You do not work at Costco

Today's annoyance - people who fill up their cart at Costco and proceed to the self checkout lanes. You don't realize that:

1. You scan your items much slower than a Costco employee
2. You bag/box your items much slower than a Costco employee
3. Therefore, you don't really save time, and you make me (it's all about me) wait to scan my two items. 

People who get extra points:

• Those who buy expensive items that require price checks. Thanks for effectively blocking that lane, buddy.
• Those who buy items that require a pickup, and sometimes a key flick, or says the wife, former (7 times!) Costco employee. Another lane blocker.

If you find yourself in any of these situations, for your sake, or at least mine, take your cart to a cashier-staffed checkout instead.

(image found via random search here. I have nothing against the photographer, honest. :)

Persistent searches

Since I have started using Google Reader more, I've stumbled on the idea of persistent searches. Yes, this is old hat to most of you, but I'm a little slow on the uptake. See here for step-by-step instructions:

http://davefleet.com/2008/10/practical-101s-google-reader-and-persistent-search/

Home surprises

Tracy and I have been in our house since April 2007, and we still find little surprises every once in a while. Today's example - in our hall bathroom is a mirror hanging from a hook in the wall. While cleaning the mirror today, Tracy happened to look behind the mirror. She found... a plug outlet.

So we have a plug outlet about two thirds of the way up the wall. This is in addition to the regular plug outlet near the sink that most bathrooms have. I wonder what possessed the previous owner to install that...

Gmail keyboard shortcuts

Yesterday, I learned that gmail enabled the "?" keyboard shortcut - finally, a quick and easy way to see all shortcuts. Woot.

Rain

It's been a long time coming, oh liquid life from the sky.

And thanks for cleaning my car!