Beware of your local mall durning the "Holiday Shopping Season"

A few days ago, we took a mid-morning trip to our local mall (Buckland Hills). I'm not a big mall person, but because someone told me that the mall had Christmas decorations up, I wanted to check it out and perhaps try to get into the holiday spirit (yes, it's not even Thanksgiving yet!!!).

Well, I get to the point. The moment I walked through Barnes & Noble, and out to the main part of the mall, I was 'stalked' by a keen young sales kid hoping to make a big kill on me! He stared me down, and I was almost a big sucker that morning! He began to ask me questions about my nails, and within moments, was trying this stupid product on my hand. I couldn't believe it, and sometimes it's so difficult to pull yourself away from these trained sales kids, because I dont' want to make a scene or make the kid feel bad. Before I knew it, I was holding a $60 box of handcare and didn't even realize I was holding on to the darn box until I looked down at my hands! What a born sucker, but today, I thought to myself there is no way I'll fall for this trap. So, I instinctivly but down the box back onto his Kiosk. After about 15 mintues of this trained sales scout trying to make a big sale on me, I told him I'm going to walk and not going to purchase any of your products today.

Thankfully, I was able to pull myself away and NOT buy anything!!!! I usually never stop when someone 'howls out' at me but he had something in his hand, almost like a small dot of whipped cream, and thought it was a free food sample!!

So, please if  you dont' want to lose your money, stay away from these Kiosks, and when the time comes, that they start asking you questions as you walk by with your stroller, or loved one, don't feel bad about them, thank yourself for not falling prey to at least a $60 box of handcare of seasalt from the Dead Sea...

So much for trying to get into the jolly mood of the Christmas Season!! After this experience, I was sick of this sales kid, and left the mall. What a wastefull morning0------

Starbucks with Helena:)

Helena and I decided to check out Starbucks in Manchester, Ct. I decided to try their new Pumpkin Spice Lattee..was delicious along wth a nice sausage breakfast sandwich.
Do we normally go there? No, because I wouldn't spend my hard earn money on that expensive place, but with a simple gift card, I still had a nice ballance on it to try something I normally wouldn't have tried in the grand skeem of things.
Helena smiling with Justin of Starbucks--------------------------

Helena was happy and so was I....
time to move on to our next excursion...
p.s. If you would like to have Helena visit your store, please let us know! We'd be glad to 'stop  by'..

John & Helena

Eye Contact

I have been trying to find out and understand why people don't look at each other when in a public retail store or other setting for that matter.

I have conciously tried to look at people passing me in the grocery store, and most are consumed with texting on their phones, looking at their grocery list or just dazed. The other 1/2 of customers that pass me, sort of glance at me as I try to initiate eye contact with them.

It's a shame in our society, that people believe that having eye contact is more of a negative thing than a positive thing. Our society seems to be living in their on coccoon and not paying attention to their fellow beings.

In closing, the people that do happen to glance at me , as I smile towards them, I find that they are welcome and happy to have created some eye contact wth myself. Maybe it helps that my seven month old daughter is with me as we go about our daily errands.

Just my thoughts....

Big Y really "World Class"????

Big Y is a medium sized supermarket chain that covers the northeast region of Southern New England. Today, there are aproximately 28 supermarkets throughout Massachusetts & Connecticut as well as one Liquor Division located in Springfield, Massachusetts (headquarters for the company).

Now that you have a brief description of this grocery store, I have a problem with their marketing campaign. They continiously call themselves a "World Class Market" and boasting that they have "World Class Employees" as you walk through their doors.
As you can see from the pictures :

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Helena & I entering Big Y in Manchester, Ct.

 

 

Helena admiring the bright shiny lights at Big Y!!!

Anyways, it's nice to see company's these days push it to the next level, but I just don't feel any differently walking through their supermarket, as I would at Stop n Shop, Price Chopper or Shop Rite. To me, they all have "okay" customer service..and weekly, you must hunt for the best prices.

This past summer, Big Y had a buy 1 get 2 free on their "fresh strawberries"...My wife was showing them to me and I noticed that one of their containers of strawberries blatantly were bad..They had white mold growing all over the bottom of the container, and I was totally disgusted by this. The manager didn't say much, but I told her that the Produce Dept. Mgr. should inspect each container of strawberries before putting them out onto the floor!!!!! I didn't get much of an answer back from her.

Does anyone have any other horror stories at supermarkets???

Best Italian Restaurant in Manchester, Ct.."ROCCOS"

Well, what do you get when you have a savvy business owner (Erica) along with a passion for creating great Italian Food? A delicous lunch!!!
This was Helena's 1st time meeting Erica (Manager of Rocco's), link http://www.eatatroccos.com/about-us.html  . We had a wonderful time with my wife Hania and myself..Service was great, and hospitality was excellent!
I didn't go the Italian route today, because I was in the mood for a "Build Your Own Salad in 1 Day"..Calarmari as my topping..hmmmm..how awesome!!! To start things off, I ordered a cup of their famous chili----nice and leaved my mouth with wanting more!!

Call today for their menu and directions on Center Street, Manchester, Ct. 860-645-7777.

---Now Booking for 2010 on your Special Day!!-----

DJ Johnny Prytko will be happy to provide quality music and entertainment for all of your guests on your special day! Just give him a call today at (860) 550-0218 in the Connecticut area!
If you have time, please review his new website: http://www.DjJohnnyPrytko.com 

Mondays are boring!!

It's the start of a new week...and though I'm not working in my boring office again..Mondays to me still have a sense of being boring...a new start..la di da!!!

So, in order to pump me up for today and the rest of the week, I found this nice picture and wanted to share it with everyone. Enjoy Monday..I'll try...can't promise anything:)

DJ Johnny Prytko "Southern New Englands DJ for Weddings & Anniversarys" on Facebook

I baked cookies!!!!

Yes, after finding a wonderful website online, this site has enabled me to cook dinners, and more importantly bake cookies an easier way then I ever found online:))))
Look below at the awesome "Oatmeal Cookies" that just came out of the 325 degree oven:)) hmmm, with some milk or coffee, they are soooo tasty...My wife agreed!

 

Our cat Anielcia, walking towards the kitchen to see what's baking:)

Helena & Daddy at The Supermarket..

I guess it's time to go home, poor baby has fallen back to sleep...and dad is tired to of running my daily morning errands! At least Desiree is smiling!!!!
Little does anyone know, I picked up some 'secret ingredients' and I'm going to surprise my wife with something delicious tonight!!! Hee hee hee:)

I Hurt My Back!!

This time I had to visit Dr. Soar , my wonderful chiropractor in Hebron , Ct.  He's a great guy, and the staff is even nicer to my daughter Helena!!!

I guess I should've have lifted that many weights last night at the gym but I wanted to get back into shape! So, I should've started off slowly, my new work out routine..I'll learn!!!

DJJohnny Prytko Takes the confusion out of the process.

When a prospect calls me for information regarding my serives, one of the first things I make clear to them is the K.I.S.S. method. My entire belief in the DJ Business, is to keep things simple. It's an old addage, that I once learned from my business professor at Eastern Ct. State University. He once asked anyone heard of KISS..and the class went silent. He went on to say "Keep It Simple Stupid"..

That's how I run my DJ Johnny Prytko service. I keep things as simple as possible..so that my client will be able to understand my rates and exactly what they get for my services. If you start confuses a potential client with different packages, rates, hours, different DJ's (which many DJ companies have), smoke & mirrors; the client will end the phone call more confused than before the actual call was made to the DJ company.

So when your boyfriend finally proposes to you, you know who to call for the perfect reception! I'll be the DJ whom you speak to, and the DJ who will actually show up to your event, not somebody who was subcontracted out to DJ for your very important wedding reception. So, K.I.S.S. to you and your family:)

My daughter's laundry is more than I can handle...

Who would ever think that a five-month old infant, can produce so much laundry? No, I didn't have the means to take a picture of it, because it was so over-whelming...She produced more laundry, than my wife & I together for 1 week!!! How can that be? Well, I don't have the correct 'baby terminology' but I can say she goes through:
1. Daily outfits
2. bib's
3. socks ( she loves pulling off her socks constantly)
4. blankets
5. covers for her
6. 2nd daily outfit
7. pajama's
8. bed sheet
9. bath towels
10. wash clothes (daily baths)
11. Hat (which I thought was a burp cloth)
12. white burp clothes
Not to mention, my wife is nice enough to spray Shout, on all her mess's...and my own shirts, that she manages to spit up on as well as my shorts..

Who ever said having a baby is easy????? Not from this Dad's point of view!

My wife caught me!!!

Why is it that wifes,girlfriends or significant others, try to take pictues of you when your least expecting it??? It's really funny to them, and as you can see from this pose, I was thankfully in a good mood, just checking my email, website, facebook, twitteer, bloglog, mlb.com, or something esle online!!! I 'm looking at this picture, and I don't see my coffee mug..hmmm...and omg, no shirt either..I can assure all who are reading this blog, that yes indeed I am wearing some sort of shorts or undies...it's rare that I'll leave the shades open on the door. We do have a undescriminating neigbor, who will occasional show up on my back door steps..so, I always have to be 'decent' downstairs!
Does anyone else have funny 'snap shot' stories they would like to share with me?

Wife in Hostpital

Well, it's been a busy week for the Prytko family. Earlier in the week, we ended up the ER at 1:30 am due to back/frontal pain in my wife's rib area. After spending almost seven hours in the ER, and several tests, it was determined that she had gallstones and that they probably would have to operate on her sooner than later.
Well, less than 48 hours later, she's being operated on as I type this. God Bless her! I'm sure Dr.Rayner, will do a wonderful job and that I will be able to pick up my wife tonight.
Hanna's gallstones were very very painful, and probably worse than what I had a three summers ago when I had my own gall-bladder ripped out.
Peace....