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At first I was going to blog about how I may never shop at Best Buy again,
then I was going to type a follow-up blog about how I found a new scanner
(though I’m still torn between posting pictures at Picasa or Flickr), and then I
was going to blog about my Mom not feeling well, but she better plan on sticking
around a while. Since, though, they are all related, oh hell, let’s
intertwine them all.
The Best Buy and new scanner stories kind of fold together, so this blog
starts with my scanner buying experience. As I mentioned in
a previous blog my scanner shopping was necessitated by needing to scan
medium format negatives, and although liking the Epson scanner, I hated their
software. Best Buy let me return the scanner, which was nice of them, and
then I headed to Staples who had an HP flatbed scanner that almost sounded too
good to be true, and it was. First I was disappointed in the software they
were using (maybe I am just too used to the Photosmart S20 software and afraid
of change), but when it started to look like it would take hours to scan
negatives, well, I started to get worried that my search for a medium format
scanner under a thousand bucks was for naught. Staples took the HP scanner
back (Yay!), but I had one more hope, a Canon flatbed scanner, and that took me
back to Best Buy. The medium format photos in this blog were all done with
my new scanner, a Canon 8800F, and so far I am happy with it because the speed
of the scanning is acceptable for what I want to do, and their software is a
little more intuitive (but damn, I still like that Photosmart S20 format), so I
think I’m going to stick with the Canon scanner. As such, Best Buy, don’t
expect another return from me, at least for this scanner.
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But Best Buy, what the hell is with the overly-friendly associates.
In this world where they say the easiest way to get sick is to shake the hand
of someone who has a cold/flu virus, both of my trips to Best Buy were greeted
with dudes overly-enthusiastic to help me, and wanting to shake my hand.
There I am, just looking for a scanner I already had decided I wanted to buy,
but it was "Hi, my name is Joe. What’s your name?" as they extended their
hand for a handshake.
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Not wanting to seem like a total ass, I extended my
hand to shake theirs (how do they know I didn’t just pick my nose or scratch my
ass, and conversely, how do I know they didn’t just pick their nose or scratch
their ass), and said "I’m The Dude. I want to buy this scanner."
Suddenly germs were transferred, Best Buy doesn’t have an easy access to Purell,
or those wipes the grocery stores have so you can clean off the cart handle, and
now, in addition to finally hoping this scanner will do the job I want to do, I
have to remember not to let my hands get anywhere near my eyes nor mouth, much
less pick my nose. And if these Best Buy associates are going to continue
this process of wanting to shake my hand I’m going to have to either be an
asshole when I shop there by not shaking their hands, bring my own bottle of
Purell, or just not go to Best Buy anymore and shop online where now all I have
to worry about is if the UPS driver has a cold, but can, at least, easily wash
my hands before I pick my nose.
So what does any of this have to do with my Mom and her sticking around a
while? Well, since I have a new scanner that seems to do the job, I have
over 100 medium format negatives to scan and post somewhere, and the only person
I know who can help me identify the people, places, and things in these photos
is my Mom. For example, from the photos I have posted for this blog, I
have no idea who the dude is with the old car, the delivery truck is for the old
Home Dairy in Lorain, OH, but I’m wondering who is John Lopatkowvich, and have I
always been spelling my Mom’s maiden name improperly, or what happened to the
"w"? The photo of the three children, I’m assuming, are my Mom, my Uncle
Ed, and my Aunt Lily, and I’m 99.9999999% sure the cute girl in the dancing
outfit is my Mom. As I quickly flicked through these negatives they almost
seem to encompass from about 1935 thru the late 1950’s, and Mom, if you’re
reading this, I’ll need your help to identify/place them all, and it might take
a little while. You’d better stick around.
That’s it for this one!
I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!