Weekend Update! With Shoes! (Redux)

[zrath]

"And now, Weekend Update with your host Zrath-Smiley."

Hello out there in LJ-Land! Welcome to "Episode I: Nothing To Wear!"!

Saturday January 13th (Magic Castle: t-minus 2 days) aka Day Of Clothes-Shopping

My cellphone was close at hand because I expected Spino to call. And he did. We worked out the details for the day.
Then I hung up and went through my morning routine. I wasn't expecting to be gone for more than a couple of hours,
so I put on a thick short-sleeved t-shirt instead of something warmer. That turned out to be a mistake.
I wound up spending most of the day with Spino and Sweetie and the temperature DROPPED after sunset.
This was also the day when the DirecTV guy showed up to install everything. My roommate got tired of crappy Time/Warner
(formerly Comcast) cable so he got us the mini-dish service! The guy had just finished setting up the box in my room
when I went downstairs to get some breakfast, so I didn't see the glorious new signal quality then.
Spino showed up shortly after I finished eating and we took off for 3 Day Suit Brokers. He had cruised their website and
they claimed to carry large sizes. We got there rather quickly and discovered that, no, they don't stock my size.
In anything. Okay, maybe in ties. Blargh.

So we went to the Casual Male XL on Westwood Blvd.
I got a pair of black dress pants, a nice huge white shirt, and a kick-ass belt. Nothing in shoes though.
We then traveled towards Downtown to retrieve Spino's Sweetie, who was getting off work.
From there, we went to The Grove, the Yuppy Paradise built next to and into the world-famous Fairfax-area Farmer's Market.
We had lunch at the Corner Bakery Café. I had a roast beef sandwich that was a bit bland, but the roast beef itself was
so fresh, it was still bleeding. My food took forever to show up though. Next time, I get a panini!
Spi and Swee went off to do their shopping, and I went to the local Ross to see about shoes. Ironically, there were at
least 6 pairs of nice sneakers my size in various styles, but not a single pair of dress shoes. Murphyyyyy!!!!
I didn't buy anything. On the way back, I hit the K-Mart next door to scope the toys. The Lego aisle had been decimated.
Nothing left except some small Bionicle crap. Dang!

I walked back to The Grove and phoned Spi and Swee to see where they were. I joined them at Anthropologie, an incredibly
and amusingly pretentious store of homey stuff and women's clothing. They did have some very nice French soaps though.
The grapefruit one is especially nice and a great morning eye-opener! (I get similar soaps at Trader Joe's for half-price)
We eventually left The Grove and went back to the Spi/Swee pad, parking in the street and clambering up the Steps Of Doom.
(When I stand at the top of the landing looking down at the street below, I feel like The Frenchman on his ramparts.
And I am tempted to taunt passersby and throw things at them. "Silly English ke-niggets!!")
I expected Spino to just take me home, stopping at Industrial Shoe Warehouse on the way to see about dress shoes.
But instead, Sweetie came along and we went to a few more places after ISW before I got dropped at my apartment.
ISW was a bust. They had nothing.

We headed toward The Promenade at Howard Hughes Center and stopped at another Casual Male XL on the way (near Fox Hills).
I had told Spino I preferred the Westwood location over this one. The Westwood one seems more into actual customer service.
This one is mostly self-service. None of the employees step forward and identify themselves as such. I don't know if it's
because they're more laid-back or because I'm white and they're at the other end of the spectrum (ooooh! Euphemism! :D )
Whatever. It's the same thing every single time I go there: low or non-existent customer service.
So Spino, Sweetie and I ransacked the meager shoe section and found something decent and decently-priced that fit! Huzzah!
The cashier asked me for my phone number. I gave him my name instead. What the hell they need my phone number for?
Whomever came up with their customer database using the phone number as the default search item is an idiot.
We piled into the Ryo-O-Ki Mobile and resumed our trek Promenade-ward.
We went to Nordstrom Rack first. Spino and I looked at dress shoes, just in case we could find something cheaper. Nothing.
We joined Sweetie in the Women's Shoes section and looked for the most absurd shoe we could possibly find.
We were having so much fun that two other shoppers joined us in our quest. One of them even modeled one of the absurd
shoe so I could snap a picture for posterity. And we were astounded to discover that the absurd shoe had relatives!
Yes, there was more than one model of shoe apparently made by knitting. (Photos and actual utterances follow)

"Look! Grandma knitted me a shoe!" (Don't diss the model y'all!)

"Grandma did it again!"

"Okay, that's it! Grandma must be stopped!"

I bought some wooden hangers and once outside, proceeded to throw them like boomerangs to see if they came back.
Instead, they hit various shoppers and knocked them unconscious, then security started chasing me. Crap!!
Har, just kidding.
I did buy the hangers though. And a nice refreshing drink: Arizona brand Blueberry White Tea. Smooth and not too sweet.
We went to the Borders next, where I bought a 2007 calendar. I was waffling between "WOLVES!" and rare sportscars.
Spi and Swee voted for "WOLVES!", so I got that. Half-price too. And it was actually 4 calendars in one. There was the
usual big wall calendar, a smaller cubicle-sized calendar, a bookmark calendar, and a business card calendar. Arf!
I think the kids bought some DVDs, I don't remember which ones.
And then, it was time to go home. Spi and Swee dropped me home and I thanked them for a fun time.
I made dinner and ate with the sibling. Then we watched most of "La Haine" on the DirecTV.
One thing I noticed right off the bat with DirecTV versus cable: no compression artifacing! Our cable picture quality
looked like those early horrible DVDs, when they were first introduced. Or like YouTube. DirecTV is cleeeeeean!
Also, there's a bunch of XM Radio stations. That's pretty cool. And we have NASA TV! And roommate says it's cheaper.
So, so far, DirecTV seems like a win/win situation.

Comments

[mr-squiddle.livejournal.com]

Hm...did the roommate have to give DirecTV his SSN? I'm told they demand it for a credit check, which is barking.

[zrath.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I don't really care.
When I got Comcast cable for the Poison Pad, I think they asked for it.
Standard procedure, I think.

What's with all the paranoia lately?