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thrift store gold
Friday, June 9 2017
It was cool in the morning but something told me it wouldn't last. So I put my bathrobe on over my shorts and teeshirt and went around like that into the early afternoon. I'd sort of forgotten about that bathrobe, which is something I used to wear as an extra layer in colder weather. I hadn't worn it at all this past winter. I'd never worn a proper winter coat either, since I'd never spent more than incidental amounts of time outdoors in cold weather.
I was still wearing that bathrobe during the daily videoconference in the remote workplace. My boss asked, "are you wearing an old grey robe?" "I am indeed," I said, getting up and walking to a part of the floor where my whole body could be seen, at which point I began to stagger around saying, "I'm an old man!" "You really don't give a fuck, do you?" Da observed as the others guffawed. Soon thereafter I shed that bathrobe, as the day had taken a turn for the hot.
At some point this afternoon, I thought it prudent to give a better test to the exhaust pipe repair, so I loaded up the dogs and drove out to the Tibetan Center thrift store. I didn't expect much, but today I struck gold: a Summer remote video-surveillance system comprised of a camera with pan & tilt and a battery-powered remote with screen and control buttons. There was also a pair of USB-pluggable headphones, and those are always useful. The total came to less than $7. Back at the house, the surveillance system worked perfectly, and the only real problem with it was its proprietary nature (you can't monitor the video feed from, say, a smartphone). But for a quick & dirty surveillance need, it's a good thing to have.
This evening Gretchen wanted to go to the Garden Café in Woodstock. She asked if she could invite others, and I said okay. But I'm starting to realize that I really don't like eating at restaurants with friends. For the whole dinner, I felt like I'd lost control of my evening so I could sit around and be party to conversations that were completely uninteresting to me. It was especially bad when others came to our table to stand there and talk. I've already written about how much I hate that. I'm being unfair, of course: the people standing there were doing so at the encouragement of others at my table, and I was in a cranky mood. Also, Cricket had just disabled my cellphone service because the credit card they had on file was no longer valid[REDACTED]. During dinner, the only things that gave me true happiness were the delicious & spicy kale & potato soup and Chai, a friendly pit-dalmatian dog at the next table over. The outdoor garden at The Garden has become a popular place for people who like to dine with their dogs; there aren't many other good options for that in Woodstock. Back, for a moment, to that kale & potato soup. David had ordered a bowl of the miso soup, but when he tasted the kale & potato soup, he decided to take his miso soup to go and get himself an order of the kale & potato.
[REDACTED]
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