Fragrance

Just as I finished the previous post, a man sat down at a table close to me and I was enveloped in a cloud of scent that made my head reel. I could not think and felt a bit dizzy. His girlfriend arrived afterwards; the smell was not from her.

Fortunately, the man was on the phone, so by speaking to the lady, I avoided a man to man confrontation. I swayed to my feet and, avoiding comparisons to French whorehouses, explained as gently as possible that a cosmetic smell that seemed to come from them was making me ill.

Most people who wear scent are unaware that it can have such baleful effects on others. This couple was very polite; they immediately got up and left, probably for an outdoor table. The fact that it is a nice day probably helped.

HP Mini

Day before yesterday,I bought an HP Mini 110 from Costco in Burnaby for $401CAN including tax. Windows XP home, 160 GB hard drive, 2 year warranty from Costco, 90 day unconditional return (provided not run over by a train or something).

One thing I do not understand is that I had to pay tax on $400 for this thing, even though the selling price was only $350 after the $50 coupon from HP. I have run into this before with photo rebate coupons, and it seems just plain wrong, but I checked with the tax people and Costco is just following the law.

So far, this thing seems worth the money. Costco also had an Acer netbook for $10 less, but it did not have a non-reflective screen like the HP, something that makes a huge difference to me.

By having a Starbucks card (you have to register it), I get 2 hours free Wifi every day and of course I buy the same stuff anyway. I am posting from Starbucks now and

OmiGod!! Somebody's cologne! Am I going to faint or puke?