gaudy necklace

for whatever reason, i looked at my little table-top christmas tree and noticed there was no iowa hawkeye ornament on it. well now there is, and i didn't have to order it from e-bay or the hawk shop. i just decided to re-purpose something, same as how there is now a st. paul saints ornament. in this case it was a gaudy necklace i had bought in new orleans in 2002. i cut off the beads and then strung up the remaining 'tiger hawk'. a simple solution. i said the same about 'the simpsons'. so i decided to look in the box with simpsons and 'star wars' items. i found an ornament of homer sucking on a candy cane, so it has been strung up as well. i put the ornament box back in the big box after i collapsed it. the tree represents most everything i like now. and it has been 'a wash' on the lineup changes since the cleanup from earlier this year. i added four and took down four. there are plenty of 'charlie brown and snoopy' ornaments, no surprise there. also the st. louis cardinals, chicago bears, and two from the montgomery ward liquidation sale. i still have the wards price tag on them. also the minnesota wild, the local hockey team. proves i am a minnesota resident now, when one is of hockey.
   in the evening i went on a walk and picked up 12 cents. before this i liked finding some episodes of norman lear shows on ABC. they did a live version of 'good times' when there was an alderman election, and 'all in the family' at christmas. i had seen the earlier ones, 'all in the family' and 'the jeffersons'. great cast members all around, including woody harrelson as archie bunker, and kevin bacon in the 'all in the family' episode as well. the 'big bang theory' reruns i watched were about mom's last meal, as in howard's mom. it was followed by sheldon and amy doing a sensory deprivation tank and their varied reactions to it.
   at work it was a higher-volume day, as expected. there was a problem with some of the envelopes, evident by the machine stopping several times. i figured it was best to ride it out as i was told that the humidity can foul some of them. and it meant some of the checks were placed in a different envelope when the address didn't line up in the window. i got caught up by the end of the day, and i stayed a few extra minutes when one file dropped kind of late. i noticed they were 'zero checks' and i let the trainer know by IM. i was advised not to print them until i heard from IT. no problem, no interest in printing 'zero checks'. so it meant skipping over them and printing all of the others that were waiting.

bicycle and mirror

when i went out for a walk in the evening i saw two items next to a dumpster. it was a kid's bicycle, and a big mirror. so i liked the challenge of doing a selfie in the mirror. i picked up 17 cents. it has been said before that one understands a society well by seeing what they throw out.
  at work it was a slower day than typical, so it helped me on getting caught up on a few things. it also meant looking at another drawer to see what was in it. it meant throwing out some more brittle rubber bands that had broken. there were no 'test checks' to print. and no visitors to the check shop. but i did do the deposit at the bank branch. was it slower due to the first day back after the holiday? possibly. but usually the opposite is true on the jobs i have worked in the past.
  notable about the day was the news about the death of charlie daniels, the musician. i had seen his band perform twice, once at a county fair in suburban chicago and again at taste of minnesota. i had 'decade of hits' on LP record when i was young, and later got it on CD. his band's song, 'let it roll', captured performing and being a performer real well. so i went to listen to it on youtube tonight.
also notable was seeing the schedule being released for major league baseball. but at this point i still expect a 'fan ban' to be in effect. i did call the st. paul saints office, but no information yet about game schedules or ticket prices for the high school baseball tournament later this month. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when raj got caught snooping on emily, and howard and bernadette were eaves-dropping on them. it was followed by sheldon sending cookies to nobel winners he had alienated.

h and k, guantanamo, movie

i watched the second 'harold and kumar' movie this morning, the one about escape from guantanamo. it happened on the way to amsterdam, and by the end of the movie they do get to amsterdam after plenty of diversions along the way. this was another farce, completely ridiculous and unlikely storyline. but i understand by now how some movies are not to be taken seriously. there was somebody playing then-president bush (43) in it. i still like harold way more than kumar. neil patrick harris is in this one as well, and ed helms has a small role. i recognized many of the songs in it, by poison, ice cube, boys 2 men, and kenny loggins. somebody was surprised to find out i found the first one at a video store, since i posted on twitter about it. they wondered if a video store was still a thing. but i really did find it at an independent video store.
   in the late afternoon i went on a long walk and picked up 12 cents. i also ran the shredder and filled 2 more bags. not much else to say about the day, still really warm and it rained a little. 'the simpsons' was about movie spoilers.

capone movie

i watched a DVD movie this morning, a redbox rental, 'capone'. i recognized linda cardellini and matt dillon in it. this movie depicts the final year of capone's life, while living in exile in florida after being released from prison. i could guess which 'scenes and characters were invented for dramatic effect'. i found out there was another version of the song 'blueberry hill', as this movie has a version by louis armstrong. wikipedia said it was performed even before then, back in 1940, and gene autry had one of those 1940 versions for a movie. like many people, i knew the one by fats domino, aided by it being on the TV show 'happy days'. another notable scene of the movie depicts capone watching the movie 'wizard of oz', along with his reactions to hearing dramatic versions of his life on the radio. the movie depicts capone at his worst, with dementia and having delusional dreams.
  i returned the movie to a gas station, and while there i got a small tub of ice cream as well as some white castle burgers. the latter was inspired by last week's movie rental. i was pleased that this was an option so i don't have to go to a drive-through window for it. i went on a walk in the late afternoon, and found 36 cents. this was after going to the grocery store, which was closing early due to the holiday. i bought a box of 'limited edition' rice krispies cereal, a patriotic version. after the local news i switched over to the channel known as 'movies!' and found part of '1776', a play i once saw at the guthrie. the second was 'yankee doodle dandy', starring james cagney. i understood the selections were in honor of the 4th of july. i don't think i had seen all of the latter before, but it was a good story about a playwright/actor that received a congressional medal of honor. at times it was hard to hear the movie because of the fireworks going off nearby. i did go outside and get a look at the fireworks once the movie was done. i also caught part of the st. paul saints baseball game on the radio, they just started a shortened season this weekend, in sioux falls. i caught more of friday's game. nice to have some baseball, finally.

dole pineapple juice

i had more for lunch at work than just what was brought in my bag. i was feeling weak in the stomach even before going  to lunch, figuring it was due to a lack of food. so i went to walgreen and got some lunchables as well as a small can of dole pineapple juice. figured it was better than just having the can of tomato soup and the animal crackers. it says the juice is a product of the philippines. i was fine after deciding to have more food and drink. the pineapple juice was a reminder of my first visit to the nation's capital, in 2000. i had some since it was in the vending machine at the hotel, which was a few blocks west of the white house in the foggy bottom neighborhood. although i recall the juice tasted a little 'tinny'. hard to say how long the juice was in the machine though.
   work went fine, i got caught up on printing the test checks. i did the older ones in the morning and more dropped later in the day. i was correct about just entering the alternate name of the system where 'test checks' were found in the search box to find it. and then i logged out once all were printed, to avoid confusion with the system where the 'real checks' are printed as part of my normal duties. there was a 'return to business line' request from st. louis, and i knew full well to get it over-nighted this time. it was the last UPS label of the day that i printed. there was a big shipment of old records to be picked up on the upper level, 8 boxes in all. somebody rang the doorbell to the check shop to let me know. all of them were addressed to me. i found space for them on the shelving, had to move things around a little. so i should be fine going forward, on hitting all of the 'toll gates' and getting out at a reasonable time. i did stay a few minutes after my actual time of stamping out, but i am getting better at time management i guess. 'necessity is the mother of invention'. that quote applies here. i did take a longer lunch as i was over on time for the 2 weeks, and the company does not like to pay for overtime. it not only allowed me to get to walgreen, but also to pick up a movie at the video store.
   in the evening i went on a walk after going to pick up some groceries at the hy-vee in eagan and found 1 cent. going to the store was nice, got pictures of some patriotic items, a t-shirt and balloons. i was wearing my patriotic shirt, bought at the cracker barrel in lakeville many years ago. i liked hearing 'tide is high' by blondie while in the store. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when bernadette made an airline employee cry when the ashes of howard's mom were misplaced, followed by amy doing 'baby experiments' on sheldon.

signed by void

there was a dial in meeting about test checks to be printed out, and I noticed it was signed by 'void void'. confusing at times as to what was priority, as i was getting inundated with emails about it, being added to the meeting 3 minutes after its scheduled start. in the afternoon there was plenty of 'real checks' to print and i had to ask which one was more important. so i decided on doing the real checks because it sounded like there was no agreement on what to do with the test checks. one of the trainers was in for under two hours, had a half-day. i got my questions answered about what to do with the unusual incoming mail. she said a lady in another office can be condescending. it was hard to tell at times what was relevant to me on the dial-in meeting, not the first time i said this as to why i was included on a meeting. i tried going back to the test checks at the end of the day but couldn't get logged in, had been to that system only once. so i will try again in the morning. also didn't help that there was a late request to find a check, it arrived more than 30 minutes past the deadline for these kind of special requests. so sadly we seem to be at everybody's 'beck and call'. i still couldn't get out of the office on time as i wanted to see that all of the overnights were done, envelopes closed. and that the figures on the spreadsheet matched up as well. trying hard on time management but when things are unpredictable it is hard to do. 

   in the evening i did a walk and found 36 cents. i did a virtual open-mic and was the only performer besides the moderator. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when howard's mom died, followed by when william shatner and kareem abdul-jabbar were guest stars as members of a dungeons and dragons game hosted by wil wheaton. 

not in oregon

at work there was a request for a courier pickup on a check, except it was from an employee in oregon. i am not in oregon, and the trainer was contacted by IM and i was advised to call as to what they wanted done. so it was decided, in a call lasting about 10 minutes, that the check be overnighted to the recipient, in the los angeles area. it was a high volume day for doing overnight labels, 35 in all. it was up from 18 on tuesday. the repairman was there waiting for me in the morning, so i went in and the morning scan was done after he was shown the machine. i was told that a screw was loose in one area, and the solution for the other was using different envelopes. some mention of what the humidity can do to them, so on the huddle it was mentioned about the thermostat. so i did lower it to 70, as that is what was recommended on the posting next to it on the wall. he was in and out in under an hour, and the machine was tested, just had to print a file of checks first. found out my choice on how to send the over a million check backfired, as there was an email asking for a tracking number. it was from somebody different than who i chatted with the previous day. eventually my boss's boss stepped in and said 'i am a rookie, we will take care of it'. i had asked some questions but if they wanted it overnighted wasn't one of them. 

   in the evening after i ate i went on a walk and picked up 2 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when amy wrote a book about time travel, followed by bernadette doing a simulation of being weightless in space. on the walk i liked finding a fountain, so of course that meant getting a picture of it. a man was walking his dog when i was there.