My kind of retail therapy

I know a lot of women who love to shop.  They don't always purchase a lot, but they can shop for hours.  Hours trying on shoes, clothes, checking out accessories. I know women who watch the late night shopping channel and buy stuff all the time.  Sometimes they return it, but they keep on shopping.  Some women shop catalogs, dozens of catalogs.

I am not one of those women. Clothes never look good on me so I am not a fan of clothes shopping. Shoes and accessories, don't see the point of spending much time on these things.  Catalogs, sometimes a shirt from LL Bean, but not much else.  However, I do have one retail store that I love, love, love and it is as therapeutic as any of the above.

It is Bottle Barn in Santa Rosa.  Yes, bottles and bottles of, you guessed it: alcohol.  Now, we all know I can drink a lot and sometimes do but I don't consider myself a problem drinker.  My consumption doesn't interfere with my regular life. In fact, my alcohol consumption makes my regular life a lot better!  But back to Bottle Barn. It's a huge open space, barn-like (!) and has more booze than a trainload of Harley Davidson riders.  Everything is there: beer, wine, spirits, rot gut, dessert wine, kosher wine, fruit wine and spirits, and on and on.  Just wandering down the bourbon aisle makes me happy, and I don't even have to buy anything!  I just like seeing what's on the market now, what new creations are popping up for our sipping pleasure.

The wine selection is international in scope and very fair in pricing.  Most of the wines I get are under $10 and I have rarely been disappointed.  Tons of wine from Chile and Argentina, all European countries and even South America.  I have had really good unoaked Chardonnay, great Malbec, you name it.  If you have the bucks you can buy pricey stuff as well.  Again, just checking out the selections makes me smile.

The only thing that would make the experience better would be if Bottle Barn did what Costco does:  give you free samples.  The place doesn't have a lot of extra floor space but they could certainly scoot a few wine cases over and have a little card table where the customers could sample new and exciting wines!  (Honestly, the Whole Food Market in Texas actually does this and it makes spending the whole paycheck a lot more pleasant!)  Bottle Barn hasn't embraced the free sample idea yet but I am not giving up hope.  

They will also order anything for you.  I purchased a delicious rye whiskey there (True West Double Rye) but when I went back several days weeks later to get another bottle, there were none on the shelf!  However, they were happy to order some and they called me when my bottle arrived. Asking them to deliver it to my door was a little over the top, but I expect that one day delivery service will be available as well.  Or at least curbside pick-up.

So, that's my take on retail therapy. You can have your shoe store, your mall of clothing stores, all the catalog shopping you can handle.  Give me my Bottle Barn and I am a happy girl.   

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ACK! No postings!

Hey, sorry there, haven't posted anything here in more than a week.  Will catch up tomorrow, I promise.  Can't blame it on anything except ennui and a boring life.  But surely there is something to talk about...... 

I will figure it out.  More to come. 

Books! Movies! Food! Art!

Thank you Christine and Kara for the encouragement to continue. 

Books:  Just read a really good first novel, "The Drowning House" by Elizabeth Black.  The main character returns to her home town of Galveston and to a darkness that has followed her for the past 15 years.  Unresolved conflicts abound.  For some reason it resonated with me, especially the difficulty she had in reaching back into her past, trying to remember details of events that necessitated her leaving home.  It made me realize that there are so many blank spots in my memories, months of time I don't remember when my kids were young.  Where did that consciousness go?  Why don't I remember details that at the time seemed so important (I assume) and now are totally gone?  Anyway, the book is good; there is a lot of discussion of the history of Galveston as well.  The town was virtually destroyed in a hurricane in the 1900 and the book talks about its rebirth and growth.  That part is interesting as well as the regular story line.

A non-fiction book:  "One for the Books" by Joe Queenan.  He is a dark humorist, I guess you could say, also a writer and a reviewer for the New York Times and other publications.  This book investigates his love of books and the written word, and for me, also a lover of books, this was a treat.  He doesn't like libraries because it means the author gets no royalties and he doesn't like reading devices like Kindle or Nook because, well, because it isn't a book!  Queenan talks about books he loves and books he has read and books he will never read and the hundreds of books he owns. He has some great stories about book stores and interviews about book reviews.  It's fascinating and funny and a totally enjoyable read.  I now need to look up some of his other books and see what else he has to say.

Movies:  Saw three movies in the past week!  It's what you get to do when you are unemployed, of course.  First, "Amour", a french movie about the power of love.  It's really tough to watch; an elderly woman has a series of strokes and her equally elderly husband devotes his days to taking care of her.  Her condition deteriorates, of course. She doesn't want to live but he wants to keep her comfortable as long as he can. He simply isn't strong enough to be a full-time caretaker and things must come to some sort of end.  It is, as has been written, "an unflinching look at old age."  Very unflinching.  You don't want to watch it but you do, and it stays with you for a long, long time.

"Silver Linings Playbook" was a bit disappointing. I thought it would be heftier.  It's a quirky little love story, nothing wrong with that.  Two people, one sort of crazy, one very angry, meet, don't get along, then do, then fall in love.  That's it.  There are some funny parts but the whole redemption thing, the whole idea that committing to something like dancing will change your life, is a bit of a reach.  I get the concept of getting over yourself and taking responsibility for your actions, but a miraculous personality transformation occurring in a couple of weeks is rather silly.  But hey, it's a movie!  The soundtrack is great.  Bradley Cooper is good but the fact that he and Jennifer Lawrence are nominated for best actor awards is pathetic.

"Side Effects" takes on the pharmaceutical industry, at least in theory.  In actuality it is a really good twisty movie, sort of like "Body Heat" from years ago where things are not what they seem.  What seems to be happening might not really be happening.  People have hidden agendas and they lie!  Zut alors!  I loved this movie for its noir-ish character.  It is wickedly enjoyable, craziness abounds and some people get away with evil. Director Soderbergh always delivers intense, mind-challenging movies and this one is no different.  Jude Law is perfect, he has grown out of the pretty-boy look and into a mature actor.  No one does "slow descent into madness" the way he does.  Two thumbs up, check it out.  You will come out smiling and not really proud of that fact.  Sometimes it is good to watch bad behavior.

OK, I have nothing on Food! or Art!  I just put those in the title to get your attention.  Thanks for reading.

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Break

I feel like I might take a break from this blog. Stop posting for a while.  I don't know, it feels like I have nothing to say except talk about the latest books I have read.  And I just read two really good ones.  OK, I will post about those tomorrow.

But the point of the blog was, in the beginning, to chronicle some travels I was taking at the time.  I am not traveling now, not doing anything now except getting on with the life I have, which is certainly nothing different than what you all are doing.  "All" meaning the three people that read this.

I just came back from a short walk around the block with Cooper. There is a bar a block away from where I live, a bar and a pizza place.  The pizza place does decent business, they make a decent pizza, not great but serviceable and it is close.  In the year I have lived here I have had two of their pizzas.  So, really, the pizzas are just OK.  The bar is a separate entity below the pizza restaurant and it does a fine business until about 9:00.  I have walked over to the bar a few times, especially during World Series times, have had a few drinks and a few cheers for the Giants and made a few hour-long friends until the game ends.  I like the place. They make a decent Manhattan for $4.00.  Seriously, where can you get a drink for four bucks these days.

But after games end or on nights with no games and 9:00 rolls around, this place becomes the Zombie Bar.  It gets really busy but honestly, from the peeps I have seen walking into the place, it is scary Zombie land.  I am not kidding.  Tonight, at 9:30, as Cooper and I were passing by on our evening stroll, there were at least a dozen people in a half block walking towards the bar, mostly single people, just streaming towards the place, like they just walked off the bus and had one destination in mind. No expressions on their faces (but, granted, it was dark outside and so maybe I couldn't see the look of enchantment on those faces) and they made no noises or comments as we passed by on the sidewalk. Nothing.  Just Zombie-like straight-arm walking.  To. The. Bar.  So odd and unnerving.

OK, no judgement here, I love a bar as much as the next Zombie.  Next time I will leave the dog at home and I will join the Z-crowd. Maybe there is something I am missing about quaffing alcohol with strangers in a neighborhood establishment after 9:00 at night.  Zombies and all, I am game.  Bring it on!  Better than being bored.  Well, maybe.


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Staring into space: a lost art

In the not so distant past, a person would go into a coffee place and get a cup and sit at a table and stare out the window, just daydreaming.  That person wouldn't be alone, others would be doing the same thing, just taking a short break from the craziness of the world,  having a quiet moment with nothing to do.  It was the same in airports: people read a book or sat quietly, waiting for their flights.  And even more fun was sitting on a bench in a city somewhere, just people-watching.

No one does this now.  You go into a Peet's Coffee or a Starbucks or a small coffee shop and everyone is either on their laptop or iPad or smart phone, involved in some sort of techno-communication.  No one is staring out the window, just thinking.  And forget about airports; the waiting areas are full of people chatting (loudly) on their cell phones or typing furiously on their keyboards, most of them frowning.  The pleasant past-time of people watching has gone the way of the print newspaper: it's just not productive enough to be worth indulging in.

I realize that I have a lot of time on my hands, and I readily admit that I spend a fair amount of time staring out windows, watching the world (or clouds) drift by.  It's peaceful and soothing sometimes and often it can be rather amusing if sitting in an area well populated by folks walking by.  Getting to see people stumble on the sidewalk or almost walk into a light pole because they are engrossed in something on their cell phone is a little frightening but also a bit funny.  Listening to someone's solo side of a phone conversation can be a great exercise in creative writing: you get to fill in the other side of that conversation with lightning fast dialogue, no waiting for cues.  You get to see what people are wearing, how they deal with sidewalk congestion, who tosses money in the busker's tin can.

So, my advice (and I know it's not worth taking) is to occasionally get off the device and look around and just observe for a few moments.  Don't comment, don't Facebook about it, don't even respond consciously.  Let the few minutes of free time pool around you.  Stare out the window, watch people wander by, take a mental break.  Smile.  It's easy.  It's calming. It's like being unplugged.

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Creepy

This morning I did a little on-line research about vision care insurance. I had a policy in the past that paid for the eye exam, frames, some of the prescription lenses. It was a good deal and I wanted to renew the policy.  I spent about ten minutes on the site, then closed it and moved on.

About thirty minutes later I logged on to my New York Times online account to read some of the paper.  There are advertisements on the front page of the paper.  The largest ad was from the same company whose site I had visited earlier in the day, the vision care insurance company.  Coincidence? I think not. My computer told NY Times something about me, or the Times knows how to pull information from my computer, and they were targeting me specifically. 

Sorry, but that's just creepy to me.  Shocking as well.  We all know that what we do on our computer is not often terribly secure but this was so obvious, so quick and so personal that it made me get up from my computer and leave the room.  Seriously, it was as if someone inside the machine was watching me.  And who knows, maybe they were.  Maybe they still are. Yuck.

Pining for Pliny

Sunday, February 3.  It's a beautiful day, Cooper and I walk to the library.  We cut through an alley onto 4th Street here in Santa Rosa and holy cow!  There are hundreds of people lined up on the sidewalk, down two blocks, at least three or four people deep.  I do a rough count in blocks of ten and there must be at least 500 people.  I immediately know what is happening:  the release of Pliny the Younger beer from Russian River Brewing Company.  It's Pliny Time!

Once a year the RR Brewing Company crafts a Triple IPA, the younger child of Pliny the Elder which is a Double IPA.  Making a Triple IPA is very difficult (so they tell me) and takes a ton of time for a very small production.  It is only served on tap and since the quantity is so limited most bars run out in the first two days.  The pub on 4th Street is their home pub so patrons get to drink it for a two week stretch, rationed at one 10 ounce glass per person.  It is released on the first Friday in February, which was February 1st.  No wonder the place was packed last Sunday!

Fast forward to today, Friday.  Again, it's a lovely day, Cooper and I are again walking to the library.  (Yes, I read a lot.)  It's a nickel past noon, we cut through the alley onto 4th Street and yikes!  There are at least 150 people lined up outside the pub!  Cooper and I walk down the block and wait!  The line goes around that corner, with another 50 or so folks queued up there.  So at lunch-time on Friday, already about 200 people are waiting for their Pliny.  It is obvious that these folks are not going to get in and out in an allotted hour lunch break. These drinkers are not going back to work today, they are not going back to school, they are going to wait patiently in line until it's their turn to get their 10 ounce glass of beer goodness.

I want some of that beer. I love Pliny the Elder (any IPA fan would) and I have never tasted the Younger.  Now my curiosity is peaked, I need to be part of this beer frenzy!  I suppose the only thing to do is to get as close to the front door as I can when they open their doors and have a beer for breakfast.  I only hope they don't run out before I can make that happen.  Pliny Envy, that's what I have now.

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How does one do good?

Yes, I am still unemployed.  Yes, I am still looking for work, every day.  Yes, I am depressed and pissed off about the whole situation.  Thanks for asking.

I must face this fact:  there is a very good possibility that I will not get another job.  It isn't my resume or interview skills or experience.  It's my age. It's my gray hair.  It's the economy and the huge amount of people also looking for work at the same time.  That's just life right now.

So, if I cannot find suitable (or unsuitable, I am not being fussy these days) employment, I will just spend my savings until I am broke and then I will........  (insert anything you want here.)  But in the meantime, before my money runs out, I am trying to figure out how to do something good, how to give to society, how to help out.  How does a person do this?  I spent an hour today while driving trying to think of what I can do and what I might want to do in order to make a difference to someone.  I can volunteer, of course, and that is a fine solution, one that I am going to pursue. But what if I wanted to do something more proactive?  What if I wanted to change the entire path I am on, change the map of my life, so to speak, and take a different journey?  How would I go about doing that?

I guess I first would have to figure out what change I wanted to affect.  Do I want to help the homeless, the hungry?  Do I want to help starving kids?  Do I want to help people in Africa get access to water?  Do I want to help the older lady on my block who seems to be having difficulty driving her car these days?  I don't know.  How does one define a life change?

Ah, questions, questions.  Any answers out there?  I would be happy to listen to them if anyone has any ideas.  All I know is that if I don't have a job, I must have something to do instead of reading a lot of books and walking the dog.  Something that matters to someone other than myself.

OK, that's my mental quandry for today.  Onward.