“it’s more fun to compute” –kraftwerk

saturday i got up late. i went over to Texas sports and specialty cars (website) near fountain view on 59. i found out they’re open by invitation only on saturday, but after standing outside awhile looking at the cars in the showroom, the guy walked out and started talking to me. eventually he took me in and showed me around. they have some incredibly nice vehicles. unfortunately (for me, at least), they also have some very high price tags on the incredibly nice vehicles.
while i was there, sue called to see if i wanted to meet her and the kids at memorial city mall. i drove over there and hung out with them for a few hours. we parted ways and i headed to the gap to look for jeans. i really need some jeans…i have about two decent pair left. the other three or four pair i have are all threadbare to the point they’ve got holes and you can reach down and rip new ones by hand. i found some at the gap, but then i noticed they were $50. i laughed and put them back.
exiting the gap, i decided i would try and find a nearby computer store so i could buy a new ups. the one on my power mac started beeping incessantly every second or so a few days ago. i found the manual and it said that meant there was an internal ups failure and the solution was to call the manufacturer. since it was over two years old, i knew the only likely solution would be to pay to have it repaired. so instead i went looking for a new one. on the start of my journey, less than a minute into it in fact, i ran into a yankee candle store and they had “buy one, get one free” signs. i was sucked in.
i drove to a compusa, where i learned ups prices seemed much higher than when i last bought one (2.5 to 3 years ago). i headed to fry’s, but their prices weren’t any better. (in fact, they were the same or higher.) dejected, i half-heartedly stopped by a mcdonald’s redbox just to see if knocked up might be available. it wasn’t. i headed over to the potts’ house, where sue and i watched saturday night live. i also finally talked sue into making butterscotch oatmeal cookies. it didn’t take much work, but i did have to mention it several times over a couple of weeks. (just kidding…it was sue’s idea to make them. but i did mention it a few times over a couple of weeks.) they’re really good.
i drove home and was persuaded by my beeping ups to do some detective work on ups prices online. i eventually noted circuit city had a $50 off rebate on a model, which would make the price of the next lower model. i was excited until i clicked on it and the coupon expired at midnight and it was 2am. i went ahead and called to see if i could order online and slip into the rebate timeframe, but no such luck. for some reason, i couldn’t get to sleep when i went to bed and ended up not getting to sleep until around 5am.
i got up sunday around 11am. i registered on yankee candle’s website, which got me a $5 off coupon. i then headed to the yankee candle store in rice village. i must confess something here. i need to stop buying scented candles. i don’t burn them that often, and in an 8 day period i’ve bought 6 of them (not including the votive and small ones i bought to give away). granted, every one of them i bought on sale or with a coupon, but still. i’m not a fan of outdoors or musky scents, much preferring foods, fruits, and sweet scents. that said, here’s what i bought recently:

• cucumber and cantaloupe (yankee candle, medium jar), $5 off
• mulberry (colonial candle, large two-wick jar), $5 off
• vanilla cupcake (yankee candle, large jar), 25% off
• cherry lemonade (yankee candle, large jar), 50% off
• spiced cocoa (yankee candle, large jar), 50% off
• vanilla lime (yankee candle, large jar), $5 off

i also bought a couple of the ceramic candle shades (buy one, get one free) and one of the metal “illuma-lid” things. in addition to being decorative, they also help minimize wind and thus sooting, plus they retain heat which causes the candle wax to melt and burn more completely. like i said…someone needs to stop me.
anyway, from there i headed to old navy. i found a couple of pairs of jeans i liked there. and at about $26 per pair, they were almost half the price of the others. while there, i also couldn’t resist picking up a blue jean jacket. it’s been years and years since i had a blue jean jacket. i remember the one i had in fourth grade. i loved it. then one day at recess i took it off to play. about 10 minutes into the next class period, i suddenly realized i didn’t have it! i jumped up and told my teacher and she told me i could go outside and see if it was there. it wasn’t. i later checked with the principal’s office but it was never returned. *wipes tear from eye* i had a levi’s one in high school, but in those days who didn’t? i remember one time i loaned it to jennifer, and when i got it back a couple of days later it smelled of her perfume. it wasn’t upsetting in the least. (awww.) i had it through at least the early years of college as well. i don’t remember when it left me. and now i’ve got another one. who knows if i’ll ever wear it?
the next stop was circuit city. the $50 rebate had expired, but the new deal was $30 instant savings. the extra $20 savings would have been nice, but there’s something to be said about not having to mail anything in and wait, or pay taxes on the rebate money. (not $20 of something though, unfortunately.) i ended up buying an apc 1500va ups (bx1500lcd). since i only hook the cpu in, i should probably be able to get 2+ hours of backup life from it.
while doing my shopping, i got texted by chris to see if i wanted to go to a show that evening at the meridian. i thought about it and decided it was a good idea. on the way home i stopped by pei wei for my meal of the day, then around 7pm i met chris and some others at sherlock’s on west gray. from there we headed over to the meridian, where we caught the applicators (female punk rock from austin), roger miret and the disasters (from agnostic front, old school punk/hardcore), and the horror pops (psychobilly with go-go dancers, originally danish). it was a good show. all the bands were good. the sound was kind of loud, but eventually i won’t be able to tell.
after work today, natalie came over and we went by demeris bbq for some food (which was good), then we watched word wars. it’d been awhile since i’d seen natalie, so it was good to see her again. and i’m sure she was glad to see…the movie. 😉