Clara Net

Hey AOL, my real mood was "Enigmated."

 

I'm going to jump around today. An open thanks to my radio workshop class. I gave you the task of writing a public service announcement on a National Public Radio station of your choice. The mission was to raise funds for the retired oboist society, or as  you May Riggs called it,  the "R-O-S." I won't even try to recreate your work, but it was great. I'm still laughing. I'll name drop. Kimmy, Andrea, Angela, May, Lainey, both Jeffs, Mariana you pushed all my buttons. Your gray matter is very convoluted, and I think that's a good thing.

I heard from graduate Shaira Madera today. She hosts a Latino entertainment show in town.  She's been a real aid and inspiration to bilingual media students.  I've worried about Shaira ever since I assigned her the mission of finding out what was in the Giant Golf Balls at Buckley Air Force Base. She took the head on approach and just asked the security force at the gate that very question. This was attempted the day after we invaded Iraq?  Poor Shaira. They shut down the base, hauled she and her sister in to a little room, and questioned them for four hours. Shaira is from the Dominican Republic and a few details short of  U.S. citizenship.  I had to tell her later she could have found the answers by calling the local Chamber of Commerce. Of course she got an 'A' on the assignment? Shaira has some good news but I'm waiting for her permission to pass it on. It sure was great hearing from her.

So I'm asking for some participation feedback on this next branch of babble. I've always been fearful of shopping at Costco. I know I should shop there, and maybe twice a year I do. You do save money, they've got some pretty good stuff, and its fun to cool off in the produce room.  But I hate shopping. I hate it because its a constant battle to get a parking place. At Costco you wait in line to get in, you wait in line to pay, you wait in line to leave. I just get grumpy and I'm not fun to be around.

Well a few months ago I'm telling that to one of my students, Nicole, who works at Costco. ( my wife wants to know if I have any male students) Nicole says come on Tuesday. Well its been 6 months since she passed on that advice?  Nicole is right. Go on Tuesday!  Plenty of parking places. You practically have to wake up  the guy who checks your card at the entry.  I didn't see anybody bump into anybody.  The staff, including Nicole, were walking around helping people. Now don't laugh. I mean this. The checkout clerks were friendly and smiling. No, they really were. 

Nothing is perfect. The guy who grimaces, looks you up and down, and then matches your receipt with your basket of goodies showed no change in behavior. Well perhaps he appeared even angrier and more suspicious than normal. I resist stereotyping, but I'm wondering if these Costco door guards are recruited from the "R-O-S," Retired Oboist Society. Oboists, even when they are active, seldom get their due. It's always the strings, or the keyboard or the horns that get the glory. But need a really cool special effect? Who do you call on? "The Oboist."  Anyway he wasn't going to spoil my first Tuesday at COSTCO.

Here's where I need your help. How are Tuesdays at your COSTCO?  Is this just an anomoly at Nicole's COSTCO? Is there a reason, economical, political, religious, superstitious that would warrant this phenomenon? Is it the same at SAM's club? This may be worthy of some research grant money.

They (generic they) could just skim some of that money off their planned contribution to the R-O-S to fund the research.

Well he shouldn't have been so mean to me.