hillshire snacking, small plates

i could feel my stomach before lunch and decided to get a supplement to the lunch i brought, which was tuna salad and crackers, and it meant going to the nearby walgreen. i wanted to get oscar mayer lunchables, but i think they were all sold out. so i got something similar by hillshire farm, called 'snacking, small plates'. it was italian dry salame, gouda cheese, and toasted rounds. i was used to crackers so hard bread was an adjustment. but it tasted fine. first time i had seen the spelling of the meat this way, with an 'e', i am used to 'salami' as the spelling. the drink was also a 'second choice' as the can of pineapple juice was not available. it was 'bubly' sparkling water, blackberry. the can said this brand is owned by pepsi. notable was having to go there in the rain, so i was quick about it and put my leather jacket on my head to shield it from the rain.
   work went fine, even though it was a high volume day on check printing it slowed down a lot after the largest files were printed. there was a big shipment of boxes of check stock to pick up in the morning. there was 35 boxes and i made 3 trips with the cart to get them all into the check shop. also picked up 'air cans' and a toner cartridge. the bottle of sealing fluid was delivered by a pregnant lady from the branch.
   it was also a day for earmarking funds. i want the festival button for canadian days, so there is an envelope set aside for it now. and there is a plastic bag for the ice cream cone i want from dairy queen on friday. i checked the facebook page for canadian days and confirmed they are having a scaled-back version of the festival this year. this was announced in may. so it is a good idea that i go get a button this weekend as usually i get it at the festival site, and that is not possible this year. this more than likely means mailing in the contest entry as well, another thing i take care of at the park. this leaves the remaining amount from the most recent ATM visit to be set aside for my next round of doing laundry. I know I am saving money by cutting back on visits to the ATM.
   i went on a walk in the evening and picked up 14 cents, all pennies. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when the mothers of sheldon and leonard met, followed by part 2 of the final episode.

final car payment

i called the credit union this morning while i was having i.t. issues and inquired about my car loan. the quarterly statement arrived over the weekend and it confirmed how the loan wasn't paid off yet. i was expecting the final payment to be in june, but i guess they were a little off on the interest and the final payment is this month. it will be just under 11 dollars, and once the balance is zero there will be a lien release. i also asked about their branches, and they are open to the public. so i have a place where i can turn in change, and dump it into my savings account. i was required to have a savings account to get the loan. so i have another place to stop at for errand running this weekend, along with getting more shirts for work at jc penney. another place would be to get a festival button in little canada. their festival, canadian days, is coming soon. i went onto facebook and found out they are selling buttons at least, even if the actual festival may not be happening this year due to the virus. five places are listed, one of them is the town hall. i will try the gas station and hardware store that is listed, the other two are a bar and a pizza place.
   at work things went fairly smoothly once the i.t. issues were out of the way. i was advised to re-boot, and this worked although i didn't like having to do that so early in the day because i hadn't even been in any of the apps yet. the boss had a vacation day, so there was no team huddle. in the evening i went on a walk and picked up 57 cents. i did a virtual open-mic and i had a question from the flautist after it about the man i saw face-down in the grass, but it wasn't the same location where she had decided to call 911. the 'big bang theory' rerun was the first of two parts on the final episode, where sheldon and amy win the nobel prize.

h and k, christmas movie

this morning i watched another DVD movie, it was the christmas edition of 'harold and kumar'. i recognized danny trejo in it as harold's father-in-law. it was another farce. the 'waffle bot' was kind of funny. and they found a way to get neil patrick harris in the story, this time he was actually an actor. now that i have finished the 3 movies in this franchise i am fine with moving on to something else, and definitely ready for it. i have 7 on a list to choose from, so the video store should have some of them. the movie had plenty of the typical christmas songs in it, and i found out one of them was written by iowa native meredith willson, 'beginning to look a lot like christmas'.
   i did laundry in the afternoon, and after it was all put away i went on a walk and picked up 70 cents. so i already have enough for a bag of chips out of the vending machine. and i filled 2 more bags by running the paper shredder.
  this was expected to be the day to attend an alumni event at a twins baseball game, but of course like most events it was canceled due to the virus. they were scheduled to play toronto.  of course the major leagues hasn't started their brief season yet. and i don't know if i will be attending any twins games this year as i would expect a 'fan ban' to be in effect. other events i tend to do in mid-july include the french alliance's bastille day event, and the ramsey county fair in maplewood. the former decided to go on but as a drive-through, not sure what happened to the latter. and a drive-through event doesn't interest me at all. since the state fair was canceled, i would expect that most county fairs are canceled as well. i am aware of how there aren't many animal exhibits there besides a petting zoo. i like having some of the food there, and seeing some of the art as well. it serves as a good warm-up for the state fair.

force of nature movie

i watched a DVD movie this morning, a redbox rental, 'force of nature'. i recognized mel gibson in it, he plays an ex-cop. i had heard of kate bosworth as well, but not sure from what show. it is about a heist during a hurricane in puerto rico. i liked it, kept my attention. it would have to be considered a 'thriller', and i do like that genre of movies. just as important, i was paying attention to the previews on this disc and there is another one to be added to my list. it also looks like a thriller, called 'trauma center', starring bruce willis. i found out it is at redbox as well, so it looks like next weekend's movie has been found.
   when i went out to return the movie, i picked up a few snack food items at the holiday gas station where the kiosk is. then it was on to fed-ex office to get my income tax forms printed, and filed. i wanted to print them first, and as expected, it was a good idea to do most of the entries before i arrived and then save it. looks like i am getting plenty as a refund from federal and state. i had waited this long to file because i expected to pay a penalty for having no health insurance for part of the year. this is what happened in the previous tax year. but i found out that this mandate had expired. i had said before that calling it 'the affordable care act' is misleading when one can get penalized for not having it when it can be hard to afford it while unemployed. i like how it doesn't take long to file through h and r block electronically, and due to requesting the refunds by direct deposit that shortens the waiting. i have already received text messages saying that both tax returns have been accepted. the federal one was accepted within minutes, the state one was after nearly 2 hours.
   after going to the grocery store in the evening, i decided i wanted to do more than just watch another movie. so i got out a book and read most of it, about the st. paul saints baseball team. i liked finding mention of not just the hall of famers that played for the earlier version of the saints, but also a segment on '60 minutes' in the 1990s. i found it on youtube! it was 10 minutes, enjoyed watching it. hard to say when i will attend my next event at their stadium. the movies don't interest me, especially when there is an admission fee this time and there wasn't when i saw 'space jam' there on the 4th of july, 3 years ago. the saints have no plans to play there this season. there is mention of a high school baseball tournament there, but not all plans have been finalized for it yet.
  at midday i did my weekly walk to the post office to pick up orders, but there was just one waiting there. will have to contact a seller to find out why i don't have an invoice yet. so it is a good idea to wait on ordering more until more items arrive. i also picked up 27 cents during the walk.

goodrich chocolate malt

i went to hy-vee in eagan this evening to get some groceries and wanted single serving ice cream. what i found was a goodrich chocolate malt. the package said the company is based in norfolk, nebraska. it tasted fine, but since it was warm i noticed it had melted a little by the time i got home. i ate it right away, was planning on doing this anyway. frosty malts do remind me of attending baseball games, especially iowa cubs games when i was young. not sure when i will be attending my next game. while at the store i also saw a patriotic plush snoopy and got a picture of it.
   at work of course it was a fairly low volume day because it was a friday, just two mail tubs were put out at the end of the day. but there was plenty of UPS envelopes to do, 27 in all. and I did the deposit of refund checks at the bank branch in the same building. i also saw some emails about finding an alternate address to send returned checks to. so it meant having to search for those checks. i did those special requests near the end of the day once i was caught up on check printing. i even had to reopen two of the UPS envelopes because i saw an email about another check was to go to an attorney in new orleans. with the other it was a returned check, going to the same business line as some newly printed ones. odd to see 'reason for return' on some of these. such as 'refused' or 'did not pick up'. some of these are a big chunk of change. not too many returns, but still odd nonetheless.
   in the evening i went on a walk and picked up 14 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when penny walked out of an audition, followed by when leonard's mom showed up but only to do some research.

ketchup and mayonnaise packets

i decided to use something besides the typical mustard on the chicken strips meal tonight. there were some ketchup and mayonnaise packets found at work, 2 of the former and 1 of the latter. it worked fine, and it may have been more than what i typically squirt out for mustard. it was red gold ketchup and chef's quality mayonnaise. i tried not to mix them but some mixing happened after a while, it was inevitable i guess. in terms of what i have found stashed at the workplace, this is probably it aside from the plastic spoons. kind of nice not needing to bring spoons from home to have soup for lunch.
   at work the volume was much lower, as expected. but there was a dust-up about apparently another check that wasn't overnighted. so it meant a trainer coming in for a short time in the afternoon. i was not aware of how this would he happening, although i did talk to my boss on the phone for a few minutes. still not sure what lesson is to be learned aside from pay close attention.
   in the evening i went on a walk after a virtual open-mic and found 28 cents. the open-mic had people from all over, one of them was from malaysia. the 'big bang theory' rerun was when the rival scientists from fermi lab, rivals to sheldon and amy, fought among themselves. it was the second, much like the previous day i fell asleep after work and missed the first one.

rice krispies, summer fun

I have been eating rice krispies for breakfast for much of the week already. I had bought some over the weekend as I wanted to get a patriotic item. this seemed to fit the bill as it is a 'limited time'- having red and blue krispies. it says it is 'great for summer treat making'. on the back of the box it talks of summer fun with rice krispies treats. this includes 'sweet and fruity kabobs'. and it gives a website address on pinterest to 'explore more fun decorating ideas, or share your own creations'. I usually just eat them as cereal in a bowl and do not get into baking treats or anything else. 

  at work it was hectic for a while, due to getting some files that I rarely see. there was four from the foundation, three of them were big. in all, it was over two thousand checks, and there are many days where I don't see any for them. but it didn't take long to get caught up once I got started, as it means getting started on printing the checks as quickly as possible once they are there. it meant that some things will be pushed back to the next morning, such as responding to an email about refund checks. another one I knew I needed to act on  right away as it spoke of getting a check overnighted after it arrived as returned mail. we got an updated address for it. 

   i went on a walk in the evening and picked up 33 cents. the 'big bang theory' rerun i watched was the second, as i fell asleep after work and missed the first. it was when raj was misunderstood at his planetarium gig, when he spoke of the loch ness monster.