more than a paperweight

 the air cans at work i use as paperweights most of the time. but today i used them for their intended purpose a lot. there was jamming on the envelope stuffing machine, in the envelope tray area. it was a low volume day, but if it continues i will call for service on monday. speaking of that, i did call about one of the vending machines. it had all stars in the message area, and that didn't look right. so i wrote down the number on the label from the machine. a repairman arrived when i was at lunch, so i saw him work on it. he wasn't there for long, and i said i was the one that called it in. he said it may have been an electrical issue due to the recent storms, or somebody rocking it as he said it was all the way against the wall. i got a bag of chips out of it just minutes after he worked on it. since it was just 75 cents i had enough for it due to the findings from the walk last night. 

  i did walk some at lunchtime when going to stores, and picked up 2 cents. i went to the video store and to walgreen, where the cashier was the manager. the 'big bang theory' rerun was when penny got three strikes from sheldon. another part was raj and howard going to find a house where supermodels lived. in the evening i went to the hy-vee in eagan, and i spoke of 'the calm before the storm' as it was getting dark and windy as i was coming out of the store. shortly after this it started raining hard, and on the way home i had to go a little slower to match the speed of the rest of the traffic. same was true with standing water on some streets, meaning go slower to let the water part. i listened to some of the st. paul saints baseball game on the radio. the saints lost to milwaukee on a walk-off home run. i have been checking the schedule and for tickets periodically and will likely go to some more games this season, between 1-3. but i don't want to buy tickets too far ahead, and normally i don't anyway. looks like i can still get in with general admission to the games i would like to see. 

 

van from illinois

 near the end of the workday, there was a doorbell ring and i was told a delivery was on the way. it was a van from illinois, and it was check stock, 75 boxes in all. it appeared to be a husband and wife team, did not recognize what language they spoke to each other but likely eastern europe. since i helped a little on getting it all in, i stayed a little later to get my normal duties caught up. and it meant getting another i.m. from the i.t. man asking how things were going. i was caught up after the re-print of the big file from the previous day by midday. it helped that a trainer arrived to help with the re-print, then he went back to working from home after it was done. 

  in the evening i went on a walk and picked up 79 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when stuart tried to ride a bicycle while wearing a cloak. it was followed by when sheldon got a free meal from ramona. and a barenaked ladies song played, about being my yoko ono. 

trash gathering, 3 bags

 much like when i saw the mattress near the road, i got tired of seeing trash so i did something about it. it meant using 3 plastic shopping bags to gather it up. it was mainly cans, especially beer. also some little bottles of liquor, and cigarette packs. it is 4 if you count what i did the previous day. at the time i said 'i got the lion's share' but when driving past i noticed there was even more farther down. i got a little wet when filling the first bag, although i waited out some of the rain in my car. i moved up the walk around the area and picked up 5 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon and amy played 'never have i ever'. it was followed by when the was an intervention because sheldon annoyed his friends when asking for rides everywhere. 

  it was a crazy day at work. i had to replace the toner cartridge in the printer, and the first replacement was a bad one. figured it meant re-printing 20 checks, but it never came to pass. i was wondering why it kept printing after the expected end of the run. it kept going and printed about 1200 more. i raised this issue and due to the evidence i had available it appears that the printer started over, went back to the beginning. so a colleague was called in and it was determined that it was too hard to just pull out what were likely duplicate checks. so this business line will be re-printed the next day. it meant i fell behind on most other things, including UPS labels. unsure what lesson is to be learned here, as how was i to know that it was going to be a bad cartridge. 

after innocence, brenda joyce

 on the way into work i saw a novel on top of a blue mailbox. it was 'after innocence' by brenda joyce. i read the page it was turned to and could tell it was a romance novel. odd how it was still on top of the mailbox at the end of the workday as well. i went on a walk in the evening and found 14 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon showed amy his storage locker, folowed by when raj was honored by people magazine. at work there was a low number of UPS labels to print, and despite a high volume of checks to print i still got out close to on time. payroll wanted something sent out and made it just in time. 

coming soon, starbucks

 i went out on a customary walk this evening and finally saw a 'coming soon' sign next to the construction site. it said it would be starbucks, but i don't go to coffee shops much. i found 32 cents on this walk. i did a virtual open-mic as well. the most reaction i got from the set was mention of seeing barges on the mississippi river. it led me to mention the johnny cash song 'big river' after my set was done. a performer i don't see that often played music. i think she was the one that once performed with a knife as a prop. that is hard to forget. the flautist performed, but not on the flute. but she sang, and it was a song where i recognized the bible verse in it. this was psalm 119-105, one i memorized for sunday school. there was mention by the moderator of tori amos, but i don't think i had heard the song much before. 

at work i liked how i got out of the workplace fairly close to my scheduled leave time. i must be getting better at time management and multi-tasking. it also meant things like picking up the incoming mail late in the day and letting some of it sit for the next morning. 

  the 'big bang theory' reruns were when raj spoke to claire about emily. it was followed by penny getting addicted to online gaming.

matinee movie, john goodman

 watched a DVD movie this morning, 'matinee'. recognized john goodman, as well as jesse white, who was maytag's old lonely. need to move on for now in case the power goes out again. it just did a few minutes ago, albeit briefly. and it did in the early evening, according to emails from the utility company, but i was at a baseball game then. 

all right, more about the movie. i liked how there were many sub-plots happening. since it is about going to see a movie, a scary movie in florida during the cuban missile crisis. in many ways this made it a 'movie within a movie' as there was a scene in the movie they were watching at a movie theater. i saw some social commentary in it, which i liked, as there was a scene where somebody didn't want people to go see the movie. nothing like controversy to get people more interested in it. this was also a farce, as there was chaos at the movie theater. also some blackmailing of family members. funny on some level was a woman in a nurse's outfit but wasn't a nurse. 

  went to the st. paul saints baseball game, they beat sioux falls 2-1. all runs were scored on solo home runs. sioux falls scored first, in the 5th. st. paul tied it in the 7th and went ahead in the 8th. i had a sandwich at the speedway near the stadium before the game, and got a nathan's pretzel dog at a holiday station after the game. also called my college roommate and spoke of being at the game, it was my first saints game of the season. i moved up my daily walk to the early afternoon and found 10 cents.

i still believe movie

 this morning i watched a DVD rental from redbox, 'i still believe'. i recognized gary sinise in it, and shania twain. they played the parents of the main character, but gary has way more lines than shania does. it is a christian movie, and there was a trailer for 'i can only imagine' on the disc, a movie i saw at the theater 2 years ago. it is about a musician and his love life with a young lady that gets sick. there is even a love triangle that exists as part of the story. one memorable scene in it is when she gets frustrated at being unable to open a pickle jar, and the jar shatters o the floor. the closing credits say the movie was filmed in mobile, alabama. also notable was seeing an AMC eagle car in it, which hasn't been made in over 30 years as the company was bought out by chrysler in 1987. the movie begins in lafayette, indiana, and there is a scene where one sees a souvenir purdue football helmet. i saw this as appropriate as purdue university is there, actually in west lafayette. 

   it was a busy day for errand running, but thankful i got to everything on my list. this included going to the post office for e-bay orders. the 3 baseball hall of fame postcards were there. and i went to fedex office to print 3 items, one of those was the revised iowa hawkeye football schedule. they are only playing conference opponents this season, so the game with iowa state is out. there was mention on the news of how the prospects for a season at all look grim, as one conference, mid-american, has canceled all fall sports. at this time, there is a 10-game schedule. i went to cheapo on a fact-finding mission, and i was unable to find any charlie brown TV specials there. i was wondering if they had one in particular. this DVD is available at amazon, but i was wondering if there was a cheaper copy available anywhere. in the late afternoon i went on a walk and found 2 cents. it was shortened as there was some rain. in the evening i watched some boxing on fox. it included a minneapolis fighter in the main event, jamal james, saw a boxing match he was in at the armory 2 years ago. he won by unanimous decision. i also liked finding a little godfather's pizza at the holiday gas station when i returned the movie. i know i can find them at bobby and steve's, but this holiday station is much closer.