I’m sitting here waiting for my in-laws to arrive for the weekend.  The wee ones are napping, the eldest is at school, the hubs is at work, the television is (blissfully) off, the dogs are napping in a sunbeam.  I’m cruising the web and enjoying the calm and quiet.  

I noticed, on a webpage, on of those “I’m a PC” ads that Microsoft (I think it’s Microsoft?) has been running lately.  They’re not entirely unlike McCain’s gag-worthy “I’m Joe the Plumber” ads that were meant to make people feel bad for ripping on Joe the Plumber because, lo, Joe the Plumber is ALL OF US.  (That sound you just heard was my eyes rolling into the back of my skull.)  They’re obviously a response to Apple’s insanely popular “I’m a Mac/I’m a PC” ads.  And it got me thinking… 

Did Microsoft even UNDERSTAND those commercials?  

Because I always took it to mean that the nerdy dude was a physical representation of a PC computer.  What a PC would look like, mind you, if it were a human being.  Kind of nerdy.  The Mac, on the other hand, is a young, hipster sort.  The kind of guy who is relaxed, has fun and a lot of cool friends.  A bit of an overstatement on both counts, of course, but that’s the basic gist.  And then each commercial would address something else, relating to these fundamental differences.  PC’s music versus Mac’s music, PC’s movies versus Mac’s movies, how PC crashes a lot, etc and so forth.  Smart, funny and effective. 

And somehow, STRANGELY, Microsoft has seen fit to take the insult and go, “Hey!  Look what they’re saying about us!”  Now, remember, the nerdy guy is a PC.  As in a COMPUTER.  Not a person.  This isn’t what Apple says that PC people look like.  Just their computers.  Comprende?  So then why would Microsoft do their “I’m a PC” ads showing all sorts of people of all walks of life and ages and stages and races proudly proclaiming that “I’m a PC!”?

Yeah, I don’t think Microsoft gets it.  

Which, you know, wouldn’t be the first time anyone has had to say that.  *cough*

You all have heard me wax poetic in the past about Walmart.  And while I don’t want to imply that those feelings are cooling (except I think they totally are), I’ve felt a lot less love in recent months.  

At the end of the day, we shop at Walmart because it’s CHEAP there.  I would love to shop at Smith’s or Safeway or (God bless it) Whole Foods.  That would be my idea of grocery heaven.  Shoot, way back in the day before Reno had a Walmart Supercenter, I used to do all our shopping at Safeway and it was mighty fine.  Shoot, they have a Starbucks right there in the store, complete with a handy cupholder right there on the shopping cart!  I loved shopping at Safeway.  But, the fact of the matter is that we save SO MUCH more money by shopping at Walmart.  And it seems like anymore that saving money isn’t just a jolly whim, but a dire necessesity.  

Now, I’m a firm believer that all Walmarts are not created equal.  Why, just here in the Reno/Sparks area alone, there are four Walmart Supercenters and one of those I try not to ever step foot in unless it’s an absolute emergency.  It’s just too damned crowded.  And the clientele, for lack of a better word, is a touch on the shady side.  (There’s also a regular Walmart that I won’t even look twice at as we drive by.  It’s very existence chills me to the bones.)  My Walmart of choice is located in the neighborhood we used to live in up in Northwest Reno.  It’s maintained fairly well, is kept fairly clean and is fairly well organized.  And, on average, the people there are fairly normal.  You know, for a Walmart. 

There’s also one clear out in the boonies of Sparks and another one waaaaay south of town.  Ironically enough, all three of these Walmarts are located extremely close to all three Kohl’s in town.  Hmm.  Interesting.  Anyhow, I generally try to pick the less ghetto of Walmarts to do my shopping at.  But there is something about the average person who shops at a Walmart.  They have no freakin’ concept of BEING IN SOMEONE’S WAY.  For the record, my husband is rather poor at this too.  He’s frustrating to grocery shop with anyhow, what with the poring over labels and per-unit prices.  But he also leaves his cart right in the middle of the aisle.  And since we each have to have our own cart these days (the joys of three kids), it’s kind of difficult for me to move it for him.  But I try and I make sure that Harry isn’t standing out in the middle of the “traffic path”, picking his lip and staring into space as usual.  Because I wouldn’t want anyone to think I was a selfish douche.  You know, like everyone ELSE that shops at Walmart. 

Honestly, I would love to be able to shop somewhere else.  Shoot, if we had a Super Target here in town I would be there in a HEARTBEAT.  It’s all about saving money though.  And Walmart saves us a LOT of money.  At the end of the day, I just can’t ignore that.  Still, someone needs to remind me to not try going to Walmart on a Sunday afternoon.  Because that’s just asking for it.

I was reading a post over at Lost a Sock yesterday where she talked about how warm she liked to keep their house.  And, I swear to you, my jaw about hit the floor.   There are actually lots of people, apparently, who keep their thermostats at 74 degrees.  Or higher!  I think I would probably burst into spontaneous flame if we had our thermostat set at that for more than about, oh, 30 minutes.  

And I realized that there are people who are just plain intolerant to cold.  Much like I am intolerant to heat.  I hate hate hate being hot.  HATE IT.  I have an actual adverse physical reaction to being too warm.  Seriously!  The worst is getting into a car on a sunny but slightly cool day and it’s already warm in the car from the sun coming through the windows but then they turn the heater on?  ZOMG.  My skin crawls and I feel an overwhelming urge to PANT, I kid you not.  I cannot stand being warm.  Why I don’t just migrate to the Arctic Circle, I have no idea.  

We are misers around these parts and have been long before the current financial crisis ever hit.  I guess it’s just lucky that I like to be on the cool side anyhow.  During the winter, we have our thermostat set to 62 or so during the day.  I bump it up if I need to, like when we get a storm and it’s cooler outside than usual.  Generally, the house keeps it’s heat pretty well since the majority of the windows face the south side of the house and if the sun is shining, that goes a long way to keeping the place warm.  The thermostat goes up to 68 for a couple hours first thing in the morning to warm up the house and then again in the evening.  At night, we set it back to 58.  Because if there’s one thing I hate, it’s when the heater runs while I’m sleeping.  Even unconsciously, while I’m sleeping, I will toss and turn and wake up and sweat.  It’s awful. 

I generally wear my fleecy pajamas, slippers and a cozy robe during the day.  Sometimes I put a blanket on my lap when I’m watching TV.  The little kids too wear fleecy, cozy jammies during the winter months and when we dress for the cold, well, it works in the house too.  We’re not the sorts to wear shorts and t-shirts during the winter months.  If it’s 30 degrees outside, I figure I should be wearing a sweater.  It’s not worth the heating bill just to be able to wear a t-shirt when at home.  

I like it cold when I sleep so I can wear cozy pajamas and snuggle under a down comforter and flannel sheets.  The boys both wear cozy pajamas and snuggle under a pile of covers.  They haven’t complained about it and both have their favorite blankets.  I always make sure Evie is wearing warm pajamas and even then she gets tucked under a double-width fleece blanket.  Her room, like ours, faces the north side of the house so it’s cooler than the rest of the house.  As such, we’ve put a space heater in her room and we ran it last night to great success.  She stayed warm and cozy all night long.  I’ve already mentioned that I like it cool when I sleep and we even have the ceiling fan running on low in our room at night so that things don’t get too stagnant.  

So tell me this: Are we crazy?  I promise, if you ever came to visit we would bump up the heat for you.  But in the meantime, we sure do enjoy the comparatively small heating bills!  What do you keep your thermostat at?  And aren’t electronic thermostats just THE BOMB?  Makes life SO much simpler. 

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In other, completely unrelated news, I have a new review up over on ye olde review blogge.  PBN saw fit enough to send my nine year old a Wii game to review and I think it’s safe to say that he thought it was the coolest thing to ever come in our mail EVER.  What can I say?  The boy likes video games.  So yeah.  Go check it out.