 11:07 PM
One thing you just have to love is Memorial Day weekend. People come in and buy hamburgers, hot dogs, buns, and beer. And some people are nice to their dedicated Wal-Mart cashiers who have to work the entire holiday weekend, while they’re eating and boozing it up. And then some people are crabby. The crabby ones are the ones you just want to strangle, because they make an unpleasant weekend even worse. Add to that the fact that I have a crummy schedule for the next three bloody weeks, and it’s just not fun. I have NO early mornings all three of these weeks. The earliest I come in is 9 AM. My usual schedule is coming in at seven, and out by four.
Otherwise, my birthday is this Tuesday. This year, I’m taking it kind of nonchalantly. No huge celebrations, but then again, I’m not rebelling against it this year like I did in 2005, where I wanted nothing to do with it at all. The only celebrating that I want is to go to dinner, and I haven’t even picked the restaurant yet.
I do know one thing, though – it’s not going to be T-Bone Jacks in Waynesboro. There was a fire there in the wee hours of Saturday morning, which basically gutted the place, and caused the roof to collapse in one place. They say it’s not arson, according to news reports. They say it started as an electrical fire in a back office. Most you can see from Lew Dewitt Boulevard is yellow caution tape all around the building and lots of smoke damage. Smoke seems to have come out of every possible opening based on the marks on the building. It even came out in between the individual sections of wood on the side. I figure when you consider the damage to the building, they’ll probably demolish the building and rebuild at the same location. I just hope they had insurance.
Categories: Birthdays, Holidays, Virginia local news, Walmart, Waynesboro
The Easter Bunny and I were waiting for a bus together…
April 15, 2006, 7:01 PM
Should old acquaintance be forgot…
January 1, 2006, 12:05 AM
Well, happy new year, everyone, as I write the first Journal entry for 2006.
I watched the ball drop in Times Square on NBC, and what was interesting to me is when they mentioned how long these people had camped out in Times Square. Some people had camped out there as early as noon. The hosts on NBC commented on this a few times, and how these people probably really had to go to the bathroom. One girl interviewed by a woman on the street put it like this: “And I really have to go to the bathroom!” They shouted this out loud, live on national television. I’m sure that’s something they’ll look back on and say, “What was I thinking?” The interviewer expressed hope that she could hold it in a little bit longer. Of course, if you leave to go to the bathroom, you lose your spot. So what else are you going to do?
Meanwhile, I’m hoping that this will be a good year. 2005 was a lot of fun, what with the counter-inaugural, making new friends and running into old ones, A16, a number of road trips, the vacation to Virginia Beach, the September 24 protest, lots and lots of photography, and so much more. 2006 ought to be so much fun as well…
Categories: New Year's
