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June 05, 2007
surplus junk in our hippy trunk
I am a big fan of Peapod, the grocery home delivery service. Sure, there are some limitations with product selection and their website is less than slick, but we've been ordering from them for over a year now and it's become a habit. One of the best features is the ability to "Shop Lists", which means you get a long list of all the stuff you've ever bought there and unimaginative culinary slackers like myself can go through and select the same frozen and/or pre-packed crap they always buy. Presto, the family somehow survives for yet another week.
So last night at around 11 p.m. AND ADMITTEDLY AFTER SOME TEQUILA, I blasted through our weekly order, gave it a quick review, hit the "submit" button and went to bed.
Now, I should back up and say that due to our growing concern about our carbon footprint and in an effort to buy local and just generally trying not to personally fuck up the world so much, I've sworn off grocery stores for several whole categories of items. Such as produce. And fish. Rhode Island has a surprising amount of farmland for such a teeny state and certainly a number of small, local fish markets, including a recently discovered CLAM SHACK that sells seafood so fresh it's booty-popping as it slides deliciously down your craw.
I perhaps should have noticed that the final dollar amount for last night's order, while about what it's been in the past, seemed high for an order that had no meat, seafood, or produce. However, we had just purchased HBO yesterday for the sole purpose of having a Sopranos marathon and to my husband and me, that means drinks. So I didn't.
Imagine my surprise when I unloaded said groceries to discover not one but ELEVEN boxes of false sausage. Coco spun around the kitchen gleefully. He loves those things! He will eat them every day! And then, after unpacking like, one box of craisins and a bottle of salad dressing, I discovered the other six bags contained boxes and boxes of granola bars. Peanut butter -- Coco can't even bring them to school!
That my friends is a little story about how when you are designing a web application, you should have some helpful text that pops up and says "Um, are you sure?" or some such thing when you enter "11" into the quantity field instead of "1", especially when everything else on your order is quantity of "1" and WTF Peapod people, who orders that much of one thing?! It could also be interpreted as a story about a person who spent $76.82 on fake sausage and granola.
At least, as my husband pointed out, if the world does end soon*, we've got some fricking granola bars to see us through a week or two. You can come over, provided you are not allergic to tree nuts.
* Thanks Mimi Smartypants for the link, from the bottom of my plasticine heart.
Posted by Max at June 5, 2007 10:37 PM
Comments
I've tried to lower my carbon footprint by bicycling to work (OK, so work is fifty miles away and I cheap out by bicycling to a vanpool pickup spot that's only three miles away, but still ...) Lessons learned: lots of young punks are faster than me on bikes, I sweat absurd amounts in work clothes, wear gloves (hands don't work so good as brakes -- oh, and make sure your brakes work before going down hills).
The part of San Diego where I live was (according to the local aquarium) part of an undersea canyon wonderland. Now that it's an oversea canyon wonderland I've learned just how much easier it is to press the go-fast pedal rather than pedaling it myself.
Posted by: Mike at June 7, 2007 04:56 PM
I'm laughing my ass off.
Posted by: Denise at June 10, 2007 04:26 PM