Singing for my supper

While standing in line today as our local bedding and household store finished its final day of trading before closing down, I had a lot of time to think. Being a devout bargain shopper, I was thrilled to score some seriously cheap goodies, but even as I gloated over the absurd discounts on the items I purchased, it all rang rather hollow; faltering retail is for sure a sign of the tough times ahead, and we would be foolish and naive not to acknowledge it as a worrying marker of what may be ahead. But among the sobering thoughts, there were some interesting observations to made, as well. Although the store itself was stripped nearly bare with only the most meagre selection of items remaining, it was packed. Each of the 5 lines had at least 10 people waiting to check out, and most of those people had carts piled high with bedding, curtains, small appliances and furniture, taking advantage of the 90% reductions on everything that was left before they closed their doors for good. Even t...

I admit it: I'm a closet geek. Ok, maybe not even a CLOSET geek - I loves me my technology and make no bones about it! Most gigs I give myself a little "treat" in that regard, and this one appears to be no exception :) So yesterday, when preparing to pick my husband up from a neighbouring city airport (he's flown in for a day to come and see the opening), I decided it was time to indulge in something I've been considering for months now (and even more so after my first week here where I spent much of the time getting lost): a simple GPS system. A bit of internet research and I decided on this . I can't BELIEVE that I have waited this long to jump on the GPS bandwagon - it's an amazing device, and has already justified the (modest) splurge by getting me safely to and from said neigbhouring city without so much as a single moment of "Aaack! I'm lost! What do I do NOW?" panic). And I will never again have to rely on ask my husband to navigate!...