Friday, April 29, 2011

A Trip to the Movies

I got my new glasses last Thursday. After several years of a need for new glasses, I feel rather silly that I waited so long to get new ones. I never felt any pressing reason to get new glasses, until last Friday. I first heard of the Packard Theater about a month ago, and I am somewhat bewildered at the level of excitement that came over me over this unique movie theater.

Outside of the small town of Culpeper, Virginia, amid rolling hills of farmhouses and silos, the Library of Congress has a facility that houses, restores, and celebrates film, typically old movies. Three times each week, the Library shows a selected movie in this beautiful retro-theater complete with chandeliers and a curtain that opens when the film begins.


Theater in Culpeper, Virginia
The ceiling has stars on it!  ... not Hollywood stars!
Last Friday, they played The Shop Around the Corner starring a very young Jimmy Stewart. We had it circled on the calendar since first investigating it, which led to a month of anticipation. There is no cost of admission, but you have to make a reservation one week in advance. One week of growing excitement.
The movie turned out to be wonderful, and the whole experience lived up to pretty high expectations.

It leaves me wondering why there aren’t fancier movie theaters. Just the presence of the curtain made the old movie feel much more like a true production. With movie tickets costing $10, $12, maybe even $15 a pop, it seems like a curtain is a small thing to request.

Anyways, the 45 minute drive from home to the theater will keep me from being a regular at the Packard Theater, but it will also keep the excitement and expectation alive with every special occasion to a true cinematic experience.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

New Glasses

I just got new glasses. Ready for the big reveal?

I’ve needed new glasses for awhile now. It would have been a good idea if I had gotten new glasses a few years ago after I chipped my old ones, but I soldiered on.

It would have been smart to have at least gotten an eye exam last year when it was deemed a requisite to maintain my driver’s license, but I soldiered on.

I probably should have gotten new glasses last summer when one of the ear-pieces broke off making it difficult to keep them on my face, but still, I soldiered on.

It became ridiculous sometime around Halloween when, after repeatedly gluing that ear-piece and the other ear-piece, which had fallen off soon thereafter, I gave up on the ear-pieces and took to simply laying the eyeglasses precariously on my nose… but still I soldiered on, albeit cautiously.

Yes, it was definitely time. And thanks to a Groupon coupon, the time was definitely right.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Free Energy Savings Kit

I like the idea of companies competing to keep me happy.  Currently they just compete to win me over and lure me into spending more money.  As mentioned, Sunbeam didn’t do that and I appreciate it, and I don’t want a similar moment of generosity to go unnoticed. 
 
A few days ago, I received an email from UPS informing me that “the package has been shipped.”  I hadn’t ordered anything Confused, I searched for what the package could contain or where it was from or why it was coming my way.  I didn’t find many answers.  Yesterday, the package arrived. 
 
Apparently several weeks ago, I completed a survey from my gas company, Columbia Gas.  As a thank you, they sent a WarmWise Energy Savings Kit.  It includes a water aerator, two swimming pool noodles, and a two low-flow shower heads!
 
I kind of like the shower head I currently use, and I’m not quite sure what a water aerator is, but I’ll definitely use the swimming pool noodles! Thanks, Columbia Gas!
 
And that brings our current score in the competition to keep me happy, Sunbeam: 1, Columbia Gas: 1, Everyone Else: 0.

Update: Luckily those flotation devices came with instructions.  Here they are in use. 
Pipe warming noodles
Two only got me so far, but I saw them at the hardware store for around a dollar.  If they actually work, it seems like money well spent.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Funny Money

While I stopped writing for a few weeks recently, life pushed onward.  Many stories went unwritten, many tales never shared, but a few gems gleaned from my adventures in ordinary life are worth mentioning.  This is one of them: I spent my emergency money on a hot dog and a coke. 
 
It happened at a Costco in Woodbridge, Virginia .  I was working, but out-of-the-office for lunch, so a co-worker suggested the big-box store’s little cafĂ© as a cheap way to fill our bellies.
 
After visiting their surprisingly immaculate bathrooms, I ordered a foot-long hot dog and a coke.  The total bill: $1.50.  With the food laid out between the cashier and myself, I thoughtlessly presented my debit card and quickly learned that I needed cash.  Unfortunately, that was a problem as my wallet was bare.
 
Tucked away in hidden corners, however, I keep my emergency money… two five dollar bills.  Ten dollars will solve very few emergencies, but in truth, I never thought I would spend them.  You see, they’ve been there a very long time.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

The Coffee Pot

It has been a while since I wrote.  I feel like that has become my theme.  The Muted Guerrilla: It’s Been Awhile.
 
Or perhaps my theme has become not following through on grand plans for posts.  This post is another example of this.  See, its original idea involved a well-crafted sketch of me catching a slippery coffee pot with my foot in the moment before I kicked it into the cupboard door, smashing it into a million little pieces.
 
There’s much more to the story actually.