be a mermaid, make waves

 before throwing out an empty heart-shaped candy box, i wanted a picture of it. this one said 'be a mermaid and make waves'. there is one valentine candy box left, with a similar theme. it says 'call my shell' and has a cartoon mermaid on it. the part about 'make waves' resonates with me as a performer. when i was attending the renaissance festival i recall them having mermaids there. 

this was a day where i decided to hook up the VHS player to watch two baseball tapes. and an older, smaller TV as well. it was the st. louis cardinals centennial from 1992, and the sporting news covering baseball in the 1980s. i bought them together at a resale shop many years ago. after i finished the first tape, i had lunch. then i watched the second, and took a walk around the neighborhood. i was back just a few minutes before the start of a basketball game I wanted to see on CBS. actually the ending of the earlier one, michigan state at maryland, was on when i tuned in. then they got to the one i wanted to see, iowa at ohio state. iowa won 73-57. i did another walk after the game was over, then it was time for dinner as well as evening programming. there was '60 minutes' as well as 'the simpsons'. the latter was a parody of the movie 'caddyshack', where bart was sucking up to rich people as a golf caddy to get tips. i like the song 'i'm all right' in it. then after some 'big bang theory' reruns, i did my third walk of the day, and was back in time for the 10pm news. these walks yielded 1 dollar 31 cents, so i have already reached my next goal of beer money for fish fry dinners, much earlier than expected. i also sent some messages on facebook, one of them was to brawler. others were to my niece, who said her schooling for photography hasn't started yet. and the third was to a writer friend in texas. 

crown vic movie

 i watched a DVD movie this afternoon, a redbox rental, 'crown vic'. as the name suggests, it is taken from the name of cars often used by police officers. it was a 'day in the life' story of a cop in los angeles, with a rookie on his first shift, an overnight shift. many incidents are shown, including encounters with some plainclothes officers. hard to say what the weirdest one that was depicted, although memorable was somebody puking in the car. i recognized bridget moynahan in it, who had a small role as a junkie. i watch the closing credits as well, and it listed alec baldwin as a producer. this is also where i found out the movie was filmed in buffalo, new york. it was long, nearly 2 hours. there were 2 kinds of scenes throughout- the ones in the car and the ones outside of it. the veteran cop even spoke of this difference. also memorable was the rookie cop being constantly called by his pregnant wife. 

this was also an errand running day, and the first order of business was to go to the liquor store. i got two more bottles of sam adams for the fish fry dinner next weekend. then it was off to the post office. one e-bay order was there, and then it was off to the gas station to get lunch. after i got back and had lunch i watched the movie. then i watched the 6pm news and went to aldi for groceries. i made it back in time for the start of boxing on fox. the main event was an odd one, ending in a split decision draw, a 12-round fight in the super middleweight class. one fight was in progress when the program began, but it ended with a knockout shortly thereafter. during my walks i found 78 cents. so i am well on my way to reaching the next goal of having beer money for another fish fry dinner. after boxing was done i switched over to the 'movies!' channel and 'network' was on, but it was near the end of the movie. so it was well after the anchorman's famous 'mad as hell' rant. 

dunkin' mocha latte cereal

 i finished a box of cereal this morning, the first of two that was flavored by dunkin' donuts coffee. it was mocha latte. i also have a box of caramel macchiato. i could no dobut smell the coffee when opening the box. on the back of this box there was various facts about coffee or the company, such as the number of cups taste tested every day. and how national espresso day is november 23. and the word espresso means 'forced out' in italian. the back of the caramel box has a timeline of the company's history. dating back to 1948. it includes how their most successful slogan, 'america runs on dunkin', started in 2006. and the last entry is how these cereals were launched in 2020. it nice to try different cereals from hy-vee. and this is yet another example of products found at the grocery store without having to go to the restaurant, such as seeing cheesecake factory pudding at aldi. 

i redeemed points this morning at work for another amazon gift card code. i also made calls for toner cartridges for the copier, and about the parts ordered for the envelope stuffer. i was told the technician is waiting for more parts to arrive, some have been delayed due to the weather in texas. after that i found out the toner cartridges sent for the check printer were the wrong ones. the checks won't print with a laser jet. so i was trying to find out who could help with ordering the right ones, and reached some dead ends. hopeful that somebody in charge of supplies is available on monday. it didn't occur to me that they were the wrong ones until i had to replace one in the afternoon. after work i went to green mill to pick up a fish fry order. i recognized the name on the bag, although the spelling was different. in the evening i went to the hy-vee in eagan and got a boston creme delight, it looked like a ball. it is being refrigerated until it is eaten this weekend. i tried finding the bavarian creme donuts i saw at target express over the weekend but they weren't there tonight. so i still was interested in having something like it. looks like what i have for valentine candy is it for the season. one box was eaten tonight with dinner and there is one left. i went to a walgreen just before my stop at hy-vee and there was nothing left. during my walks i found 52 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when the friends had a bowling outing, including wil wheaton. it was followed by the one where professor proton died, and sheldon wouldn't go to the funeral. then arthur appears and tells sheldon to let his friends know he appreciates them. 

shaving cream, dingaling songs

 i was listening to the radio on the drive home from work and there was back-to-back songs with innuendo in them. the first was 'shaving cream', i had heard it before but it had been a while. according to wikipedia it has been around since the 1940s. the other was 'ding-a-ling', the version by chuck berry. not sure if i had heard the latter before, aside from being referenced on an episode of 'the simpsons'. this is the radio station from new prague. i stayed in my car until the second song was done, which doesn't happen too often. later on in the evening i ventured out to get gas for the car. and i drove over to a drop box for my state income tax forms. it meant paying for parking and then walking the rest of the way, a half mile from downtown st. paul, but i didn't mind. the parking fee was less than a dollar, and i needed the exercise. during my walks i picked up 66 cents, so i have reached my goal for beer money for next weekend. i have placed my order online for the fish fry dinner for friday. an advance order was needed. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon had stage fright when needing to make a speech at an awards ceremony, then got drunk. it was followed by the one where bernadette and amy and leonard lied to sheldon and penny as those three were tired of hearing about changing sciences and filming the movie. at work i got points from my boss for finishing the special project for payroll, so now i probably have enough for an amazon gift card again. i also notified that some boxes of envelopes still haven't arrived, and we will be running out soon, likely sometime next week. so hopefully the shipment will be expedited. 

rand mcnally coloring adventures

 another item i found recently was a book from rand mcnally, the mapmaking people. it is coloring adventures, 'festivals of the world'. i have heard of some of them, and attended variations of such. this would include oktoberfest, but not munich, and tulip time, but not holland, michigan. one that i have heard of for the first time is a pumpkin festival in new hampshire. i have written about this before, how i like to attend various festivals, although it is harder to do during a pandemic. they have plenty of food, drink, and music. it is still a question of if i actually want to do any coloring on these pages. it cost just a dollar at walgreen, so hard to beat the price. 

at work it was nice to finish the special project for payroll, sending out tax forms for oregon. i did this after eliminating the backlog of checks from the previous day. i got an e-card for the special project but still no points to put towards a gift card apparently. some might say a job well done is its own reward. in the evening i tuned in to a book launch on facebook. it was for a book about the minneapolis comedy scene. the 'panelists' included not just the author, who has interviewed me for an article, but also comics from the early days in the 1970s. the event ran over, and i was paying less attention once it ran past the 1-hour mark as i wanted to watch 'the conners'. at some point i may want to buy the book. i also went on a walk and found 31 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when the friends were fighting over a ring. it was followed by the one where sheldon drunk-dials hawking when he is considering changing what scientific specialty to work in. 

3 meetings, 1 check file

 there was four call-in meetings today at work, three were about a check file being diverted to another office as a test. i don't enjoy meetings that much, and some of them were done because of the findings once i sent the file to the town of marshall, minnesota. some mention of needing to open a ticket due to the account numbers not looking right on the check. i said it looked like the digits were 'in captivity'. i chose a file with 16 checks in it, as we just needed a small one for testing purposes. i ended up re-printing the file and their copies were shredded. it was a struggle with the envelope stuffer as well, it was stopping a lot. coupled with the more than usual meetings, it meant nearly a thousand checks were not run through by the end of the day. but as expected, it shouldn't take long to get caught up in the morning. in the evening i went on a walk and found 1 dollar 6 cents. so there is more that has been set aside for beer for fish fry dinners. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when stan lee was a guest star. it was followed by the one where wil wheaton and penny are in the same movie. sheldon can't decide on what electronics to buy. i read through the instructions on filing state income taxes and completed the forms, sort of. i can make copies in the morning. it said do not use cents or decimals so it means entering the figures onto a new form. not a big deal, the first draft will be what i keep for my records. 

brighter than the sun, colbie caillat

 this morning when driving to work i heard a catchy song, found out it was 'brighter than the sun' by colbie caillat. the key lyrics to me were 'peanuts and paydays, marley and reggae'. i understood it to be a love song, nothing wrong with celebrating that. i also liked the question 'but who am i to tell fate where it is supposed to go?' i have said that before, 'fate intervened'. i liked how the video had contrast in it, having some indoor scenes-people dancing- as well as outdoor ones- with sunflowers and sod. but i get it, this is a metaphor about 'growing' the relationship. i do like a good metaphor. 

as for work, the machine was acting up, stopping a lot near the end of the day. it was a struggle to get all of the checks through the envelope stuffer, but i found a way. some things will wait until morning, but i understand priorities by now. my boss called in the early afternoon, it was a performance evaluation and i am getting a raise and bonus soon. so it was worth it to delay lunch by about 10 minutes. after work i went to get gas, then checked a walgreen for discounted valentine candy but they were sold out. this one i had visited a week earlier and it was already kind of picked over by then. i also did a virtual open-mic and the two guitar players performed together. part of my set was the stories about the man with a dog at the grocery store, and me showing off the R2-D2 candy dispenser. during my walks i found 76 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when leonard takes raj to switzerland because sheldon and penny were sick. it was followed by the one where howard and sheldon are still in texas, and sheldon visits his mom, and his told to go to his room when he confronts her about the man that was there with her. raj does a murder mystery, a whodunit about stuart's death.