It's a sickness

For approximately an hour and a half I've been unable to access either of my email accounts. I can't get to Hotmail at all, and my PeoplePC account in Outlook Express absolutely refuses to send or receive messages. It is always annoying and uncooperative, but now it seems to have taken a vicious dislike to me. Reminds me of a hamster the kids used to have...

I was trying to find out about The Claw that has appeared on the grocery carts at Albertsons in our suburb so that many enquiring homemakers could rest easier. I wanted to contact Al's at

albertsonscustomercare@albertsons.com, but NO!.

I wanted to email the Glenn Mitchell Show, gms@kera.org on KERA, 90.1, which features "Anything you ever wanted to know", but NO!

Evil hamster email refuses to run in its little wheel...

Not one to let minor setbacks interfere with my ever-sunshiny disposition, I set to work, like the Little Red Hen, to find out all by myself. I have learned a great deal about the past and the future of grocery carts. I have been inspired by tales of Sylvan N. Goldman, a Latvian Jew who emigrated to the U.S., to my old OKC, and patented the grocery cart in 1938. When my kids were little we used to visit the Omniplex Museum in Oklahoma City, where there was an exhibit about this invention that changed American life. [There are some really fun places to visit with kids in OKC, and I'll put a link over there -------> on the right. The Forty-fifth Infantry Museum is terrific. I'll put a link for the history of the grocery cart, too, with funny old photos.]

In my high school days, oh those many years ago, we used to listen to LPs of The Firesign Theater. The details are a bit foggy, but I do remember a line saying, "The future's not here yet!" But in Israel it is:

‘Smart Shopping Carts’ Could Be Coming to a Supermarket Near You
Wireless technology is now moving into the supermarket, making the drudgery of grocery shopping with its dreaded checkouts a distant memory.
One of Israel’s largest supermarket retailers Blue Square Ltd. has introduced the supermarket Smart Cart, with a POS system, promising to make grocery shopping a breeze.

"This cutting-edge technology, which we are implementing for the first time anywhere, will lead to a true revolution in retail culture," Yoram Dar, Blue Square’s president and CEO, told RetailTech. "The fundamental concept behind the Smart Cart is simple and focused: to enable the greatest possible shopping convenience by eliminating checkout lines."

Designed by Buy Pass Ltd., an Israeli startup, the supermarket cart is equipped with an embedded scanner, computer terminal and a display screen that lists all of the cart’s contents, along with a running total of purchases.

As the shopper moves from aisle to aisle, picking up items and placing them in the cart, they are constantly informed of their total purchases as well as of any special offers. If an item is removed, a new total is automatically calculated.

Mr. Dar said that the Smart Cart will help the company reduce operating expenses while enhancing customer service.
(Additional Source RetailTech)

Alas, I still don't know if I'll be able to get my email. If I can't I may become overwrought. Once, when I was an overworked, under-appreciated homemaker, the plastic grocery bag broke as I lifted it from Mr. Goldman's cart. The gallon of milk crashed to the parking lot, spraying me, and flowing off down the hill. I became overwrought, and I released the empty grocery cart and let it also crash all the long, loooonnnnggg way down the hill to Custer Road. The moment had a zen-like slow-motion, blue-light-special effects quality, with the "Chariots of Fire" theme playing in the background. It was a very freeing moment. The evil email hamster should take note.

Still don't know about The Claw, but I'm thinking about writing a horror movie screenplay.