Sweet find!

So sometimes you'll hear this unbelievable story about someone wandering into a garage sale or thrift store and discovering some amazing find. In my circle of peeps these fables usually involve an antique sewing machine or some other crafty equipment. Everyone listens in awe to the story, and then all at once all jaws drop when everyone hears that this unloved piece of equipment cost the teller of the story only a fraction of the normal price. And we all love to hear the stories, but we all secretly believe that this never really happens.

Well on Monday I met my friend and my other friend's mom at a bridal dress shop to make some complaints on behalf of the bride-to-be (who lives out of town and therefore is unable to show up herself). Turns out the place wasn't open yet, so we went to the nearby thrift store.
Karen and I were wandering around looking for cheap jeans (because if the jeans are only $3, there's always room for another pair).
Suddenly, I stopped, dropped the three pair of jeans I was holding, and yes, I screamed out loud.
This is what I saw. I carried it around the store for another half hour and bought it for $99.99 ($107 after tax). I later called the weaver's guild to ask if I could bring it over for them to tell me what needs to be done to make it work. They referred me to their wheel fixer guy. I called him, told him about the wheel, and made arrangements to bring it over.
When I got to his house he looked it over, oiled it up, and put a new leather piece thingy on it and told me it was ready to go. No charge.
His wife came in and was told the story about the wheel, where I found it, and how much it cost. And yes, her jaw hit the floor. Turns out this wheel normally goes for around $425. Used it's probably goes for around $200.
I was reassured that it was indeed a good find.

There was actually a 2nd wheel at the thrift store.
I had been tempted to get both wheels, but since I don't actually know how to spin yet thought it wasn't the wisest idea I had ever had. It was also missing the foot pedal part (which I'm sure could be easily fixed with the help of the wheel fixer guy). I'm still tempted to go back and see if it's still there. Because if one cheap wheel is good, then two cheap wheels is fabulous.
We'll see if I make my way back there... maybe tomorrow.

Happy VD!!!

Not much to say this Valentine's Day. This will be the 5th Valentine's Day that Michelle and I will be spending together, except this time there will be even more lonely people to join us!
The BF is off on an uninhabited island in French Polynesia studying an endangered species of sandpiper, which really is an amazing opportunity. And I'm really happy for him. I just wish he could have negotiated a way to get me to go too.
Anyway, turns out that the BF is pretty much sweet and awesome. I got a delivery today!
He had arranged for this to be delivered to me before he even left! And he even put into consideration the fact that I hate roses and I love orange! I really did luck out with this fella.

Escalators

I never thought of myself as one of those impatient people. But I have recently discovered that I am, I really am.
Let's start at the beginning of this realization. I hate my job. I'm currently working a thankless temp job that pays not very much doing very remedial work. I'll tell you what I do. I open envelopes... for 8 hours a day. I think it might be the worst job ever.
OK. So I hate my job, that means I try to spend as little time there as possible. This also means that I do my best to show up at 7:59 AM. I don't want to be there early. I want to be there with exactly enough time to take my coat off, put my bag down, and clock in at 8:00 sharp. I also want to leave at exactly 4:30. Now my intense desire to not want to show up early means that even if I arrive downtown 15 minutes early, I refuse to get to my job location until 7:59. So I wander around the skyways of downtown Minneapolis in the fleeting moments before the start of my terribly boring day at work. At about 7:54 I say to myself, "Self, you had better head over to work now." And so I do. From the skyway, I have to take two escalators to get to my floor. And I have noticed with increased frustration that other people just stop when they get on the escalator. Tell me, who are these people that just lallygag around on escalators at 7:55 on a weekday morning? I think it's a reasonable assumption that if they are downtown at 7:55 in the morning, it's pretty likely that they're on their way to be to work at 8:00.
Just because you're still moving if you stop on the escalator doesn't mean you HAVE to stop. In fact, I see this as the perfect opportunity to continue walking down. Just think, you could reach the bottom in more than half the time it takes to stand there or almost half the time if you were walking down plain old stairs! I say, "Take advantage of this technology!"
If I didn't have to anticipate having to wait behind these people who just stand on escalators, I could wait until 7:56 before I had to head down to work!
This also applies to 15 minute breaks, half hour lunches, and me trying to get out of downtown after work as quickly as possible.
I mean, come on people! If you HAVE to stand, at least move over so impatient people who are constantly in a hurry for fear of being late can keep going.
I do however, make acceptions for old people and people with small childlren.