Wednesday, March 16, 2011

UPS!

For those of you whom work in a small business you will know what that sounds like. A man or woman enters your location, calls out in a loud, questioning voice, 'UPS'. There is a nuance to the call. A practiced office worker can tell a lot about the mood of the driver just by the sound of his/her (I throw the /her in there but in reality I can recall only a short two or three month period in the last fourteen years when our UPS guy was actually a UPS girl) call. The place I work, RCK Controls, has changed locations twice in its history and once since I have been around, call it Fall of '97. In all that time we have had, to my admittedly shaky memory, four, maybe five, regular UPS guys.

A big chunk of my time working here I was the closest person to the door, so I was most often the person that responded to the call. For a multitude of reasons I felt like I should treat the UPS guys with a lot of respect, and try to get to know them a little bit. These are the guys who bring everything to us, from our new computers, to the Christmas presents for our much loved families. Be nice to the guys who bring you birthday presents for your wife.

Last week the people who are normally the first line of response for the UPS! guy in our office were off for lunch. I, being all the way down the hall, was the first responder to the call. When our guy (do they even have names?!?!) made it to my office I signed the pad, exchanged greetings, and as he was leaving he said something that struck me as bizarre,

'So, what's all for sale?'

My quick-witted response, 'Uh, what?'

'I saw the sign, it said, 'Everything for sale.''

Me, again, with the snappy repartee, 'Sign?'

My brain was spinning and the UPS! guy was growing tired with the game. I searched for anything possible, and that is when I went into my default mode, if I am confused, blame it on my kids.... Got it!

'Oh', I said, 'You mean a sign in the window at home!'

'Yeah, it looks like you guys are having a pretty good sale.'

'Yeah, I think you're right, come by and talk to the boys to see what they'll charge you for some Legos.'

'OK, see you later.'

'Have a good one, bud.'

About three weeks ago Daniel and Sammy had a garage sale. If I recall it was raining pretty good, so the foot traffic was lower than normal in our cul-de-sac, but that didn't deter them. A bunch of toys (I think they even tried to sell some of my scrap wood, they were very excited when I gave them permission) were laid out, signs made, all the things you need to make a little side cash. Unsurprisingly nothing was sold. I think that they may have seen two humans during those three hours on a Saturday afternoon that didn't live under our roof. But, it occupied them nicely for an afternoon, and they didn't burn anything down (that I know of, remember the rain?), so it was a win all around. Unfortunately not all the signs were removed. In our studio window, clearly a prominent position for advertising in the neighborhood, was in bold print,



San Diego being the small town that it is, my home UPS! guy is also my work UPS! guy, so when he saw the opportunity to get a good deal he jumped at it. If you are looking for some cheap stuff, come on by. The boys would be happy to sell you some scrap wood or mostly fine army men. Forget Craiglist or Ebay, come see the Walls boys, they would be happy to hook you up.

Saturday, March 05, 2011

Pinewood Derby

Today was the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby.
They boys made race cars and then raced each other.
This was Sammy's first year doing the Derby.
He made his race car into a pack of gum.

Sammy is in the first track.
On your mark, get set...

Go!
Sammy came in 2nd place.
Amazingly there were no tears.

Then it was Daniel's turn.
His car was an e-racer (eraser).

His is in the first track.

He also came in 2nd.

Sammy with his den.
Aren't they cute?

Daniel and his den.

Big smiley Sammy face.
Don't ya want to kiss it?