* No, my dad didn't get home yesterday. Maybe today. It seems like maybe the hospital has entered vacation mode; it sounds like a lot of things have slowed way down.
* Last night, in desperation (no food I really wanted to eat in the house, no car access, and I was tired anyway after having done some brush-removal in my parents' yard) I ordered a calzone from a place I don't think we'd ever had food from before: DP Dough. (This is a chain that tends to focus on college towns, as it turns out. I thought it was a one-off because I'd only ever seen it here). The calzone (pesto cheese, tomato, pepperoni) was surprisingly good and they have an enormous menu (including a "pick your own fillings" set-up). Though I suppose, really, it's kind of the sub-shop model: you have all the bits and pieces, you make the bread, and then you can put together whatever the customer wants.
Yes, I tipped the delivery guy.
* I still think about how I kind of miss enclosed malls. No, I haven't been to the one here, there's not much point - the only anchor store left is Kohl's. (They used to have a Sears, a Penney's, a Bergner's, and after I moved to Oklahoma, it also added on what was a Famous-Barr that became a Macy's and then closed). I dunno. I wonder if we'll see some kind of pendulum swing back at some point when at least some people decide they like trying stuff on before they buy (rather than after, and then having to send back what doesn't fit or suit). Or, I suspect: the extremely wealthy or major-city-dwellers will still get that, the rest of us out in the sticks will be given the choice of "potluck via Amazon*" or "go down to the local walmart and buy whatever sacklike clothes they are selling now"
(* Amazon really needs to get its fake/bootleg/counterfeit sellers in check. I wouldn't buy clothes or stuff like that from them now; I don't trust them for that. Books, yes, maybe some major- brand items, yes, but I've heard too many stories of "not as advertised" - and had some of my own Not As Advertised experiences to want to use them for much else)
One of the things I feel vaguely cheated by is this: there were many interesting shopping options when I was a kid/teen/college student but almost never had much money to spend, but now, when I'm middle-aged and have disposable income, shopping options have...shrunk. (And yes, I suspect part of it is increasing income inequality; I'm probably at the lower end of the top 10% (at least globally; maybe top 20% in the US) but the "rich person" options are still out of my league, and there's really not that much between Dollar Store/Wal-mart and Expensive Boutique/Neiman-Marcus any more. Not like I remember as there being, where you could get decent clothes at places like Penney's or O'Neil's or similar, and a lot of those are gone now- or have retreated so far that most of us out in the middle of the country don't have as much access anymore.
* Also more and more I think the "consumer giants" don't care at all about keeping customers happy; either they figure "more where those came from" if someone decides to no longer use them, or "they can't avoid us" (which might be true in my town of boycotting wal-mart, unless you were willing to mail-order a lot of things or regularly make long drives)
* iTunes is going away. Some people on the news were talking about how "this is the end of the download era" and I don't know....so they're expecting people will just stream everything from now on, and not own their own copies? Again, I've heard enough "horror stories" of copyright disputes or similar where I'd rather own my books in ink-and-paper format, and I admit I still buy the occasional CD....Also computer systems can fail, and at least in the case of actual books (or, I suppose, things like vinyl records, where turntables are still made) - you don't have to upgrade your media because the way of playing them went away. (I wonder how many VHS tapes are in landfills? Or eight-track cartridges?). And yes, maybe I'm just a cheap wench, but it feels like a very specific sort of "cheat" to me to say "Oh, hey, that movie you liked on dvd? Well, we're not releasing it on super-enhanced-special-new-format dvd that won't work in your existing player, but when that player breaks, the new player won't play your old dvds, so you better just upgrade everything now" and so some people wind up buying multiple formats of their favorite movies and YES that feels like a cheat to me.
Which is why I crankily still like books. At least books don't need special technology to access them. (Well, maybe reading glasses, as that one tragic Twilight Zone showed us, but that's a technology unlikely to be "upgraded" to the point where existing books no longer work with it)
* It's so quiet in the house.
* I was able to extend my hold mail online. This is a good thing; I was worried about that. I only have about five more days' "wiggle room" though so here's hoping that some sort of train service IS restored by the 12th. (I'm also kind of over being "idle." Oh, I have knitting and books, but when you get used to working, not-working chafes after a while. Also living by someone else's schedule, when you're used to having your own...)
* Hopefully my dad gets home today. Better for him, better for my mom, and then I would have access to a car if I wanted to go out and do something. (And again: if there aren't further real-time posts, it's because he did get home)
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