Buy Me a Buzzcut

When I was waiting for the bus this morning, I threw out some trash which included a package of chicken flavored Ramen noodles. I had some of these while still in high school when I was visiting somebody I knew- they were already in college. I didn't like them and don't think I've had them since. On the way home I threw out trash I found on the bus when I reached my stop, a wrapper for a roast beef sandwich from Superamerica.
   I think sooner or later I will end up with an account at Amazon, as when I am searching I keep finding things they have that I like. This includes some Maytag books, such as the laundry encyclopedias and a microwave cookbook. I have two editions of the laundry encyclopedias, hand size and paperback, the third and fifth. Looks like they have the second and fourth. With Maytag cookbooks I already have a paperback handsize edition and something with larger pages but thinner volume, it appears to be a companion to their Dutch oven.
   At the comedy club tonight I spoke with a comic I had seen perform before a few times, once in the Twin Cities and another time in July in St. Louis. He was introduced by another comic I know, then I found out why he spoke of St. Louis. I said I had seen a comic do a joke about the menagerie owner who killed himself and released his wild animals- saying it was a neighbor to his parents- then he said 'I'm that guy'. The other comic when I was leaving said he would buy me a buzzcut, I said 'oh, we must be back at that one again'.
   After I was at the comedy club I decided to go through my box of music, and decided to destroy two sample CDs that had been sent to me in the mail. They were from the Teaching Company, and I still have two others remaining from them. I might go through and evaluate these again real soon.
   I had the Pretenders song 'Don't Get Me Wrong' stuck in my head for a few days so I finally had to go onto Youtube and find the song. My guess is I was thinking of it as I knew it was in the movie 'Gung Ho', starring Michael Keaton. It's a movie I have on VHS.
   I did watch the Charlie Brown Christmas special tonight before heading to the comedy club. It was largely by accident as I was switching over to the ABC where they air those specials now. Reminds me of how it has been parodied on 'The Simpsons' with Santa's Little Helper playing Snoopy.

Duplicate Requests

I am doing special requests at work this week. It's rare that we get duplicate requests, but I got one today. I print them before trying to find them 'in the files' and noticed right away it was for the same account, different requestors. So I decided to give the title to who requested it first, figured this was the fairest way to decide. There was a 10-minute difference on the requests. Then I had the fill-in boss arrive right before I went to lunch asking why I hadn't delivered it. I said I had noted the system saying it was a duplicate request. Odd that it brought management around, this is not typical. I later joked with a colleague how I wasn't about to give half-titles to two different people. It truly was a judgment call as to who got the title from me. But once I reiterated how it was a duplicate it looks like that was the end of it.
   At the comedy club tonight I liked hearing some favorite jokes of mine from somebody who has joked about wanting to do a 2-man routine since I had a Hawkeye jacket and he has a Gopher jacket. He did one about Tony the Tiger and winter, along with a masterful one about Minnesota and Wisconsin towns that sound like innuendo.
   When I went to do a weigh-in at work I saw somebody in that room, I am used to it being empty. They said there was a 'Turkey to Mistletoe' challenge to lose weight, first time I had heard of it. Then she said something about liking Zebra cakes from Hostess, but also something about them being like paraffin. I hadn't seen any of these kind of cakes in my recent searches.
  Recently I was thinking of a song I really liked, and jogged my memory how it was 'Impossible' by Shontelle. Liked the lyric 'all my scars are open'. While driving to the comedy club tonight, I heard 'Christmas Canon' by Trans-Siberian Orchestra. When I stopped to look around in a convenience store, I liked hearing 'Closer to Fine' by the Indigo Girls. So much good music out there in various genres.  

Ceylon Court, Lake Geneva

I ordered a postcard on E-bay earlier today, it was the Maytag home on Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. It was also known as Ceylon Court as it was a building from a World's Fair in Chicago. What prompted me to do so was seeing how the volume dropped to two listings and I wanted the cheaper one. I liked how all three orders from last week have already arrived, surprised how all of them were received today. It is not typical for them to arrive on the same day. There was the Wonder Bread postcard from the World's Fair in Chicago in 1934, the Wonder Bread magnets- 6 in all- and the 8 Hostess buttons. I am used to Monday being a high volume day for my personal mail and then very little on most other days of the week.
   I decided it was a good time to get some other postcards in the photo album since another one arrived. This included the one from the Embassy Suites Hotel in Bloomington as I had attended a conference there recently. The other was one that said 'Thank you for your service', which was from my employer. This was available around Veterans Day to send to members of the military. I kept this one as I thought my handwriting was a little too sloppy to be read so it was better to use another one to actually send out. It looked like it wasn't too popular of a thing to do. I had checked the box after placing my card in it and noticed it was just one of about five cards, and as I recall the office I work in has over a hundred employees in it.
   I made it to the comedy club tonight, and what was notable was how one of the performers said he was a native of Idaho but now lives in Great Britain. He was back to do some shows as he will be headliner at the same club for the rest of the week. Also got to speak with one of my comedian friends about a recent Facebook invite, as it was about a podcast. Haven't seen one before.
  Also notable today was what I sent back to the office after having it at home for a while. This happened to be two framed items from my work in suburban Chicago. One of them was kept as a joke, saying I was no longer employed by the company as of late 2001 all due to a computer error. I even said to them 'Somebody must think I still work here, they're still taking out taxes'. The computer error was due to my 401-k contributions as I recall. The other was an advertisement to my fellow customer service reps, if they wanted to move over to taking life and health insurance calls like I did. I used Power Point for it. I already had at my current office the teamwork award and 'key plaque' from my time working in the suburban Chicago office. I keep those just like I keep my bowling trophies. I tried to clean the bowling trophies over the weekend- which was when I found the framed items again.

Whopper Jr. at Burger King

I went to Burger King in Eagan this evening and had a Whopper Junior, first time I had been there in a while. Liked reading the paper there, at least what was left of it by then. Besides ads, I found two sections of comics- one from the St. Paul paper and the other from the Minneapolis paper- and the local section where I liked reading about the development plans for the former Schmidt brewery and the Union Depot in St. Paul. I had driven past the brewery before and mainly noticed the water sales being advertised, like a gallon of spring water for 50 cents. It's nice to see the Grain Belt bottle up on the corner as well, as it can't be covered up like the other billboards were.
   I stayed in with my date and watched the Bears-Vikings football game, Bears won 28-10. We later on watched an episode of 'Little House' where the town of Walnut Grove banded together and said they didn't want the railroad taking away their farms.
  After I went home tonight I went over to a convenience store and asked if they had any Wonder Bread or Hostess items left as I didn't see any, but the clerk was unsure if they had ever carried it. He seemed unaware of why they went out of business, I said it was likely a combination of factors. He kept telling me about certain items being sold for real cheap, like 6 bananas for 99 cents. I got a compliment about the winter boots I was wearing, I said it was due to going to the Gopher football game this weekend. He also seemed unaware of what the game result was so I said the Gophers lost. He must have been bored if he wanted to talk to me for a while, but at first I didn't mind too much as I like to hear people's stories. But eventually I knew I needed to move on as it was the stop I wanted to make before going to the grocery store.
   It was nice to see a picture I was in tagged on Facebook, it was taken at the comedy club on Tuesday. I said I don't dance much but I took two dance classes in college, as the caption made a reference to dancing. Not sure why, but it was the one where I was wearing a black shirt.
   This morning I had an odd dream, then again many of my dreams tend to be odd. It was one where I was reading a writer magazine that had the work 'bankrupt' in its name. I like to analyze my own dreams, I know I had been thinking about writer magazines quite a bit recently since I had done an assessment to choose which one out of four writer magazines I would keep as I didn't read them enough. The bankrupt part was likely due to Wonder Bread and Hostess deciding to liquidate recently, helped by already being in bankruptcy protection at the time of a labor dispute.  

Gopher Football vs. Michigan State

There's a columnist in the Minneapolis paper that I like reading. I just read through each Friday paper from the month of October and I often laugh when he writes about ridiculous things. There were three columns, may have been on vacation for the fourth. He wrote about curling toes at a Target store, in reference to how he's fine with no greeter at the door as it's why he likes going there. The next was about the lobby at the orchestra, where there currently is a labor dispute. It was suggested that the musicians still have shows at other venues, like at the Target Center and have Lady Gaga as the guest conductor. Even the one about the boring Halloween had redeeming qualities, though I don't see a big deal about many things being pumpkin-flavored in the fall. This is likely since a comic tried doing the joke on an open-mic night, and I like pumpkin pie and pumpkin-flavored Dairy Queen Blizzard treats. But I still liked the Halloween column as it made a reference to something I contend with often, which is somebody who keeps pressing the 'walk' button at a traffic light. I press it once, I know it means a pedestrian will get a longer walk time. It doesn't mean that the walk light will arrive any quicker.
   I also like the Charlie Brown and Snoopy cartoons. The ones for this month included Sally being overwhelmed when trying to learn math from Linus, along with Linus writing to the Great Pumpkin. There also was Linus wondering who took the last piece of cake, it was Lucy. Then there was Lucy being told by Schroeder that he doesn't give her gifts as she's loud rude and overbearing and mean, she said those kinds of people still like gifts.
   I went with my date in the afternoon to see the Gopher football game against Michigan State, as we got some cheap tickets from Cub Foods, a big sponsor of Gopher athletics. Gophers lost 26-10, their only touchdown was on a pick-6. We left early, at the end of the third quarter, as it was cold and it looked like the outcome of the game wasn't in doubt. We missed just one touchdown due to leaving early. We parked at the state fairgrounds and took a shuttle to the stadium, it worked out real well. As we were leaving there was something about how Gopher coach Jerry Kill did not emerge from the locker room at halftime.
   After the game we watched a video, it was 'You're a Good Man Charlie Brown'. We had seen the play earlier this year, and I did recognize some things in the video that was also in the play. Liked seeing the bonus features, like creator Charles Schulz being interviewed on 'Tonight Show' by Johnny Carson. There was mention how it was just some songs at first, then these songs inspired the play. 

Walgreen Loyalty Points

I've had the Walgreen loyalty card since Monday, made two purchases and no points despite some of the items being store brands like their soap and toilet paper and razors. Well I finally got some points tonight, by buying some Duracell batteries. Had to get some for my flashlight and for my video camera, so some C and some AAA. The flashlight is really special to me as I've had since I was ten, got it when I was in scouting. I got over a thousand points on these two eligible items, so it's different from other loyalty programs I'm already a part of. Same is true with how I got a discount on the batteries. I'm sure I will find some more eligible items that I can use at their store.
   I accomplished quite a bit today, a day off for me. I was with my date at a McDonald's in order to use the wi-fi there but I like their breakfast sandwiches anyway, especially the Egg McMuffin. Then I was on my way to do some cleanup around my home. I am pleased with what I got done but I can do way more. I needed to start somewhere, and that was in the bedroom by moving most things out so I could dust under the bed and then mop the wood floor. Also got around to cleaning the bathroom and two closets. I did decide to donate a few items, some were plush Christmas toys, as I wasn't using them enough and they do me no good just placed in a bag out of the way. Found one thing in a box that I said 'they're playing my song'. It was something called a 'record guard'. I said I wanted to write down what I had for media, especially the movies. Well there is a section called 'inventory and appraisal', and while they may not have had this in mind I did want to take inventory of it. As expected, I had way more DVD than VHS. I counted 119 DVD and 48 VHS if I'm not mistaken. This excludes two special categories, baseball movies and Charlie Brown specials. This adds about 25 more movies to the total. I got the movies in alpha order, so I now have a better idea of what is there.
   I was pleased to find out I guessed well on movies I bought last night at Walmart. I got 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' and 'Wayne's World' on DVD, thinking I just had them on VHS. I was correct, so I junked the VHS copies of those two as well as 'Roger and Me' since I also recently acquired a DVD copy of it.
   It wasn't too distracting to have the TV on while doing cleanup, as I focused well on what I was doing. Iowa's football game against Nebraska was on ABC, Iowa lost 13-7 despite leading for a while to end a dismal season at 4-8. Also saw some of the second game, Iowa State hosting West Virginia, and Iowa State lost as well.
   I do like days like these where I stay in and go outside only when I really need to. In my case that was in the evening to get some Little Caesar's pizza. I like pepperoni, and I am thankful I checked the box before leaving as I was given a cheese pizza at first and showed it to them. The shift manager corrected it right away. Before that I went over to the grocery store and dropped off a bag full of plastic shopping bags. Then later on I found even more in another closet! So when I went out a second time I sent them three more bags full of those plastic bags. The other things I did the second time was send the Internet bill to the post office, make the donation of plush items to a Salvation Army box, and then Walgreen. I had to make another stop, at Superamerica, as they didn't have the Minneapolis paper, must have been sold out. The Superamerica did have some Hostess items, but mostly little donuts and honey buns. There was also some Dolly Madison donuts, another brand owned by this bankrupt company, but I've avoided these as no expiration date is given.
   I did get one Hostess item, it was at a Holiday station early in the day when I went in to use the ATM. They had some orange cupcakes, a two-pack. The expiration date is farther out so it works for me. Today I had two Wonder/Hostess items for lunch: a hamburger bun and half of the strawberry fruit pie. Then I had the second half of the pie in the evening. Figured it would be easier to handle the high calories for the pie if I did half-servings, portion control you know. 

Rupert Murdoch and 'Free Press'

I decided to like a nonpartisan page on Facebook called 'Free Press' after getting an email in my Hotmail account that suggested it. The message said Rupert Murdoch wants to own another media outlet. We were asked to voice our opinion, and let the government know we are not for it. Naturally, this name is close to some actual papers, I had heard of the Detroit Free Press before. So it was a little confusing to me at first.
   I heard from my college roommate on Facebook, not sure why i didn't see the message any earlier as it had been there for a few days. My friend informed me of plans to be in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, next month for the holiday. Will have to see if it works in my schedule to go there. Since we haven't seen each other in person since 2008, in Memphis, I would like to find my way there if at all possible.
   I did the Thanksgiving thing with my date in the afternoon. But since we went there in the late afternoon, I said we needed to eat something for lunch first. So I had an Oscar Mayer Lunchable, I like having these every so often. We did watch some of the first two football games of the day, Texans-Lions and then Redskins-Cowboys. There was some controversy over a call in the first game, on a touchdown where the runner was down according to replays but it wasn't reviewed since the Lions coach was flagged for a penalty. The game went into overtime and the Lions lost. One attendee of the dinner kept saying to try his cranberry sauce, it was fine but I said I was more familiar with drinking cranberry juice. He was unfamiliar with the Irish music group The Cranberries, from the 1990s, I had seen them in concert in Moline, IL, in 1996. He was also arguing with his brother about taking out the trash when it was full. I liked trying the pies, I had a full piece of pumpkin cream and partial slices of the chocolate and apple pies.