Chasing Kanji - 感情を追って

An American's travel traumas
アメリカ人の旅行の外傷

The Help  

We’re not wealthy enough to afford a butler, personal shopper, assistant, and maid. But I don’t like domestic activities enough to continue to do them myself if we were. I’d gladly give over dish-washing, vacuuming, and lunch-making responsibility. I might keep cooking every other night – or something – since I enjoy that. In the city, I get to pretend to be that wealthy in some respects.

As you may know, it’s crowded here. Parking is a huge hassle; space in stores is very limited. When I take Renn to the local doggie supply store, all the goods are crammed in two aisles spilling onto every shelf and even the floor. Renn and I can fit down the aisles, but not if there is someone else already there. The smaller corner markets are the same, just no dogs. And the larger grocery store (about a block-ish away) would be roomier if not for all the shoppers with carts.

Rather than deal with the crowds, we use Fresh Direct. Fresh Direct is a grocery service that delivers to your door when you want them to! It’s pretty great. They charge a $5 delivery fee (or $60 for 6 months of no individual delivery fees). I went with the $60 for 6 months, and I get stuff delivered pretty much every week. Their selection is good for the foods that we buy. I find their prices on organic apples and grapes to be high. But their prices on organic everything else is the same as any major grocer. I’ve recommended the service to co-workers who don’t already know about it.

We have in-building laundry and at least 4 laundromats nearby. But as I discovered, I don’t need to spend all morning on one of my in-short-supply weekend days sitting and waiting for cycles to finish, collecting quarters, and carrying detergent around. Instead, I can drop off our laundry in the morning and pick it up in the afternoon all washed and folded for me. It’s not as expensive as you might think, they charge by the pound (so the bill goes up in the winter due to the sweaters and whatnot). And, they don’t discriminate; they’ll do sheets and towels as easily as jeans and shirts.

Finally, why cook all the time? Ok – I admit, I like cooking and I generally prefer to eat something I’ve made over something a restaurant has made. But we eat out regularly too. When we want to order in, we use Seamless.com. Seamless has a bank of restaurants with minimum order amounts and delivery estimate times. The restaurant menus are available for perusal with descriptions of menu items. Once you’ve decided what you want and from where, you order it directly from the website. It’s so much more convenient than keeping a bunch of restaurant menus around and calling in an order.

I do feel like convenience is a high priority on any service-oriented place I’ve been to around here.

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