Tuesday, February 17, 2009

a night out...

This year for Valentine's day, Luke and I decided to take in a play at the IRT and try a new restaurant downtown. I worked from 9-5 and then came home to a beautiful bouquet of red roses that Luke had waiting on the table for me.:) After quickly getting dressed up for the evening out we headed to the theater for a 6pm showing of "To Kill a Mockingbird." I always enjoy attending plays and this was no exception. "To Kill a Mockingbird" has long been one of my favorite books, and this adaptation was very well done. I'm always impressed with the IRT's productions.
After the play we headed to a new-ish restaurant downtown, that we had never eaten at, called Zing. It's a small plate dining place (similar to tapas, but not just spanish food), and the idea is basically to order several different items and share them. You can order as much as you want at any time throughout the meal and they just bring stuff out to you as it is ready. We tried several different items (of which the fish tacos were my favorite:) and really enjoyed our meal. We also ordered dessert: chocolate covered strawberries and balsamic marinaded strawberries both of which were served with whipped cream. They were delicious! It's a pretty cool little restaurant and we would definitely recommend it. It would also make a great place to go with a group of friends.
Luke also got me a couple of movies (japanese samurai films) by Akira Kurosawa, a director we've been enjoying recently. We haven't watched them yet, but i'm very excited about them.:)
Margaret called about halfway through the evening with news of Philip and her's engagement! We are very excited for them.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

i realize i'm not always the most environmentally attentive person but...

it irritates me when customers:
-demand a bag for one or two small items
-when asked if they need a bag respond with a cheery, "why not?" (as if they are completely ignorant of today's evironmental concerns)
-buy a reusable bag and then make you fold it neatly and put it in a plastic sack
-require unnecessary double bagging

Because HPB promotes recycling, conserving and general environmental awareness, we encourage customers to decline bags. It's silly, but to help me pass the time at the register I play a little game with myself. I try to guess each persons response to my posed question: "do you need a bag for that?" Over time I've developed my own stereotypes based on my little game. Not in a bad way, just as a way of predicting their answers. I would say I'm probably right about 84.3% of the time.:) Every once in awhile someone really surprises me with their response. I've become so good at this game, that I can even tell by the way a person pauses whether they will respond with a yes, no or why not. The things I do to pass the time.:)

It seems to me that declining plastic bags for small purchases, using reusable bags as much as possible and re-purposing the paper and plastic bags that you do aquire are all simple ways to conserve and to contribute to environmental awareness.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

not being much of a seafood person isn't it strange...

that I frequently crave mom's fish tacos?:) I was very skeptical of said dish until mom made them for me; I've been a believer ever since. They are great. I was reminded of my love for these tacos when I was shelving magazines and came across the Indianapolis Monthly bonus issue menu guide. It has some amazing looking fish tacos on the cover from a new restaraunt downtown called Zing. It looks like a pretty sweet joint. We may try it out for Valentine's day and I may just get those fish tacos.:)

Monday, February 2, 2009

I'm quite certain that only Stephanie can fully realize the magnitude of this...

I AM OFFICIALLY OUT OF THE KIDS SECTION AT HPB!!!
I've been working the kids section ever since I started at Half Price (a little under a year and a half ago). As Stephanie can attest (and most other emplyees would agree) it is one of the largest and most stressful sections in the store, second only maybe to fiction. I didn't mind it that much once I got used to it, but a few months ago I started feeling really burned out and so it was a welcome relief to get new section assignments.:)
These are my new sections:
Art/Photography/Architecture etc.
Travel
Lps
Magazines
I will still be quite busy, but at least it's a change of scene.:)

Sunday, February 1, 2009

doug phi moe (this is not a joke:)

I just have to take this post to share about a "gem" of a book that was recently sold to HPB: "Doug Phi Moe: He's Over Here Projecting Christianity" (by Douglas S. McGlohon). I think about 6 or so of these books were sold to us at the same time and we were originally going to superbuy them, but upon closer inspection, we realized that we could not ask (or allow:) anyone to pay money for this. We spent a good amount of time laughing about this book. The following is what is on the back of the book. This is presented verbatim, I assure you (that is what makes this so great, or horrifying).

Book Description:
Doug Phi Moe at age eight young school boy and loving Christian family. Where his mom is just a poor Christian housewife and his father works at the local mill or box factory.

Although they are a very poor family they take for their foundation the Lord Jesus Christ.

And attend church every Sunday and take part in bible study and other Christian programs during the week.

Doug Phi Moe's mother and father has vowed that their son won't have to struggle through life as they did, being undereducated and living a life of poorness. By making it mandatory that he gets a good education.

While walking through the city Doug Phi Moe from not wanting to go to school begin to love school.

While sitting at the local soul food restaurant. He begin to watch the seniors an their pattern of life. Being growned in Christianity, some he still loved although Doug Moe felt they were not Christ-like but he loved them all.

Several years later Doug Phi Moe finishes high school, undergrad and obtains his law degree and becomes a very successful corporate attorney.

Always thinking about the women he loves so very much next to his monotheism or God. Being prior service he has to leave here in tears fro secret operations overseas in what will be very dangerous military activity. Yet the mission which takes several months is a success and he arrives back into the states.

When he marries and they birth a booming baby boy as he returns back to his practice or can interpize and enjoys his family and friends.


I have read parts of this book and what's inside is equally terrible, both grammatically and content-wise. I have a copy of this and will gladly share this with all who are interested.:) I took this to mom and dad's and they got a big kick out of this. We laughed for quite some time. The book is seriously trying to be a christian, romance, suspense thriller. O yeah, and it's billed as a "biography". Upon reading parts about his "war experience" Dad picked up on several historical innacuracies (not the least of which is the fact that he referred to a second vietnam war). Half the "sentences" are fragments, the tense changes all the time and the use of adjectives is unreal. The book is published by basically a self-publishing house, so i guess that's how this is in print. It's a true disgrace.:)
At work, after reading a short portion of the back I stated that it was an embarrasment to Christianity. My coworker promptly replied that he would go so far as to say it is an embarrasment to humanity. I have to agree.:)
I will leave you with a quote from this book, just to give you a bit more of a taste (and I will definitely be bringing this to more Sunday dinners):

"Doug Moe continued to chow down on the good tasting fried chicken and good old soul food. The television continued to project the picture at hand. Doug Moe picked up the glass of apple juice, and he consumed all of it. He stood up straight in his beautiful night robe. He advanced toward his private law library off from the house's fireplace. He put his hands on his hips projecting his masculinity. He looked at chapters, the vision of his ALR, General Statutes, Southeastern Reporters, Douglas forms, and many more law books he has in his condo."