'Watch' Out For Weirdos

The focus group last night was pretty painless. In the hours leading up to it I was really dreading it, but I had already committed so I didn't want to back out. There were five of us total, all men probably 30-40. We went around the table and told a little bit about the watches that we own and why we chose them, our last watch buying experience, and where we would shop for watches. The facilitator asked us some questions about shopping for watches, and then he showed us 3 displays containing mostly Timex watches and asked which display we liked best. He showed us some boxes that the watches come in and asked our opinions. At the end he showed us some watches that were supposed to be like some of the more expensive type Swiss-made watches. He asked if we would be willing to pay $200-300 for them knowing that comparable watches might go for thousands. Nobody said they would (remember they asked for people who shop at Wal Mart). I can't really figure out if this guy worked for Timex or Wal Mart. Everyone seemed pretty nice and the 2 hours seemed to go by pretty quickly. I played the part of average joe consumer and didn't rock the boat. One weird part was the fact that there was a big one-way window at one end of the room. There were supposedly 3 people in the room behind it who were watching our discussion. I heard a couple of guffaws coming from there a couple of times, which was a little disconcerting, but I guess that's why I got paid the big bucks.

After I got home I decided to go running. It's been so damn hot here that even if I go at 9 in the morning it is too hot. I thought it might be better without the sun beating down on me. So, I ran to the track that I have been frequenting lately. This was at about 9PM. Holy crap, it was like Grand Central Station. There was one other person like me who seemed to be on his own. There was a big group of about 20 people who were all wearing red T-shirts and black shorts. There was something written on the front of the shirts and it appeared as though their names were on the back. I thought, "This is going to suck." I decided to try and stick to an outside lane while letting the weirdos have the inside lanes. Apparently they must have finished running right before I got there. The whole time I was there (about 30 minutes) they stayed in one spot on the track and did pushups, situps, and listened to their leader talk to them about who knows what. Maybe it's some kind of death cult or something! Or some kind of weird exercising vampire group. I don't know. At one point when I ran past the group their leader said "Sorry", I guess for being in my way. I didn't have any problem as long as they left me a lane. I'm thinking it may actually be some kind of thing going on with the police department because there was a police car in the parking lot. Maybe a citizens police academy or something like that. Damn, I was holding out for vampires!

And yes, blog worlds will collide this evening. I am meeting Holli and Faith for dinner. I may have to wear my Elephant Man mask so as to protect my identity.