What Would We Do...Without Cellphones?

 I was looking through my camera roll and I came across a random photo I took when I was at The Home Depot last week. At first, I did not remember why I took it--I take a lot of pictures for possible blog post topics. So, I wasn't sure about this photo of Dish Packing Kits. Was I going to write about the joys of packing (like I did yesterday), or how it's interesting that they market packing kits in packing kits?

Then, it hit me...I took this picture because I was unsure, unsure of whether or not this was the exact item I had been sent to fetch. Turns out, it was. Then I realized just how important cellphones are in our modern society. Sure, they save lives and record daily events, but they do other important things, too.

Like, help a husband remember what he was supposed to buy.

Using my grandpa voice (I'm not a grandpa, but many my age and younger are...), I remember back in the day when ,if you didn't have a list and things written on that list, you relied solely on memory. And, as we all know, shinny things can be distracting and memory pays the price. I thought back on many a time I forgot what I was supposed to get, bought what I thought I was supposed to get, then returned to the store to purchase what I was supposed to get the first time.

Modern technology comes with a price--more hectic lives, relying on phones for everything, but it also helps out a husband when he's sent to The Home Depot for dish packing kits and he makes sure it's the right thing before he even leaves the parking lot.

So Few Cars In The Costco Parking Lot...But, Why?

We had it all figured out. We had several places to go this morning and we thought it best if we plotted out the route we'd take (my wife and I had slightly different ideas of the route we'd take...). In the end, we were able to make it to the three locations with few issues.

At least, until we came to the last one.

I have been working the same shift for years--Monday through Thursday, then Friday off. Personally, I can't think of having it any other way. I'm so used to putting in ten-hour shifts, it hardly phases me anymore. Beginning before 7am helps. By the time noon hits, I'm more than halfway done. Do that four times in a row and you've got your forty hours.

So, Friday mornings are great for running errands. This morning was no different. We hit the first place (to get a quick yummy breakfast...), then we hit the second place (to pick up groceries...). Finally, we needed to stop by Costco. For us, Costco is a "need" store, because the store is so dangerous. There's a lot under that roof that can be considered wants and not needs. If we stick to the needs, we can afford to stay in our house.

At 9:30am we turned into the Costco parking lot and we were blown away--six cars. That's all we saw, six cars. My wife and I chatted about why so few. We'd been at Costco when it opened at 9:30am before. Sure, the parking lot wasn't full, but it was more crowded than it was today. Still, we thought we had hit the "Costco Not Crowded" jackpot. We'd have the whole store for ourselves!

Turns out, that didn't happen.

Costco opens at 9:30am...

On Saturday.

On Friday (today...), it opens at 10am.

Mystery solved. We had to wait around for twenty or so minutes, and even though there were maybe a couple dozen cars when we left Costco with our purchases, it was nothing like it'll be tomorrow. Next time, we'll work this information into our route plotting.

Multiple Cars...Multiple Uses

I took a picture of all three of our cars this morning. I did it because yesterday I drove each car to run errands. I could have only driven one car, but where's the fun in that?

It's strange to have three vehicles. There's the family van which is needed since there are six of us. There's my car--the Pontiac Vibe, small, economical, and along with the van, built by Toyota so they're reliable. Our third car is a Ford, a Taurus about one year older than my Vibe and five years older than the van. The Ford is a car we didn't absolutely need, but circumstances were favorable for us to buy it. The cars aren't new, but they're paid for. Not having a car payment is a wonderful thing.

For the past two days I was needed to act as chauffeur, mostly for our daughter. We went to a job interview, went to the theatre multiple times, dropped her off at dance rehearsal, and a voice lesson. I also needed to pick up groceries. Each car has its own pros and cons. I also needed to fill a couple of them up with gas.

When I lived in Europe decades ago a car meant something different than it does in America. I'm not sure how it is now over there, but back in the 1980s having a car was a big deal. They cost more to buy, to operate, and to fill up with gas. Even before I went there I used to drive cars that cost around $500. Okay--they were VW Bugs and you could get one for that price. I bought my first car for $500 when I was sixteen. Sure, it wasn't new, but it was a car.

In the coming months and years our family will change. If one of the kids moves away they'll mostly likely take of of the cars with them. And because they're cars and break down from time to time, we know they won't last forever so when the time comes, we'll need to make a choice--replace or get by.  I guess we'll make that decision when that happens.