Week 51: Why are people nuts tonight?

Normally I go out to buy some groceries each Saturday.  That’s just my usual thing.  Usually it’s not that big of a deal, I go and get what I need and go back home.  There are always people out, but it’s nothing crazy.  Tonight, it was different.

People were manic out there tonight!  It was like a natural disaster was about to hit and people were desperate to stock up!  I understand it’s the last weekend before Christmas, but damn!  

First of all, it was dangerous just to drive to the grocery store!  People drive dangerously in Las Vegas, but tonight it seemed like people were just out of control.  They were running red lights and stop signs, racing down the road going way over the speed limit.  People seemed desperate to get where ever they were going.

Forgetting the crazy driving, I did carefully make my way around to run my errands.  One stop I made was a store called Walmart.  It’s a large department store that sells just about anything you need.  I just needed a few toiletries and figured I could run in and out fairly quickly.  Silly me!  There were people everywhere!  And not just people everywhere, they were shoving everything they could into their carts!  I saw one guy with ten bottles of shampoo and a gallon of milk.  Is he going to run out of shampoo before Christmas?  Maybe he was giving shampoo away for Christmas and needed a large supply?  It was insane, it was as if people were “hurricane shopping”.  You know, out buying things before a hurricane, or some other kind of natural disaster.  

I quickly found the things I needed and dropped them into my cart (trolley, basket, or whatever you want to call it.).  I figured while I was there I might as well check the grocery section.  Stuff was flying off the shelves there!  The chip (crisps?) section was decimated!  Just like the rest of the store people seemed to be grabbing everything they could.  I decided I would rather fight people at a normal grocery store instead of Walmart, so I paid for my items and headed out, again braving the crazy drivers until I could make it to my usual grocery store. (It’s a place called Winco.). Winco had a lot of people in it, but it wasn’t as crazy as Walmart.  Things seemed a bit easier here.  People weren’t as mainic, but things were still flying off the shelves.  Luckily I did get the things I needed today.  

Another new thing is that I’m typing this week’s blog on a brand new iMac.  So far my experience with this new tech has been spent waiting for it to update itself.  It will take a bit of getting used to as it is different than my PC, but so far I’m loving it!  Time to take a few lessons in Final Cut Pro so I’ll be ready to edit my first video in two weeks!  

So again yes, next week will be the final blog for 52 weeks of Why.  I will have blogged for each of the 52 weeks. Except for one week.  I wrote that I was depressed for one week and didn’t do a blog.  But missing only one week is pretty good I think!  

2018 will be the year of video for me.  I’ll hopefully be recording and uploading a video each week with what goes on in my life.  I’d like to go to a few restaurants, maybe visit a few museums, and show off a few of the things around here in Las Vegas besides the casinos.  Maybe next year at this time I can show some video of the manic people?  Anything is possible.

So until the videos start, keep asking why.  I’ll be back with one last blog next week.

Week 2, Why do I need this?

Welcome to week 2 of 2017.  This week I ordered something I don’t really need.  But then what does anyone really need besides food, air, and water ,right?  Right?  Ok, yes I’m just trying to justify buying something that I really don’t need.

I ordered it online.  It was a bit expensive, but sounded like fun.  And what else should I be doing with the money I earn if not buying fun things?  (Don’t be telling me I should be paying rent and bills and such either!  Those aren’t fun!)  So it was scheduled to come by FedEx.  Don’t they make you sign for things?  I’m not sure!  I went online and somehow put in a request for the package to just be left in front of my door.  Will they listen to the request?  I’m not sure!  The item will be delivered on one of my days off, though!  I can’t wait!  (I’ll more than likely be bored with it shortly after getting it, but what the hell?)

And so my day off arrives and I await the package!  Will it come in the morning?  Doubtful, stuff I order never seems to come in the mornings.  I wonder again why I ordered this.  I wait and wait and wait.  Did I just hear a truck?  No, that was an airplane.  Damn!  I wait and wait some more.  Now I’m getting tired and have to go to the bathroom, but I can’t sleep or relive myself because the package might come!  It could be here any minute!  And finally…I wait some more.

My package does finally arrive around two in the afternoon!  I’m thrilled!  I’m so thrilled I go to the bathroom and then drop down for a nap.  I can play with it later when I wake up.  That’s one thing I hate about being an adult, I don’t seem to get as excited about things as I did as a kid.  So what did I get from FedEx?  THIS:

That’s right, I ordered an air freshener!  Wait…how is that fun?  I don’t think that’s what that is.  Taking another look, I actually ordered what’s called a Google Home.  Much more fun than an air freshener!  It’s kind of like having a computer from Star Trek.  You ask it questions and it answers them.

Me: “Hey Google!”

Google Home waits

Me:  “How far away is Orlando, Florida?”

Google Home:  “You are 2,298 miles from Orlando by car.”

Me:  “Hey Google, how old is the Cookie Monster?”

Google Home:  “Frank Oz is seventy-two years old.”

So apparently Frank Oz is the Cookie Monster?  Maybe she didn’t quite understand me.  I ask how long Sesame Street has been on the air and the Google Home tells me a bit about Sesame Street.  It didn’t quite tell me how old the show is now, but it did give me some information.

So what is this thing for, just asking questions?  I’m still figuring that out.  I did ask it to play a local radio station and it put the station on!  That was quite a thrill for the moment.  I’m still trying to figure out how to get it to play podcasts.  It will tell me the news, but so far just the news it seems to want me to hear.  How about some local news?  Nope!  Google Home only cares about national news!

I guess I can set alarms and timers with it.  I can ask a few trivia things and maybe have it ask me some trivia.  Yes, pretty useless at the moment.  It will tell me how long it should take to get somewhere and what hours different places are open.  And now I begin to wonder about something called an Amazon Echo Dot!  That works through Amazon and may know more about books and things!  Now I might want one of those!  Am I going to end up with two talking wifi connected things sitting on my nightstand discussing how to get rid of me so they don’t have to answer stupid questions anymore?  Quite the possibility!  I’m sure it would be quite disturbing to walk in and hear one of them saying, “So tomorrow when we make him fall down the stairs…oh wait, shh, he’s here!”

I’m still learning about my Google Home, but it is still kind of fun to have.  Every so often I’ll ask it something.  I’ll have to think about whether or not I want one of the Amazon ones, too.  Again, I don’t really need one of these things, let alone two!  But why not fill my life with useless things?  *chuckle* 

So for this week I’ll try and figure out why I bought a Google Home and why I may need an Amazon Echo.  And maybe next week we’ll figure out why the hell I’m doing some of the things I’m doing in life!

Until next week, question everything!