I had taken off with Emily yesterday to take a wander through the Ikea out by The Ex (is the Toronto Island around there? :P I'm a horrible Torontonian) and get some vague ideas for when (note: not if) I get that condo.
I had planned to pick up a nice corner workstation (note to self: It's apparently not a desk) for the new place as the old one is made of some form of particleboard with a faux-wood "foil" that's peeling. It was a good price, and when we found it in the model showrooms, I discovered it was also available in white, so I wanted to grab the white one.
Got some really simple ideas for the place. I don't know what I'm gonna do with all that space, aside from fill it with stuff - or people. XD There are some nice TV tables tho - large enough to fit all the electronics into it - I think - but small enough that it doesn't dominate the place. (I'll most likely grab this stuff after I move, as it's kinda pointless to get the stuff now, when it's not on sale and I won't take ownership for another 6 weeks.)
Anyhow, we find the workstation and it's in a box that's about 3 feet wide by 5 feet long, and only a couple of inches tall. The pieces in it undoubtedly are huge. And Em planned that we took it out, piece by piece, and placed them in the backseat. Would've worked, too, were it not for those damned kids.
When we got to the register, they told me that the white one wasn't on sale. Only the beech-coloured one. (I think Ikea must be the only place that actually charges for different colours. I've never seen that occur elsewhere - although I could be totally wrong, since I don't frequent furniture stores.) I decided, after the trying to figure out how to get it into the car, coupled with the fact that I was really wanting a white one, that it was pointless, and left it behind. :\
Had a good time, tho! I like that place... it's always entertaining. Lots of stuff to just look at and say "that's so cool!" (like the fibre-optic decoration... I may have to get one, just to have people ooh and ahh over it, like we did :P)
Headed back to Emily and Erin's and jammed to some retro 90's tunes. (man, how can 90's be retro, when it was the 90's 5 years ago?)
I felt really stupid for not getting the desk yesterday (felt cruddy about that after I got home), and I was considering asking my Aunt Con (who has a minivan) to help me pick it up from our nearby Ikea. Mom went with me and we managed to grab one and stuff it in the car - but not before Ikea screwing up the pricing on the Beech one too! >o< It took forever for them to sort out the fact that it was right in the center of the flyer and incorrecly priced in their systems! (Mom wondered how many people might not have noticed the price difference, and I was wondering that if the Beech one wasn't priced correctly, who's to tell me the white one wasn't priced correctly, either?)
I just had an interesting thought. I bet that if everyone decided to never return to stores that didn't give them a satisfactory shopping experience - forget necessities and all that - I bet big-business retail would grind to a halt. Customers are being treated unfairly (see how many "Consumer Alert" reports are on unfair business practices, shoddy products, outrageous claims, false advertising, etc), and while I've stated in the past that I would no longer go to Future Shop/Best Buy (same prices, different label), I'm still going back in there 'cause they have good prices. If someone screws up, or incorrectly prices something, or something breaks, it shouldn't be on our time to wait around for them to call a manager, to change the price, or to generally solve the problem before addressing the customers. Customers should come first. They are their business, after all. There are other stores out there we can spend our time in.
Remember the old "Dead Parrot" sketch from Monty Python? Here's a direct quote: "If you want anything done in this country, you've got to complain till you're blue in the face". And that's just not right. That quote was muttered back in 1970, and here we are, almost 25 years later, and it still applies. ¬_¬
I've been hired-on to do some painting at Mom's workplace. They're on vacation for the next couple of weeks, and they've already had two painters come by and quit after doing the inital sanding/priming job, so I just need to paint a pair of coats on the front and back porch. Should be a snap - only that I'll be needing to go there after work, as my next two weekends are already occupied (CNAnime, Halifax). I used to do painting back in my student days (almost got electrocuted, too - bare wires near the entrance to the house), so this will be easy. Once I finish the under-roof ceiling, at least.
Maybe I should buy an easel and paint in the new place. It'd be very relaxing.
Before I went to Ikea today, I had gone with Dad to sign the Purchase Agreement for the condo. As of right now, we're still in negotiations, as it is with many big purchases. I'm impressed with my Dad being able to negotiate so fluently and without a tremor in his voice. He's been doing that all his life, being in the Financial business as he is. I can't even interrupt people when they're talking to me, and yet he manages to take the information that we've discussed, and puts it right in to the agreement. So far, everything's going well. (I won't have that fishtank at the new place - it's a BIG tank, which carries a BIG price, but I'll bring my own.) I'll be going in again to counter-sign his correction - doesn't counter-sign sound like it's a bad thing? It's actually usually meant that I sign in agreement. (I have one more price to negotiate, so in truth it really is a counter to his counter. And Dad won't be around tomorrow. eeeee.)
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