R2-D2 candy dispenser

 well sometimes the search yields something different than expected, but still good. i walked to a target, and then a nearby walgreen, and found a cool item at the latter. i got some chocolate milk and some of those hawaiian dinner rolls at the former. i was looking for discounted valentine candy, but it must have been sold out already at this one. when i saw an R2-D2 candy dispenser, i said i like that. in the 'star wars' movies i always liked the droids and chewy the most. the candy is pellets, and it was in a plastic bag inside the unit. so of course it meant taking it out of the bag. and one presses the button to hear the beeps from R2 and to dispense the candy. i also saw a yoda for sale, but right now one is enough. i shortly after leaving the walgreen i found a place to eat and drink, a nearby bus stop with a bench. this is where i drank the milk and had two of the four rolls. it was snowing a little during this walk. 

i was pleased with what i got done today. it started with watching a DVD, a PBS documentary about actor-comedian robin williams. he is in my favorite movie, 'good will hunting'. then it was time to do laundry. the laundromat is under new ownership, explains why they were repainting. i also saw a woman working on the lint traps for the dryers. i asked what was the weirdest thing found in these traps, she said a rubber band and some coins. i claimed a dime from one of them. during my walks i found 1 dollar 74 cents, and this includes a folded up dollar bill in an otherwise empty cart there. when i see something like this i don't ask how it got there, i just take. it was enough to get beer at a nearby liquor store, for the fish fry meal for friday. i chose a bottle of sam adams from the mix and match cart. i went there after having lunch, as it was time to eat by the time i got back from the laundromat. then i decided to lay down for a little while before taking the long walk to the walgreen. 'the simpsons' brought back edna. 

the vanished movie

 i watched a DVD movie this afternoon, a redbox rental, 'the vanished'. i recognized anne heche in it. it was a thriller about a missing girl. and after the girl goes missing, it goes from bad to worse for the couple. they end up killing people while trying to search for who abducted their daughter. it was filmed in alabama- tuscaloosa, the college town. it was distributed by saban films, but it has nothing to do with the football coach. pure coincidence i guess. peter facinelli not only directed it, but also wrote it and had a role in it as a deputy sheriff. there were times when it was a little predictable, such as the groundskeeper- a drug addict- trying to throw away the paraphernalia and then going back to reclaim it eventually. the movie was kind of long, nearly two hours. not everything- or everybody- is what it seems to be, and this is revealed in the end. and this is why one is less sympathetic to the couple. 

this of course was a day of errand running, although the first order of business was done at home. this was filing my income taxes. at least the federal return was filed, online through h and r block. there were too many fees being requested, so i think i will do the state tax return manually. due to one tax credit, for contributing to a 401-k, i got a refund. it was surprising how this made a difference this year, when the credit was under $100. although it was convoluted as i at first wanted to pay the fee with the refund, but it would have meant getting a much smaller refund. so i paid the fee with my debit card. once this was done i went to the post office and there were two e-bay orders to pick up. then i went to the fedex office in eagan where i printed my income tax return, 9 pages. i also printed a few other things, including some baseball schedules and a 'comedy souvenir'- an email saying i won tickets, which  led to me requesting stage time at the same club. since a walgreen was nearby i walked over there and got some more valentine candy, now 70 percent off. i bought six items. last stop was the gas station, to get lunch- a pretzel dog and some cheese. also thrilled to see a little godfather's pizza there, so i got one. 

after having lunch i watched the movie, and got the movie returned just before 6pm. then after watching the news it was time to go to aldi for the weekly grocery order. while there i saw a man with a dog that was wearing an army coat. the dog sniffed the cart a little, and this led to a conversation with the man. i had dinner after getting back from the grocery store, and then watched part of a batman movie on TV, one with katie holmes in it. along with one starring sidney poitier as a teacher in london. i fell asleep while watching the late local news but when i woke up i felt the urge to go walking again. it was my first evening walk in 2 weeks. due to the subzero weather we had been having, i didn't feel like going out for a while. i was pleased to have found 88 cents throughout the day. also found was a canadian penny from 1984, and i think this will be set aside for a wishing well. 

dairystar sour cream

 i went to a fish fry at a church after work and i said i was fine with getting whatever the ten dollars would get me in the meal. one of these was a pack of dairystar sour cream, for the baked potato wrapped in foil. it was the first time doing takeout at a fish fry as in-person dining is not offered during the pandemic. i needed to scout things out upon arrival and i got out of my car first. one of the car lines to place an order went into the street, so i went to the other one. it didn't take long to get food once the order was placed. i asked for the combo meal, some fried as well as baked fish. there was also lemon wedges, tartar sauce, and cole slaw. along with a roll and an brownie. i sometimes see food as art so i got a picture of it on top of my microwave oven while still in the styrofoam container, next to a can of foster's beer. this was the first friday in lent, and i like trying various fish fries. i have a list from the st. paul paper, as well as from the knights of columbus. there are two more that interest me coming up, based on cost and proximity. i will likely want to get to a mcdonald's as well. 

at work i was able to finish another leg in the special project for payroll, this time illinois. so there is not much left now, just oregon, with windowless envelopes. at midday i went to a nearby dental office to drop off some mail that the bank received, first time in a while. not a big deal, as it was in the adjacent strip mall. i even said i walk farther than this when going to the walgreen. after i finished the fish dinner i went to the hy-vee in eagan. it was a lighter order than typical, just 8 items, but i also needed less. during my walks i found 30 cents. i also found a canadian quarter, and it was placed in the bag with other coins from this nation for whenever i visit canada again. i am now up to 13 dollars, first time i had added to this fund since april. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when leonard chased sheldon in a ball pit. it was followed by the one where sheldon flew to texas with howard and toured the space center. i don't think i had seen the latter episode, i know i had seen the former. 

the bandit, kings of leon

 i was bummed that i recently didn't write down lyrics from a catchy song. well i lucked out and i heard it again when driving home from work in the evening. 'walking around, head in cloud' was what i wrote down. after some searching, i found out it wasn't a husker du song, sounded nothing like what i had heard. and it wasn't pearl jam, it was my first guess. but it is a newer song, 'the bandit' by kings of leon. i guess it would be considered the same genre as pearl jam, alternative. i don't know much about this band but wikipedia said they are based in nashville. in fact it was such a big deal to try to find it that i did this search before i even did my regular checking of email from my hotmail account. for those who know me, this is no surprise at all. music keeps me focused on things well. 

at work i was able to get caught up again on getting checks through the envelope stuffer, it helped that the volume of the two largest files was lower. the overnight package volume was also lower compared to the previous day, nearly half as much. sounds like there are no other tax letters that i will be getting to send out, so hopefully i can finish up what i already have real soon. at lunchtime i went to walgreen and got some more discounted valentine candy, 10 items including two more little boxes of candies with charlie brown and snoopy characters on them. during my walks i found 31 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon and leonard's apartment was burglarized, and sheldon tried putting up a new alarm system that said 'intruder alert'. it was followed by 'who was manipulating who?' related to leonard wanting a new table, and sheldon tried to break up with amy but amy said it was leonard that was manipulating. howard also was called to go back to space but was reminded of how he hated being there. 

belfine belgian chocolate

 the next box of chocolate from this week's purchase was belfine belgian chocolate. it says 'one for you, one for me' and 'decorated belgian chocolate from the chocolate country'. this one cost more than the others, and it was the one i hadn't heard of before. there was three praline filled hearts, and a milk chocolate bear holding a red heart. it tasted fine. i guess that anything imported does tend to cost more, as one must factor in the cost of shipping it to market. it was five dollars, when discounted to half-off. i would like to think there is still some discounted valentine candy left at walgreen and other stores. as the saying goes, 'selection varies by store'. i plan on making my weekly visit to the one near my workplace on thursday and will see what they have there. i do recall what looked like a wine bottle full of bite-sized candies from monday, but didn't buy it. 

at work there was plenty of checks to print, one file had about two thousand and another over five thousand. i got as much as possible run through the stuffer, but there is still more than two thousand as carryover. i was able to get nearly one thousand on the special project for payroll run through before there was more check files to print. there is not much left for illinois now, which is part two. there was also thirty UPS overnight packages to do, including one that is going to cincinnati, a 're-route' of one that arrived inter-office in an overnight package. in the evening i went to the liquor store and this time the man at the sample table spoke to me. there was four different things to sample as i recall, including bourbon. i decided to try the white wine, but as expected only got beer, which was my plan all along. it was two cans of foster's from the discount cart. the prices did go up a little, so at least i am aware of it. still cheaper than drinking at the performance venues. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon wore the hulk hands on a date. it was followed by the one where the friends took a train to napa valley, and sheldon met another 'railroad weirdo' and kisses amy. 

avengers milk chocolate hearts

 i am steadily having more of the valentine candy that i recently bought at walgreen. today it was the marvel avengers milk chocolate hearts. there was 6 pieces inside. i looked at the receipt and it rang up a little cheaper than the two charlie brown candy boxes, even though there was more pieces of candy on this one. the charlie brown candies have three pieces in a box. i don't recognize all of the characters on the box, looks like there are six in all. i know the hulk, and captain america, are two of them. and these characters have been around for a while. it reminded me of brawler, who often spoke of these comic book super-heroes in his comedy sets. 

at work there was more dropped off for the special project for payroll, and no new ones went out. but i am hopeful there is a window of opportunity soon. i wanted to get caught up on incoming mail, it was why it had to wait for another day. during my walks i found 25 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when howard was jealous that bernadette was interested in what leonard did for his science work. it was followed by the one where james earl jones was a guest star. i like this one because it also has carrie fisher, who said 'it's not funny anymore, james!' and comes out of her house armed with a baseball bat. 

jc penney auction

 i saw an email about upcoming auctions, and one was for jc penney. they are moving their home office and over 800 items were listed. for me, notables included some framed art. there was one from jc penney night at dodger stadium in 1978, manager tommy lasorda is in it. another was from 2002, the company's centennial. it included a signed letter from then-president bush, and mention of sounding the opening bell at the new york stock exchange that day. i don't plan on bidding on anything as the items are in spring valley, minnesota, southern part of the state near the iowa line. might be hard to get anything when it is out of town. and in addition, i am trying to cut back on spending. i already have plenty of art for my home. some other notables i recall now, come to think of it, were newspaper headlines. one was from st. louis in 1927, about the lindbergh flight. and another was from a philippine paper saying hitler was dead. there were plenty of store-related items as well, such as clothing and mannequins. and plaques from sesame street from the 1980s. i think most items have at least one bid on them. 

it was presidents day, a day off as it is a bank holiday. i still wanted to stay active though. i took out the trash, and sewed a button back onto my winter coat. then i ventured out and went to take recycle to a place near the capitol. this time was different, as there was a man nearby. i think he was out to have a smoke. i dumped three weeks worth in the bin, without saying a word to anyone, and then it was on to the next stop. this was walgreen, to see what they had for discounted valentine candy. it is half-off now. i bought seven items, one of those was actually a small bag of potato chips. two of the candies, and the chips, have already been eaten. i had lunch before i ventured out. when i got home i watched some of the charlie brown specials i have. this was the new year's day special, as well as two valentine specials. during my walks i picked up 3 cents. later on in the evening i did a virtual open-mic. i started off with saying i researched online the song 'i am my own grandpa', sang by the show runner tonight. ray stevens has a version of it, but my research yielded that the song goes back to the 1940s. after the show officially ended, the younger guitar player spoke about being bullied in school.  the 'big bang theory' reruns were when kripke pranked sheldon when he was on the radio. it was followed by the one where howard serenades bernadette at the cheesecake factory.