Quaker Bridge Mall and nice folks

Off to the local mall today - I normally would steer clear of a mall this close to Christmas, but I had to get my hair cut at the local Penney's (Paul had his hair cut, too) and I wanted him to help me shop for a present for Frank. He needs to learn something about the whole process. I also made him wrap it when we got home. I told him his future wife would appreciate it if he had this skill - he replied that he'd just claim to not know how to wrap presents and his wife would do it all. Ah, the male psyche at work in such a young man ...

Actually, what I wanted to write about is how nice people are here in New Jersey. It's a bit like Wyoming, except in Wyoming there are cowboy types you don't see here; but what I mean is that, overall, people are very friendly and helpful. One other difference - no one in Wyoming says "Howyadoin'?" the way they do here.

In the parking lot at Sam's Club, one fellow volunteered to help another one load a big screen TV into his car. That sort of thing just didn't happen in Baltimore - someone might offer to steal your big screen TV, however. I remember when Chic Davis from the Cathedral Foundation was coming to Cheyenne from Baltimore as a consultant and he always commented on how friendly people were - they even remembered him at the Hitching Post Inn. Of course, that was when he was wearing an eye patch and between that and his height, he was hard to forget. Until I moved to Baltimore, I had no idea exactly how rude store clerks, hotel employees, fast food workers, grocery store check-out people (you get the idea) could be, and clearly he had that contrast in mind. In fact, I finally found a grocery store there where the clerks were fairly friendly, and I made a point of going there all the time, even though it was a half hour drive. Now, even at the cheezy Acme grocery by our house, the clerks are nice. Slow, but nice.

It is raining big time. Rain in December is so odd to me. Much colder, and we'll have snow. I hope we can go to Ellen's tomorrow for Simon's birthday ...