le mie avventure in H.E.B.

JANUARY 28, 2008 entry taken from my previous blog

My household was in dire need of groceries and as much as I hate crowded areas; I love my H.E.B. It's ethnic, there are people that look just like me and there are people that stick out like sore thumbs. Folks either approach me speaking Spanish and others in English. As you venture in the place, you have your produce and bread on the right, the frozen foods towards the middle left and random, non-food products on the left. The meat section covers the backside while the seafood area is barely noticeable.

Most of the time, I make my way around at a leisurely pace tuned into my iPod. Today's choice of music was Oasis becos I was feeling nostalgic. There was nothing out of the ordinary today. There was an African American lady who kept on swatting around her face in the baking area. She was trying to get away from a moth and we chuckled together becos she realized how crazy she looked. Then in the alcohol aisle I spent a good while trying to pick a decent red and white. Well, in the midst of this, an older man was doing the same and at the check out line, we discussed our picks. I mentioned that I wanted the Coppola Rosso & Bianco, becos I absolutely love his red, but it's $15 and this one was only $7. It's a steal.

Well, after seeing that other lines were shorter, one of the staff members moved me to another line and I met an unhappy lady. First off, there was a crackhead who dragged the cashier to the tobacco wall to get some snuff. When they came back, he scanned it at $3.99 and the crackhead only had $.69. WTF???!!?!?!?! How are you gonna go to the store without enough money? He was nice enough to purchase the rest of it for her. Meanwhile the grumpy lady is talking to me in Spanish and saying, "He's taking too long." I smiled back and said, "At this time of the day, I expect to have a wait." She just frowned and said, "No, he's taking too long."

Ugh…

So that lady left and it was my turn. I smiled, made small talk, and tried to put out some positive energy to make up for that negative woman. Once we were done, both the cashier and bagging person asked if I needed help to the car. "I'm fine. I got it," I said. That's when the guy bagging my groceries looked me straight in the eye and said, "I just had to say you have such a beautiful smile."

I blushed.

"And you have pretty eyes, too."

I'm sure I turned red. But I said "thank you" and walked to my car.

It was a good day and that comment made it even greater. So I came home and cooked penne pasta with alfredo sauce mixed w/ ground beef and spinach. We enjoyed salad and a nice little dessert concoction of cake, vanilla ice cream, and a berry mix with whipped cream on top. I was feeling extremely productive today.

pioggia

JUNE 14, 2007 entry taken from my previous blog

It was the kind of day that makes you wanna neglect all responsibilites, hit the park, and just gaze into the sky.

I find myself doing that alot. No, not skipping work, but wanting to just take off. Luckily, my office has a very nice, tranquil spot away from all the huh-bub. You can always find me here, listening to my iPod and enjoying the nature around.

Friday was one of those days; an absolutely beautiful day...except for the humidity. The sun was shining one minute and then it became gray and dark. I heard one of my coworkers mention that there was rain coming in from the north, but I didn't think it would hit Austin that soon. I noticed some droplets fall next to me, but decided to stick around and enjoy the relief from the heat.

In just a blink of an eye, the clouds parted once more and the sun popped out. I looked up into the sky and could see the droplets of water floating down to meet me. I'd never seen this before; either it's raining too hard or I just never cared to notice. Each drop seemed to have a partner as it fell from the sky and they danced, too. They twirled around, swayed back and forth; very beautifully orchestrated. The slightest breeze simply threw the pairs off course. It was breathtaking and made me appreciate what an amazing thing Mother Nature is and yet so simple.

It was a brief moment, but all seemed to be right in the world.

il giorno perfetto

OCTOBER 20, 2006 entry taken from my previous blog

Today was looking rather good for me. I woke up at 6:30, went for a jog, got home and showered, then headed out to Wal-Mart for an oil change. Now being that I'm a broke ass, all I ended up getting was a protective covering for my iPod.

Once my vehicle was ready I drove home and got online to research how to renew my driver license. At that point I came to find out that the server was down and I was unable to renew online. I did however manage to find what I thought at the time to be helpful phone numbers for TX DPS. WRONG! I found out through the telephone system that I was ineligible for phone renewal. So I had no choice but to call the DL office for more info. I ended up holding for a good 30 mins before talking to a person, but that was only after calling 4 other numbers. AND as courteous as the gentleman on the phone was in offering the DPS website, so that I could look up all their FAQs and info on DL offices, I couldn't have cared less. Do you really think I enjoy being on hold for half an hour instead of easily connecting online??? Think about it, son. I wouldn't be calling if I had the choice of easy online access.

There was no way around it; I had to go down to the office in person. Little did I know that the DPS office takes up a whole city block. So guess where I end up parking? Yep, you guessed it...on the opposite end. I sign in, fill out my app, grab a ticket and BAM!...I see it: "We accept payment in cash, check, or money order.---No Credit Cards!" So as I turn in my app, I ask, "I'm guessing No Credit Cards applies to debit cards?" Then the receptionist starts pointing out some places w/ ATMs and throws in w/ a chuckle, "You got time. They ain't gonna be callin' your number anytime soon." As if this little experience isn't going bad enough, the first ATM I hit denies my transaction 2x which forces me to go to the next block.

I finally get back to the office, take a seat and proceed to watch Chappelle's Show on my kick ass 60 gig Video iPod for the next 2hrs. And it's always a great feeling once your number gets called. You feel like a celebrity becos everyone absolutely hates you for getting called. That's becos they know, they still have to sit in that shitty waiting room until those red lights configure their number. At that point, they gain their freedom from that uncomfortable setting.

So I walk up to Counter 5 and find a sweet older, wiser face staring back at me. She's grinning from ear to ear and I find comfort in her smile. We take a quick little vision test, I hand over my old DL and WHAM! She busts out w/ a perplexed look on her face. She motions for someone to come over and help (but no one can) and says, "There's an alarm on your record, come back in a week."

I went blank at that point. I don't really remember what happened after that.

I asked what the problem was, but she didn't know.

I asked if there's another department I needed to go to, but she didn't know.

I asked if there was a phone number to speak w/ someone about my record, but

SHE DIDN'T KNOW!

I couldn't get mad at her becos it wasn't her fault. After all, she said, "it's still okay; your DL doesn't expire till 8/4/06." I didn't have the heart to tell the senile broad that 8/4/06 had come and gone. So I walked out of there wanting to scream, but I contained it till I got to the car and blared my "Rock Out w/ Your Cock Out" playlist located conveniently on ...you guessed it...my iPod!

Once at home, I waited for Maund to get out of work and to my surprise, the boy brought over Chick-Fil-A....don't ya just love it? And then to add injury to insult, we tried to fill the Brita pitcher w/ water only to find out there was none. The water was off.

Crazy thing is Maund got so pissed that he ended up calling the leasing office 9x through the course of 2hrs. They finally called him back to say that they were working on the prob.

So lemme update you: it is now 22:06---No Water and No Driver License.

What a perfect ending to a perfect day...