News Archive - July, 2006

So I finally got Gallery set up how I want it and started posting some albums. I definitely like it a lot more than the custom albums I used to use. I still need to decide how I'm going to organize all of my albums and then create color schemes for the different categories.

The reason categorization is such a problem is that I already have a lot of albums that can be categorized in many different ways, and I can't think about what kind of albums I'll have in the future that will need to be categorized. Looking just at the subset of Juniata albums I have ultimate albums, party albums, graduation, outdoor albums, etc. To complicate things even more, "Juniata" could be a main category, a subcategory or not a category at all. I think I'm going to check out as many other galleries as I can to get some ideas.

For now, you can check out the most recent ultimate photos.

So I've been slowly, but steadily, working on SWAMP. My goal right now is to work on backfilling my gallery at least every other day while planning the next stages. Tonight I'm going to finish backfilling all of the ultimate photos and tomorrow or Thursday I'll probably start the Events album (yay...Florida pics).

I've still got just as much other stuff going on to prevent me from working on SWAMP (job, ultimate, looking for a house, freelance development...), but I've decided to try to spend at least an hour every weekday working on either freelance development or SWAMP (or both) to keep things moving. Right now Jason and I are working on Priority Financial Services, Jamaica Hill Association, and Inside Hazing. It's a lot of work (rushing PFS, moderate JHA, and stalling IH), but it's working out so far.

Next on my list is scraps, DVD collection, recipe book, and possibly an address book (I'm sure I can find some existing app for this). Plus I need to redevelop the client management system for ::insert new name for Monkey Cat::. We'll see how much I get accomplished by the end of August.

Oh, I guess I should develop the CMS for SWAMP too...this whole phpMyAdmin with no preview is getting real old real fast.

Going to college in PA, I quickly learned that you get liquor at a liquor store and you get beer at a beer distributor. This seems obvious, and is true in NY too, but what I needed to learn was that these are the exclusive places to obtain liquor and beer (sort of).

PA has state-run liquor stores. The only place you can buy liquor to go (as opposed to getting a shot in a bar) is at a Wine & Spirits store, all of which are state owned. Beer distributors, on the other hand, are privately owned and are the primary place to obtain beer and malt beverages. This is very different from NY where you can buy beer at grocery stores and gas stations.

At first I didn't like the fact that PA has state stores (liquor stores). But, I grew to love them for the following reasons:

• every Wine & Spirits store has the same prices
• you can check prices and up-to-date store inventory online
• advertised monthly sales in PDF format

Back to beer distributors. Originally, I thought this was the only way to buy beer to go. I later found out that you can also get beer at bars and restaurants. As this became a more and more popular occurrence, I eventually found one very annoying thing with buying beer from a restaurant. You could buy as much beer as you want, but you couldn't walk out with more than two six-packs at a time. This was pretty frustrating and it didn't seem to make any sense to me.

Today I found out why I was never allowed to walk out with more than two six-packs at a time (although I could just walk in and out as many times as I want with two six-packs each time). PA state law mandates that beer distributors cannot sell six-packs or 12-packs, only cases; and bars and restaurants cannot sell cases, only six-packs and 12-packs. This seems like an odd way to control alcohol purchases and consumption, but I guess that's just the way it is...

Doug and I went to Burger King for lunch today to get BK Stackers because we had a page full of stacker coupons. Doug ordered his food first — coke icee and 6-piece chicken fries. They didn't have coke icee (well, they did, but the machine wasn't working right so they weren't selling it) so he had to get a cherry icee instead. I was up next and I ordered the triple stacker value meal and got a double stacker free with a coupon. I handed the cashier my credit card as she told me the price and while she was sliding my card I realized what she said...my meal cost over $8. I looked up at the menu and saw that the triple stacker meal was under $6 and asked her why my bill was so high. This is where the good part comes in...

She looked down at the register and said, "Oh, I forgot to put the coupon in." She then stared blankly at the register for a while before calling over a supervisor and explaining what happened. The supervisor then looked at the register with a similar look on her face, then starting pressing two buttons over and over. I looked closely after she pulled her hands away to see what buttons she was pressing; they were labeled "delete" and "easy repeat" or something similar. Never having worked a Burger King register, or any fast food register, I knew that pressing those two buttons would definitely not accomplish anything, especially after the sale was finalized. But, she seemed convinced that it would work and she tried again (always a brilliant idea).

After realizing that she couldn't adjust the order (no shit, I already paid), she realized she needed to give me a refund. I could've saved everyone five minutes by telling her that in the beginning if I knew she was that slow. Apparently she doesn't know how to give credit back on a credit card because she gave me cash for my refund (something I don't think any other store would every do — actually, that's probably even against Burger King corporate policy).

I'm not sure if she actually rang up the second sale as a credit or a regular sale, but she put in one double stacker for the order (which was correct). A double stacker costs $2.59, the total came to $2.75 (obviously because of tax). I think this confused her because she looked at the price, removed the double stacker and added it again. She then stared at the register with the same blank look on her face that she had when she first came over to resolve the situation. I guess she figured the register was just wrong because she gave me $2.60. I knew this was wrong, but I figured $0.15 wasn't worth dealing with someone who took 10 minutes to give me a refund for one item, so I just walked away (without my credit card receipt and without my order number; both were filed away during the big fiasco).

At this point I was standing at the other end of the counter waiting for my food (not sure how they didn't get it made in the time it took for me to get my refund). The same supervisor who stole my receipt and order number slip called out "28" and put the tray down on the counter. I looked carefully at the order to see if it was mine and the supervisor looked at me with this look of "What's your problem? Take your damn food." As I was reaching for my tray, the girl next to me asked for some barbecue sauce and the supersivor picked up two packets and threw them on my tray. The girl then picked them up off my tray, apologized, and walked away. I don't think the supervisor even took notice.

I sat down and looked at the burgers to see which was mine and which was Doug's. Surprisingly, they were labeled as a double and a triple. Not surprisingly, they were labeled backward. I looked at Doug and said, "Check it out, yours is marked as a triple." He opened his excitedly and said, "Maybe it is a triple!" Then I told him that it wasn't (I could tell because of the size difference between his and mine when they were still wrapped). He responded, "That's ok, my 6-piece chicken fries is labeled as a 9-piece and actually is a 9-piece."

I'm not sure that much more, if anything else, could have gone wrong.