My First Xootr Experience...

So, I worked at the WillyB store today, and it was a bit slow. Cleaned up, organized, answered a ton of questions and did a lot of climbing on the ladder for customers who did not buy a single pair of the millions of shoes I took down for them - just the another day in the life of an Area girl! Anyway, I had a dead hour of nothing to do and I stumbled upon a wide open space and a Xootr scooter ready to capture another victim. I've never been on a scooter before, and as the girl known as Miss Clutz - I would trip over air, it has happened - I should have rethink things before I got on the Xootr. So, I timidly mounted this really attractive scooter, and gave it a go. I must say, it is a smooth ride and the brakes are cool, when you learn when to use them. I slammed into the red cubbies so hard. I'm so glad no one was around to see that. But it did not stop me from giving that scooter a couple 'go-around' the store. Though quite abusive, I fell in love with the Xootr scooter in that wonderful fifteen minutes of pain and pleasure. The Xootr is next on my wishlist :)

Turn down that noise!

Last night I came home from a long hot walk, turned my fans on and sat. My fans are loud but not as loud as the kids on my block or the tinny song of the ice cream truck. So loud!!!!! These are sounds that I can sometimes tune out but more often find very irritating.
I decided that if I wanted to get a real bit of rest I would have to just accept the noise...so I listened.
The first thing that happened was I suddenly felt a strange conglomerate of a million undefinable things about the seemingly millions of summers I've spent in this city. I remembered the beginning, what that noise used to mean; the excitement, running around the house in a panic looking for change and racing down the stairs to catch it.
The next thing that happened was a series of questions; Who wrote this melody, where did it come from and why was it decided that this was the best way to lure children out of their homes in the hopes of catching a man/woman
who serves ice cream out of a truck? Doesn't that man/woman get tired of that song?
Well, there are many different ice cream truck songs as different regions have different tunes, so to clarify, the tune that plagues me is the mister softee tune and it goes like this;
Mr.Softee tune
I haven't answered all of my questions yet but so far this is what I've found out, from a NYTimes article, about mr. softee, his ice cream and his music;

"With his brother William, Mr. Conway began the business in Philadelphia in 1956, developing it into a multimillion-dollar concern. Mister Softee is currently among the largest franchisers of ice cream trucks in the country, with more than 600 trucks in 15 states.

Even more memorable than the company's soft ice cream is its jingle, played on a music box and broadcast through a loudspeaker atop each truck.Once heard, the song is not soon forgotten. For some listeners, it heralds summer. For others, it recalls childhood. For still others, it constitutes a form of torture.

Written in E-flat major in jaunty 6/8 time, the jingle was created by an advertising agency in 1960 for the company's early radio campaigns. Though the trucks play only an instrumental version, the tune does have words:

The CREAM-i-est DREAM-i-est SOFT ice CREAM

you GET from MIS-ter SOF-tee.

FOR a re-FRESH-ing de-LIGHT su-PREME

LOOK for MIS-ter SOF-tee...."


THERE ARE WORDS!!!!!! Now we can all sing along.

The Machines are Rebelling! Run for your Lives!

Wow, I've been trying all day to think of something fascinating to post about, but before I could come up with anything blog-worthy there was always another project to do. Well, I will procrastinate no longer! The boxes and boxes (and boxes and boxes) here at 5th will just have to wait a moment while I check in with our lovely public.

Here's a newsflash for you: the machines at 5th ave are conspiring together to turn against us. It's true, we have a coup on our hands. It began about a week ago with the receipt printer refusing to print unless you shook it and threatened to shred it's paper. Out of solidarity the computer monitor promptly shut down and we had to bring in a scab from the toystore. Now today the zebra tag printer has joined in the fight by not only refusing to print but also sending us threatening messages like "error" and "out of dump". We seem to have things pretty well under control for now, but I fear it's only a matter of time before the radio blasts us with death metal and the air conditioner goes into ultra freeze mode.

But have no fear, Area fans. We'll keep bringing you awesome Area stuff even if we have to plug our ears with cotton, put on a winter coat and beat the computer into submission. We're that dedicated to cool kids and hip parents. You're welcome.

Brooklyn Onesie Invasion

Being knee-deep with hundreds of Brooklyn onesies and neck-high with 3 boxes of Ergo carriers, I decided to take a break to blog. Phew! If you have ever been in the Court Street store, you may be wondering, "where is she going to put all of that stuff?" I am wondering that myself! ;)



Speaking of Ergo carriers, I'd like to give them a quick praise, being that they are the baby carrier that Moms talk most about in this store. Which is most prefered by the Moms who come into the other stores? Ergo? Babybjorn? Something else? Ergo carriers are suppose to be the most comfortable carrier on the market for Moms and babies alike. I just love how babies look in them. It's almost as if each Ergo was tailored for baby's little body!

What's for lunch and what would you rather be having?

Right now, I'm eating lunch and trying to think of something to blog about; so I figure why not talk about lunch at AREA. I usually don't order delivery, just to save on money I'd shell out for tips. Instead, I limit my choices to a 3-4 block range so I won't be gone from the store for too long.

Surprisingly, there are more than a few options within this limited radius: bagels, deli, pizza, chinese, a health food store, and a couple of bodegas for good measure. I try to stay away from chinese in the summer... As tasty as extra spicy Mei Fun noodles are, it's heavy heavy stuff and in the heat, digesting such a thing makes me want to cry. In lieu of the new A/C unit, I decided to get some Mei Fun today. I'm not crying per se, but I'm in a minor state of regretfulness.

I'm winter full and wish I had eaten watermelon instead. Recovery time is slow but it happens eventually. What is everybody else having for lunch? -burp-

Xootr MGs - the future of scooting or xooting......

AREA has Xootr MG's (in the biz, we call 'em "mags") back in stock!! The MG sports a solid magnesium deck providing the "lightest deck structure and lowest deck height of any Xootr" which means more "kick efficiency" and a faster ride!!! ooh weee! Be that blur of light that everyone in the neighborhood is talking about.

Superman Says Save Our Planet

So having had the occasion to visit one of Manhattan's humongous, homogenized, corporate Baby-Marts, I'd just like to thank Area for its small business integrity and social consciousness, not to mention the great aesthetic. That said, here are some things you can start doing to help Area reduce its carbon footprint, or whatever "green" slang term is hip today:

I'm not sure if there's one of these at every store, but we used to have blue Recycle buckets at Area Baby, and believe me, all those sticker-backs, ribbon scraps, wrapping paper pieces and tags start adding up. Just throw them in a separate bag, and you'll have a better idea of when the trash really needs to go out.

A lot of shipments we get come in individual plastic bags, some of them even resealable. Save these when you can--they really come in handy for old receipts, bits and bobs from the drawer, and small items in back stock, i.e. charms, buttons, hair clips etc.

Open the Start menu on your computer. Go to All Programs. Go to Accessories. Notepad or Wordpad, your choice, but if you're going to write a note for the next day's person, use these, and save the document to the desktop. It's faster, more efficient, and less confusing than a big bulky notepad full of outdated scraps of info that roll around the stores for eternity.

And this is an important one. I've started asking every customer who is either carrying a bag or pushing a stroller if they want a plastic bag. A good percentage of people don't want one, and only realize after they've been asked. It saves us bags, customers under-the-sink space, and you know, the environment.

Also, I miss the rags from the spa we used to use for cleaning. They worked better than our paper towels and didn't make me feel like crap about drying my hands.

Cowabunga.

So for those of you who Face book, they have an awesome application where you can give other people flair.  I've decided that I am addicted to the hilarious-ness of these!  I think that I could sit for hours and get the giggles over these.  So here are a few of my favorites.  One of them reminded me of the yummy breakfast keychains! Hope that you enjoy them as much as I do.  Good Day!