the weekend of a conflicted consumer

Watched Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices. Kids watched it too. Towards the end, there is one segment about the lack of security in a parking lot which we fast forwarded through because I hadn't pre-screened it and wasn't sure exactly what happened to the woman.... Still haven't seen that little snip of it so still don't know. As for the rest, see it. A few months ago we saw the other Wal-Mart movie (I think it's called Is Wal-Mart good for America). Both are very thought-provoking. What is the real cost of these 'deals'? What do you know about who makes your toys and clothes? What kinds of communities do you want to live in?

Listened to How to Train Your Dragon read brilliantly by David Tennant. Very funny children's story which was enjoyed by the adults too.

Bought patio furniture (not at Wal-Mart). We snagged a lovely set, made from 'certified resposible forestry' eucalyptus. Lovely. Looks like teak and apparently needs oiling like teak. Hornblower is still landlocked but now I can oil my woodwork.

Of course it rained all weekend so we didn't actually get to use the furniture.



Did I say it rained? It poured. See the whitewater? See the poor wet chickadee?



Hugo had to go see how deep the creek was - almost up to the bridge. Yes, he got water in his boots.



So did Roo.

We also bought a dishwasher (not at Wal-Mart). And really, my life is not all about shopping.
It's taken 4 months but finally I have a dishwasher I'm happy with. It has hidden controls. All that's on the front is a big roundish handle and 3 little lights; it looks like it's smiling at me with its strange little alien three-eyed face, and it was made in the USA, so there's a small chance that at least some basic labour laws were followed in its manufacture.

And finally, because actually it appears my weekend was all about shopping, I bought a new hard drive. Still haven't installed it so the machine is still wonky but at least it's here. We buy our computer parts from this weird outfit staffed by young Chinese boys. It's not a real store - more of a place where you pick up the stuff you ordered from them online (their website is so geeky that people can upload their own customer photos of the items they're buying; so yeah, I saw someone's photo of my hard drive. Wow. What a beauty. I mean who has the time to take photos of their hard drive & upload them?) I'm usually the only woman in the store and nobody makes eye contact with me. They also speak in gobbley code. You want IDE? With strong accents. When I walked in, there was the usual bunch of people milling around. I think they have security cameras which are activated by XX chromosomes because instantly someone appeared to serve me. And even though they have one of those 'take a number' machines, and I had taken a number, and it was not my turn, they still insisted on serving me. It's like there's some alarm going off "woman on premises". Of course it could be that I'm so stunningly gorgeous that they were all tripping over each other to get to serve me.

Or it could be because I had Amelia with me.
Long blond hair? Check.
Almost as tall as me? Check.
Little short black tennis skort? Check.
Legs that go up to her armpits? Check.

I think it was her.

Tags: wal-mart, movie, audio books, shopping, Hornblower