The day started very well. I spent the morning in the club, putting together four specific glass projects which I had in mind for specific people... for next year's Christmas presents. It's about step three in them, with at least one final one to go, which can't start till tomorrow and that depends on whether anybody else needs the specific kiln then which can handle them. Yes three kilns, different sizes, somewhat different functions programmed into them. But fun all the way. Throw in some time teaching a brand new enthusiast what I'm doing and why, and it's even more fun.
Then I left. I had errands. The idea was to do all three in one stop.
Silly girl!!!!
The first stop, in Walmart of course, was the photo section. We finally got Steve working with Rich to figure out how to pull a particular photo out of his library and pop it onto my thumb drive so I could put it in my file and work on it. It is, after all, X-mas card time again. Steve asked to be the one whose photo went on the cards this year, and his specific message. It only took three weeks to get the file to me. Now it was time to get it on cards, with his precise message on it: "Peace". Just one word. No "Love, Joy and..." No "Happy Holidays." No any of the myriad other messages printed on cards everywhere. (He caught it from me.)
You'd think you could find a card saying "Peace" this time of the year, right? Something that could take his whole photo on it. Something that was 5x7, horizontally aligned, not requiring a collage effect with 7 other miniscule other photos. OK, maybe you've been out and about and already been looking, finding out what I spent the afternoon finding out. Everything else but that is out there. And good luck finding a chair or stool while you spend half an hour at the kiosk fighting your way through the system to get what you want, maybe finding what you'll settle for, and not locating a cooperating machine, making it moot anyway.
The first one of the three wasn't working, period. Next one got to the point where one could put text on it but only where the machine thought it should go, and insisted on keeping the word "text" as part of the printed message. And again, a different size and color, overlapping the first "text". And not realigning the lines, or in fact, giving you a way to drop to a new line. I did catch the eye of the single person working in the entire electronics department for half a minute. She did something without explaining what it was, so nothing of any actual help to me. I gave up and left, since the line at her counter never dropped under 5 people deep. I wasn't one of them. (Walmart will be getting more feedback, especially since I MIGHT be the one whose name gets drawn to win a thousand dollars! Wheeeee.....)
I need paint, a basic one gallon exterior latex white paint. Nobody in that department either. No visible bell or buzzer or phone to call for assistance. I wanted my paint shaken. After five minutes, I left my cart there in disgust and went to complete my third errand, heading to the pharmacy for my RSV shot. At least that went well. My needle wielder reminded me that my feedback would be about his performance, not the never-happened stuff. (He gets 5 stars.)
I called Steve from the car to let him know why things were taking so long and what I wasn't finding. I had changed my plans to hit the Ace Hardware closer to home, and then the Walgreens photo department. Never mind lunch. As I passed Ace, there wasn't a car anywhere in front of it. Must have just closed. On the plus side the post office next door had finally reopened after a few years, so I can do my holiday mailing about 3 miles closer to home. On to Walgreens.
They at least have a chair in front of each of their photo machines. What I couldn't find was the right card set-up. I tried for half an hour before heading home, feeling something a far cry from "gruntled".
Rich had an idea. Why not put the text we wanted on the photo file myself and put the whole thing on a card, just printing out a 5x7 and getting envelopes? He looked in his phone and informed me that Office Max had a deal where they'd do that plus envelopes for $.99 each.
Of course I had no idea how to do that. I could do a lot with my photos, but add text? Sounds like a $100 upgrade to me. He talked me through it, over and over, stumbling all along the way, backtracking, misunderstanding what each was saying, until finally.... Success! I've already forgotten most of it except for the possibility, of course.
So, where was an Office Max? That far? Oy! Well, at least there's a Home Depot in the same parking lot so while I have to pay more for it, I can at least get some paint while I'm out there.
First the Office Max. Huge building. So glad my legs can handle all the walking and searching, and I haven't been running all over Walmart or standing in front of useless photo kiosks, or.... So I just stood there looking for a human who wasn't shopping. Not finding one, I started my hike, making a note that when end of packing time arrived I could get huge bags of packing peanuts for a mere... OMG! THAT MUCH???? I was only in aisle 3 but decided to turn around, head back to the front and find an employee. Nothing looked like a photo kiosk yet. One customer left with bundles, and seeing the person she'd been working with was now free, headed that direction. Yes, they did have that cards offer, but, didn't I know? It had to be done online. Since I was there I asked about mailing tubes too. I'd need one in a couple days. They'd be in aisle.... but as I headed that way she finished with "but we've been out for two weeks."
Now to Home Depot. Exterior Paints had a large sign on the proper aisle post, easy peasy. As I went down the cands, they read interior, interior, interior, interior... and I was at the end of the aisle. Coming back up the next aisle, all were interior paints there as well. OK, guy at the counter then. I asked him where the exterior paint was really hiding, so he led me there, asking a few questions along the route to find exactly what I needed. A couple minutes in the shaker then, and off I went. Uhh, that's the paint in the shaker, by the way, not me.
Pulling into the driveway, I asked Rich to pull out the paint while I went back in to grouch a few minutes before Googling Office Max to find their holiday card supply. I did locate them after 4 other tries, first kicking me off to Office Depot, then to Amazon, then to... Walmart, of course! But once I found Office Max, and finally locating the blank make-your-own option, I popped my file in. What shape did I want? I picked the square one, so they poppd my file in that one... squeezed vertically so it would fit. No way to rotate it. It's a goddammed horizontal scenic photo!!!!!! Does nobody else on the entire planet go for that option? It's a single page card, just a 5x7 photo. What can't they put it in as such? It's not like a folded card where it has to match the orientation of the inside message, right?
Oh, and did I mention they wanted me to click on a QR code before proceeding? AARRRRGGGHHH!!!
I was out of the house in a shot. Not only did I not need to explode all over everybody here, I didn't need to deal with any more crap AT ALL! It might cost me more, but at least at Walgreens I know there are two employees there, chairs at the kiosks, and they can talk me though the steps of how to print off my number of photos. Just photos. It comes with all it needs except envelopes, and I can talk my way through getting those even if I have to buy them separately!
Once there I was talking with both employees. "Just 5/7 photos plus envelopes! Can you do that?" She wasn't sure, he said yes of course, she went with me to the kiosk, and we both found out how it's done.
Ahah! You're thinking now that next year it'll be so much easier,I'll know how to do it all and where to go to get it done, right? Well, yes and no, so maybe. I guarantee you the program in the kiosks will have changed, not just the cards but the procedures as well. there will be a new way to get from A to B to C next year, and trying B won't work. Not at all. There'll be a giraffe in the middle, eating al the tall, obvious leaves of reliable data before anybody puts the software together,
But right now my cards should be ready to pick up. We'll do it on the way to pick up Steve's grocery order. There is ice cream in it and it shouldn't melt on the detour home. He's getting a nap right now while I'm writing this. By the time I finish I should be feeling close to human again., in a proper mood to start addressing envelopes and digging out the stamps from wherever that was I tucked the unused ones from last year. Before sealing, however, there's the annual letter to write. At least I left plenty of printer paper so I can do that myself. There's even an extra toner cartridge on a tall shelf should the old one balk. The (original) plan was to pack the printer after those letters were printed. Maybe even soon after, eh?
I did mention the main message of the card this year is "Peace", didn't I? I'm waiting for some.
The cards will be late.
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