My Supermarket has launched me into the future. Stop and Shop now has this “Scan It” device where you take a handheld scanner and, as you shop for your groceries, you scan each item and put it into your bags in your cart. Once you’re done shopping, you go to the checkout and scan an “end your order” barcode where it totals up everything you’ve scanned, then you swipe your card and leave without having to put your items on the belt and re-bagging them. It’s pretty fantastic. The supermarkets love it because there’s really no need for employees at this point, and apparently the average person ends up buying $7 more worth of stuff (not sure why, but now that I know that I refuse to let it happen to me). You also get special discounts with the scanner (maybe that’s how you get duped). Dunno. All I do know is that I heart technology.

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The Men of Planet Money

As a point of confession, I have to mention that I have a few other men in my life. Fortunately, Rick seems to be cool with having these men whispering into my ear. They are the men of the NPR’s Planet Money podcast. I’m fairly obsessed with listening to Economists right now and I’ve really been enjoying their down to earth, yet high-brow, analysis of the economy. I had to laugh when I actually saw one of the hosts on TV and was shocked at how much differently he looked from how I had pictured him. So I decided to look them all up.

Adam Davidson

David Kestenbaum

Alex Blumberg

And there is at least one female host as well, but she actually irritates me a little so I’m not going to post her picture.

Planet Money is a show that is only broadcast as a podcast. A lot of the interviews and stories they produce end up on This American Life and All Things Considered.. It was created after NPR got so many positive responses from the “Giant Pool of Money” story that ran on This American Life about the housing crisis and goes into great detail about the economy without using jargon I don’t understand, but doesn’t dumb it down at all. I recommend it for all the dorks out there.

Along these lines there was a fantastic Frontline episode called “Inside the Meltdown” which was incredibly fascinating (again, obsessed) and it really made me feel sympathetic towards Henry Paulson. Generally, I disagree with his philosophies, and wish he had seen government intervention as necessary step to prevent an economic free-fall sooner than he did, but that is a man whose shoes I would never care to walk in.

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I really have to brag for a few seconds about Mr. Rick. He went to great lengths to make sure I had a good Valentines day.
Here’s what he did for me-
1) Had a dozen roses and chocolates delivered to my work on Friday
2) Brought home red velvet cupcakes
3) Cooked dinner for me and ensured we ate by candlelight

And here’s what I did for him-
nothing. That’s right. I did nothing. Not even a card. So… that kind of makes me a jerk.

I honestly, really, truly do love this guy and I’m so grateful for the sweet sentiments. I’m a lucky, lucky girl.

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As indicated by a previous post, it took us a long time to take our Christmas Tree down. It died about 2 weeks before Christmas, but miraculously didn’t ever turn brown- it just got extremely brittle. So I was very afraid to take it down knowing that all the needles would fall to the ground as we carried it through the long hallways of our apartment building. Let me also add that we live in a building that is mostly populated by the elderly who are, literally, the type to wait in the lobby ALL DAY for the postman to come. Needless to say, they don’t have much else to do rather than complain about things that are amiss in the common space. Thus, in our fear of receiving the wrath of Senior watchdogs, we knew we needed a good plan to get our Christmas tree out of the building without causing a wake of needles throughout the building.

First, we tried to fit giant garbage bags around the tree, which was immediately found to be inadequate, seeing as how our tree this year was of a decent circumference. Then we found that the branches were so brittle that they easily snapped off, allowing us to continue wrapping the tree in garbage bags. Snapping the branches off worked fine until we got to the bottom of the tree and this is where I started sawing. Eventually we had, basically chopped all the branches off, stuffed them in a garbage bag, and wrapped the amputated trunk in plastic to leave out on the curb.

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This one goes out to Dawn. Love the severed baby hands in cupcakes and I really, really hope you made ground hogs (meatloaf shaped like piggies). There is something really funny to me about food that is harmlessly disturbing.

(courtesy www.surburbanbliss.net)

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I walked into the lobby of my apartment building last night and was welcomed by the strong scent of meatloaf and now I really want meatloaf. That’s pretty much all I have to say right now.

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I haven’t written on this blog for a long time, so I thought maybe I should just list some things that are either good or bad in my life right now.

Good:
1) President Obama
2) I love my new recording studio at work
3) Reconnecting with old friends through facebook
4) Just found the “Vegas” mode on my console.
5) Got new kitchen appliances (dishwasher isn’t installed yet- see Sad: #5)
6) I’m married to a sweet, sweet man.

Bad:
1) Chris and Corrie are moving to SLC
2) Other friends are probably moving, too.
3) Just found out my husband doesn’t doesn’t like the idea of the National Endowment for the Arts.
4) It’s so so very cold here.
5) Need to get new plumbing under our kitchen sink.
6) Our Christmas tree is still up

Also, the domain hillaryandrick.com is up for renewal and I’m thinking of ditching the cheesy couple url for something different. Especially because I’m the only person who posts to this blog. I’m opening up the comments for suggestions. If you have a recommendation for what my new website should be named, I’d appreciate it.

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The world is a better place with this out there.

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We just spent the last 5 days in beautiful California with the Martell clan. This was the first time Rick and I were able to visit Rick’s parents at their home in Hollywood. We had a wonderful time hanging around the condo, watching Michael (2) and Bianca (6 weeks) and just getting to know each other better.

A few of the highlights:
Watching Wicked — yup, we had to go to LA to see a broadway musical
Hearing about Hawaii from Meg and Brandon
Being jealous of Dochiny’s credit score
Making pies
Feeding Bianca — that may have been my first time feeding a baby
Going to the beach and climbing on the huge pile of sand
Arm wrestling Meg both left and right handed (oh and WINNING both times)
Choosing a ribbon to wear in my hair from the vast selection Ali brought with her
Playing peek-a-boo with Michael. Why do kids love that?
Cooking with Roxanna
Talking shop with Robin
Going for a jog and actually passing another jogger! (That never happens to me)
Watching a special on Jonestown in the hotel room — it was really interesting
Soaking in the 80 degree weather.

Martell Family

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I just wanted to clarify that I’m not actually discouraged by the economic situation we find ourselves in. The next few years will be tough, but admittedly it might prove more difficult for other people than for myself. I might get really slow at work which is my great fear, but it’s not like we’re at the age needing to finance retirement with our badly bruised 401ks. And, luckily, Nassau County isn’t as subject to volatile real estate values as other parts of the country. Housing will always be expensive in Long Island because there are a whole lot of people who need to be near the city.

I think this gives my generation a great opportunity to scale back. Learn how to live within our means, stay out of unnecessary debt, and to appreciate and use what we have rather than always looking for that new product that promises happiness. (I’m guilty of this. I really want a new laptop and imagine myself doing so many great new projects on it, when in reality I can probably do those new projects on my current computer.)

General Conference was a great reminder of what’s important and it turns out that a new computer isn’t important.

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