A Little CVS Tale

I stopped in at CVS today, and it was funny enough to make it onto the blog.

CVS, for those who may not know, is a ubiquitous drugstore chain in the US--they're pretty much everywhere, so they're convenient, though their prices can be on the high side. The other thing they're known for is their ridiculously long receipts, which print and print and print with various coupons and offers. My joke is that someone's brother-in-law is their paper supplier, because seriously, so much paper.

I belong to their rewards program, and so CVS sends frequent emails with general offers and specific ones. Periodically, they send one for $4 off a purchase, and it can be $4 or even less, it isn't like $4 off a purchase of $20 or more, nothing like that. I know that from a marketing perspective, they're trying to get me into the store in hopes that I will buy more, but honestly sometimes I'll just stop by if I'm passing a store and get a cold drink or some gum. Hey, free, why not?

They sent that offer this week, and I had just realized I was low on Kleenex packs, which is not something I want to run out of (my allergies have been super annoying lately, if by 'lately' you understand I mean that I don't remember when they weren't super annoying). Might as well stop in and get some of those for free, right?

It turned out that they were on sale this week, two for $4, which was just made for this offer, don't you think? So I got these for free:

And in case you think I'm exaggerating about the receipt, it measured 29 and 5/8 inches (about 76 centimeters):

And the very first coupon on it?

I may have to go buy more tissues. Why not, for free? It's not like the store is out of my way.

Marketing fail, but thrifty win, I think! 

Update: Sunday morning, I got this in an email:

Another one!

The Globe Gets It

In a sort of backhand follow-up to what I wrote about reading to escape current reality, the Boston Globe today had an article about how people are just burned out on the firehose of bad news in the country today, and while the front page headline was this:

The headline over the rest of the story was this:

Which I feels really captures the spirit of the thing.

Why All I Want to Do Is Read

Lately, I have found myself frequently lamenting if I have to do anything that isn't reading. All I want to do is read.

All. I want. To do. Is read.

Every spare minute. Evenings on the couch. Weekends between forcing myself to actually do things that need doing. Walking from condo to condo, checking on neighbors' places. In the elevator (hey, it's slow, those minutes get boring).

I was on a zoom call last week knitting with a friend when that came up, and I added "and knit" a bit less than convincingly, since lately my only knitting time has been with others*. She asked if I knit while doing something else, like watching TV, and yeah, sometimes I do, particularly during hockey season. But lately, all I want to do is read, and we agreed that sometimes, that's all that shuts the brain down to a single focus.
*Though now and then I have coffee and a pastry at a local bakery on a Saturday and people-watch while knitting.

This is not a good time in America (and plenty of other places). All sorts of awful shit is happening, all the time, over and over. And the more I let it into my brain, the harder it is to function.

Other than being a woman, I am not in a class that is heavily targeted right now. I'm white, middle-class, above childbearing age but not into the Medicare years...but what's happening to other people right now is terrifying, institutions are caving and crumbling, and I feel fragile.

So I read.

A Small Example of How My Brain Works

If "works" is the right word...

Backstory: Because my TV isn't new enough to be able to connect directly to the ESPN+ app, which I use to get hockey games, I have a small Roku device to do it. 

I do nothing else on the Roku, but they still pointlessly send me marketing emails from time to time. (Don't get me started on how ESPN+, who of all people should know I only watch hockey, sending me emails about things like boxing events.)

So I got an email recently with this subject line:

Now, maybe you react differently, but when I got to the word "Howdy" there, I laughed involuntarily, the same way I do every time I see one of these stupid "trucks":

I don't choose to laugh at them: it just happens.

Meanwhile, back to "howdy": my brain immediately popped word-associations into my head. 

Hey look at me I'm a lamp I'm a cowboy howdy howdy howdy

Which seems like gibberish, right? 

Well, there was a teaser of a connection to Sandra Boynton in there, so I pulled out my copy of her classic book, Don't Let the Turkeys Get You Down:

And found this:

So there's the lamp, but not the howdy.

I searched online but couldn't find it. Let it sit for a day or two, and my subconscious finally popped up that, hmmm, wasn't the cowboy part from a Far Side cartoon?

Ah ha! Score one for the weird way my brain cross-indexes information. Sandra Boynton and Gary Larson don't have a lot in common, but "hey look everybody" brought both of them to my mind.

For what that's worth.

(Once I figured out those things, it appears to have cleared the way to remember the Spic and Span commercial with Minnie Pearl ["Howdy! Anuthuh new flo-ah?"]...my brain is such a pack rat.)

The Rest of the Key West Trip

All right, it's time for trip recap part two, aka the part actually spent in Key West. Most of the group met up in a bar at the hotel for a drink before going out to dinner Tuesday night, and I was amused by this sign on the wall:

As a person who rarely drinks alcohol, I can vouch for this! It also made me think of the sign I saw at the restaurant the night before:

Just one of the many, many reasons I would be a bad bartender.

We walked to Bagatelle, which was near the hotel, for dinner. It's a nice place, good food and service. I had a delicious steak, and took the leftovers back to the hotel for tomorrow's lunch.

When a party left the table next to us, I was struck by the light through the glassware.

Our group was celebrating a birthday, and they brought us all out slices of lemon meringue pie with sparklers on top! A fun surprise. After they were all put out, I heard one of the servers say he was surprised it hadn't set off the smoke alarm (there were eight of us). Glad that didn't happen.

As I didn't want to go on to a bar with most of the others, I walked back to the hotel (with one other person) and had a relaxed early night of it.

The next morning, roosters crowing woke me a bit on the early side for vacation, which is a thing that happens in Key West: roosters are everywhere, and not quiet about it. I pulled myself together and went out.

A building near the hotel had this fun art on the side:

Shortly after that, I happened to pass a park filled with busts of people from the early history of Key West, and wandered through looking at them.

I didn't read them all, but as there were more men than women, I did take the time to read about Lena Johnson. Doesn't she look alive?

I like that "she was able to support herself" but am less fond of the idea that she founded a group "to help introverts get over their bashfulness"!

The ship's going down!

On to the real point of my outing, Cuban Coffee Queen:

That's a delicious Cuban caramel coffee, and a pina smoothie for breakfast. Yum!

After a bit of wandering, and a stop at CVS to pick up chips and a Coke, I went back to my room and had those with my leftover steak for lunch. Hotels with mini fridges for the win! Then I got a swimsuit on and went down to the beach area.

Bonus points that you get not only towels, but chair covers for the lounge chairs.

However, I was a bit turned off by the sea grass, which was visible in the water as well as piled along the waterline. 

It didn't tempt me in, so I moved to the pool instead. Passing this nice hammock: it was too hot and not breezy enough to tempt me in, but I love that it was there.

I found some of the others by the pool, and settled in to alternately read and knit.

And watch the iguanas.

And yes, I did get in the water as well! It was a nice peaceful afternoon.

For dinner, we ate at Nine One Five (which is unsurprisingly at 915 Duval St). The service was ... not the best I've ever had, but not awful, and the food was good. I had what they called airline chicken, which had a yummy glaze on it, and was served in a funny stack over the zucchini and potatoes:

On Thursday, I went for a wander around the area, though I was a bit thwarted by the heat. 

Funny name for a place, but I bet the employees get tired of hearing the horseplay and tomfoolery jokes.

I enjoyed a nice long wander around Key West Island Books, and a nice chat with the woman working there. I then walked over to Books & Books, but I was hot and it was not cool inside, so I moved on. I did have a good wander through it last time I was there, and I encourage you to try it if you go!

I chose my lunch spot by walking in a place I was passing and asking, do you have air conditioning? (There are a lot of places there that have both inside and outside seating, but some are only outside, and I couldn't take it at that point.) She said yes, and First Flight it was. A/C, a cold drink, and a flatbread, that's better!

The tabletop was old wood, so cool:

Not only could you get beer-battered fish, but they specify which beer!

Back to the hotel and back to the pool. Here's how to cool down!

I did a lot of floating in the pool as well. Delightful.

Most of the group went to a local bar to watch the first round of the Hemingway look-alike contest (part of Hemingway Days), but I was overwhelmed by the crowd, and had dinner at a quiet Thai restaurant around the corner. Then, instead of going straight back to the hotel, I walked over to the water to watch the sun set.

Then back to the hotel! To cool off, and start to get my things organized, as we were leaving in the morning. All vacation must come to an end!

There was some strong rain passing through Friday morning: it was mostly done by the time we left, but there was street flooding to show it had happened. Splash!

Some very localized rain there! By the time we got closer, it had dispersed.

A different "old bridge falling apart near the new bridge" view.

Little islands, or I suppose keys, everywhere.

For once, a car with more bumper stickers than mine, but all on the bumper, none on the back! Curious.

I like the colors on these buildings. So much more fun than all the same.

The drive home, being done in one day, is longer than I've been in a car for a trip in a while, and ow! We did get out for lunch (Pinecrest Bakery), but the drive is 5-6 hours, and that's just a lot of sitting. I had some soreness and stiffness after. But it was a fun trip, I got to really relax, and it was worth it.

And that's it, other than some odds and ends of photos that didn't fit in but I'll get to at some point. What did I miss? Any questions?