Free as in Pizza

I don’t need to go to Epcot Center ever again. I’ll just go to the grocery store instead.

When I walked into the Virginia Square Giant supermarket this evening, there was a guy waiting by the entrance to introduce me to their new way of shopping for food: Handheld scanners that you carry with you in the store, checking out items as you go. He did a pretty good job with his pitch, but he didn’t really have to sell me on it. I think I fit squarely in their Early Adopter demographic.

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For more than a decade, my dad’s rigging company has had the job of putting up the Christmas decorations at Pentagon City Fashion Mall. The mall likes to get the decorations in place as soon as possible after Halloween, to maximize the holiday effect on shoppers. We got started on November 9th this year.

It’s sometimes hard to find enough workers to get the job done in the 2-3 night time-frame that the mall asks for. I usually help out on Christmas Tree night, since it’s important to get the whole tree put together in one night. My brother Ned and my friend Mike also worked.

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