"I don't know what you're talking about, but it sounds illegal. "

[archerships]

Went to Gayle and Rebecca's post-Egypt party. Lot's of pictures of camels and tales of sticking one's hands into ancient orifices. Ate om-ali for the first time. It's sort of like rice pudding, which I like. Also had lamb kabobs. I'm not normally a fan of lamb, but man, they tasted delicious. Also, let me just say that I hope the galabeya catches on in the West. Thanks to Gayle and Becca and Will and Addision (?) for hosting us. On Saturday, Robin and I saw "Fantastic Mr. Fox" at the Bluelight Cinema in Cupertino. I could take or leave Wes Anderson's previous films, but I really liked this movie. "You're supposed to be *my* lab partner. I am! No you're not. You're disloyal."

Sunday, I drove to Zanker Road waste facility aka "dump" to drop off some old carpet and a stinky sofa. On my way there, I passed a huge mega-church that was just letting out. There were so many people that they had police officers out directing traffic.

I was supposed to take a Russian class at noon at the dojo, but the teacher flaked. So we hung out looking up handy phrases on a Russian dating site. Many of the phrases may be correct Russian, but they're terrible game:

When I met you for the first time I understood: it's forever.
I can't live without you.
There's no borders for my love.

After picking up a sofa donated to the Dojo, I stopped at Costco in South San Francisco. Madness! The place was packed. I was also accosted at the end of the checkout to upgrade to the Executive membership. I declined, irritated that they would hold up the line to upsell me. Finally, I went on a date to Plato's in Palo Alto. It's a make your own salad place. Pretty decent salad, but the staff were the friendliest or communicative bunch. Afterwards, we went to Border's and read "Be Here Now" by Ram Dass. LSD: it's a terrible drug.

Posted via email from crasch's posterous

Comments

[zandaralee.livejournal.com]

I also hate being sales-pitched, but the deal with Costco executive membership is that if you don't get back the money you spend on the difference between regular membership and Executive membership, they give you the money back.

I've had annual rebate cheques of $400+ dollars, and the kicker is, they'll replace them with cash - you are not required to spend the money in-store.

So, in short: shitty marketing tactics, good deal.

[neoteny.livejournal.com]

They'll cash the rebates with an Executive Membership? Will they do it at the register, or at the member counter?

I <3 Costco.

[zandaralee.livejournal.com]

I've done it at the register, not sure about the member counter.

[crasch.livejournal.com]

So what's in it for Costco? Is it that they get the use of your money for a year until you've earned back the refund?

[zandaralee.livejournal.com]

That's the big mystery - I suppose that if you added up all the executive membership fees at $30 per year you would earn some interest, but not enough to justify paying out so much at the end of the year.

The way they explained it to me is that most of their customers are not big or consistent shoppers, and they use it to reward/encourage people who shop there more frequently...

I'm not sure I entirely believe it, but usually when they pitch you in the lines it's because they scan your card to see if your spending would make it worthwhile. I have seen them do the scan and then not bother pitching people who are infrequent shoppers.

[frauhedgehog.livejournal.com]

I can understand why Be Here Now would be terrible date material, but what else did you have against it/LSD?

[crasch.livejournal.com]

Have you read "Be Here Now"? Logical coherence is not its strong suit.

I actually don't have anything against LSD. That comment was meant to be tongue in cheek. I think it's an amazing drug, and should be tried by everyone at least once. However, "Be Here Now", a famous work by a member of the Harvard Psychedelic Club, would turn most people off the drug.