Dec 23 - shopping

Sandy can spend as much in YIG (Your Independent Grocer) as I can spend in Home Depot !  Like me, she comes with a list.  Like me, she can leave without everything on the list !  That's what happened to the green beans.  She remembers holding them.  I remember her holding them.  Then she got distracted and picked something else up, not putting the beans in the grocery cart ... it must be my fault.

It's tough shopping for 13 people who will be here an indeterminate period of time and not wanting to throw a whole lot of food away !  It's compounded, of course, by the fact that the grocery store is 1.5 hours away.  Oh well, that's just what we do.

If anyone was following SPOT yesterday they'd see our wanderings.  Costco, Best Buy, Canadian Tire, New Sudbury Mall, Walmart, YIG, Tarini's.  We left here around 9am, I think, and got back at 4:30.  Before leaving, I use the snow blower, clearing about 6" of snow out of the driveway.  The road had been plowed sometime overnight so it was an easy drive out.

Click on this ... then zoom in to our Sudbury wanderings.  The Thompsons in Sudbury

It was cold in Sudbury.  The temperature reading from the car said "0" most of the day.  Right now it's -8.  That means that it must be tree cutting day !  Right.  That's going to be fun !  Abby won't even be able to come with us because her feet won't survive that long a walk in the cold.  We definitely need booties !

The visit to Best Buy was to purchase a replacement satellite receiver.  The old one is about 3" high by 16" wide and 13" deep.  The new one is 1.5" x 11" by 8".  That's a lot more portable for trips to Florida !  I used the online chat with a Shaw rep to add the receiver.  I should have also asked him to delete the old one but didn't get around to that.

The old receiver was much more expensive.  The old bottom-of-the-line didn't include HD or high quality output connections so I'd gotten the upscale version.  Their new bottom-of-the-line includes HD as well as an HDMI output and it's small.  The upscale version has component video out and a couple of additional features that we don't need.  Upwards from that is the PVR (Personal Video Recorder) and there's also one that will support multiple TV connections with multiple channels going all at once.

Anyway, I have TV in the den again.  I might very well take this receiver down to Florida, since it's so small, and then bring back the two receivers when we come back in the Spring.  I got to thinking that if these things can fail, Sandy would be devastated if she couldn't watch Canadian TV when we're in Florida. 

She could do without me for months but not Mike Holmes !!

Anyway ... just kidding, I hope ! ... today, in spite of the fact that the high is supposed to be -18C, we need to cut our tree.  I've also got Mass in Port Loring at 2:30 p.m.  It will be crowded because all the Trout Creek people make the drive to PL so that they can get to an earlier Mass. 

We'll rearrange the furniture, bring the tree in, give it some time to melt all the snow on it overnight and then likely spend Christmas Day decorating.

Onward !