I came to Little Rock and all I got was ..... a boyfriend??

B#1 informed me last night that he might have referred to me as his "girlfriend" - which can be fighting words for an independent gal like myself. After careful consideration, I gave the go ahead for girlfriend status, I mean won't that mean better gifts for holidays and Christmas?? Not that I'm shallow or anything (did I mention how much I like jewelry?) So let's sum up what has occurred in my brief time in Arkansas:

1. I found a cute boy :)
2. I decided fried okra is OK, but I am determined not to eat chitlings or pig's feet
3. My preconceived notions about the locals lack of teeth and shoes have been proven wrong
4. I decided to run a marathon
5. I made the first of 60 payments on my new car
6. I became an advisor to the local chapter of my sorority,
and most importantly
7. After being out of work for a month I FINALLY got a paycheck!!

How do you like them apples??

Marathon Dreams or Marathon Madness??

I don't know whether I'm ambitious or just COMPLETELY crazy, but I just registered for this fall's Chicago Marathon. The race will be October 7th, so I have seven full months to coax my body into going 26.2 miles which as I'm typing this just seems ridiculously insane! I mean I'm a girl who just started running a year ago and let's be honest, I haven't consistently trained for the past four months. I have this major lazy streak in me ... you know that overwhelming drive to sit on the couch and watch TV or surf the internet for hours on end. Committing to this marathon means committing to at least 4 months of regimented training. Doing it half-way won't get me to the finish line and there's no point in doing this if I don't finish (not to mention I can't waste the $110 entry fee!!).

I have to believe that this is something I'm capable of. At the moment, there is definitely some doubt in the back of my mind, but I need to remember all that I've already accomplished . I ran my first 5K in April 2006 after starting in February barely able to run for 1 minute non-stop. I finished two sprint distance triathlons last summer, even finishing in the top 3rd in my age group at Danskin Chicago. I even managed to complete a half-marathon despite almost totally ignoring my training plan which likely resulted in my snail's pace of 13 minute miles. So why shouldn't I be able to do this?? Especially if I truly commit to following a training plan?

I need to put aside the old Jenn, the one who thought that doing something like this was completely out the realm of possibilities. I mean sure it's cheesy, but if you dream it - you can achieve it.

Can I do a marathon??
Absolutely!

Futile Attempts at Domestication

I never took home ec, I can't sew, I've never grown a garden and most of my cooking knowledge comes from the directions on the Lean Cuisine box. Despite being fully aware of my lack of domestic skills, I volunteered to cook dinner for B#1 last night. I warned him that I wasn't much of a cook and that there was a good possibility that I'd end up ordering in pizza (see my burnt brownie post) but being the brave soldier that he is, he eagerly agreed to the plan.

I went with a baked chicken dish that has always been my old standby though I don't think I've actually cooked for anyone in over a year ... possibly two. I didn't have any of my cookbooks with me (it's not like I actually USE them and they're an incredible waste of space in my car) so my johnny-on-the-spot Martha Stewart - a.k.a. Mom emailed me the recipe. So the menu was baked chicken, Country Style Chicken Kiev as it was called in our household, red potatoes with garlic, parsley and butter, and "salad." Of course what I called salad was green stuff in a bag, with some croutons and dressing, not a lot of stress with the prep there.

In the end, I don't think it was awful. I mean he ate it and didn't seem sick, and didn't report foodborne illness symptoms the next day. He said it was good, but let's be honest, when a woman cooks for you, any man with sense knows that you compliment the cook even if it sucks. I warned him that he had pretty much experienced the full range of my culinary skills such as they are.

And you know I wanted to take home ec in high school but my guidance counselor told me to take Physics instead! Let's see, at age 33 how often do I need to calculate trajectories? Angle of descent? Force applied on an object?? Stupid counselor.

Not sure if I have "hot legs"??

Tonight I ran with the local women's running group known as the "Hot Legs." It turns out that Bachelor #1 (let's just abbreviate it as B#1) has two sisters who are involved so he put me in touch with one of them. She contacted me and promised that I would find someone to pace with me so I tentatively planned on joining them.

Now even under the best of circumstances I'm pretty slow (think 10-11 minute miles), but I haven't run regularly since October so right now I am ridiculously slow, and out of shape ... did I mention the side stitches and feelings of wanting to vomit on the side of the road?? Yeah - I'm THAT kind of runner!

Add to this the fact that I've never run with other people and you end up with a very nervous Jenn!! I was thinking all day of ways to get out of it, some excuse to make as to why I couldn't make it, but I met B#1 for lunch and he encouraged me to "step outside your comfort zone, it's served you well so far." So I took his advice and tried something different and it turns out I really enjoyed it. The women were all very friendly and though they did run a little faster than was comfortable for me - it pushed me in a way that I would never have on my own. It turns out that one of the Hot Legs is looking for a partner to relay the Little Rock half-marathon next weekend so I think I'll do it. This might turn out to be a good thing for me since I've never had a training partner. I have my online community at BT who are an awesome support, as well as my cousin Travis - but I think it's a totally different thing to actually train alongside someone.

We'll just have to see how many other positive things happen in my life by pushing past my boundaries!!

The Colbert Report featured the Arkansas 2nd Congressional District last week (of which I am now a part) and had an interesting interview with Congressman Vic Snyder. Hysterical as usual!!

Matching: Status Report

FYI - wondering how things are going with Bachelor #1?? Well, there have been three fun-filled evenings so far and there seem to be more on the horizon ... unless of course he suddenly decides to stop calling me, switches teams, ends up having a wife or some other dating disaster I've read about in Cosmo. I have been prohibited from using adjectives like "cute," "adorable," or "sweet" so I'll just remain uncharacteristically quiet on the subject for now :)

How hard should it be to get a decent cup of coffee?

My biggest complaint about Little Rock so far?? The lack of good, easily accessible coffee shops. I honestly haven't had a good coffee experience since I've been here and I'm longing for my Rendezvous, Lakota and Cherry St Artisan - all excellent Columbia, MO coffee houses.

Now to be honest, I haven't been to a non-chain type of shop because I don't believe there is one where I live in West Little Rock, the upper scale part of the metro area that's kindof in the middle of nowhere. My first experience was a place just down the road. When I drove past it on the way to my apartment I was so excited thinking "hey, a coffee shop right down the road!" It's obviously a chain - not sure if it's just regional or not - but hey if they have good coffee and it's convenient, I can live with that for day to day purposes. I tried it last Sunday and I was waiting in a very short line I could see the baristas constantly rechecking the chart on how to make the drinks, steaming milk without first wiping the nasty looking nozzle and freely pouring tons of foam into their lattes .... basically just acting completely clueless. Perhaps this was their "B" team, but honestly if you can't make a simple latte I don't want to drop $3.50 on a drink here.

My second experience was a different chain, this one further down the road. This time, they brewed the shots and let them sit quite a while before actually steaming milk and completing the drink. It was ridiculously slow and took about 5 minutes for my drink despite the fact that there were only two drinks to be made before mine.

Now this morning, I decided to just suck it up and go to Starbucks. Yes, it's the McDonalds of coffee and I normally try to avoid them just on principal- but I thought surely they can make a latte without any drama. Actually I didn't even order a latte, just a cafe au lait (brewed coffee with steamed milk) which is practically impossible to screw up. Well the cashier was ridiculously rude - I thought he and the barista were going to throw down right in front of the customers and it turned out that 2 of the 3 containers of coffee were empty and I noticed the timer was expired on the one that did have coffee ( I used to work at the 'Buck so I know they put the brewed coffee on one hour timers then are supposed to toss what's left). So then the cashier looks at me and says in a kindof a bitchy tone, "so what kindof milk do you want?" By this point, I'm just distressed - I mean it's Starbucks!! It's a cafe au lait!! If I can't even get a freaking coffee with milk in my neighborhood without drama?? What does this mean?? In the midst of this I noticed that the barista was waaaay slow and though it wasn't particularly crowded, several irritated looking people were waiting for their drinks. I remember being in Denver and routinely have lines all the way to the door in the mornings, but still moving the drinks pretty quickly. We'd call down the line for orders and try to avoid the big clump of folks waiting at the pickup.

So I guess I'll have no option but to head into town for a decent coffee experience. Just sucks because all a girl wants is a somewhat local place to get a brew. Is that too much to ask???

Not Reporting From Seattle,
jenn

Screw you Abercrombie!!

Today I had to go shopping for my second date with Bachelor #1. Specifically I wanted new shoes - high heels because he's tall - and flattering jeans. The shoes were no problem, I was in and out of Dillards in 10 minutes flat. The jeans, however, were a different story. All of the women reading this blog know how emotionally and physically draining it can be to buy jeans. I had decided prior to going to the Mall that if it got too rough, I'd just go home and wear my Gap jeans that I'd already worn on our first date. I mean what would be the chance that he'd notice I had on the same jeans two dates in a row?? It's not like they hadn't been washed.

So anyway, I tried Dillards (too confusing they don't just have a denim section, it's all thrown around the store based on brand), Express (too casual looking and the fancy jeans were all too long) Gap (again too casual looking) and finally Abercrombie and Fitch. Honestly I don't know that I've ever bought anything there but I figured what the hell?? I quickly found some nice looking denim in a dark wash that were low rise and boot cut. Perfect!! Then I realized that at eye level, the sizes were 0,2, and 4. For you boys reading, that's starving, anorexic and really thin of which I am neither. I could see perched high above my head all of the larger sizes including the size 8's I was coveting. Basically I tried my tip toes and couldn't reach, then stood on the bottom shelf and could barely reach high enough to snatch them down. The size 10s and up (the average American woman is a 12) - you would have needed a ladder. I looked at the other denim displays and noticed the same thing, the sizes for "normal" sized women were out of reach. It makes me wonder what message they're trying to send to their consumers? Unless you're painfully thin, please don't shop here?? I did try the jeans on and they looked fantastic which left me no choice but to buy them. I'll admit, however, that the experience left a slightly sour taste in my mouth. Shopping for jeans is hard enough without Abercrombie playing these vicious head games with women who actually choose to consume food as part of their daily diet.

Burned Brownies and Salmonella Tainted Peanut Butter

I'm not feeling too well today - just a sore throat, little cold kindof thing so I thought I would bake some turtle brownies which would make me happy! While I was baking brownies, I also put the tea pot on for hot water. After baking my brownies to the perfect slightly gooey not quite done consistency, I put the dish on the top of the stove to "cool." About 5 minutes later I started smelling a bizarre burning odor. I go to get a delicious caramel, chocolately morsel only to discover that I put the pan on the burner for my tea pot which was still turned on low. So all I had to show for my stupidity was a cup of tea and charred brownies.

Then I'm reading my friend JCR's blog and see that there's been a recall of Peter Pan PB. Apparently this morning I consumed a delicious peanut butter and possibly tainted with salmonella sandwich ... just great!!

Bachelor #1 = Two Thumbs Up!

I took the plunge last night and met my first online "match" for a date in real life. We had exchanged emails, and managed to talk on the phone for over an hour without me acting like a complete idiot which seemed like a good start. I was excited to meet Bachelor #1, but cautiously optimistic because let's face it, I have no experience with online dating ...
well let's be more honest I don't have a lot of experience with dating. Period.

I could probably count on my fingers the number of first dates I've been on in the past decade so I am no Carrie Bradshaw. I also had this problem when I was younger of getting so nervous about dates that I actually threw up, luckily I've outgrown that. Now I just throw up when they turn out to be conservative Republicans who listen to Rush Limbaugh.... no just kidding ... (not really)

I have to report that it actually went well. He does not appear to be a deranged psycho, though he did warn me that he was immune to mace so if I was worried about safety, packing a tazer would be more appropriate. His original plan was sushi to which I replied, "is it safe to eat sushi in Arkansas??" There was my concern that Little Rock is pretty landlocked and the bigger concern that what the locals call "sushi" could be some nasty river dwelling fish that a hillbilly had just fetched out of the river. (Remember I'm new to the south and still a little skeptical.) He assured me that the place he had in mind had good sushi, but when we arrived it was packed. Of course being Valentine's Day, it was a popular night for couples to go out, act cheesy, and pretend like they really like each other. I had made him promise to find a non-Valentinish place because dripping candles, soft music, and heart decorations are NOT my idea of a good first date - actually any date for that matter. Instead we went to Vinos which is a cool, pizza/brew pub joint that's a little divey but a hip sort of place akin to Shakespeare's downtown for you Columbia, Mo readers. There was good conversation, tasty New York style pizza, and a finely crafted Scotch ale. It turns out that Bachelor #1 is an excellent find and apparently he is not repulsed or scared off by me because a second date is in the works.

So overall, my first real life date from an online connection??
Two Thumbs Up!

Step back in time: Sightseeing in Norfolk

I found this post that I had partially written right after leaving Norfolk/Virginia Beach, not sure why I never finished it. If I recall I was having internet access troubles and I got tired. So let's pretend it's still November .................

As my time in Norfolk was nearing an end, it occurred to me that I hadn't done anything sea or naval related which honestly, is the biggest thing about Norfolk. One sunny day, another travel nurse friend and I decided to go to the waterfront and visit Nauticus the National Maritime Center which is basically an ocean related science museum which also contains the Hampton Roads Naval Museum and the Battleship Wisconsin.

The first thing we did was go to a film, the Living Sea. Sadly it was only a big screen and not IMAX because this film would have been very cool in IMAX. It had music by Sting and lots of pretty ocean and fish shots. It really made me want to learn to surf and scuba.



After the film we wandered through the exhibits, some were interesting and some were lame. This was a giant 8 foot suspended globe that had real time cloud patterns represented on it.

Also in this same location they had a green screen and television camera where you could practice being a weather forcaster which was a lot of fun!!

They also had nurse sharks on display which you could "pet" - this is my friend Christina petting the shark. The volunteer in the left was a complete freak and seemed worried that we were going to be careless and get our hands bit off or something.

Speaking of sharks, here's me in a cage doing my best Steve Irwin impression "WHOA look at that one! She's a beauty!"


The best part of the museum is the Battleship Wisconsin which hint hint - is free. So if you're not interested in the rest of Nauticus, just go to the Wisconsin, and skip the rest. The Wisconsin was "one of the largest and last battleships ever built by the US Navy" ... which basically means that nowadays we contract out these things to folks who can build them better :) The Wisconsin was launched in 1943 and saw action in WWII, the Korean War and even Desert Storm after which is was decommissioned and eventually placed in this location in the Elizabeth Harbor in Norfolk. Visitors can walk around the deck but the inside compartments are sealed because it remains a part of the inactive fleet. They are trying to maintain specific humidity levels to reduce rust in the event it is needed again. Of course peeking through the windows, there's NO WAY I'd want to have to serve on that old thing. The volunteer guides along the decks are mainly men who served in the Navy and have lots of great information and stories about the Wisconsin's days in battle. This picture is of me below the 16 inch guns which have a range of 26 miles!! The shell is barely visible to the right of the third gun, it weighs the same as a Volkswagon bug.


Here are various pics:
































































This seemed like an appropriate deck for me to hang out on:




When you're on Granby Street which is where the bars and restaurants are, you can see the Wisconsin through the alley which is cool.

After touring Nauticus, we headed to the MacArthur Center which is the premiere shopping in the area and only a few blocks away. They have an awesome H&M store that I dropped FAR too much money in :) Honestly this was about all the downtown Norfolk had to offer, except of course the prospect of floods when any drop of rain fell!!

So after seeing the old ship, my good friend Tim who is an ensign in the Navy took me to the Naval Station to see the "real" ships!! He toured me through his ship the U.S.S. Ponce which is an LPD, an amphibious transport dock. I was a bit shocked to see the spartan living quarters. His "stateroom" consisted of two sets of bunks each with barely enough room to turn around let alone stretch out. I said, "but you're an officer, I thought you get nice accommodations?" to which he answered, "these are nice." Bascially I realized that there's no way I could spend six months at sea, at least without a private bedroom, a large closet and of course my Tivo.

While we were on the pier, the U.S.S. Wasp which is an LHD, an amphibious assault ship, was coming into port. It was so cool seeing the large gathering of families holding signs and waiting for their sailors to come home! All of the crew were in their dress uniforms "manning the rails" as the ship came in and probably so excited to be coming home! In some of the pictures you can see a Harrier jet which was on the back of the ship (is that the stern? I don't know) on the landing platform. Also as the ship was turning into it's dock, the tugboats took over the steering. Amazing seeing this huge ship being "parked." I also got to see an aircraft carrier (so huge I really couldn't even get a picture for perspective) and a few other ships. The Naval Station Norfolk is the largest naval installation in the world so it was cool to get the chance to drive around it. I was also intrigued by my friend being saluted, even though he was in plain clothes! It's definitely a rough kindof life being in the Navy, especially for the families left behind when the ships are at sea. It's not a kindof career that I think I could handle, especially with my authority issues :)

The next frontier ..... online dating!!

I'll admit it, I've talked a lot of smack about people who look for their "soul mates" on the internet. I assumed that one must be the most desparate type of person if they're actually going to throw it all out there hoping upon hope that some other loser is looking at their profile.

Now??
Eating my words.

I love traveling and going to new places, but in all honesty it's hard to meet people. I work in a field that's mainly all females (not a lot of guys in the neonate field), I generally don't have any friends in the locations I'm going, and it's not like I'm going to go to a bar by myself.... talk about pathetic and desparate!!! In Virginia, I just lucked out and met someone by chance at a coffee shop, but I decided that with this move to Little Rock I'm going to try a new tactic. Match.com has had a pretty agressive advertising campaign on TV so I thought, what the hell??? At the best I'll meet an interesting guy who's fun to hang out with, at the worst I'll meet some complete jerks or weirdos who will make for good blog entries. Match works by the single person putting up a profile, posting some pictures, then basically waiting for people to contact you. There is the option of searching for folks and initiating contact, but I'm lazy and I thought I'd just see what happens. Shockingly in a matter of a day, I had received about a dozen "winks" and two emails. Most of the guys seem (at least on the surface profile they posted) to be pretty decent. There is the occasional gentleman old enough to be my Dad sending me a wink despite the fact that I have NOT indicated that I'm into the AARP set, but overall they seem to be quality. Now the key will be in seeing if after emailing folks, they actually represent well in real life. I don't want to be shallow, but there's gotta be a connection when you meet someone and I do have standards!! Two guys have good potential so far and I'm planning on going out with Bachelor #1 on Wednesday. I'm cautiously optimistic, but there's also the possibility that he's a raving lunatic or deranged murderer. Maybe I'll just introduce myself under an alias and carry a weapon??? We'll just see how it goes.

On the other side of things, I went ahead and signed up for eHarmony whose commercials claim that it's "Falling in love from the inside out." They have this ridiculously long questionnaire that maps out your "dimensions" and then they find matches for you. After they find matches there is this whole complicated process of "guided communication" that's supposed to help me learn someone's character. As if a multiple choice question asking, "What are your thoughts on chemistry?" is going to reveal someone's character?? Despite having over 20 matches identified for me, I still haven't made it through the guided communication process for any of them. So we'll see if that amounts to anything other than $110 down the drain.


Yes this may seem pathetic to you married folks out there, but this is what happens when you make it to your 30s and have no single friends. If I'd just gotten married at 20 and had all three of my kids, I wouldn't be in this situation. I'd probably want to kill myself, but at least I wouldn't have to online date.

Weather Wimps!

I grew up and have lived most of my life in the Midwest so during winter I expect it to be cold, miserable and sometimes containing snow or ice. I think that having winter is important because it forces a person to appreciate spring, summer and flannel pajamas and overall is just a necessity of life. Apparently, if I had grown up in Little Rock, or any other place in the more southern part of our country, I would feel MUCH differently.

My first notice that me and Toto weren't in Kansas was when I was leaving work yesterday morning. It was cool, probably low 40s and I just had on my North Face fleece, dollar store gloves and thought it felt quite refreshing - just the kind of weather I love running in. I passed a middle aged man walking towards me when I got out the door who smiled and said, "Whew that's cold out there!" Then crossed the street with a nurse who was shivering in her winter coat, gloves and scarf saying, "Man it's cold!" to which I replied, "it feels kindof nice to me, of course I just moved here from Colorado." She told me that she was raised in Louisiana and "this is just too much!" On the drive home the local weather news indicated, "Bundle up" and "artic front" the whole time I'm thinking it's decent for February.

Today at 35 degrees it was so bad that there was now a new crime spree in Little Rock...

Man's SUV Stolen While Warming Up in Cold
Reported by: Kim Betton, KARK 4 News
02/09/2007 04:10pm
At least four vehicles were stolen across Little Rock while warming up Friday according to police. One of the victims said he looked out his apartment window only to find his SUV gone. The victim said he then jumped into his girlfriend's car and followed the suspect - and shortly afterward police began to chase the suspect as well. It all ended at 12th and Cleveland when the suspect crashed into a utility poll. There were no injuries. The teen is now behind bars. Police are warning motorists it's against the law to warm up vehicles unattended. In fact they are beefing up patrols to issue citations to violators.

and here I was thinking it was pretty damn nice! It just goes to show that it's all relative.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

A great clip I stole from my friend ObfusK8's blog. For a person who loves the music of U2 and disapproves of our president's politics, this is FABULOUS!!!

I'm definitely in the south!

It wasn't so much the kindly southern drawls and "you'all"s that clued me in, rather it was my visit to the supermarket. After picking up my boneless, skinless chicken breasts, I noticed an entire freezer case of what can best be described as auxiliary meat products. There at the local Kroger was a fine array of calf liver, pig ears, pig's feet, necks, and of course chitlins' or as one bucket proclaimed, "chitterlings." I actually had to call my Mom and ask what the heck a chitlin' was and as I suspected, it is a part of the animal that I could only be induced to eat if competing on Survivor for the million dollars.

I also learned at my local wine and liquor shop that about half of Arkansas is dry - and I'm not talking about the climate. Where I grew up, one for the road literally meant that the bartender put my Dad's Pabst in a plastic cup so he could take it for the drive home ... the concept of dry would therefore be quite foreign to my understanding.

It's amazing that I'm only one state south of Missouri (or as they say in the south "Mizzoura") but I suddenly feel like I'm smack dab in the middle of Dixie! And did I mention the ginormous churches?? HUGE complexes the size of my high school placed on hilltops throughout the city. Makes me think that I should just keep my heathen mouth shut when the topic of "where do you go to church?" comes up.

It ain't Illinois but it can't be that bad???

Yesterday I hooked my little rental trailer to the Matrix, loaded up the "kids" and headed out from Springfield. While I was home I had a hitch installed, and the investment was well worth it and packing was a breeze with all of that extra space. I stopped by my Mom's office on the way out of town and showed off my traveling rig. It handled well but backing up was definitely not my forte, it took me about 5 minutes just to pull out of my parents driveway!


We stayed overnight in Forrest City, Arkansas which was about 40 miles from Memphis and 90 miles from Little Rock, so today marked my first full day in Arkansas!
My first impressions are a bit mixed ...

the following were concerning:
-I-40 is the worst flipping stretch of highway I've ever driven on that was still considered an "interstate!" It's not only rough and poorly kept, but traffic was at a literal standstill for miles and miles due to rubbernecking of a trailer truck turnover that was no where near the actual lanes!
-at my first stop for gas across the border I noticed that next to the tasty cappuchino machine was a jar of pickled pigs feet?!?
-when I returned my trailer at UHaul in Little Rock there was an entire family that only shared about 10 teeth amongst themselves. I'm sure they're very nice but it just made the dueling banjoes song go through my head.

the positive things I've noticed so far:
-it was sunny and 50 degrees which felt like a tropical paradise compared to Denver and the midwestern ice age
-driving around my neighborhood I noticed lots of runners pounding the sidewalks which was refreshing given that Arkansas is one of the most overweight states in the nation, and it makes me think there might be some good races to be found around.
-the area is quite scenic, a lot like southwest Missouri, and I'm on the edge of the metro area so it looks like some good hiking and trail runs will be a close drive

My apartment is quite nice and I have a garage for my new car ... though it's one of those tiny garages with a recessed entry so I'm already dreading the day that I whack a mirror while pulling out. (Thank goodness I didn't buy that Hummer or massive truck with duelies). I start my job on Monday and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will go well. After being out of work for three weeks it's going to be a shock to the system to actually work - but having no money is definitely a worse shock!!

End of an Era- The Closing of K's

I just found out that K’s Merchandise is going out of business. Though it wasn’t my “first job” (who could forget Chuck E Cheese and Ryan’s Steakhouse?), working at K’s was the most fun and meaningful experience of my teenage years. I started out the beginning of my senior year in 1990 as a housewares sales associate (#120) and I felt like I had hit the jackpot when I was hired. Instead of working food service which is the most common teenage career path, I had gotten a coveted sales position at the premiere retail establishment around! Here's a picture of me right around the time I was hired, there was definitely an 80s influence in that hairstyle and makeup!!

K’s was a regional company with stores around central Illinois that sold jewelry, housewares, electronics and sporting goods. It was one of those old fashioned places where sales associates actually helped you, retrieved your item from the warehouse and took it to the cash register for you. Back before Best Buy, Circuit City and the internet took over retail, people preferred coming to K’s for the service and the knowledge of the associates. I quickly became the “expert” on electric shavers and vaccums (we all need our niche) and after the Christmas season, I was kept on when a quarter of the sales force were laid off.

The best part of K’s was that it was a melting pot of young adults from all over the Springfield area. I quickly made friends from all of the public high schools (I went to one of those snooty Catholic schools) as well as from the rural areas and the local community college. Pretty soon I had my school friends, and my “K’s” gang. The K’s gang luckily included a few older folks who were able to procure alcohol (always a bonus when you’re underage) and willing to have parties at their house. My first serious boyfriend was from K’s (an electronics associate), several people I stayed friends with through college were fellow associates, and two became sorority sisters and one is still a best friend all these years later. We had a great time at work and there was always a lot of joking, hiding out in the warehouse, and just general goofiness when the managers weren’t watching. We did have to work hard, our sales were tracked even though we weren’t on commission, but we managed to make it fun.

In my almost three years at K’s, I spent time selling housewares and jewelry, and eventually ended up in customer service which was kindof a step above the sales folks – at least in our opinion. I learned valuable career skills and lots of mechanisms for coping with difficult people. For example, three words – After Christmas Returns.
Even better?? Returns Without Receipt. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve faced situations in my professional work in government and healthcare where I’ve drawn upon lessons learned in that customer service booth at K’s. Not only did I make great friends and have a great time, but I really learned skills that would serve me well in life.

It makes me sad to see the end of another hometown retail establishment but these days I’m sure it’s all about the lowest price as opposed to the best service. I’ll always have wonderful memories of my time at K’s and be glad that I had the opportunity to work there!