Tips of the Week

Tip #1: If you were born before 1970 and happen to be in a music store, don't ask a young rep to help you locate a CD!

The kids and I went to Best Buy for Yusuf's An Other Cup. I went to the "S" section and found Cat Stevens, but not the new album. I stopped a young salesguy, late 20s, and asked "Where do I find Cat Steven's new album, An Other Cup?" He said, "Cat what?" I replied, "Cat Stevens, Yusuf Islam." He asked again, "Is that a group?" I got annoyed and pointed to the CD I was holding in my hand (shown below), "Read this: CAT STEVENS!" Still no clue! I went with him to a computer station and pulled it up from their web site. Now with the number he could find it, but not with the name. Are we that old?

I was driving with the kids the other day when they played In The End on NPR. Moody loved it and started asking about the singer and the songs. When we got home, I checked the album on iTunes and decided to buy it with The Very Best of... which I did today. Once we got in the car, Moody asked for In The End. I didn't know he picked the name of the song that day. And yes, Soad, Peace Train it is. It was my favorite in those old days, and still is... (I'm listening to it as I'm writing this)

Now I've been happy lately
Thinking about the good things to come

And I believe it could be, something good has begun
Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country, come take me home again

Yusuf and Youssou!

The song The Beloved caught my attention; it had the same voice, and language that we don't understand, in Youssou N'Dour's CDs. No wonder, it is Youssou N'Dour himself singing with Yusuf. A great combination--awesome!

Tip #2: Don't get in a grocery checkout lane behind an elderly!

On the way back from Best Buy, we stopped by Kroger's. The checkout lanes were kind of long and the self checkout lanes are useless when I have fresh veggies in my cart since I'd have to wait for an assistant to ring them up. I picked a lane that had an old guy paying, followed by an old lady with 3 items in her cart. The man took his sweet time with the cashier arguing over something that was not on the shelf it was supposed to be. I placed a divider after the lady's stuff and started unloading my cart. She was so nice, and took on organizing my stuff on the conveyor belt. Then comes her turn to checkout. Remember, she had 3 items only! It took her 17 minutes to check out, arguing over the price of a pumpkin can that rang differently to what was marked on the shelf. Of course, the cashier needed a higher authority to override the price... Since I already unloaded, I had no choice but stand and wait, and remind Moody and Tala to keep their hands to themselves, "Don't touch anything! No, we're not buying candy! Because I said so! Please stop talking! For a minute please!" Finally it was our turn and the guy bagging the stuff asked me if I've seen the ad of a man who puts his girl in the back seat in the car and she goes on and on talking non stop. I said I have not, but I sure have two of those!

Tip #3: Before cooking today's dinner think what everyone had the day before!

I've been thinking about what to cook since I got up this morning. I didn't feel like cooking and was not in the mood, but knew I had to. Why? Because we ate turkey from Thursday to Saturday last week, had Chinese takeout on Sunday, KFC on Monday, some junk food on Tuesday, Pizza on Wednesday, went to Max & Erma's on Thursday! At Kroger's, I walked by the meat department and spotted Tilapia. Aha, there's a delicious, easy meal: baked Tilapia and brown rice with veggies (peas, carrots, onions, scallions, cilantro, and garlic). I was stirring the rice and veggies when the picture of what Sol had for dinner last night jumped to my mind: baked Halibut with rice and veggies! Oh, no! But, of course, mine is different and yummier. So Sol, just enjoy it, OK? Sorry!

Tip #4: Don't plan any electricity-dependent activities during bad weather!

The weather is terrible today. Rain, thunderstorms, and wind of over 40 miles-an-hour (~65 km). Tornadoes are expected in the region. Bad weather and thunderstorms could very likely lead to power outage. I started the cooking and the power goes out, back on, out again... till I gave up and put the cooking on hold. The kids got excited and were running around the house flipping light switches to see if the power is out everywhere in the house. When the power came back to stay, I found every single light in the house on!

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