Regarding People

The New Neighbor Who I’m Not So Crazy About

/ Ally Bean / 22 Comments


hourglass

Image Source: Sweet Clip Art

A neighbor clued me into the fact that there’s a registered sex offender living on our street.  He moved here, sometime in the fall, into a smaller house on the edge of the subdivision.

I went online to the Sex Offender Registry to find out what he’d done, what he looked like and his exact street address.  The information about his crimes was complete.  There were two photos of him, one taken years ago and one more recent photo.  Then Z-D & I drove up and down the street until we located his house.

• • •

I have mixed feeling about this development.  On the one hand, he has served his time and is doing exactly what the law requires him to do by registering.  Perhaps there’s been some therapy along the way?  He might be contrite, reformed.

But on the other hand I’m judgmental enough to not trust a 30-something, college-educated male who solicited minors online and got caught by the police when he showed up for the meeting.  There’s something morally wrong with this scenario that I’m not sure I can overlook.

• • •

Thinking about it all, my negative attitude might be a bigger indictment of my inability to forgive than it is an accusation against him.  Clearly, I haven’t yet figured out how to process this information, as this is the first time, to my knowledge, that I’ve lived near a registered sex offender.

I’ll let you know if/when I shift into a more forgiving point-of-view, but in the mean time, I think that I’ll just keep my distance from that end of the street.  There are plenty of other directions I can walk around here.  No need to tempt fate with an accidental meeting.

The Saga Of My Search For Incandescent Lightbulbs

/ Ally Bean / 33 Comments

True confessions time.  I’m an incandescent lightbulb hoarder.  I lurve normal lightbulbs.  Soft white glow.  Roundish with an Edison base.  Retro.

Judge me IF you must.

• • •

Here is part of my incandescent lightbulb collection.

Here is part of my incandescent lightbulb collection.

 

• • •

So during these waning days of incandescent lightbulb availability, off I go to buy 25 Watt lightbulbs to replace the ones in the outdoor light fixture that provides light onto our deck.  

As you can imagine, they were almost impossible to find.  And when, after searching through 3 stores, I did find them at The Home Depot, I had to use the do-it-yourself checkout station… which didn’t work.

The screen was FROZEN.

• • •

It was at this point in my search for incandescent lightbulbs that I became the pawn of the woman responsible for the do-it-yourself checkout area.  And things became a bit difficult.

First, she didn’t believe that my screen wouldn’t work, so she tried seven times to make it go.  At this she failed.

Then when it was clear to her that my screen was, indeed, frozen,  she decided to ring up my purchase of $8.91 at her central register and have me hand her my $10.00 bill.  At this point in the transaction my frozen-screened do-it-yourself checkout station was to give me my change.

This would have been a great idea IF she had correctly entered $10.00 into her register, BUT she didn’t.

• • •

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• • •

No, she put into her central register that I had handed her a $1000.00 bill– and suddenly my frozen-screened do-it-yourself checkout station started spewing out $20.00 bills at a speed and in a way comparable to a figure skater doing triple lutzes.

Pushing me aside, The Home Depot employee made a dash for the cash coming out of my frozen-screened do-it-yourself checkout station.  She was in a panic.  A minute or two later when she had all the cash in her hand she was so flustered that she couldn’t figure out how to continue with my transaction.

And I was in NO MOOD to leave the store without my $1.09 change.

• • •

So I waited, with a line of customers behind me, until The Home Depot employee regained her composure.  Then, using a magic key that she had on a cord around her neck, she unlocked the entire bottom section of my frozen-screened do-it-yourself checkout station and counted out my change from the big till in there.

Consequently, a mere ten minutes after stepping up to the do-it-yourself checkout station, The Home Depot employee handed me a bag filled with what might be the most difficult to find– and to pay for– 25 Watt lightbulbs in the world.

THE END.  

[Hello FTC!  Please note that I’m explaining my point-of-view about things and my experiences while buying such things.  There was no monetary &/or other compensation involved whatsoever.  I know that you’re a wise & wonderful governmental department so you probably already knew that, right?  Just wanted to be clear.]  

As Promised, Four Haiku For You

/ Ally Bean / 17 Comments

[I did this.  Which led to this.  Resulting in the following.]

[Also, did you know that “haiku” is singular or plural?  The same is true for the word “you.”  So, if I had ignored the foregoing, then the title of this post could have been: Four Haikus For Yous.]

[FYI – I prefer saying the incorrect title for this post better than the one I put on it.  However, I’m too much of a grammar nerd to use the wrong title in print.  If I did, what would Google think?!!]

For Jen:

blogging with tonic:

clever. smart. hilarity.

child-free, likable.

For alejna:

pursuing degree.

photos delight, children too.

collecting: old-school.

For Beth:

with flute, music made.

at home in carolina:

friend, artist, walker.

For Polly:

studies French for fun.

writer. mother. coffee, please.

wonderful to catch!

What Is The World Coming To When A Phone Call As Good As This One Isn’t A Prank?

/ Ally Bean / 12 Comments

My cell phone rang earlier this morning.  I didn’t recognize the number, but could identify the area code.  It was the area code of an out-of-town friend that Z-D was meeting for an early breakfast.

Thinking that the call might be from that friend who was lost or something, I answered my phone.  This is unusual because I rarely respond to a number that I don’t know.  However, this time I did and the conversation went something like this:

• • •

Male voice:  Hello! I’m looking for John.

Me, realizing that this wasn’t our friend:  I’m sorry but there is no John here.

*sound of me laughing out loud at what I’d heard myself say*

Male voice:  What?  What did you say?

Me, figuring that this was a fun phone prank:  There. is. no. John. here.

*sound of me giggling because I’m so mature and all*

Male voice:  Oh… I’m sorry to have bothered you, ma’am.  I guess I have the wrong number.  Good-bye.

Me, sadly deflated that this hadn’t been a prank call:  No problem.  Good-bye.

*sound of me sighing that such a good set-up had gone for naught*

• • •

Kind of makes you wonder, doesn’t it?  Is anybody listening to what they’re saying?  It’s such a pity to waste a good *guffaw* when you stumble over one.  Yet that poor man on the phone– so serious.