Tuesday, January 20, 2004
The score for today, ladies and gentlemen, is Bonnie: 1; AAFES: big fat honkin' ZERO. As you may recall, I'm feeling none to fondly toward the powers-that-be at the Post Exchange (PX) for their recent inflexibility in dealing with our lemon of a TV.
Today I went to the PX to purchase a larger memory card for my little digital camera. I searched the display and finally found what I was looking for: a 256 mb Compact Flash card advertised at $45.95. Imagine my chagrin when it rang up at $81.95! The cashier called back to the electronics department for a price check and was told that no, the higher price was the correct one.
I finished the transaction and then hightailed it back to electronics to see for myself. As I got there, a young sales clerk was walking away from the display, crinkling a small piece of paper between his fingers.
"Excuse me," I called. "Did you just take that tag off of that display?"
Why, yes, as a matter of fact he did. I got him to hand over the tag, and we began comparing it to the numbers on the back of my new memory card.
"See!" he said triumphantly. "It's not even for THAT card."
"Why, you're right," I answered. "It's for the 512 mb card that you're now selling for $165!!!"
I took the crumpled tag to customer service and explained the problem to the cashier. She didn't have the authority to help me but was only too happy to get me a manager. The manager asked, "Was that tag hanging on what she bought?" The cashier and I nodded vigorously. "Well, heck," he said, "give it to her at that price then!" I Snoopy-danced all the way to my car.
***
Prepare for a random onslaught of pictures. You folks who are on dial-up connections might want to go make a cup of coffee or take a nap while this loads.
I feel so guilty--I've been neglecting my film camera in favor of my digital one, so it took me a couple of months to burn through my most recent roll of film. What can I say? I am all about immediate gratification.
Here are a couple of pictures from our ice skating afternoon in Garmisch back before Thanksgiving. The girl in the middle of my kids is their friend Rebecca. We have a good thing going with her family: the dads work together, the kids play together, and the moms shop and go to Paris together.
Remember the Playmobil exhibit that we went to last month in Speyer? Well, here are my photos of the opera house. I had to use the regular camera, as I don't know how to suppress the flash on the digital. Flash was a no-go, because the whole thing was surrounded by glass walls. Anyway, note the teeny tiny phantom in the boat under the opera house in the second shot:
Here's a street performer we saw that evening:
And here are a couple of German kids whose photo I took because they were just too darn cute to ignore:
This is a picture of me with my new honey in a museum in Trier. Notice the sweater. Selbstgestrickt!
And here are a couple of shots of the most recent generation of pretties to grace my windowsill. I've had to branch out to using the front window as well as the back, since my bulb-buying tendencies are becoming almost compulsive in nature. Everywhere we go, I'm sure to come home with a small pot of something.
Now I'm off to Walmart to pick up Mike's photos from Klondike (and maybe a pot of tulips). Stay tuned!
Today I went to the PX to purchase a larger memory card for my little digital camera. I searched the display and finally found what I was looking for: a 256 mb Compact Flash card advertised at $45.95. Imagine my chagrin when it rang up at $81.95! The cashier called back to the electronics department for a price check and was told that no, the higher price was the correct one.
I finished the transaction and then hightailed it back to electronics to see for myself. As I got there, a young sales clerk was walking away from the display, crinkling a small piece of paper between his fingers.
"Excuse me," I called. "Did you just take that tag off of that display?"
Why, yes, as a matter of fact he did. I got him to hand over the tag, and we began comparing it to the numbers on the back of my new memory card.
"See!" he said triumphantly. "It's not even for THAT card."
"Why, you're right," I answered. "It's for the 512 mb card that you're now selling for $165!!!"
I took the crumpled tag to customer service and explained the problem to the cashier. She didn't have the authority to help me but was only too happy to get me a manager. The manager asked, "Was that tag hanging on what she bought?" The cashier and I nodded vigorously. "Well, heck," he said, "give it to her at that price then!" I Snoopy-danced all the way to my car.
***
Prepare for a random onslaught of pictures. You folks who are on dial-up connections might want to go make a cup of coffee or take a nap while this loads.
I feel so guilty--I've been neglecting my film camera in favor of my digital one, so it took me a couple of months to burn through my most recent roll of film. What can I say? I am all about immediate gratification.
Here are a couple of pictures from our ice skating afternoon in Garmisch back before Thanksgiving. The girl in the middle of my kids is their friend Rebecca. We have a good thing going with her family: the dads work together, the kids play together, and the moms shop and go to Paris together.
Remember the Playmobil exhibit that we went to last month in Speyer? Well, here are my photos of the opera house. I had to use the regular camera, as I don't know how to suppress the flash on the digital. Flash was a no-go, because the whole thing was surrounded by glass walls. Anyway, note the teeny tiny phantom in the boat under the opera house in the second shot:
Here's a street performer we saw that evening:
And here are a couple of German kids whose photo I took because they were just too darn cute to ignore:
This is a picture of me with my new honey in a museum in Trier. Notice the sweater. Selbstgestrickt!
And here are a couple of shots of the most recent generation of pretties to grace my windowsill. I've had to branch out to using the front window as well as the back, since my bulb-buying tendencies are becoming almost compulsive in nature. Everywhere we go, I'm sure to come home with a small pot of something.
Now I'm off to Walmart to pick up Mike's photos from Klondike (and maybe a pot of tulips). Stay tuned!
