Shopping

I went out to Walmart this afternoon, in search of an 18x24" poster frame. While I was there, I also picked up a new sun hat, and a purse.

[Note to avoid confusion; this is 'purse' in the US sense; the British equivalent would be 'handbag'.]

This last is more momentous than it sounds. I've been nervous about purses ever since I was robbed in London ten years ago; I carry my cash and IDs in a waist pouch, my cellphone and keys in my pockets, don't usually carry a checkbook around, and if I carry my one and only purse to go shopping it usually contains nothing more valuable than a paperback and a water bottle. For Phoenix trips, the stuff to keep me amused on the journey rides in a battered canvas tote from Waldenbooks, and that usually goes into church with me on Sundays. But I was wandering past the accessory displays, and I saw these nice big, squishy fabric purses, and it occurred to me that one of those could quite easily take the place of the Waldenbooks bag and look slightly more elegant.

Maybe I'm becoming middle aged.

Two minor annoyances, and a small neat thing

I installed dialup networking on the laptop, in preparation for next week's trip, and now every time the wireless drops a couple of packets it pops up the dialup window.

I shopped for groceries this evening, and came home with a pack of expired shrimp that went straight in the trash. I also couldn't find the stuff I use to wash my face, so I bought a bottle of the other kind -- and then found when I got home that I had untouched bottles of both the kind I like and the other one in the bathroom cabinet. (A quick google suggests that the good stuff hasn't gone out of production.)

The neat thing: I picked up a movie with the groceries, Legend of the Lost with John Wayne and Sophia Loren. I thought I recognized the slightly comedic actor playing the city prefect in the opening scenes, so I checked the IMDB. Yup, Kurt Kaznar, who many years later played Fitzhugh in Land of the Giants.