That "in the crosshairs" feeling...

I'd seen the "City Market Shipping" decal on the front door of the new, expanded supermarket in town, but didn't pay much attention to it, figuring it was one of those services one might inquire about if one happens to be in the store and it crosses your mind.

The extensive new signage at the checkout, advertising the store's shipping service and happily chirping about "We beat the competition!" is a little less easy to swallow and frankly, made me about as eager to do my shopping there as being inside a locked Port-A-Potty that's rolling down hill on its side. I don't know if it's my imagination, either, but loads of stuff in the store (especially the meat) seems to be more expensive, and the discounts seem to be less hefty.

I suppose I should feel flattered that my small business is being challenged by a multimillion-dollar national corporation, but I don't have to like it.

Then again, it could just be that the signage is something decreed from "HQ" and that nobody in the store is really interested in pursuing this sideline (i.e., they're not going to get any more aggressive than the signs). We'll see.

* * *I managed to finish the remainder of the work due tomorrow, and check all three files, and invoice it. I also managed to write 90% of my Houston invoice; I lack only a word count for a file that, inexplicably, is no longer on my VAIO or on any of the floppy disks in my possession.

* * *A lot of the extracurricular reading material that's passed in front of my eyes lately has had to do with graphics and photography. Mostly that has to do with having picked up an excellent tome, Digital Photography Hacks, while in Houston. So far, it's given me some valuable tips, although it's a little off-putting that some of the really neat stuff requires Photoshop, the price of which is simply beyond my ability to justify its purchase. Photoshop's awkward nephew, Elements, is okay and tries to talk the same talk, but it can't walk the talk the way the bigger program can.

* * *About three weeks before I depart for Toronto and the ATA conference. I just recently received some mail from a gentleman who raises some fairly interesting points, among them (with no particular xenophobia that I can detect): Why is the ATA holding its annual meeting and conference in Canada? I have to admit, that question has bobbed up once or twice in my mind, too, but I really haven't had a chance to sit down and think about it much.

Cheers...