Black Friday, Part Deux

It was a few years ago, when I wrote about Black Friday and a death that occurred at a WalMart.

That being said, I decided, on a complete and utter lark, to make a visit to my local Wally World in an effort to simply procure a few unnecessary items and save a few bucks doing so. My rationale? The prices were super cheap, and it's the Flo; how many people are going to be there?

As Florida Evans said, Damn damn damn! I have failed to ever be so completely wrong before (and I've been wrong a few times). The entire WM parking lot was filled, and the adjoining stores' lots were filled as well. I parked at a nearby bank and walked the entire length of the lot to the doors.

I was expecting to have to wait out side, and lo my surprise when I was allowed in. "I guess we can't be grabbing things, can we?" I asked the door greeter. With a smiles, she replied with a succinct "No." Fine.

I made my way to where I thought the items would be and Damn damn damn! There was so many people there. Imagine going to a home opening football game and being jammed packed with folks intent on their purpose. That's pretty much the climate. As you can see in the video, there's not much room to mess around (the pallets hold all the sale items, and people gathered around them).

For as many people as was there (even if it seems loud in the clip), I was surprised by how eerily quiet it was. People didn't spend that much time talking to one another, almost a subtle plotting going about as to how to procure the most items. I talked to others around me, recognizing a great many people and students, saying hi to them, and offering a gentle ribbing about shopping so late.

At about five minutes to midnight, the PA announced that shoppers could "begin shopping". Amidst whoops, there was a mass scurrying, and I remember oh so clearly the sound of a DVD case hitting the bottom of a cart, but multiplied by a thousand, combined with the equally multiplied sound of hands rubbing and sliding upon cardboard boxes. It was nearly instantaneous and I nearly missed my items trying to take this in.

There were no injuries, but I did hear an interesting story later on that detailed how a woman was so firmly "asked" to replace her prematurely grabbed items before she was "escorted out of the building". I thought that was actually the right thing, but more later.

I made my way through a back aisle to grab either a DVD package or a video game, if one was available. This area was the most jammed pack area of them all. DVD's starting at $1.97 and up, it was madness. I found one of the items I wanted and quickly grabbed one. In stark contrast, I witnessed a woman who grabbed fistfulls (probably six or so cases) of DVDs, took the one she wanted, and dumped the rest on top of the pallets. Nice move, ass.

In trying to depart and pay for my items, I quickly became stuck at a major junction. It literally took me fifteen minutes to simply move out of a traffic jam between a pallet of DVDs and three shopping carts. I paid and quickly departed.

Tubing in a river, watching a sunset, volunteering for charity, and doing a Black Friday opening. What do these have in common? It's something you should do at least once in your life. Me personally, I enjoyed tubing and volunteering immensely. Sunsets I get everyday (my backdoor faces the west, suckas!). WalMart Black Friday? Unless I absolutely know for a 100% fact 1) I will be spending minimun of hundreds of dollars, and 2) that I cannot get that item any cheaper anywhere else, and finally 3) I gotta have it PDQ, then I would do it again. Otherwise, I'll forgo it.

Elements that could affect your experience would, I think, come down to your companions. If you have the right shopping buddies, it would work. It could be a fun, almost clubbing kind of deal. Aside from that, it's still a chore. A thrill ride, quietly and shifty-like-a-criminal sneaking about to get your items.

As with other things you gotta do, I now proclaim "Been there, done that."

Shazam!

Implants: Something to Chew On

The story goes back nearly two decades.

In a fluke football accident, I had my tooth karate-chopped off. No jagged edges. It was simply sheared off by the likes of Kevin Little (who, funny as Fated deemed, is with a very nice lady who works in dentistry, but I digress...). I was promptly taken to the dentist that day and eventually had a crown installed.

I never truly appreciated the costs and simple benefits by having this tooth fixed. Being a prominent tooth, it's easily a big deal, more so as I make my living speaking and interacting i front of hundreds of kids everyday.

Fast forward to this summer, and my brother had a beautiful wedding. The morning after, whilst eating pancakes with the fam, I open my mouth to insert a forkful of syrup-dripping IHOP goodness when I hear a plunk upon my plate. My oldest son is immediately grossed out, followed ever so quickly by my wife. My dad felt a sense of deja vu as basically the same thing happened to him when I was a wee lad. I remember it quite vividly as we were eating fried chicken that day. Oh, sorry...

A dentist's visit was promptly scheduled and the short of the conversation can be boiled down to this:

"David, I can fix this. Now, it's not a matter of if it breaks, because it will. It's a matter of when it breaks, because it will. It may be two months, or two years; it will fail again. When it does, I won't have many options, and you will eventually be faced with an expensive fix either way."

I don't know about you, but money's tight. Period. As such, I was able to arrange finances and go with the implant. As flippant as this reads, it wasn't an easy decision. After consulting with the wife, we agreed with Doc and this would be the best long-term solution (and also the most satisfactory in regards to look/comfort/performance).

In all honesty, the extraction was a cinch. Anesthesia is a wonderful thing, and I needed only a local. The shot on the roof of the mouth was a tight pinch, but nothing I couldn't handle. The old tooth's root was pulled out.

Drill time.

Imagine if you will, someone taking a steel pencil-thick drill, and drilling into your skull. That's pretty much what the did. With the tooth out, it was simply get in and get after it. With finesse, of course.

The funniest part? As they are literally screwing in the titanium screw, there is a miniature ratchet to firmly screw in the implant without over-torquing it. Doc was more than considerate in answering all my questions (and letting me hold the tools).

Three weeks later, I'm currently rocking a prosthesis, a denture if you will. It's simply a retainer like device with a chip of a tooth up front. Hard to tell, unless you know what you're looking for. It's not the most comfortable, but it will work. Doc is more than sympathetic, but I told him, "I'd rather put up with three months of this, and have thirty years of a fine lookin' tooth, instead of [other stuff that really doesn't work well]".

What's bad? My son reminds me in the morning to put my tooth in, as any public appearance without it is "embarrassing, Dad!"

I get it...

I'll follow up when another follow-up is done late January.

Shazam!

Aaaaaaannnnnd...I'm back.

A six week sabbatical was all I needed, although I didn't think I needed it, I did.

Family time, work, and some guitar playing was interrupted by some dental work, some serious reading, and a little bit o' turkey and dressing.

Our local football team did't finish quite as well as we'd have hoped for. We've had a few cold spells come through which is nice, and...

Damn if this don't sound like talking to your Granny right? Well, let's get started quick and dirty:

1. Dental Work - This stuff is stupid expensive, but I will pay it, lest I look like a snaggle tooth hillbilly deluxe (no offense to any hillbilly readers out there).
2. iTunes - They got the Beatles finally, but there are still some hold-outs. Big news? Perhaps, but it def caught my attention.
3. Corn Mazes - Third visit, and it's always a trip.
4. Kindle 3 - Over 600 books on mine (many of them the free ones). Def worth it, but this is easily another post.
5. Shopping. At WalMart. At Midnight. On Black Friday. - Oh yeah, it happened.

So that's the quick and dirty version. Plan is to elaborate on these guys through this week and give you plenty of reading material leading up to and through December.

Want to hear about something, let me know.

Shazam!

Mr. Goodwrench

Damn if mechanics aren't expensive.

Good and trustworthy mechanic work, in my experience, can be hard to come by. I've been fortunate to never really had much need for automotive work in my short life, but when I have...sweet mother-of-pearl has the work been expensive.

No, if you read my previous entry, you know how much I like to tinker with things. Vehicles that carry my children, wife, and me need to be handled only absolutely in the most proper way. I've changed tires, wiper blades, refilled fluids, and even an alternator. But as for wheel alignments, tie rods and wheel hubs, they seem fairly easy, but not exactly my specialty.

Knowing my wheel alignment need work, I took the old TrailBlazer in. Long story short, they tie rod was jacked-up and not going to be adjusted. Cost? At this particular place, about $600. Oh, and they would throw in the alignment. Um...okay.

Frustrated, I drove home and thought about who I knew and what my options were. Bingo! I worked with a wonderful lady whose husband is a mechanic. Let's call her and him!

In short, I bought the parts and paid for the labor at a local service shop. Going this route (as prescribed by the acquaintance mechanic) saved my over 30%. Great...almost.

Apparently, the alignment and tie-rod wasn't the only issue. A persistent thumping-noise that became obvious at my last tire-change wasn't eliminated; my knowledgeable mechanic informed my ever so subtly that I had a bad wheel hub. What's that, I asked. He so patiently schooled me on what it was and what it did.

He also informed me that this was something, if I were interested, he could help me swap out in his free time. Knowing that costs are what they are, I said sure. Long story short, a visit to eBay Motors, a drop-shipment, and forty minutes at my new BFF's house got me a new wheel hub installed and removed that nasty thumping sound.

I was, and still am, prepared to pay Byron for his services. As we are simply milling around and talking (and drinking a few fermented waters), Byron quips, "Eh, don't worry about it Dave."

"No, sir; we agreed on a price and I'm gonna take care of it."

"You wanna take care of it? Buy me a twelve-pack and let's sit around and drink it."

That, my friends, is the High Life.

Poor Man's Ingenuity

As I became frustrated with my Bluetooth headphones (a quirky short has developed in the left ear!), I sought a wired solution to listen to music on my phone.

After really debating what my needs were, establishing how much I wanted to spend, I ended up with these, the Sony MDR-NC7. Definitely not the highest end headphones, but you know what? They worked pretty damn nice and I can hear my music over the lawn mower.

So where does the ingenuity come into play? Well after watching a movie on Boot Camp and Outsourced on Hulu.com, it was time to bed. In a really long story I going to shorten, I was sleeping on my ottoman upstairs. Set the laptop down and headphones beside them, near one of the ottoman's legs. In a twist of fate, I rolled over and the ottoman moaned in protest and tipped over slightly, lifting the far side's legs up. No biggie...or so I thought. Rolled back and the legs obediently returned back to the floor. Cruuuunnnnch. Unsure of what it was, my jaw dropped as i saw my newly purchased headphones now had a detachable ear pad.

After a few choice words, a fitful night's worth of so-called rest, and a few more choice words, the feeling of helplessness began to leave and I was motivated to salvage the headphones. It wasn't a torn wire and simply a broken hinge. A lot of variables in play, I made my plan. A quick trip to Wal-Mart for some Gorilla Glue Super Glue and I was ready.

The surgery was difficult at first, as the headphones swivel around and flip over as well, making a steady hold of the pieces difficult. In addition, I was unable to initially locate a way to separate the broken pad (normally you can click plastic pieces over another, as the plastic gives a bit; not the case here, as I needed the glue to be completely stable and not to stretch). Finally, the pieces are apart and ready to built back together.

"We can rebuilt [it]. We have the technology."

The glued hinge wasn't going to hold all by itself; it was a little circle with only a quarter of it initially connected to frame, now glued to the frame. Too much stress. By luck, I found a very tiny screw that I utilized through the opposite side. Shazam, the phones are back to life.

I guess I wanted to share this story as it's basically something I've done many times in my life. I can't afford nor justify buying another set of headphones merely six weeks after getting these. Whether it be some simple black speaker stands for some Bose speakers I won through work, to the shared ideas implemented by friends and co-workers (yes, I'm talking to the teacher who stole my idea of using a bed sheet and curtain rod as a projector screen).

I'd call my self cheap. Sure I am. But my lifestyle allows me to be so and still get away with it. Quite frankly, it's no different from being thrifty; it just doesn't have that je ne sais quoi that thrifty has. Whatever.

I'm sure we've all done the whole PMI thing (read the title again, in case you're wondering). It works. And yes, you should be proud that you not only saved a few bucks, but more so that you would have been able to survive in a time when you couldn't just go out and buy a new thing to replace it with.

Shazam!