Stores have personality

Stores have personality. I'm sure of it. I figure that great minds must do lots of R & D to determine what their store personality will be. I'm really not privy to all the research, but I can tell you that as a customer I notice.

Like CompUSA. I hate going into that store. I avoid it as I would a leper colony. It's loud, very loud, not just audably loud but visually loud. Images scream at me from every wall of the store. The noise they pump out through their Sumo woofers pound my chest. I can't breath. The music doesn't play TO me it yells AT me. I can only take a few minutes of it. Then I have to leave. When I walk back out into the parking lot it feels as though I've strolled into a lush tranquil garden full of rainbow colored cars. I'm at peace.

OfficeMax is not quite as bad. Maybe the young folks behind the counter need that sound or they'd fall asleep waiting for the next customer.

It might just be a sign of age, this feeling that everywhere I go seems noisy. I've had enough excitement in my life and I simply don't require external stimuli to bring me a feeling of well-being.

I guess stores have personality like people do. Their personalities may sometimes conflict with my own. I've never thought of it this way but they remind me of my coffee friends.

...dave
If I'd have known how old I was going to be, I would have taken better care of myself. - Adolf Zukor

Friends are like Wildflowers

While visiting friends in North Carolina I found a field of wildflowers.

I've never seen so much variety in such a small area. I was amazed. I focused on a single flower and snapped a picture. I zoomed in and out experimenting with focus. I tried placing a different flower in the foreground with the others a backdrop of dancing color. But in the end every flower featured looked beautiful. There really wasn't a bad perspective, just a different one.

When I got back to the house and brought the pictures up on my computer I decided to keep all the photographs. Each perspective was beautiful to me.

It was then that it hit me: My friends are really as varied as the wildflowers in a field. All of them are unique and provide me with a fresh perspective on life. I enjoy being close each and every one of them. When I spend time with them I see their beauty. My other friendships are still present but in the background. Their colors and perspectives provide a great contrast to the friend I'm with at the time.

I have friends all over the country and even in different countries. I often want to pluck them from the field and take them home with me but I know they thrive best in their own environments.

And they will be there when I return.

...dave
A friend is a present you give yourself. - Robert Louis Stevenson

Maybe related links:
Coffee Friends

Coffee Friends

We were talking the other day about the types of friends we have. Some are coffee friends, others are dinner friends, and still others are day friends. Now you may be wondering: What kind of people are these? Believe me when I tell you, you have them too.

A Coffee friend is a friend that is good to visit with over a cup - but no longer. For whatever reason, you can't take much more than about 15 minutes with them.

A Dinner friend is different. Being with them is a little less stressful so you can last through a meal and it's no big deal. After that though, the ear membrane grows thin.

Now a Day friend is someone you can spend an entire 12 hours with. There is no problem being with them. Their laugh, their smile, their honest appraisal of themselves and of you, all make them appealing, even soothing, to be with.

Of course, Day friends rarely, if ever, get to spend an entire day with you. Why? Because they are in high demand. Everyone wants to be with them (whether they know about the coffee, dinner or day friends we speak of here).

So the key here is, be a Day friend. Oh, and please give me a call if you are. I'm always looking for more Day friends.

...dave
A friend is one who knows us, but loves us anyway. -- Fr. Jerome Cummings