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Sunday, May 31. 2009
Shopping Explained
We’ve had rain in the past 24 hours! Not a lot, not even close enough to stop the mandatory water rationing that’s about to take place, but enough to give us hope for the future. Actually, the rain started Thursday Night, Friday Morning and has been off and on since.Friday my pal John and I walked from our place to Miramar Overlook Park, a quiet little patch of public land that overlooks Lake Miramar. It’s only about ¾ of a mile, but it’s all up hill. Thirty-six hours later my legs and butt are still feeling the hike. None of the climb is less than a 6% grade and it put a workout on my legs. My only hope is that it will increase my leg strength for pedaling the Trusty Trek.
Every walk, every bike ride pushes the envelope, even just a little, in my quest to regain a modicum of good health. It ain’t easy every day and it’s understandable why so many heart surgery patients don’t do the physical therapy to recover. Who wants to spend an hour walking, especially if it’s going to hurt?
So, back to Friday: John and I walked up to Overlook Park, wet dirt and puddles of rainwater dotting the way. Cars had the telltale signs of rain; dried, dirty splotches where raindrops had splattered. There was a chill in the air and I wondered if long pants and a shirt with full sleeves were in order. Not to worry, before we were 15 minutes into the walk my body was sweating.
On the other hand, the 20-minute walk downhill was cold as the wind coming from the ocean chilled all that sweat.Scripps Ranch is a beautiful area and Miramar Overlook Park is high in the hills with clear views all the way to Tijuana. On a clear day one can see not just the Pacific Ocean, which is about ten miles away, but also the Coronado Islands, which are in Mexican waters. Friday wasn’t a clear day of course; it was cloudy and overcast, threatening to rain again.
For the rest of the day and evening it felt like my legs were about to collapse beneath my weight. We met another friend, Dan, at Rubio’s for fish tacos. It was difficult to stand, let alone walk, but the fish tacos were excellent.
Saturday it rained most of the morning and into the afternoon, so instead of walking in the rain, John and I decided to walk around Costco. For those who don’t know, Costco is one of those discount membership stores that sells everything from high-end electronics to groceries. They had a 65-inch Sharp Aquos television; we admired its great picture. There were high-end Nikon and Canon cameras, clothes of every type and of course thousands of people.
Well, maybe many hundreds. The place was packed. When Carl was alive he liked going to Costco on the weekends, which always baffled me since it was so crowded. He would walk up and down the aisles, not really looking for anything in particular, and then when he’d had enough Carl would head over to the tobacco area and pick up a few cartons of his smokes.
But he loved walking up and down the aisles and it drove me crazy. I’m a “get in and get out” kind of guy; know what you want, go get it — try and ignore the crowds — and then leave. But, once I realized what Carl was really doing, his shopping habits stopped driving me crazy.Carl liked scoping out the women. No lie! If he was looking at something and an attractive woman would be close, he’d ask her opinion, whether she was an employee or not. I’m telling you, the guy was slick. He did it not only at Costco, but every store he entered.
Yeah, we miss the guy and reminiscing about his quirks and eccentricities gives me a warm fondness for the guy. He would be 65, ready to collect Social Security were he still breathing.
Thankfully, John shops the same way as Carl; walks up and down every aisle, whether he needs something from the row of power tools or not. Usually not. We generally walk through the liquor section on our way to the bakery area and that’s always a shocker. Having quit drinking nearly 25 years ago I’m always amazed at the price of booze. There are premium tequilas that cost $100 for a 1.75 liter bottle.
That’s just nuts if you ask me. In my salad days I could drink that much booze in a couple days so I rarely bought anything remotely expensive—except for Jack Daniels.
Did you know JD is sipping whisky? I didn’t know, having never sipped it.
One can easily rack up a bill of $300.00 shopping at Costco because the prices are so good. There are the people who spend way more than $300.00, but everyone who shops at Costco is filling up at least one shopping cart.
Costco is the town square in the neighborhood. It’s the place to not only shop but to be seen, but there’s more!And then it’s outside for a Polish and soda, or in John’s case, a slice of combo pizza with a drink. All can be had for under $5.00. This is the neat thing about Costco: the prices at their outdoor food stand have been the same for the 17 years I’ve lived here.
We spent two hours at Costco on Saturday and that was like walking for an hour. Well, my feet hurt anyway. Today (Sunday), we walked around Lake Miramar, making it to the 1.5-mile pole, a total walking distance of three miles, done in one hour, ten minutes.
We pushed that envelope a little more today and for a brief moment thought about walking the five-mile circumference … but decided that wasn’t a terribly good idea. Three miles is good enough.
And now it’s time to take a nap.
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