cinnamon shortbread egg nog

 this evening i went to hy-vee for my weekly food order. much like last week, i saw some egg nog and got a quart carton. this week cinnamon shortbread, last week pumpkin spice. both are from anderson erickson, the iowa-based dairy. i got a box of pumpkin spice shredded wheat as well. i also went on a walk and picked up 45 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when penny's ex, zack, asked leonard to be the sperm donor for his baby. it was followed by the one that is my favorite, when howard's mom is in the hospital. i think because bernadette said 'me?' when his mom wanted to see her first. and she gets assertive, asking him 'is that ok with you?' when she goes to the bathroom. at work it was fairly slow for most of the day, but there was a late request to overnight some checks. two boxes of envelopes from the monthly supply order arrived, picked them up after i was back from lunch. before going to the grocery store, i reserved a movie at redbox and used points to make it a free movie. the first night will be, and that is all i need too watch it. 

tell your story

 i was looking through a drawer at work and found an unused pencil, it said 'tell your story', so i claimed it. it serves as a reminder of what i have been doing for a while through performing and writing, and how i intend to continue with it. there was 2 meetings, the regular huddle and then one about the new procedure on the refund checks. the latter kept changing times, on up to same-day just hours prior. i went to lunch and found out it was moved up 30 minutes, starting less than an hour before my return. and somebody wanted to be called about scanned checks just prior to it, so it can be chaotic at times in the check shop. but i still got out at a reasonable time at the end of the day, which is nice. in the evening i went on a walk and found 22 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when the friends went paintball gaming and many of the couples were arguing. it was after amy did interviews about the theory she did with sheldon. it was followed by one where sheldon invented chess pieces such as the serpent, and raj took meds that led him to take off his clothes in public. i did a virtual open-mic in the evening and was the only performer besides the moderator. a cereal box was in the background, one of the monster cereals, so i spoke of it.  

cleaning sensors

 around midday at work the envelope stuffer pretty much stopped, even though i was able to get it going again for a little while but then it stopped again. so i knew i had no choice but to call for service. i ended up seeing 2 technicians. the first was a woman who said her son is a basketball coach in fort dodge, iowa. this was mentioned when i spoke of the dairy queen in my hometown. the other one arrived to help out and may have been at home when called in, i had seen him work on the machine before and have his business card. by the end of the day it was running again, they took apart the machine to clean the sensors. i confirmed that this was outside my scope of knowledge about the machine. so i was pleased that i was still able to get all of the checks out same-day. the man the brings the mail and empty tubs in the morning was late, and when he arrived he showed me pictures on his phone of his car being broken into, an apparently stolen as well. he spoke of needing to rent a car to get there, and called me 'buddy', although i don't see him that often it meant something to me. in the evening i went on a walk and picked up 4 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon and amy had a funeral for their theory. it was also a cross-over episode with its prequel, 'young sheldon'. it was followed by the one where leonard signs a new roommate agreeement that benefits sheldon as priya didn't want her parents to know she was dating sheldon. howard destroys a watch in a magician audition as well. 'the conners' had a marie antoinette cartoon mocking darlene. 

cart assembled

 i had some time this morning to assemble the cart that arrived last week. i was pleased that the only assembly needed was the wheels. it said a wrench was needed but i was able to get it done without one. although i still might want to see if i have one in the back of my car as i would like it as tight as possible. i had to switch the wheels as at first i had the swivels in the back and they need to be in the front. near the end of the day a business line said there was 24 checks to be sent out with letters. i wanted to wait until i got clear marching orders so i only printed the checks today. in the evening i went on a walk and picked up 1 cent. i knew i needed to get out for a walk tonight as after finishing up going through emails as the election returns were starting to roll in. and that early, i knew it would be too close to call. and it still is later on in the night. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon and amy asked friends to do citations on their theory. it was followed by the one where howard proposes to bernadette. 

hy-vee home and gift catalog

in the mail i got a home and gift catalog from hy-vee, now it is a question of if i will order anything from it. in the back there is a page showing a book about kansas city chiefs quarterback patrick mahomes. i know i am getting the catalog due to having their loyalty program card. 

at work i let the branch manager take ownership of the refund checks from friday, he rang the doorbell to the check shop twice. the second time it was to say how a ticket was opened, since we tried to deposit them but the new scanner didn't recognize them. at the end of the day i was given a UPS label, actually two, and was advised to overnight them across town. looks like the same place where most of the mail is sent that is in the tubs. so i notified my boss as to what I had done, figured he wanted them sent same-day so no need to wait for approval on that one. i placed supply orders as well since it was a new month. in the evening i went on a walk and found 22 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon tried to bond with his in-laws. it was followed by when penny kicked a dude in the groin for sheldon. 

coyote ugly movie

 this morning I watched a DVD movie, 'coyote ugly'. there were many actors i recognized in it, of course one of those was john goodman, who played the main character's dad. maria bello, tyra banks, and bridget moynahan were others. enjoyed the story as a whole, about a girl from a new jersey town who goes to new york city to try to make it as a songwriter. the only thing that didn't ring true was her stage fright, it got old how she kept saying 'can't do it'. plenty of music in it, since it is about a loud a crowded bar. hard to keep up with all of the songs in it. charlie daniels band, and stray cats, were two i recalled well. and leann rimes appears as herself, and she  has something like four songs listed in the closing credits. they do get around to the origin of the name of the bar, much like most other movies do, since it is the movie's title. i liked a connection that i saw to a later movie, 'up in the air', as there is a scene where violet's friend gets married. her friend is played by melanie lynskey, and her character gets married in 'air' as well. 

i watched some of the pro football games today, the leadoff was vikings-packers, vikings won a close one. the later game was saints-bears, bears lost in overtime. i paid some bills today as well, such as my annual membership in the american historical association. and i went to walgreen to see how much halloween candy was available. i was not alone on wanting to take advantage of it now being half-price. i got some string cheese, as well as 12 pieces of candy. most of it was russell stover, but two of them were reese's. i wanted a variety, so i got one of each flavor that i saw on display. it was also a day for picture taking, as i went over to the state's museum and got a picture of the sign advertising the exhibit about first avenue, the music venue. in the evening i watched the halloween episode of 'the simpsons', of course they call it 'treehouse of horror'. there were some things in it about the upcoming election. after it i called by college roommate, who said he plans on getting a townhouse soon so hopefully i can see him again in person soon. after it i went on a walk and found 23 cents. 

true history, kelly gang, movie

 i watched a DVD movie this morning, a redbox rental, 'true history of the kelly gang'. it is a 'bush ranger' movie, or an 'australian western'. i recognized russell crowe in it, but he had a small role. i found out there were plenty of movies about this outlaw, dating back to 1906. crowe has a song in it as well. and they do play the british national anthem in it, 'god save the queen'. i recall learning nearly 10 years ago, while watching the olympic games, how it is the same song as 'my country tis of thee' but different words. it is an engaging story, starting when ned kelly was a preteen boy, before of course his time of becoming an outlaw. i was intrigued by seeing a depiction of bare-knuckle brawling in it. and i would expect 'some scenes and characters were invented for dramatic effect' which is typical for movies 'based on a true story'. it was kind of funny how they describe 'donuts', as 'cakes with a hole in them', and say they are a common thing in america. 

this was also an errand running day, and it meant going to the post office to pick up e-bay orders. all four were there, but the amazon order is still on the way. i tried going to another post office to see what stamps they had for sale, as i am interested in the sesame street stamps, but the line was too long. so i continued on to the holiday gas station and returned the movie, and got lunch. it was a cheeseburger as the hot dog in a pretzel, and godfather's pizza, were not available. i watched a little of the college football today, but not a lot. the early game was michigan state at michigan, and the michigan state spartans won. i was trying to follow scores online, as the iowa game was not on local TV. iowa lost to northwestern 21-20 despite having a 17-0 lead at the end of the 1st quarter. i also went on a walk and found 22 cents. in the evening i decided to do my annual viewing of my DVD copy of 'great pumpkin' as it seemed appropriate for halloween and i am a big charlie brown fan.