Yeah, Costco rocks. And it definitely accounts for my dvd purchases. And wine. And gallon of crushed garlic (what was I thinking?!). And I do have to say that I thought the little quiches and veggie meatballs and crabcakes I bought there were surprisingly tasty.

Picking you up is no problem, ita. You really do live close by. But we can play it by ear, let me know how you feel on the day.

TJs has these crispy seawead strips... oh ho ho sooo gooood. But they have yet to work out the kinks in the supply chain, so they only have them like once every couple of months.

I swear I've set my work laptop's backdrop to a personal porn that makes me not want to work: Everest, Paro, Himalayas, random Bhutanese prayer flags. Whenever I open a new screen absent of crap, I just sigh and miss it.

It was a good summer.

Costco has these flour tortillas that you cook yourself. Yummy.

From what I understand from my friend who used to work at Costco, it isn't a supply chain issue. It's that CostCo only buys items when it will be a deal for the customer. And product price waxes and wanes, hence the availability issues. Rather than the squeezing Wal-Mart approach, it's more of an opportunity approach.

The nearest Costco to me is more than a half-hour drive away. Eh, I'm a single person in an apartment, and storage is always an issue, so buying in bulk isn't necessarily a plus for me. One of the reasons I'm glad Trader Joes moved in near me is that I can buy cheap stuff in sizes I can use.

My sister uses the Costco near her all the time. But she has a house and a family of four, and her daughter has a boyfriend who could eat a shopping cart full of groceries in one sitting. So the Costco fee is a good investment for her.

It looks like the federal government is closing early in anticipation of the snow (my DH's office follows the feds). I note, however, that my neighbor who is pretty high up there in the Obama administration is not up this morning so it looks like maybe Rahm isn't having his 7:30 meeting.

Stay safe, fellow storm shut ins!

FTR: being forcibly moved or transported in any way counts as kidnapping according to the law-enforcement segment of my training. e.g.: someone breaks into your home, points a gun (or knife, or banana) at you, and makes you walk from the bedroom to the bathroom under threat of personal harm...that counts as kidnapping. Makes it easier to pile on charges in criminal cases.

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A high level Pakistani diplomat has been rejected as Ambassador of Saudi Arabia because his name, Akbar Zib, equates to "Biggest Dick" in Arabic. Saudi officials, apparently overwhelmed by the idea of the name, put their foot down and gave the idea of his being posted there, the kibosh.

Beginning the working from home experiment.