As of 7 AM tomorrow morning, Wal-Mart comes to Waynesboro!
January 20, 2004, 8:48 PM
We made it! Store #5117, the new Waynesboro store, will open for business tomorrow morning, January 21, at 7 AM.
And tonight we had an open house for all of our Store 5117 families to show off all our hard work. Dad had to work and Sis was at Tech, but Mom was free to come along. I showed her all of our hard work, as I helped set up the furniture department, hardware, the garden center, toys, and fabrics and crafts. I also showed Mom the front end, the self-checkouts, the service desk (my new home at Wal-Mart), and a lot of stuff in between.
I am excited! All of our approximately seven or eight weeks of work in setting the store up will most likely be destroyed in no less than ten minutes by our customers. And we love it.
And now that Wal-Mart finally arrived in Waynesboro, what’s next? The red planet. See?
Continue reading…Categories: Walmart
Went to DC on Saturday…
January 19, 2004, 5:49 AM
What a day I chose to go to Washington DC as well! First of all, the good part: I got an opportunity to ride the rehabilitated Bredas on the Metro, and I scoped out some sites for possible future photo sets. And I of course was all over that Breda train like stains on white. It even had that new train smell, if you can imagine that.
Now for the unfortunate part. Of all the things to happen when you’re more than two hours away from home, it started SLEETING while I was still in Washington. Sleet. And it was accumulating. A shame, too, since I’d planned this for my evening: Go back to Vienna, get the tripod, and then return for some fancy night photography. Change of plans: Go back to Vienna, and leave the DC area. I got in the car around 8:00. The platform at Vienna, an outdoor station, was decent, since it had been treated with de-icer.
The roads, now, were interesting. Local roads in Vienna were fairly icy, but not impossible. The Interstate close into DC was a little treacherous, but as I got further out from DC, the roads got better. Nonetheless, my average speed going home was 50 (despite the 65 mile speed limit). Took me ages to get home, but I made it.
And so then I posted on Subtalk about the Bredas. Fun…
And my adventure with the Ugly Fruit is now complete.
January 16, 2004, 5:43 PM
Categories: Food and drink
How did I do it? Charm…
January 16, 2004, 3:00 PM
Sometimes life will deal you the lemons already made into lemonade, to twist a well-known phrase into my good fortune. You see, somehow I managed to get a three-day weekend, having gotten Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday off from Wal-Mart.
Everyone at work was saying, “A three day weekend? How did you manage that?” I always say, “Charm.” Of course, “charm” really translates to, “I have no idea but I’m not complaining.”
Friday was an at-home and around-town day, and so I think I’m going to go out on Saturday. Maybe DC. Maybe otherwise. Who knows…
Categories: Walmart
“Heartburn, upset stomach, indigestion, diarrhea!”
January 15, 2004, 5:58 PM
I saw today what could best be described as the strangest and most off-the-wall commercial ever made. It’s for Pepto Bismol.
Already you know where this is going.
As you know, Pepto Bismol is the “pink stuff” that you take for various gastrointestinal ailments. So the single singer on the commercial is saying, “Heartburn, upset stomach, indigestion, diarrhea!” like it’s something fun to have. Meanwhile, the people on the screen are grabbing their chests (for heartburn), then their mouths (upset stomach), their stomachs (for indigestion), and then their butts (diarrhea).
I have not laughed so hard over a commercial in a long time. And the way they were grabbing their various body parts, it looked like they were doing a very strange dance. The diarrhea dance, we could call it.
Or maybe not. Still, I am quite amused.
Categories: Television
If you are a ped, you are supposed to X when I tell you to X, understand?
January 13, 2004, 6:02 AM
I just get such a kick out of what phrases I come up with sometimes. This time with a pedestrian that wouldn’t cross the parking lot at Bank of America after I signaled to him to go (I was in my car). He wouldn’t go. I immediately think a little play on the sign “PED XING” for Pedestrian Crossing, and want this bozo to go. Still, the phrase amused me that I thought of “PED XING” like the sign says…
Categories: Driving
It is VERY cold today!
January 10, 2004, 8:25 PM
According to Weatherbug, it is only seven degrees Fahrenheit (7°F) outside right now. What does that mean? COLD AS HELL.
And would you believe that at the beginning of this week, it was actually 70°F outside? Now it’s 7°F. Amazing.
And you can really tell the difference between a mere freezing point of 32°F and the cold of 7°F. One is just really cold. The other is cold AS HELL. Trust me. Putting the hell in it makes a difference. Now when someone says that they heated the hell out of it, you know what they mean.
Reminds me of my grandmother and her husband Bill. Grandma’s complaining that the cards weren’t very well shuffled. Bill, a retired marine, says, “I shuffled the hell out of them!” So Grandma says, “Well, the hell must have come back, dear.”
He’s the… ROLLBACK MAN!
January 9, 2004, 10:08 PM
I have to say… I’ve been a fan of Wal-Mart’s little happy face character that they use for their “Rollback” promotions ever since they started dressing him up.
I first remember seeing him dressed up in Staunton wearing a hard hat with the phrase “Wal-Mart at work, watch for falling prices” on the signs. It was so clever.
Recall that before they started dressing up our friend, they did the whole “Rollback America” theme. Not nearly as clever. I like my happy face.
Categories: Television, Walmart
I got my Hampster Dance CDs…
January 7, 2004, 9:38 PM
You wouldn’t think it from looking at me, but I’ve been a Hampster Dance fan for some time now. Something about an altered Robin Hood sound clip that is so captivating, you know? Also how it’s spelled “Hampster” and not the correct spelling of “Hamster”.
So I went on Amazon and ordered “The Hampster Dance Party” and also “Happy Times Ten”. Of course, the true Hampsterdance song is on each CD somewhere, but still, who knows… Hampton and the Hampsters may be the Alvin and the Chipmunks of the new century. Though the Hampster Dance song is still my favorite.
And I like it because I remember when it was a simple internet phenomenon, with the hampsters dancing on screen with a simplified version of the Hampster Dance song. Nowadays, it’s gone commercial and all, but still, I love the tune, and I have six different mixes of the Hampster song on my computer, including a Cotton Eyed Joe remix, which is rather amusing.
Categories: Music, Netculture
Add “Boyd’s Hairdressers” to my crap-list
January 6, 2004, 3:19 AM
Fresh from my first day at the new Wal-Mart in Waynesboro (which in itself was a great experience, and I’m pumped up for the January 21 grand opening once I get a vest that fits), I went down to Staunton Mall to Boyd’s Hairdressers to get a much-needed trim.
Now on a Monday night, the mall was SLOW. I think you could probably count the number of people in any one area of the mall on one hand. Seriously. Boyd’s was no exception. I was, in fact, their only customer.
Soooooooo… there are two employees, both idle, one reading a magazine. Seeing this, I jumped on the opportunity to get a quick haircut.
And that’s the end of my time in Staunton…
January 3, 2004, 12:22 AM
Yeah, today was my last day as an associate in the Staunton Wal-Mart. It was a happy and sad day.
On one hand, it was a happy day. All of us who were hired for Waynesboro and were placed in the Staunton Wal-Mart (Store #1344) will finally be “coming home” to the Waynesboro store as of Monday the 5th. For that, I am excited, as I get to help open and work in a brand new store. Not an existing store that’s moving to a new facility. A totally brand new store. I am SO excited. Plus it’s closer to me than Staunton. Interestingly enough, the Waynesboro Wal-Mart is actually right around the corner from where I used to work. From the new Wal-Mart in Waynesboro, you just have to take about a mile and some change of a drive, and a right and a left, and you’re at CFW (later Telegate) building where I used to work.
Now the sad part was saying goodbye to all the wonderful people in Staunton who aren’t transferring to Waynesboro. I still intend to shop in the Staunton Wal-Mart, so it’s not like I’m going away forever and will never see them again. Still, a lot of well wishes and big hugs were exchanged today. I will so miss everyone… so many great times together, so many wonderful conversations, and also such helpful people as all of us who were hired for Waynesboro got our sea legs on the register and with Wal-Mart in general in Staunton for Christmas.
Categories: Walmart
Today is Katherine Watts’s birthday
January 2, 2004, 10:32 AM
Just one of those random things you remember about people… today is the 23rd birthday of Katherine Watts, a friend and classmate from elementary school in Rogers, Arkansas. I haven’t seen her since we moved to Virginia back in 1992, and so in June it will be 12 years since I saw her. We still have an apple-shaped ornament that she did for me in preschool that we still put on the tree every year. Still, happy birthday to Katherine Watts.
Otherwise, today is my last day in the Staunton Wal-Mart as an associate. Monday all of us Waynesboro associates will be starting down there for the big January 21 grand opening. I’m excited. And I get this weekend off. So I’m going to Washington DC on Saturday (as in tomorrow) to ride Metro and take photos of stuff.
Categories: Elementary school, Walmart
And a “Happy New Year” to you, too.
January 1, 2004, 1:06 AM
It’s 2004! That’s a frightening thought.
I spent my New Year’s up on the Blue Ridge Parkway, taking an hour or so to myself in the quiet. This is the first time in at least twelve years that I did NOT do like most people do – sitting and watching the TV, watching the ball drop at Times Square. Instead, I spent the time deep in thought, allowing my mind to completely release itself with a view of the Shenandoah Valley below.
And you could tell exactly when the ball dropped anyway, based on what happened in the valley below. From my vantage point on an overlook in the mountains, I saw a bunch of fireworks going off all across the valley. All kinds of illegal (in Virginia) fireworks blasting high up in the air, to ring in the new year. And that’s another thing – they really did appear small from my vantage point. Sure, they probably seemed huge from below, but since I was above the people’s fireworks looking down on them, they really seemed kind of diminutive.
Categories: Blue Ridge Parkway, New Year's
You do not know what two days off will do for you…
December 30, 2003, 11:03 AM
After having two days off from Wal-Mart, I am now officially ready to go once again, ready to take whatever the customers are willing to throw at me. Especially since Monday was basically a sleep day, where I basically slept for most of the day. A much-needed day of R&R, especially after a great photo day in Roanoke on my other off-day.
My car’s also ready to go, too, as we replaced a burned-out headlight that was discovered on the way home from Sunday’s Roanoke trip. Quite the longevity, too, when you think about it. My father and I discussed it while replacing it, and realized that on this 1991 Toyota Previa, which we bought in July 1990, we were actually replacing the original bulb. That’s thirteen years with that same bulb, believe it or not. The other headlight’s bulb was not original, having been put in during repairs after we hit a deer in 1994.
Categories: Myself, Toyota Previa
This time, I met all my goals without any problems…
December 29, 2003, 3:46 AM
I went down to Roanoke on Sunday to take the new tripod out for a spin and get accustomed to how it operates. I consider the mission a success.
I also didn’t have anyone call the police on me this time thinking I was a peeper or something. Of course, my location was different. Still all public places, but this time, the park was different, being up on top of a mountain (I visited Mill Mountain Park again). I also photographed some of downtown Roanoke at night after the park.
I also was recognized from the Web site by a Taco Bell employee at a combination Taco Bell/Pizza Hut restaurant on US 220 in the same shopping center as a Wal-Mart. I thought that was rather interesting, if I do say so myself.
So all in all, that went well. Will I make a photo set out of it? I don’t know yet. I’ll have to let the images “cook” in my mind before I’ll know for sure.
I also lost a headlight on my trip, as my drivers-side headlight bulb burned out at some point. This is when we’re glad that my father is a “car guy”, as he knows what he’s doing. And a bulb is probably cheap. Compare this to me, where I can stare at it like an idiot all day, and then get bored and more likely break it before ever doing anything like fixing it.
And so that’s my day… all told, I’d mark it off as a success.
Categories: Roanoke