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Grocery Stores

Guess who took a good long look at her gym bag, actually picked it up off the floor of her office and then tossed it back in the corner prior to leaving work last night... just guess... yeah, that's right. I skipped out on the gym. Now granted I did stay late and send out the equivalent of an RFP to a bunch of wedding photographers which then resulted in fielding two phone calls regarding how wonderful and awesome and all that these people were. Oh, and we want $250 an hour. Rat bastards. We've finally decided that we will interview one more photographer who's price is right at our budget but who seems to have a fetish about taking pictures of wedding cakes based on what I've seen in his online portfolio. If we aren't comfortable with that, we will try to negotiate with the super nice husband and ex-wife team who is more than twice as much as our budget. We figure if we can get them down to exactly twice as much as our budget that that should be par for the wedding course.

I returned a couple of movies then planned to stop and get some soup at the local bagel shop which happens to be located in the heart of the entertainment district which happened to be having some big show last night which meant no parking and lots of drunken fools in the middle of the street. Since there was no way in hell I was going to get a parking spot near the bagel place, I decided to go to the grocery store. Now this is an interesting place. Upon entering, I was greeted by one police officer and two uniformed security guards who looked less than thrilled to be staking out the produce section on a Thursday night. And by greeted, I mean looked at out of the corner of their eye while they kept talking about some recent injustice done them by some guy in a piece of shit Cougar.

I proceeded to pick up some Philadelphia Rolls from the sushi lady and a bag of salad. Then, a wave of hunger sent me almost collapsing to the floor, but instead I proceeded over to the meat counter. I had no intention of shopping for groceries, but for some reason, I impulse bought four KC Strip steaks. Now carrying my KC strips, sushi and salad, I proceeded towards the chip aisle. As I neared, I reminded myself of my goal to be healthy and instead walked down the frozen food aisle towards the cash registers. The frozen food aisle spills out into the liquor section, and I was reminded of my plan to buy non-spiced rum so that I could make mojitos with the mint I've been growing in my garden. So I grabbed a fifth of rum and proceeded to the checkout lanes before I could buy anything else I didn't need.

Normally, checking out at this grocery store involves a bunch of punk teenagers gabbing and talking on their cell phones while shoving your quart of bleach into the same small bag they put your bread in, but last night, I got a perfectly polite young punk with multiple tattoos and a friendly smile. Curious, I read his nametag which said "Matt - Cust. Service." It made sense. The teenager bagging my groceries looked super pissed to be stuck with Matt and did shove my four items in bags, but all in all she did a good job. Telling, I think, is the way they wrap a bottle of liquor at this grocery store:

Please note how easy it would be to unscrew the top and take a sip of this as I walked out the door. The rest of the night held very little excitement. Hopefully things will pick up over the weekend. If not, I'll have a couple of mojitos, and that should stir things up a bit!

12:26 p.m. - July 30, 2004

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