Birthday Breakfast And First Outing

What a fun and fantastic birthday, filled with birthday outings, and awesome pickups! My girl went the extra mile to make sure we didn't waste a moment at home just sitting around. Maximizing the day was the name of the game, and she dealt a winning hand.

We started bright and early with a 7:00 AM sharp breakfast at a local diner called, Joes. I'm to the point where they don't even give me the menu. They know what I want, without question. I dug in to a hearty plate of rib sticking biscuits and gravy.

Having been on a life changing course of better eating habits, and the weight loss that subsequently comes from that, this is the first time I've been to this place in three or four months - Which makes it all the more special that the staff remembered what I wanted. I tried my best, but unlike the past, I wasn't able to finish this massive plate.

From there, we were off to Manassas to make our first stop, McKays. I honestly didn't take many photos here. Instead, I just tucked in to what I came for.

My main hunt was for DVD's. Earlier this year, we made the decision to cut the numerous streaming services we were paying for, but not really getting the use out of. Whether it be from things simply not available that interested us, or interruptions from commercials, which frustrate me, we just weren't finding much value in them. It didn't help that we were up to five different services at the time we started cutting them.

Since then, we've amassed a very nice collection of movies for a fraction of the cost we were paying for streaming. We now have access to the films we want to watch, when we want to watch them, and with a buy in price of $0.99 to $3.00 each, it's easy and feasible to do relatively overnight.

McKays sells used DVD's, CD's, comic books, and books, most of which are my bread and butter. Today, the plan was to check off the majority, if not all, of the remaining films on Ye Ol' Want List, and then peruse the CD's to see if anything jumped out.

With a decent stack of DVD's in the cart, I made my way over to the CD's, and dug through them a bit. While I pulled a fair amount of discs, I ultimately ended up passing on all of them. Basically, I was trying to justify them because they were released in the 80's, and in that sweet rang of a dollar to three dollars for most of them. At the end of the day, I simply decided that I wasn't interested in buying just for the sake of buying.

When we got to the register, that's when I saw the shelf behind the counter, and immediately saw something I wanted.

A first pressing of Guns 'N Roses Live Like A Suicide on vinyl. At a glance, the front and back cover looked nice, and the asking price of $150.00 for a used copy was reasonable on the surface. However, that's when things went sour.

When I asked the guy behind the counter if he would take it out of the re-sealable sleeve so that I could inspect the physical record, he told me that it was store policy that they could not. Baffled, I said, "You expect people to spend $150.00 on a used record sight unseen?" To which he simply responded, "Yes."

Yeah, buddy, that's not happening.

Because the interaction was so confusing, I did end up writing the store an email. Not because I was looking to get anyone in trouble. Rather, I just wanted clarification. Either the store had a very bizarre policy, or the employee was misinformed. Turns out, it was the latter. I did get an email a few hours later from someone stating that the employee should have definitely opened the sleeve, and let me see the item closer. Unfortunately for McKays, that ship has sailed. The store, while not outrageously far, isn't around the corner either. I'm not going to trek back up there for it.

Despite the minor setback, we weren't going to let that interaction impact the day. After all, it was only 11:00 AM at this point, and the second half of the day lay ahead of us. There was no time, or desire, to cry over the matter. The adventure awaited! Stay tuned for where that led!

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