Trip, and Borders Outlets are great!
Sep. 2nd, 2002 12:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
whispercricketI'm about a day into my weeklong trip to visit my family in Ann Arbor and go to the Seattle area for training (it's so cool - my employer is flying me across the country! :) ). Ann Arbor is absolutely beautiful as usual - as we drove into the neighborhood where I grew up, the trees arched over the street and almost met in the middle, so it was like driving through a gorgeous, living green tunnel. If Waltham is a Tree City USA, then Ann Arbor is a Tree City USA extraordinaire, because there's really no comparison. I wish I didn't have to leave tomorrow - I feel so calm and relaxed when I'm here, even if I fight with my parents. I just need a couple more days.
Today, we drove out to one of the Detroit suburbs to visit a Borders Outlet store. I've never been to one before, and it was really great. The store wasn't very large (although it was the largest of the three close to A2), but most of the books were between $3 - $7 (for hardcovers - paperbacks were cheaper), plus they had a Buy 3 - Get 1 Free promotion going on. They also had a ton of CDs, most for $5-$8 (cheaper than at most used CD stores these days), and many of them were obscure and interesting. I ended up buying 6 books and more CDs than I remember...(counting)...10 total, including one that's a present for a friend who just had a birthday. Maybe it's good that these stores only exist in Michigan and Ohio right now (they're expanding to Washington D.C. and somewhere else, but nowhere near Boston), because they're really good at sucking the money right out of my wallet.
I have no idea how I'm going to fit all of this stuff into my suitcase, plus the 4 or so books I got last night at Afterwords. I guess I'll manage somehow. It's a happy problem. :) I'll just have to watch my spending in Seattle.
We also went to Costco to look at a possible new TV for my parents - my dad is interested in the 32" Samsung HDTV-ready model. It was very nice, although on the analog Cable feed they were using, you obviously could see that the line doubling from 480i to 480p made the picture look more blurry (although with fewer visible scan lines). Bad, BAD standard cable - no cookie! :) Anyway, they decided to wait because their current TV, while only a standard 27" JVC that's a couple of years old, still works fine. Instead, my mother stocked up on mocha Frappucino and scotch tape, which is really what Costco is all about.
Now we're watching Tea With Mussolini, or really, my parents are watching and I'm half watching because I'm writing this entry. It's pretty interesting but rather sad, which is to be expected because it's about WWII Italy. The surround sound of fighter planes and bombing is disturbing my dog (my dad has a really good subwoofer, so she probably thinks it's thunder), so I need to go pet her, and anyway, I really should be paying more attention to the movie, so off I go...
Today, we drove out to one of the Detroit suburbs to visit a Borders Outlet store. I've never been to one before, and it was really great. The store wasn't very large (although it was the largest of the three close to A2), but most of the books were between $3 - $7 (for hardcovers - paperbacks were cheaper), plus they had a Buy 3 - Get 1 Free promotion going on. They also had a ton of CDs, most for $5-$8 (cheaper than at most used CD stores these days), and many of them were obscure and interesting. I ended up buying 6 books and more CDs than I remember...(counting)...10 total, including one that's a present for a friend who just had a birthday. Maybe it's good that these stores only exist in Michigan and Ohio right now (they're expanding to Washington D.C. and somewhere else, but nowhere near Boston), because they're really good at sucking the money right out of my wallet.
I have no idea how I'm going to fit all of this stuff into my suitcase, plus the 4 or so books I got last night at Afterwords. I guess I'll manage somehow. It's a happy problem. :) I'll just have to watch my spending in Seattle.
We also went to Costco to look at a possible new TV for my parents - my dad is interested in the 32" Samsung HDTV-ready model. It was very nice, although on the analog Cable feed they were using, you obviously could see that the line doubling from 480i to 480p made the picture look more blurry (although with fewer visible scan lines). Bad, BAD standard cable - no cookie! :) Anyway, they decided to wait because their current TV, while only a standard 27" JVC that's a couple of years old, still works fine. Instead, my mother stocked up on mocha Frappucino and scotch tape, which is really what Costco is all about.
Now we're watching Tea With Mussolini, or really, my parents are watching and I'm half watching because I'm writing this entry. It's pretty interesting but rather sad, which is to be expected because it's about WWII Italy. The surround sound of fighter planes and bombing is disturbing my dog (my dad has a really good subwoofer, so she probably thinks it's thunder), so I need to go pet her, and anyway, I really should be paying more attention to the movie, so off I go...
