Union Square

Union Square December 22-24, 2012

After shopping at Macy's Cellar for a cake carrier that isn't the size of a small house (they don't sell any that aren't freakishly huge, by the way), I decided to linger in Union Square and people watch and take some photos to remind me that all the people crowding into Union Square were real people with real lives, not just faceless shoppers or sidewalk obstacles.  I mean, they are those things, too, but I thought I'd look at their human side for a few minutes.

People of WalMart

Found via Gizmodo:

There's another new blog in town -- People of WalMart (or "POW" for short").

This one is devoted to photos taken of customers at Walmart. Some photos are much scarier than others. Some are much funnier than others. Some are just kind of sad.

It's still young enough (just a couple of weeks old) that you can read the entire site in under five minutes. So be an early adopter just this once.

Black Friday Bingo

From Gizmodo:

Here's a game you can play while shopping this Friday.

Prepare your own Bingo cards based on a list of events that you are virtually guaranteed to see while shopping on Black Friday. Gizmodo starts with 28 suggestions, including (spelling errors below are courtesy of Gizmodo):

* Cash register, POS outage and Servers are down

* 3-5 hours to checkout and sometimes the line never moves.

* No available shopping carts. (This one happened to me yesterday going into Safeway at 16th and Potrero -- and I only found one in the parking lot.)

* Checkout line that wraps around everything inside the store like spaghetti.

* Employees hording ad items.

* Pushing, shoving, running, and running people over with a shopping cart.

* Most sale items gone within 1 hour. Very low in inventory to begin with.

* Customer walkouts.

* Employees lying to you about items being sold out.

* Customers cutting others in line.

* Employees fighting over customers or commissions

* Employees stealing other customers from each other.

* Customers will steal products from other customers.

Product name of the day

Via Gizmodo:

Introducing the Ginsu Outdoor Electric Fillet Knife by Radi Design.

The most precious item in the universe

Coming soon to a Dixieland Dykes +3 gig near you!

Seriously, next time DD+3 plays a formal gig, I'm pulling out the gold bow tie and cummerbund to go with my new red and gold Elvis shoes.

Wes will be jealous of these.

World's Greatest WHAT?

This lovely Ozymandias trophy is available from Topatoco, seller of such novelty T-shirts as "I'm made of meat!" and "Building a Fake Future in hopes that the real future will show up to mate with it," and (in a font mimicking a movie trailer announcement) "The following PERSON has been approved for ALL AUDIENCES so don't worry it's okay you can talk to me."

They also sell another shirt with a drawing of the "PED XING" man in a top hat riding a penny-farthing with the caption, "NOT A CRIME." The catalog page bears the following description: "FACE IT! As part of the top-hat wearing intellectual elite, you find yourself the constant target of mockery and derision for your chosen mode of transport! Stick it to the Man with a shirt that says, 'Hey world, I bite my thumb at thee.'"

Novelty T- shirts made by people who assume their target audience actually remembers things they learned in English class. What a concept!

A/V Geek TV Cover

Sadly, sold out.

More candles

First I told you about the candles that smell like Jesus.

Now let me introduce you to Manly Man Candles (aka "Mandles").

Here's a sample list of available fragrances:

Hunting Lodge ("a strong, woody outdoor scent accented by cedar");

Yardwork ("smells like fresh cut grass");

Sports Injury (smells like "a cream that gets ICY cold and then HOT, if you get my drift");

Wild Alaska ("true pine accented with earthy undertones");

and, of course,

Leather (do I really have to describe it? Okay, it smells like leather.)

Heaven Scent

Candles that smell like Jesus.

Available in three scents, based on three bible references:

His Essence - Psalm 45:8 - "All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia..."

Resurrection - John 19:39-40, "Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds. Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen."

Servanthood - John 12:3, "Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume."

Available in jar candles, etched glass candles, pillar candles, votives and tea lights.

"Your tea is being kept warm by a candle that smells like Jesus smelled when he arose from the dead...."

Delicious, delicious.