Well, now that we have the company meeting post off our backs it may be time for a few other random tidbits from my notebook of things to remember to write about. At the time, I'm sure they all seemed like deep and immensely interesting topics but now... well, I'm not quite so sure.
Not too long ago I was at ye local CVS buying some non-Diet soda because, of course, the average computer person runs primarily on a mixture of soda and chips. I took my purchases of soda and chips to the cashier and was surprised to learn that they were actually on sale. Finding this ironic and practicing my new 'extroverted and ton of fun' personality I cracked wise to the Asian cashier and said, "Oh, that's nice. The drugstore puts all the best and most nutritious food on sale. There goes my diet." She looks up at me surprised and says, "Oh no, you no need diet. You look really, really good." Alright, as flattering as that is I'm still not sure the drugstore should be encouraging ANYONE to buy soda and chips.
As I charged the humongous total of $6.50 or so my mind wandered again. I felt bad that my choice to charge that purchase rather than pay cash might have had a negative impact on CVSs ability to make a profit. I further wondered how many transactions of $.25 they would let me make before stopping me or simply going bankrupt. THEN it made me think what a strange thing it was to worry about the profit margin impact that my choice of payment method had on a store. I'm betting that none of you have ever felt bad when you were forced to charge $2 because you realized that the credit card transaction fee might actually make the transaction unprofitable for the store where you were making the purchase. I'm sure they take that into account somehow in their pricing but it still makes me a little bit sad to see 15% of a transaction wasted in fees.
After that bit of pondering was concluded between the checkout and the car I, of course, proceeded to drive home. As I was doing so I noted most frighteningly that my ability to drive had seriously deteriorated. After sitting at home and driving only tiny distances for the better part of 15 months I'm a scarily bad driver. I've completely lost my touch. During our team outing I drove our Geocaching team around for a couple hours and I could almost feel their hands around my throat as I stopped for yellow lights and allowed other cars to pass me without trying to start a race of some sort. Perhaps grandmas don't drive slowly because they're old but more because they just don't get out enough to practice.
I submitted what I considered a damn important This or That topic and it has completely failed to come up. The question seems innocuous enough and almost stupid at first glance. It's simply this:
2 Minutes Late or 20 Minutes Early
That's it. Nothing tricky or complicated. Why, might you ask is this 'damn important'? Well, let's look at this a bit more closely. If you choose 2 Minutes late then that means that you really don't mind if someone has to wait for you for 2 minutes. If you're willing to have someone wait on you then that means you think your time is more important than their time. Alternately, if you choose 20 Minutes Early then that indicates that you hold the other person's time worth more than yours. Personally, I think this is a matter of simple respect for others. I'm always early to everything because I hate the thought that someone else would have to wait on me or wonder where I am. Whenever I have a meeting with someone else I always take reading material for exactly this reason. I expect to have to wait for them. In fact, for most people I know running 10 minutes or more late for everything is completely normal so I tend to get a lot of reading done in these little interregna. Sadly, my number has not come up on the cox-tv wheel of This or That fun so I have no idea how the rest of humanity feels about this topic.
Finally, I have concluded my foray into children's literature with the completion of these 'Harry Potter' books. Over 3,000 pages later I find myself mildly disappointed. The story was cliche to the very end. Those who you thought were villains really were. Those you thought were good and would survive really did. After all that time and all that attempted development it turned simply into a 'happily ever after' despite the fact that she had prepared us for a much better and potentially more meaningful conclusion. But that, I suppose, is all we can expect from mainstream fiction today. More of the same old story. It's just unfortunate that life does not more accurately reflect our interpretation of it. At any rate, our next literary foray finds us wandering into St. Thomas Aquinas' works of seven centuries ago. I'm sure he will have more of relevance to say than our friend Mr. Potter.
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