meme schmeme

Discovered 5ives today, though I've been looking at 43F for some time (since it began, really, although I sometimes find it nearly incomprehensible, or at least kind of over-the-top). One of the entries really cracked me up:

Five companies I suspect I may be the bitch of

His are Gilette, Apple, Sprint, Costco, and Trader Joe's.

Mine are Target, Sony, Apple, Sephora, and Wild Oats; also potential entries are various bagel/sandwich/soup places, interchangeably (I mean... Einstein Bros, Panera, etc).

I absolutely know I am Target's bitch, and yesterday I was reflecting on how many Sony products I own, because of that speech one of the heads of the company gave the other day about how they realize they've screwed up lately and allowed their always-flagging entertainment division begin to dictate the policies of their usually-pretty-successful electronic division. I'm typing this on a Sony computer, which I love, and I have a Sony stereo and DVD player, and a Playstation (but not a PS2). Downstairs is a big Sony home theater system, but I didn't choose it. Things that are not Sony around here: my alarm clock (Timex), my TV (inherited, a Zenith), my VCR (JVC, and still going strong after almost ten years, but the newer inherited VCR that I am keeping at Tom's house, along with the inherited home theater system, are both Sony), my cellphone (umm... Audiovox, I think? It's OK. It's a tiny flip phone...), the mp3 player (iPod mini), and the laundry machines (LG).

Apple and Sephora are arguable... but I'm using iTunes with my iPod, I bought an iBook years ago, I will probably buy a miniMac at some point, etc. A greater argument is that I am Microsoft's bitch, but honestly... mostly I'm Microsoft neutral. I do use their products, and I don't really care to go through the hassle of switching to Linux (I don't have any great personal reason or need to), but I'm not really in love with MS. Sephora... they used to know me as a frequent and very good customer at the Orlando store. There isn't a store around here, and I haven't done an internet order, but I probably will when I need things. This might be interchangeable with Nordstrom, which is the closest local substitute.

Wild Oats... I don't go there as often as I would like, but it is my favorite grocery store. Great variety of tea and treats. The fruit is always fresh. I get basics from Kroger or Giant Eagle, though, then pick up speciality items from WO; a check-cashing snafu at Kroger the other day really annoyed me, so I plan to shop elsewhere for a little bit. We have a Trader Joe's, but I haven't been there since I moved here (went on my exploratory visit in 2002). I do like TJ's, but nothing there ever strikes me as an essential item the way that certain teas and foods at Wild Oats do.

(Addendum, a few hours later: Barnes&Noble or Borders, interchangeably, and definitely over Sephora or Apple. I'm in one or the other or both at least once or twice a week. I tend to buy more stuff at B&N, for two reasons: the mixed coffee drinks tend to be awful at Borders - they overdo the syrup, and B&N has a discount card program which is worth every penny it costs to join if you shop there regularly. But since I like Borders and spend a good amount of time in there, and since I live really close to one, I try to buy items there that are low enough in cost that my B&N discount wouldn't really affect them, and that Borders gets supported too. In Florida I bought a ton of books from Borders, but I had to go out of town - every week or two, as some may remember - to do it.)

What are your five?

ow, my nose!

The air in the building I work in is so, so dry. I think it's because it's a skyscraper - big for around here, average for places like NYC - and the air is recycled a lot. Given that I spend most of my time in the catering kitchen, with a couple of industrial coffee makers and a dishwasher, I'm also usually a little overheated. But I was still surprised yesterday to have a little bit of a nosebleed (just when I needed to blow my nose, not a flowing nosebleed or anything). Lasted pretty much all day, too. I combated this with what I called a low-tech humidifier - made a cup of mint herbal tea, put it to my mouth and cupped my hand around the outer edge of the cup and my nose, so that I could inhale the steam. It helped a little. But my nose is still bleeding, on and off. I thought it was just me until my friend Katy was in the kitchen getting tea, and sneezed, and got specks of blood all over her hands: she'd had the same problem all day.

I have gotten around to taking some pictures at work, but I won't post them until this job ends. They are all high views of Columbus and some local buildings, including Leveque Tower (which has an amazing top) and the Statehouse. I took some from one of the conference rooms while I was setting it up, some from a tiny break room that's just off my work area and has recliners and medication and stuff in it, and some from the lunchroom on an upper floor, which has floor-to-ceiling windows on three walls and a good view of the Scioto River.

Tom left a while ago to go to Panel - we're either going to stay in and watch movies tonight, or go see House of Flying Daggers, I think. I still want to see Phantom of the Opera, sadly... it was a childhood fixation of mine which I am well over. Fifteen years ago I would already have seen it at least three or four times. Now... eh. I've heard it's pretty bad (from critics in general), but pretty much everyone on Pander who saw it loved it. Mostly I've been marvelling at how Emmy Rossum (who plays Christine) looks tremendously like the woman I've been trying to write a novel about (see my intensefragilty icon), and helps me put together an idea of what she must actually have looked like. At any rate, someday I will write a post about the aforementioned childhood fixation, and everyone can be very amused with me, and we'll call it a day. I was a really weird kid. :)

(and today, I'm a really crampy woman.)