A Pirate's Life for Me

Funny how you learn the most interesting things about your co-workers the longer you work together. For instance, I never knew how many pirate fanatics are employed by Vroman's until I started setting up a big display in anticipation of Disney's most recent Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Suddenly, everywhere I turned, I was confronted by familiar faces using their break time to peruse the new merchandise and pepper me with piratical questions. (For the record, though I'm no expert, I'm a bit of a pirate fiend myself.) A couple of my co-workers informed me that they could easily blow their entire paychecks on pirate books, clocks, tissues, pencil toppers, and flags if they weren't careful. Yo ho, indeed.

Vroman's is so excited about the new Pirates flick, in fact, that we are hosting a pirate-themed photo scavenger hunt on Saturday, July 8, from 2 - 5 p.m. You can find all the details here, and you can call (626) 449-5320 to register your team, though you need to do it by the end of business today. I'd like to join in the fun myself -- we employees have been informed that we can try to track down all the clues, we just can't win anything -- but the fact that my digital camera is currently vacationing with a friend in Philadelphia may prove problematic. (The additional fact that I helped create the list of clues also gives me an unfair advantage. You should thank me for bowing out.) In preparation for Saturday, you might want to figure out your pirate name so that all your mateys will address you properly. Just so's you know, sea dogs, me moniker's Dirty Anne Cash. Yaarrrr.

And if you're looking for a great book on pirates, particularly the buccaneers who plied the waters of the Caribbean, I highly recommend Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly.