The Conspiracy of Closed

Re-read the title, I'm not writing about when my wife goes shopping, but this about things being closed.

On Sunday, I took Kid 3 to swim practice. Since I was half-way to the University, I decided I would turn in my completed Macro-economics final exam. I drove the rest of the way there and as I got there, I realized that there was an exhibit at the Burke Museum that I would enjoy seeing. I used my iPhone to check the hours of the museum and found that I had 15 minutes before it closed. I had an hour and 15 minutes before the MBA office was supposed to close, so I decided to check out the museum.

As I walk up, one of the museum employees steps outside to dump out her coffee cup. I try the door and it is locked. She says to me, "We're closed."

"Is it 5pm," I ask, sounding surprised and verifying the hours posted on the door.

"We close early to count money," she said. And she had to knock on the door to get back inside, too.

Oh, well. I have a few more quarters before my MBA is complete, so I'll have many opportunities to go back. On to the MBA office...


...where I learn that on Sundays that the building closes at 5pm. I can't even get in.

So, I go back to Mercer Island where my son is swimming. I'll go to the library, because there is free wi-fi there (I write this post from there now).

I get to the library (can you guess where this is going) and it closes at 5pm on Sunday! So, I just park in the parking lot, hoping I can pick up their wi-fi signal, which I am not able to do. So, for about 40 minutes I play on my iPhone and download useless applications until it is time to go pick up my son.

After his swim practice, I call my wife to ask if she'd like me to pick up something for dinner. Kid 2 (a girl) answers the phone and says I should stop at Taco Bell. I know enough to ask whether or not she said that or it was really what her mom said. I hear Heather in the background say, "Get pizza."

The voice on the phone says, "Oh, yeah, get Sahara Pizza," and at this point, I ask to speak to her mom.

The voice changes, altogether too quick, "Yes?" Wait, I recognize that voice. Its not my wife's voice, its the Kid 2 impression of mom voice.

The disguise seen through, she dutifully passes the phone on to my wife. She confirms that I should get Papa Murphy's pizza, as there are always coupons in my messenger bag.

My son and I drive up and go through my bag and find the coupons. Its raining and we wonder if we should just call it in and not leave the car. But we know we'll have to wait anyway, so I propose that we go hang out at Safeway because there is free wi-fi there.

Kid1 proposes that we go to the REI right next door, and I won't pass that up. We go order our pizza and guess what - REI was closed!

Luckily, Papa Murphy's didn't run out of crusts (that has happened to me before) and so we were able to get our pizza and go home.

It was just a giant conspiracy!

And if you are wondering, I did get my exam turned in. I made a special trip to the University, but had to adjust my plans because on Monday, I got an email that said the MBA office was closing an hour early because it was finals week! The conspiracy continues!

Shopping

Yesterday, I got some new shorts - its spring time, so it is nothing remarkable.

My oldest son and I went shopping, sort of a strange father-son activity:

1. refit the liquor cabinet with vodka, tequila and rum and some bloody mary mix
   
2. I needed new socks
3. my wife strongly encouraged me to get some new shorts
4. oldest wanted to buy some candy
   

We ended up going to about 6 different places, which made the experience all the more humorous, as I forgot to buy the mixers at the liquor store and Target. We ended up at Safeway, with a detour at REI, where on top of the mixers I bought steaks and potatoes and mushrooms for dinner.

I got home and showed off my shorts to my wife - all of which she approved of. I was fairly certain she would find them acceptable because before we left, she said that our oldest had good taste. At the store, he stood outside the changing room and gave the shorts a thumbs up, down or in the middle or the best vote of 2 thumbs up. I have now doubled my non-soccer short wardrobe and none of the new ones are khaki!

I started to prep dinner and realized that I bought steaks for braising not for grilling. I didn't want braised meat, I wanted grilled steaks, with oven fried potatoes with a sage leaf, sauteed mushrooms and onions and a salad. My dinner wasn't going to be stopped, back to the store I went.

Sure, I did some other things on my Saturday (chess with a 6 year old, bike rides, working on final exams), but the amount of shopping that my son and I did approached silly. And thus, I share it with all of you.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

This whore got paid!

Free stuff! We persevered and got free stuff. So, we ended up at REI 1 and half hours before the store opened, but the kids were prepared with Nintendo DSes and we stopped for coffee and scones while we stood in line.

The line didn't stretch as far as it did yesterday and some quick counts confirmed that we were well positioned to get free water bottles.


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Native was the breakfast sponsor for the day and we won a pair of sunglasses too! Unfortunately, the kids didn't get water bottles - they were evidently only giving them to kids over some threshold that mine hadn't crossed yet. They did get a key chain carabiner though.

Total collection:
1 1 liter Grand Opening Issaquah store water bottle
1 $5 gift card
2 Sunglasses cases
Some baked goods
Native sunglasses
2 Keychain carabiners

Free stuff whores

A new REI opened close to my home and the grand opening is this weekend. They are giving away limited edition water bottles with gift cards, ranging from $5 to $200. You've got to admit, free REI stuff is great.

I am not alone in my desire for free stuff from REI. Thirty minutes before store opening, the line wrapped almost all the way out of the shopping center. There were far more people than the 200 free water bottles. I wasn't going to stand in the giant line with my kids for no free stuff.

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We decided to go to breakfast at Denny's instead. It was fun, we sat at the bar, which we usually can't do. My daughter tried to order a diet coke for breakfast. I'm a cool dad, but that was nipped in the bud.

After breakfast, we walked through the new REI. It is a nice store, but was crowded. I think that it is cool that there is an REI close to home, but at the same time, I think that it could have a dangerous effect on my bank account.

I'm a free stuff whore. I'll be there tomorrow, even earlier, kids in tow. We're getting water bottles and some gift cards. With two kids, I've got at least a 3 in 200 chance for a big gift card...