5 September 1999: Hunting for Binoculars

Sunday, 5 September 1999:

Hunting for Binoculars

Ceej and I are going to no less than five baseball games in the coming month, and so I decided to drive around today and try to find some binoculars.

This is harder than you might think. For one thing, what kind of store carries binoculars? John said he got his at a telescope store, which makes sense, but he didn't think they'd have much good for day viewing, and that I'd be better off trying a bird store. But what is "a bird store"? I checked Yahoo Maps and didn't find any likely candidates. I stumbled on a Wild Birds Unlimited in my perambulations, but they didn't have anything.

It also occurred to me that an outdoorsy store might have something, so I went by REI. Their selection was small and expensive. I'd like to spend like $50 on binoculars, not three times that.

Well, back in Madison I remember seeing binoculars at electronics stores, of all places. So I went by Fry's Electronics near me. They had a few, but nothing I wanted, so I drove up to their mega-store in Sunnyvale. They had a much better selection, and I found a fine pair for $40.

Problem: They seem to be discontinuing their binocular selection, and they didn't have that model in stock, nor any of the other models I'd have chose as runners-up. Aagh! I went by another electronic store, The Good Guys!, but their selection was similarly limited, and much more expensive.

So, I guess I'll try that telescope place, and maybe another Fry's and Good Guys that I know about, but I don't have high hopes.

Bummer!

I worked out this afternoon, too; weights. My legs are sore now. Ouchie. I don't think I'm overdoing it, they just feel sore sometimes after I work out. My arms are a little sore as well, but not nearly as much. I was realizing after working out that my upper arms are really getting pretty muscled - at least compared to the way they were in May. Cool. And new and different, too.

I went to the office briefly afterwards to grab some e-mail I didn't have on my Spies account, and ran into my cow-orker Tom there, and his friend from out-of-town who's visiting this weekend. We headed off for Indian food for dinner, a buffet. I generally dislike Indian buffets. This one was okay, but not outstanding. The best one I've had out here is up in Redwood City, which is kind of far away. Non-buffet Indian food tends to be better, in my opinion. I'm not sure why Indian and Nepali places prefer buffets rather than lunch specials like Thai and Chinese places. I find the lunch special places to be far superior in selection and quality.

I spent a lot of time in the car musing about my life out here and what I think of it. I have mixed feelings about it, and I'm trying to figure out whether they feel more mixed than they did when I was in Madison. I think the answer is no. Other than just feeling out-of-sorts about a new environment, I think I just don't know what I'm looking for in life. Is it that I don't have a whole lot of direction? That might be it. Also that I feel like I lack a 'best friend' out here. John has been pretty busy being in a relationship for several months and I haven't seen much of him. Ceej is married and spends a lot of time working on her projects at home (they've been busy both this weekend and last). Subrata is certainly a possibility there; in many ways I think we're kindred spirits. It's taking a while, though. I think he marches to his own beat most of the time.

I don't have any friends out here like Karen, whom I felt comfortable calling up any time and asking if she'd like to go out for frozen custard. Then again, she was the only person in Madison I felt comfortable with in that way. I guess I'm just finding it very hard to get close to people these days, and have for a while, and I'm not sure why that is. Not for lack of wanting. But the connections just... don't seem to happen. Possibly I'm just not trying, although it doesn't feel that way.

I wonder if being so busy doing things with friends, and working on projects at home and shopping for stuff is just distracting me from a real problem. I dunno. I try to think of ways I could meet people and don't come up with much. There isn't much comic book fandom to speak of (sadly...), and science fiction fandom hasn't seemed to be the answer (there's either an age difference or a focus difference). I hang around with nerds all the time anyway. The only other thing that comes to mind is maybe I should take a class from a university extension.

Not a bad idea, I suppose...

Michael Rawdon (Contact)