“Garage sale” or “yard sale”? Map 215 was sent to me by my wife, Beth. She saw it on Facebook and thought I would find it interesting (she was correct). There was a series of linguistic maps but I found this one the most worthy of sharing given that we are in garage sale season. Yes, I said garage sale because I’m Minnesotan and that’s what we say! We’re not alone either. A good portion of the country calls events where people sell their used belongings “garage sales”. The other most popular option is “yard sale”. I may disagree that that term is correct but at least I can respect those that do. Our special neighbors in the Milwaukee area use “rummage sale” and a bunch of weirdos in the Northeast say “tag sale” (like, what does that even mean?). Okay, so all four probably make some sense. Sales often take place in garages and yards and contain both rummaging and tags. Actually, most of the garage sales I’ve visited have mostly been in driveways. The actual garage is only used in the occasional sale. The garage doors are usually open but the items for sale are not always displayed inside the garage. Why does no one call them “driveway sales”? Who decided yards were a good idea? Do you want thirty to fifty people trampling all over your nice grass all day? No way! That’s why you peddle your wares from the comfort of a chair in your driveway/garage.
Now that we’ve settled that (did we though?), it’s time for Map 216, which I found at work. There are a couple of maps, actually. I found a box marked “building plans” while I was cleaned at work and I was naturally intrigued. I have been cleaning as part of our upcoming renovations that I’ve mentioned previously. I have thirty or so years of random stuff to purge from our building so another office can merge with ours. The renovations are pretty extreme before they can move in, however. We are having the masonry fixed up, the building repainted, the parking lot redone and expanded, the old dying landscaping ripped out and replaced, the bathrooms are being remodeled, and they’re replacing the carpet and furniture in 2/3 of our building’s office space. If that sounds like a lot of work, you’re absolutely correct. Check out the map.
My company’s land was evidently built on a filled-in swamp, some of which is still on the East side of our parking lot. There is plenty of parking currently but we’ll be adding enough people to make it uncomfortable. That’s why they’ll be adding a small lot on the West side of the building. That’s where I host company bean bag tournaments so I’ll have to find a new spot. There’s a grassy area between the existing parking lot and the marsh but it’s hilly, not ideal for bean-bagging, but it will likely have to do.
I got to help pick out the new paint colors for the exterior. We ended up going with very similar shades to what we have already, tan and brown, but it will be nice to have the look of our facility refreshed inside and out. Customers and suppliers will be able to arrive for a visit and get a good impression of our company. Looks are superficial, of course, but they can go a long way in building a company’s image (along with customer service, products, and offerings, obviously). I hope I can get a look at our new site map once all the changes are made. Super exciting!
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Before I go, here’s a picture of my adorable eleven-month-old son, James, which he turned two days ago. I love him very much and know you all want to see the latest picture of this cutie!
Until next time,
Mixed Knuts Travel Blog 