DOD: Grocery store update.

Last night after our youth service, I stopped in to check out our "re-opened" grocery store around the corner. Now that it's a Save Mart and not an Albertson's, I wanted to see if prices had changed much. The answer? Ehh, sorta. Some of their prices are now down into the Safeway (without club card specials) range, and others might be a little bit lower. In any case, it appears that many prices DID come down from the Albertsonstratosphere range. And that's good news. Having a grocery store is a good thing for a neighborhood, and it's likely I'll spend a little bit more of my money just around the block.

DOD: Our grocery store closed.

Yes folks, you read those words correctly. Our neighborhood grocery store closed today.

And I couldn't be happier.

Don't worry. I'm alright (I think). I'm happy because the "closed" store was an Alberton's location, and the "soon-to-reopen" store will be a Save Mart. I've shopped occasionally at the store because I believe in the value of a grocery store in my neighborhood, but the prices are WAY too expensive. Save Mart SHOULD have lower prices, based on what I experienced back in my Turlock days.

In any case, come Wednesday, the store will be a Save Mart, and I'll give them a shot at saving me some grocery cash from my budget.

DOD: Discovery of the Day

OK, this isn't a NEW discovery that I made today. But it's recent, from earlier this month.

I love Togo's sandwiches. Truthfully, I love Quizno's sandwhiches more, but the price and value and quantity of a Togo's sub bumps the big Q outta first place for me. Subway? Hmm, isn't that a dirty place where people leave nasty grafitti? That's what I thought.

So, a few weeks back I ordered my usual sandwich (large #8, parmesan cheese bread, mustard only and a good amount, swiss cheese, little bit of lettuce, six or seven tomato slices, lots and lots of pickles, and black pepper) but at a different location. When I got to my "good amount of mustard, please" line, the employee asked me if I wanted Dijon mustard.

Flabbergasted was I. Togo's has more than just yellow mustard? Wow! So now, everytime I buy a sandwich at the big T, I get some Dijon mustard on it, too. Sweet.

DOD: Discovery of the Day

I proudly own a Treo 700p smartphone that is apparently smarter than many other cell phones out there. When daylight saving time began, a simple reboot switched the device to the correct time. I love my smartphone.

However, having a smartphone does not necessarily make ME smart. Today's Discovery of the Day comes to me via my buddy Jeremy Anderson. He owns a Treo 650, and we were talking today about the beauty of texting. I made a comment about copying and pasting a text message for multiple people, and he told me that I could send the same message to lots of people at once, without the copy-paste method.

Really?

Duh, yes. I've seen the semicolon appear after I type the name or number of a new person to text. I know what semicolons and commas mean in the world of email and messaging. But it never occurred to me I could send just one message to lots of people at once.

Some of you need to stop laughing at me right now, because of how obvious this DOD was. But it was still a discovery for me.

Friends worth un-losing.

This is turning out to be an interesting week. Yesterday I hung out with a friend who I hadn't seen much of over the last couple of years. This evening, I got a phone call from a college friend; we hadn't chatted in many, many months. And then later in the evening, on a whim, I sent a text message to a old friend that I haven't talked to in probably two years; turns out his cell number is still alive and accurate. Tomorrow I'm having coffee with a buddy who caused my long-ago sprained ankle (he didn't really cause it, but I like to be lame and blame him for it), after a long period of time without chatting.

Any particular reason this has all happened? Probably not. But it's a good reminder that just when we reach points in our lives when we're struggling to see who's on our side, we should always remember that there ARE plenty of people who have our backs. And that's a nice feeling.

Hmmm...perhaps I'll label this as my Discovery of the Day. :)

Discoveries: Tough to, well, discover.

I had a fun conversation with a parent earlier this week about my blog. I've been far too quiet of late, but this parent hadn't seen the posts, so it didn't seem so dead to her.

Anyway, she said she enjoyed my DODs...the Discovery of the Day. I've only written about two DODs so far, and I realized something significant: It's tough to have a true "discovery" every day!

I guess I could make it my personal quest, to never let my head hit the pillow without making some kind of discovery each day. That might work for awhile. But I'm afraid someday I'd end up wandering through the aisles of the grocery store, searching for an obscure ingredient in a mass-produced product. And then I'd call it my "discovery." And that would be pathetic, eh?

DOD: Discovery of the Day

Today's DOD is brought to you by our little friend, the pebble.

Until this morning, I didn't realize that small rocks could fly through a side window of my car and hit me while I was driving. But it can happen. And it did happen. To me. This morning. Now I know. And knowing is half the battle.

DOD: Discovery of the Day

I might do more of these in the future. Or not. Deal with it.

DISCOVERY OF THE DAY

If I stay in Starbucks long enough, and consume my Shaken Iced Tea Lemonade while staying in the cafe, I can get a refill for just 50 cents -- instead of paying $3 for a new one.

Perhaps some of you knew this. But for me, this was my DOD: Discovery of the Day.