Today I went to the doctor and got a new prescription for Flonase. It is a nasal steroid that literally can change your life. I remember the first week I was on it. I was blown away by the sensation of being able to breathe through both nostrils fully and completely; I almost choked on air. It then dawned on me that was what other people were breathing like all the time. To quoth Master Keanu, “Whoa.”

I went into Costco for the first time in many, many years. Jesse and I got a new family membership, despite my years of hesitation. He assured me the Sparks/Spanish Springs location would be a reasonable, low-key venue at which to shop. I ordered our cards online but one must trade them in when one receives them in the mail for photo IDs at the store proper. I made it in the store and took a fairly decent photo – mind you, it was a tiny black-and-white shot. But I did notice that even though the store’s parking lot was full, the store seemed to be relatively calm, and not…chaotic. I think that’s the best way one could describe a Los Angeles-area Costco. You give a battery of “over-40″ housewives some super-wide grocery carts and add to that sales on just about anything in bulk packaging. In a matter of minutes, they will be converted into a pack of wild, heaving savages, careening down aisles with no caution or care for others. It is truly a sight to behold.

I happened to walk through our Costco with no cart. This was done for a couple of reasons. One, quickness of movement. When I want to go through an entire store in a matter of a couple of minutes, it is best not to be slogging along a rolling skeleton of metal. Two, there is an old phrase that I’m sure still rings true today, “You can’t go into Costo and leave with less than $300 worth of stuff.” No cart prevents that. Three, if I was going to be dodging bullets, Viet Cong, and Martha Stewart communist vampires, I was going to travel light and fast. Last and most importantly, I just plain forgot a cart.

I have picked my Spanish lessons back up. I will go into that in a future update. I have several reasons for this and some interesting things to share from this past week. See if you can spot the particularly unusual thing that I noticed about the two speakers from this podcast series.

Oh heck, it’s 10:25. Time to clean the litter box and be off to bed. Some days you rock and roll. Other days, you clean up the rocks others leave behind.

“I have never taken any exercise except sleeping and resting.”
~Mark Twain