Surviving Christmas

I was one of the lucky ones where I work at to have a Christmas vacation this year. So as a little reminder for the whole family we would drive by a few malls and department stores and watch people shop like mad for the Christmas holiday. My wife and I were smart enough to do all our shopping weeks if not months in advance due to knowing what our two boys wanted.

There were a few last minute stops to the Dollar Store to get wrapping paper and holiday candy items which was way cheaper than the department stores prices. Plus we had to make preparations for a growing Japanese traditional dinner. KFC. Eating chicken at Christmas time is the Japanese thing to do especially with a great marketing campaign by KFC started decades ago. Well, Japan doesn’t have Bogangles which has better chicken, fries and tea than KFC so we were going to get Christmas dinner from there to take home to eat. The only problem was that they closed there doors in Knightdale, NC at 2 PM. The drive through was still open but I was raised a long time ago that if you locked the doors to your place of business that meant you are closed. Telling people they’re welcomed to visit the bathroom size window is like doing business by the bathroom stall. Keep looking straight, no real conversation and leave as soon as you ‘finish’. At 2 PM they were closed.

We did end up going next to a KFC that closing at 6 PM which meant we were going to have chicken tonight. And returning home we quickly got the computer back on to the NORAD site to see where Santa was located at. My wife was still fuming that he didn’t come to Okinawa this year. She blamed the new Japanese Prime Minister for causing so many problems was the reason. After years of marriage I just nodded my head and kept quiet. There are conversations I do not want to have and I learned where to avoid those conversations. Needless to say as the evening went on and Santa was getting closer, we had to stay with the boys until they fell asleep. And by 10 PM we were able to do that. Can’t blame them, when I was their age I set my alarm clock to 2 AM. My parents were not impressed and made it a point that I didn’t do it again.

This was the first Christmas were I didn’t have to stay up to 3 AM putting bike s and toys together. We actually went to bed by midnight and the boys woke up before we did. My oldest said he peaked into the living room but quickly closed the door for he thought Santa was in the room. In actuality it was Vanilla, our cat, who has been sleeping in the tree since we put it up. So the boys got us up and we looked at all the present while my wife went to make coffee. The boys were amazed that Santa ate all the cookies and drank all the ice tea we left for him. By them I burped.

And for the whole day the boys played with everything they got while a rain system was moving through the area. It was nearly 5 PM before we even though about eating anything. We were having so much fun being together. To add more to the Christmas toys for the boys we received a package from Japan that had another toy the boys wanted. The lobster for their Shinkenger toy set. They only need the Bull, Dragon sword and the lantern to finish their set.

This was one of our less stressful Christmas’s we have had in a long time. Over the years it will get easier but a little of the Christmas magic may go away but on Christmas Eve it was my wife and me who had the most fun watching Santa traveling across the world. It was our two boys trying to cook cookies for Santa and all our cats keeping watch over the Christmas tree. We spent almost the entire 24 hours of Christmas day in the living room together as a family. We played with the toys and games, watched Christmas light shows on TV. Just being together with the spirit of the holiday.

The next day I went back to work and by 7 PM I returned home to which the boys wanted more toys and my wife produced a grocery list of items we needed. And after returning home again we played for awhile and watched the a few TV shows as I passed out on the couch from exhaustion from 13 hours of work and fighting traffic of so many people returning their Christmas gifts. We’re keeping ours. And the Little Debbie Valentine Cakes too.

Spirit Pictures

Not long ago we sent many pictures to my wifes family in Okinawa. Among many of those pictures were circular lights around our two boys. My mother in law says that there are spirits always around us and at certain times, depending on ones attitude and the situation at the time, will tell you a lot about the spirit in relation to their size and brightness of the spirit that was photographed.

Christmas Message to Family

This is for our family back home in Okinawa.

Shinkenger Video's

I had some free time (wife and kids are sleeping, a few hours before being at work by 6 AM) so I made a few Shinkenger videos of Jyuzo and Dayu.

School Christmas Play

My son's class sang songs at a 4th grade Christmas show at school last night. His class sang a few songs that was part of a 12 days of Christmas Songs performance. The shirt, vest, tie and pants was a matching set at Wal Mart costing $20. The scarf and gloves costed more. Go figure.

This recording was done using my wife's SONY 5.0 MP4 Webbie HD Self Recording Video Camera. The one were the lens can swivel back and forth. Hence the terrible recording. But if my wife ask, you didn't hear it from me.

Grocery Store of Today

I have worked in a lot of grocery stores, department stores, restaurants and gas stations. All very similar that can be described similar to cars and trucks. Some big, small, plenty or not enough space. This store in question from the slide show you have seen is a wonderful store for the small community it services. Management and staff who works there are great and friendly. The people who shop at this store are the type you would see on The Andy Griffith Show. This grocery store really helped the community who would have otherwise had to drive over 10 miles to the next nearest grocery store. But this entire store has one major problem that becomes very obvious as soon as one enters the store.

It is way to small to shop in and for vendors to service the store properly. At times there could be a traffic jam of people trying to enter and leave the store. Let alone going up and down the isles that are just wide enough for a shopping cart to get pass a floor display. Where long lines at the register consist of a customer standing near by the cashier while the next customer in line is still in the grocery isle. A really small store. A lot of people shop here and the store is really a big bust to the towns economy as a few more specialty stores like a Chinese and pizzeria have opened up next door.

With so much business being conducted in this store, Vendors have to keep plenty of products in the store to make sure the shelves can be restocked quickly if needed. But the backroom is only less than a quarter the size of the whole store so finding space is one small problem when keeping back stock, the major difficulty is trying to get to it when you need it the most. The back room receiving area has only enough space for unloading a trucks delivery. But only hallway space to store everything else. When the store receives their grocery truck, they have to carry many of the pallets they receive to the sales floor so as to being able to fully unload the truck. Shopping carts are the preferred use of the Vendors who service this store due to a hand cart is almost but impossible to get into the back room. Not the managers’ fault or the employees but greatly to the size of the store in effort to save money and cut corners at the cost of their reputation.

Shinkenger Women Theme Music

I had some free time and made a video of my kids favorite TV show. My wife loves the last part of the video.

Windy Day

Yesterday after the rain had stopped and the sky cleared up, the wind increased with a feel to that of 'The Wizard of Oz'. A lot of accidents were reported on the news and a few of our Christmas decorations were exchanged with the neighbors next door. When I went outside that evening to put some more light decorations up is when I saw that a few trees either broke off or were severely damaged by the winds. Part of one of those trees missed the swing set by inches.

Guess where I've been

Starting on Thursday a Wal Mart near Raleigh lowered the price of ALL Pepsi 2 liters to 59 cents. Great business for us. Although it would be nice to have a little more notice say a day before the price changes. I was in a morning meeting when a sales rep called in during the meeting to say his Wal Mart lowered there prices. A few Wal Marts, not all, did this but the one I was working at really made a big push for this to be a huge sale for the store. Pallet displays were placed by both entrances as was a huge end cap loaded down with 2 liters.

The Wal Mart I was at is a new one located just where Highway 40 crosses Highway 42. Leaving Raleigh, NC heading towards Wilmington, NC exit 312 (HWY 42). At the light turn left. You will pass the Cracker Barrel and Lowes Hardware and the Super Wal Mart will be located on the right at the next light. It is built totally different from all the older Super Wal Marts plus a deli center where you can get a lunch or dinner plate that taste a lot better than the fast food places. But you still have a time limit to get to the bathroom after you eat the stuff. Last look their gas station had gas at $2.37 a gallon.

Normally a few Wal Mart’s will let you use a pallet jack until 8 AM but many will not let you use them at all. The store manager here insisted that we use them. After all, every display and shelf area was selling out within 30 minutes. I would carry out a whole pallet of 2 litter Pepsi (320 bottles) and the pallet would be empty by the time I made it to the last display. For at least 12 hours a day with 2 full tractor trailer load delivered to the store every day I stayed constantly busy. When I left the store another Pepsi merchandiser would come in and work until 2 or 3 AM. When he would leave the store there would be only 2 to 3 pallets of back stock left and by 5 AM a truck would pull up and unload 26 more pallets to be worked down until the next full truck load arrived by 1 or 2 PM.

Needless to say, I purchased a few cases myself before going home although it will take a while to catch up on some sleep and other activities but in all it was a good experience to being able to work out in the country area away from the city where a lot of different store personnel and a few selected customers types can be a little too rounded up a bit. If not more.

Christmas Banner

Here is the blog site of a nude version of the Christmas banner.
http://ryunosukenc.blogspot.com/