obviously laundry

I did laundry this morning, first time in weeks. as I was on my way to the facility, I heard a man on a bench ask another man where I was going. he said to do laundry. that should have been obvious as there was a soap bottle on top of a full basket. it was tough to have to rip up 4 pairs of socks once I brought everything home, but there was holes in them. as I recall, some were due to a pair of winter boots I am no longer wearing. so it likely means the Iceland socks will be used again soon, and I should make a visit to a jc penney when it is possible to get some replacements. while there I turned on my phone and there was a text message waiting for me from my mom, asking if I was all right as she had heard about the riots in the twin cities. I said I was fine, but it was tough to see so many boarded up businesses nearby. in the evening I called my dad and we spoke about the subject a little, since it is on the news in iowa. he tells me there is protests in des moines as well.
   I liked being able to finish grouping of the receipts and filing them in envelopes by subject. I did go out to a holiday gas station to pick up some supplies, but no newspaper was there. I am also trying to get ready for going back to work on Monday, so it meant getting out my lunch bag and filling it as well as getting out the driving directions to the site.

blue mailboxes removed

when I was out and about I noticed that a truck had showed up to remove the blue mailbox on the corner. I don't use it much because it gets picked up once a day. so I usually go to the actual post office to drop off mail. it is proof of how crazy it is getting out there. the caribou coffee shop nearby was also boarded up, it was a holdout on the previous day. I did a walk to the post office, and picked up 2 e-bay orders. I picked up 9 cents as well. I wanted to get masks at a Walmart but when I get there I noticed it is closed. it was odd that people in their cars wanted to ask me about it. well it seems obvious to me that it is closed when one sees the entrance blocked off. one of them sounded like he was making a joke about it but I said I wasn't laughing. I had no knowledge of when and why it was closed, and then he swore at me. some people are weird. I eventually found what I was looking for at an office depot, and was signed up for their loyalty program even though I don't shop there much. I had been getting sheet protectors for baseball cards, largely because target no longer sold them.
  the aldi grocery store closed early, I am thankful I got in line when I did. although I am thankful that I usually don't wait in line, due to getting there 30 minutes before closing. it was a smaller order than typical, because I am trying to use up what I already have. still plenty of cans of soup to be used.
  late in the evening I watched more coverage on TV of the riots in the twin cities. looks like the national guard deployment led to much better enforcement of the curfew. some were wondering what happened to a reporter, who normally covers sports, who had to leave a scene when somebody covered his camera. he later said it was somebody who had too much to drink. but after a while, one needs to stop watching the news because it can be too depressing at times.

boarded up businesses

I went out for a walk after test scoring was done and saw plenty of boarded up businesses. they either already were or somebody was working on it. I will admit this was what led me to think, 'this is real'. I went to hy-vee in the evening, an hour earlier than usual, because a man at a laundromat said the curfew in the twin cities would go into effect soon. he was closing it at 7pm, the radio said it would take effect at 8pm. one of those boarded up businesses was a speedway gas station that I was getting a few items at. but I was able to get all of what I was looking for at hy-vee, so not a big deal. I picked up 24 cents on the long walk.
   this was the final day of test scoring for me, hard to say how I feel about it. there was a meeting I had with my boss that could have been held earlier, as some things can be lost in translation when working virtually. I plan on moving to a different role as of Monday, hopefully this one will stick. but this was the third season of test scoring because some other roles didn't stick. I did some more cleanup around my home today, still working on it. but I am aware of how a cutback will be needed because of the change in work status. I ended up watching the 10pm news much longer than expected since it became continued coverage of the riots in the twin cities. but after a while I knew I would have to retire for the night and it is hard to watch all of the businesses on fire. I watched the press conference with the governor and decided it was time to turn it off when he was done speaking. I saw a few postings on facebook about it and one was from a fellow comic, who said it was a war zone. I said it was a mess.

notepads re-discovered

this evening I looked at the box labeled 'emerson hough' and noticed the two notepads in it were not about that subject, unsure how they got there. one of them had notes from interviewing a nun in san diego in late 2006. the other had various subjects in it. so with the former I moved those pages I had written on to 'miscellaneous travels', as I am more likely at some point to use it again if all that is seen is blank pages and not in a box. the latter was also moved out of the box, but otherwise the content was untouched. I did get a little farther with the bag of scribblings, hopefully it can be finished sometime this weekend or even friday.
   test scoring is moving right along, and after it was done for the day I did a long walk and picked up 4 cents. I noticed yellow tape being put up at a speedway gas station, and the video board that normally shows gas prices was blank. they had closed early due to protesting in the area. a co-op grocery store did the same thing. I was able to get pictures of both, but with the latter I was able to get up to the front door and read the notice about it. when I got back I watched 2 'big bang theory' episodes. it was penny quitting her job at the cheesecake factory, followed by leonard writing a book.

virtual singing

I usually put myself on mute while test scoring. but there was mention in the afternoon about somebody having a birthday so I was a part of the virtual singing of 'happy birthday'. don't know how well this worked. it sounds like I am one of three that is unavailable next week to finish the project, so it may spill over even further, into Tuesday. but of course it means little to me. I heard from my job coach by email and I responded by saying that test scoring is going great. I am doing fine on the training sets. after test scoring was done for the day I did a long walk and picked up 1 cent.
   I am still working on the cleanup of my home. I finished another box lid, this one had scribblings in it. many of them were placed in the folder marked 'writings', while others were put in the shred box or ripped up. if it was too hard to read then no need to keep it, as it serves no purpose. in some cases I decided to transfer something to another page in order to thin things out even more. I recognized two things written down as both being about 9/11, and those were part of the transfers. one of them said 'Americans will not be intimidated' and the other was 'kill bin boy, go USA'. the former was on a farm building and seen on TV, the latter was written in the dust on the back of a truck I saw while driving to work one day. I spoke of the latter in a letter to the editor, when a suburban Chicago paper wanted to hear from readers one year later. I am pleased with the progress but want to keep going as I can lower the volume even more. there is still a small clear plastic bag full of more scribblings to look at. I am also not too surprised that I found some stray receipts when going through things tonight. in another case it was needing to flip it over to notice it was a receipt, so it went in with the other receipts. I had made a list on the backside, it was CDs I wanted to buy, on the back of a receipt for CDs I had just bought.

zee zee's campfire smores

I saw something that was no doubt unexpected when doing a long walk late in the afternoon. there was a box of food near a bus stop. some of it looked good, so I went home and got a bag. I decided to claim the 5 tubs of cereal, as well as 15 'nutrition bars'. these were 'zee zee's campfire smores'. I had one tonight as part of my evening meal, it tasted fine. the wrapper said it is distributed by national food group, of novi, michigan. I went online and it said this company supplies nutritious food to k-12 schools. so this explains why I was seeing it as there have been food deliveries to students, by the bus drivers that had been driving them. of course this is part of the saga we live in that is the virus. I found it hard to believe that this food was just left there. one reason why I claimed what I did is because I hate to see food go to waste. I also saw a cup of applesauce, as well as 5 loaves of bread, but did not claim them. the former is perishable, and as for the latter I already had some bread at home. during the walk I picked up 3 cents. test scoring flowed well today, we were trained on another prompt and I got started on scoring for it near the end of the day. the moderator said the project will spill over into next week, and wanted us to notify our team lead our status on it. I had to say I would be unavailable on monday.
   I was pleased to have finished another phase of the cleanup, going through the receipts box. it was completed during the 10pm news. it appears that the last one I looked at was from 7-eleven in suburban chicago in early 2012, when I was in town for a historian convention. there is still another lid to look at, but most of those will likely go into a bag reserved for notes on various things and there is not many of those. in the evening I had hoped to watch 2 rerun episodes of 'the conners', and I did, kind of. but the first one was pre-empted for storm warnings, claiming there was a 'radar confirmed tornado' in the area. but it was back to regular programming in time for the second episode, which was the one from thanksgiving. the two 'big bang theory' reruns were sheldon retracting a discovery he had made, followed by howard and raj playing in a band with bert.

yesterdays, guns and roses

while doing cleanup I realized there was a song that seemed to fit the situation. it was 'yesterdays' by guns and roses. 'yesterdays got nothing for me, old pictures I will always see'. looking at all of these old receipts made me think of it. I had hoped to finish the lid today but I did not. I spent most of the day chipping away at it and there is not much left. while most of what was in the box so far has been junk, not all of it is. so I am thankful I am spending the time on it. one thing found today was my aunt's phone number, much like the previous day finding a friend's phone number, from working in suburban Chicago. and another stamp from the subway sub club was found, meaning I have found two since the cleanup started. so it was glued onto the card I have, now one of five there.
   in the late afternoon I went on a long walk and found 22 cents. in the evening I performed at a virtual open-mic, the first after the MC. he said it was a reminder of the 'blair witch project' because it looked kind of dark in the room I was in. I did not watch the news today, since I like seeing 'big bang theory' reruns. and the open-mic is during the 10pm news. but there was likely something on it about the memorial day holiday. the 'bang' reruns were about leonard and a DVD, followed by Sheldon and Amy testing their friends as a way of choosing their wedding roles.

music recyclery

it continues to be rewarding to do cleanup around my home, with the finds I am making. notable is business cards. I have one here from the music recyclery, a place I would go when living in suburban Chicago to find used music CDs. the card lists a dozen locations in the metro area. I went to the one in mt. prospect at randhurst mall, now a 'dead mall'. I also found some of my own business cards, giving myself the title of 'writer' although I no longer use them because I no longer live at the location given on it. the cards I had made later on give no address, which is how it should be.
   it helped to work on the old receipts steadily, as I got the lid down to just half-full by the time I wanted to do my long walk in the late afternoon. I found 19 cents on the walk. since the trash can was getting full, will all of the ripped-up receipts in it, I decided that after getting back from the walk that I needed to do the sort of the plastic bag where some items were moved to that was a 'hodgepodge'. so it meant more movie tickets, event tickets, and plane tickets were filed away where they belonged. one envelope acquired from a recent e-bay order now holds some of my writings, but not the journaling from 2007-2008. those writings got their own bag because there were so many of them. it is a reminder of how typing is better, as I am not sure how well I can read my own handwriting on some of those entries. I wrote on various note pads, some had an Olympic theme, and I even wrote on shopping list pages from cub foods. they talk about the 'need to perform', but there is also 'the need to write'! I keep proving this one.
     I also found a few blank pages that were filed in the notebook caddy. I am still finding some napkins as well, and those are being moved to my lunch bag. I spilled out what was in the bag into another box lid, and a decent amount was sorted before it was time for the 10pm news. I like taking the time to watch the news, and it was time to do the dishes as well. so I am hopeful to get both lids completely sorted on Monday, memorial day. some of what was moved to the bag still got tossed, and that is fine with me. I am trying to toss as much as I can. not many receipts are being kept. most are at least 10 years old so they no longer serve much of a purpose.

spilled lid

I guess it was bound to happen. I was working on the box lid, which is full of old receipts, and I accidentally kicked it and this led to it being spilled. it didn't take long to clean it up though, thankfully. I was near the refrigerator so I wanted to check to see if anything went under it. so it meant moving the fridge out for the first time in a while from its customary spot. and I decided to sweep under it as well. as expected, not much was found, but I am thankful I decided to do this part of the cleanup.
    it felt good to get all of the errand running done on my list, four items. take care of recycle was first, then the bank to deposit a check. then I went home for a little while and worked on the receipts, much like before the errands began. when midday arrived, I walked to the post office and checked my box. two e-bay orders were there. since it was from the same seller, it was in just one envelope. this served as my walk for the day, and I found 12 cents if you count the penny that was under the fridge. not sure how it got there, but it wasn't there for all that long when the date on the coin is 2018. so it was put in the change bank, same as the others. the final errand was grocery shopping, and I did this in the early evening. since I am constantly working on the lid, I am seeing some progress as it is already thinning out noticeably. I am still trying hard to minimize the number that I am keeping. the ones from department stores such as sears and jc penney are being kept, for now. when those are clothing stores I know full well that I go there less often than, say, a gas station or grocery store, and the clothing tends to last a long time. there are plenty from the ATM, no surprise there when I wanted beer money while performing. I have seen some from fedex office, since I would go there to check email if the libraries were closed for the day. but I don't do this anymore as I have had a laptop for a decade. sometimes change is good.

toyota center, memphis

when I was going through receipts I saw one that said 'Toyota center' from june 2008. my first reaction was 'i didn't go to Houston that year'. but I figured it was Memphis, reminding myself that I did visit my college roommate that year. I searched it online and it is Memphis. it is a building listed on the national register of historic places in the downtown area, next to the minor league baseball stadium. we did see a game there when I was in town over the weekend. it was likely that I went to the ATM there as we did eat at a BBQ place before the game. some of the receipts I am seeing are nice reminders of places I have traveled to. some are being saved and put in a bag, but most that I have looked at so far have been ripped up and tossed in the trash. there are still plenty to look at. it looks like I haven't touched the lid at all, because there are so many in it. I would like to get as far as I can on looking at them this weekend, since I have 3 days due to the memorial day holiday. most of those I have seen so far are dated before starting this blog 10 years ago.
    test scoring flowed well today, we finished another prompt. it sounds like they may not be finished on friday may 29, as we were told at the outset. but since I have something else lined up to start on the following Monday, june 1, I will have to let them know the situation. I logged 38 hours this week as we were able to do 8-hour days starting on Wednesday. after scoring was done for the day I went out on a long walk and picked up 2 cents. along the way I stopped at a speedway gas station to pick up a few things, and after I ate in the evening I drove to a Hy-Vee to pick up some grocery items there as well. the string cheese from the latter was eaten shortly after getting home. there is more errand running to do this weekend, including depositing a check, this time a partial refund of insurance premiums. the 2 'big bang theory' reruns I saw in the early evening were when bob Newhart was a guest star along with bill nye, followed by when raj helped with throwing a kid's birthday party.
   

another movie box

I worked on the receipts box some more today, far enough to empty it and re-use it as another movie box. this time it is for DVDs. so there is a wooden cabinet and 2 boxes of DVDs. the first box was full of buttons at one point, when I bought them at an auction many years ago. the lid is still full of receipts though, but many of them were ripped up and thrown in the trash. some were moved into a bag with other things I am saving for further sorting. Monday is a holiday so I will have an extra day to work on it. notable finds were vacation items. such as a pocket brochure about wine tastings in northern California, Sonoma to be specific. this was part of my san Francisco visit in 2004. another was about filming at a Schaumburg flyers baseball game, of course part of my time living in suburban Chicago. since they were just thrown into a box there is a wide variety of years seen.
  I did another virtual open-mic tonight after watching 'young sheldon', and I was the only performer besides the moderator. the 'big bang theory' reruns I saw were Sheldon's discovery was by accident, and raj working at the planetarium. test scoring flowed well, and there was another qualifying set. I did fine, 90 percent. I knew well enough to pay attention, so I only have to take it once. once test scoring was done I did a long walk and picked up 11 cents. I am trying harder to cut back on the amount of time spent on checking email by pressing 'unsubscribe' on emails that don't interest me. I guess this is another part of the cleanup in my life.

receipts box and bag

I was pleased that I finished the boxes that were labeled 'online articles' by getting the ones about dating down to one big envelope. when I emptied that box and decided to put VHS movies in it, I moved on to another box- labeled 'receipts'. except I noticed how some of them weren't. some of my writings were in there, especially journaling. I worked in the box for a while tonight, but it is a daunting task. guess I just have keep chipping away at it. some receipts have been ripped up and tossed in the trash. when I checked the time I saw it was nearly 10pm, time for the news. then I switched to trying to fish out what weren't receipts during the news. about half of the remaining contents of the box are now in the lid, and I told myself  'do not dump it back in'. I did not use the shredder tonight because I wanted to get as far as I could with the box. I would like to think that the bag will be easier, where I don't need to pre-sort. oldest receipt I have found so far was from sears in des moines, iowa, from 1992, for a flannel shirt. sounds about right, as the band nirvana was popular then with their song 'smells like teen spirit'. I am seeing plenty of receipts from suburban Chicago, and I moved to Minnesota in early 2004. so I probably haven't worked on this for a while. if it is a plane ticket, movie ticket, or business card, then I am fishing that out, same as the writings. I even saw a dryer sheet in there, not sure why I kept that. some are too faded to tell how old it is, or where it is from.
  test scoring flowed well today, first day where I decided to do an extra hour. 30 minutes in the morning and 30 in the afternoon. we did training for another prompt. I did a long walk after the day of scoring was done and found 13 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns I saw tonight was about Amy working at the same university as Sheldon, followed by one about bit-coin that went back 7 years. 

laundromat vending machine

I usually pass by a laundromat while taking walks in my neighborhood. I stopped in near the end of the walk to look around a little. I noticed there is a vending machine again. there was two, separate for soda pop and snack food, now there is one for both food and drink. I picked up 26 cents during the walk. since I had a dollar's worth of quarters again, I went there later on and bought some chips. I like the TGI Friday's potato skins. they will be eaten this weekend.
   I am also reminded of the call I placed just before starting the walk, it was in response to a bank placing a 'care call' to me over the weekend. I let them know it was the same day I had been there to deposit a check. and I said I hadn't used the ATM lately since I would go there to get beer money for performing. since many businesses were shut down due to the virus, I have noticed how most of my transactions have been cashless. not a big deal to me. and definitely just the essentials, aside from the e-bay orders. I looked at my credit card bill that just arrived and in the past month I bought gas only once. I haven't needed to since I am driving way less.
   I got out the tape measure this evening and it looks like all of the walking has paid off. It looks like I have lost 3 inches from my waist. so the pants fit way better now. I am just hopeful that I can keep it that way. because I have been here before. I was in my employer's weight loss program back in the summer of 2009 and lost 25 pounds, then eventually gained it all back and then some. I am trying to figure out what I have learned from this experience. drinking water more often, and beer way less, sure helps. along with eating less. I guess it is truly 'diet and exercise'. I still like having flavor though, so it means I am having flavored water.
   I ran the shredder, and filled 2 more buckets. I still have some plastic bags I am willing to use, but of course the supply has dwindled greatly. I had meant to get more in the shred box in the evening, but I laid down and fell asleep. when I woke up it was just before 10pm and that meant it was time for the news. I liked seeing the reporting on the st. paul saints doing a 'no-opening day' event this evening. the newscast ended with footage of their fireworks show. their season at this point has been postponed until july 1. it would be nice to attend some games this season, but hard to say how many are possible. probably not as many as last year. it would be nice to see a july 4th game, that might be the first I end up seeing this year. I also liked watching 2 'big bang theory' reruns, after finding out they are doing 2 again in the early evening instead of just one. it was Sheldon and Amy debating Indiana jones and little house, followed by Edison and tesla.
   test scoring flowed well, the moderator just opened up another hour for scoring each day. I guess they want to increase the odds of finishing on time, end of next week. it does remind me of a weird dream I just had, about having another job lined up to start right after this one.

tin and glass containers

i realized there was some more containers still empty, one glass and the other tin. so I found ways to fill them. the glass one had golf balls and tees in it. for the tin, battery chargers for my phone and camera is in one, baseballs in another, and my video camera in the third. I like how my kitchen counter has been cleared off some, now just half-full. I went on a long walk in the late afternoon after the test scoring day was done and picked up 98 cents. I said it was a 'bumper crop'. with test scoring we reached another prompt during the second half of the day, and all but one hour was spent on scoring. we have memorial day off next week, no surprise there. but they still felt the need to announce it to make it official.
   I did a virtual open-mic later in the evening. after watching a 'big bang theory' rerun- which ended with howard and amy doing karaoke- I went back to the grocery store because I knew I needed milk. I had hoped the full gallon would hold up but there was an aftertaste when I was drinking it this morning. so I dumped it out. I hated having to do it but didn't want to get sick from sour milk either. I am thankful that I haven't had to do this in a while, and it appeared to be less than a half gallon. while I was there I also picked up some bread, and lemonade. the rerun does serve as a reminder of how I miss performing, including karaoke. but I will do this again when the time is right. I ran the shredder after the open-mic and filled 2 more buckets. I looked at a small bag again from a literary fair in 2015- no not the writer's convention, which was the same year- and some things were pulled out to be shredded. and two postcards were put in a photo album. I liked the illustrations on the cards, as well as the themes. one was about a family vacation, another about animal crackers. I do eat the latter so it meant something that somebody had written about them.

ask dad about benefits

while doing cleanup around my home today I looked at a box for the first time in a while that was in a closet. the envelope I pulled out said 'ask dad about these benefits'. an insurance sales rep had contacted me since I was a member of the national writers union at the time. this is a union under the UAW umbrella, my dad's union, so this is why I said I should contact him. I did not sign up for the policy, as I likely had all of these benefits through my office job. I think he was going to be in town soon, likely why I said I should ask him. I met the agent at mcdonald's, and it was when I lived at a different place so at least 10 years ago. still surprises me at times as to what I decided to keep. I ran the shredder and this was one of the things put in it, at least the contents of the envelop but not the envelope itself. I filled four buckets, but it rained a lot today so I went out only once to take out the trash. I am still pleased with what I am getting done, even if it is just going through the box about writing more closely and pulling out more items. I got started on the ones about dating, and got the number of envelopes down from four to two. I heard from university accountant, who had sent a message through facebook, and said I was fine. she spoke of doing a long-overdue cleanup project around her home, same as me. and something about the feeling that it is never done. I might get the same feeling but I still feel good about finding things again.

odor eliminating candle

I got another look at what was in a bag from twin cities live, and noticed an 'odor eliminating candle' was in there. since I am big on trying things out that I am finding during cleanup, I got out a lighter and lit it. although I burned my thumb a little because of the wick being inside the can. bot sure if there was an odor at all, but it was the first time in a while that I had a candle. it was lit for a couple of hours in the evening, then I blew it out and moved it because it was on the kitchen counter and that is where I do the paper shredding. I filled four buckets today, and the volume went down quite a bit. I added some things to it today, but went through today's volume quickly. it was from the box of writings, down to just one file folder not yet sorted. most of what was put in the shred box, after comparing of course, was rough drafts of poems or copies of them. if it is typed up then I just need one copy in the file. I think most of them were sent to a writing contest, or for a poetry slam. I also unearthed three envelopes from a writing contest, entered it annually but not since 2011.
   I had four stops on my list for errand running, and pleased how I got it all done. I sent more items to a recycling center, two weeks worth. I deposited a federal check at the bank, had to do it at the drive up since the lobby is closed. I think I had done this when I was in high school, as a novelty. I didn't want my car idling, not knowing how long it would take, so I shut it off. I drove to those two, and the other two were reached on foot. this included going to the post office, where three items were picked up including a DVD from amazon. the loopy postal employee was there and asked me to look at a zip code for Miami on a card, but it was hard to read, could only make out the last 2 digits. I said I often find zip codes on google. the fourth was the grocery store, in the evening. the bill was low, but I also didn't buy milk since I bought a full gallon last week when there were no half gallon jugs there. during the walks I did today I picked u 6 cents. I nearly finished sorting the folder which had writings in it. but I knew it would take a while because I care a lot about what I have written and needed the comparison time. in some cases it meant taking the time to 'transfer' it to another page so I could junk a page. and it also meant stapling some pages together, once I determined it was the same writing. when there are numbers at the top of the page, that is a good indicator. I am running low in bags to use for the shredded paper, so it may mean that I make more available. I know I can free up even more space when I get started on the magazines and newsprint. but it is also a case of finding out where those recycling centers are. it is still raining, and has been since early evening. I got just a little wet when I went out for groceries. it was not a big deal when I dress for the weather.

poems found, poems unwritten

the last box to go through is related to writing, and I got started on it today. most of what is in there is now in envelopes. but there still are some left to classify. not too surprising how many poems I had written were found in this box. but it raised eyebrows when I saw three nearly blank pages of unwritten poems. one of them said 'miser'. quite a bit of what is in the box is related to classes at the loft literary center, or the national writers union. the latter is due to being a delegate at three of their conventions, but not since 2015. what is left is mostly handwritten pages. I also saw an unfinished page of the minor league affiliates of the st. louis cardinals, a history, through 1996. I had transferred most of the information to a second page, except for three states. so I decided to do this so I could junk the first page. not sure why I did this other than I had run out of space on one side, or pretty close to it. but I found more space to have them on the same side. now it is a question of when I get around to completing those three 'unwritten' poems.
   test scoring flowed well, although half of the day was devoted to training as we made it through another prompt. we finished the training set by the end of the day on the new prompt, aobut geniuses such as Leonardo da vinci, the bose founder, and Margaret Hamilton (no, not the witch from 'wizard of oz'). sometimes I do like reading this source material, because of what I can learn from it. in the evening after I ate I went to Hy-Vee to pick up a few items. it included some string cheese. after test scoring was done for the day I did a long walk and found 57 cents. I stopped at a gas station during the walk and picked up some items there as well, including the paper. late in the evening I ran the shredder and filled 2 more buckets. of course the weekend will include more errand running.

blowing bubbles

when I went out on a walk in the late afternoon I was blowing bubbles. not sure where i got it, but likely a wedding i had attended many years ago. i noticed it was 'the law of diminishing returns' as after a while it was harder to do. i picked up 1 cent. scoring flowed well at work, we reached another prompt to do. i did a virtual open-mic in the evening, i was the only one aside from the moderator. i did more paper shredding, and 2 more buckets were filled. i finished the box marked 'work', all items are in an envelope or in a binder clip now. i looked at some other bags as well, and moved some things around. this included moving some hankies that were giveaway items at sporting events to where the other ones are. and i re-deployed some sheet protectors. one of them was a map of the state fair when it was a company outing in 2012. another was a flyer from the soap factory, the place where i started doing the haunted basement. i am still surprised by some of the things i am finding in envelopes that i hadn't looked at in a while.

notebook caddy

i found another item to re-purpose. it is what looks like a small card catalog, now it is a notebook caddy. I kept looking at the notebooks while test scoring today and finally did something about it. I had wanted to find a use for this little box for a while. I got it when I was in a relationship. my date inherited a stamp collection from an uncle and the box was part of it. I like looking at it because it is nice to be more organized. I was able to reduce the volume in a box that holds maps and event programs, and this led to some event tickets being moved to the case that holds them, another re-purposed item. test scoring flowed well today, just under an hour of training was done. after the test scoring day was done I went on a long walk and picked up 22 cents. I also went to the dollar store and bought trash bags. I had a dollar's worth of quarters and it seemed like a good idea to get these as there is nothing wrong with buying ahead a little. in the evening I ran the paper shredder and filled two more buckets. not that much was added to the shred box today. I did go through the two boxes marked 'work' and the lion's share has been sorted and put into envelopes. or in the case of printed emails, they are in binder clips. it was time to look at these boxes as I kept adding to them while doing this cleanup. it was nice to free up space with some simple actions, such as taking out a bag that had letters related to my health insurance coverage and physician visits. next one should be the box about writing- attending conventions as well as writing classes.

multi-tasking articles

we made it to another prompt in test scoring today, and the articles to be read and written about cover the subject of multi-tasking. I guess I know something about this as I am multi-tasking when it is not during scoring sessions. I went through the aforementioned envelopes that held letters about memberships I no longer have. in the evening it was back to the box with tourist brochures in it. as expected, it helped to group them by state to get a better idea of what I had. this led to finding a decent number of duplicate brochures to pull out and send to the shred box. I pulled out so much today that not all of it was shredded the same day. I filled two buckets when running the paper shredder. next is likely to be going through the box next to it, holding maps and event programs. it is filled to the brim and there has to be some that can be moved to the adjacent box. I like how the cleanup project is moving right along. it feels good to make decisions about what to keep. after that I can go through the boxes related to writing, and work, as plenty has been added recently. it would be nice to get even more items back into closets, such as the suitcase or some of the boxes. all about looking at what is in there and how to best use the space. simply put, a few things might have to be moved out such as to another closet. but it can be done, especially when I know I can part with many of the magazines I have but no longer subscribe to. after the test scoring day was done I went on a long walk and found 27 cents. I said 'there was a doings' when I was nearing a gas station, and noticed the police had a car stopped. not a big deal, I just detoured a little.

wolves hockey season canceled

I saw an email saying the rest of the Chicago wolves hockey season had been canceled. it comes as no surprise as it was paused two months ago. I held tickets for two games in mid-march and now I will hopefully find out something about alternate plans. they were ordered through stubhub.
   I did a long walk in the late afternoon after test scoring was done for the day, and found 19 cents. I did a virtual open-mic in the evening and many of the stories I told were about test scoring. I did more paper shredding, filling two buckets. and I noticed that a storage box holding paid bills had some envelopes I can go through, memberships I no longer have. it seems meaningless to hold onto some of these if it was discontinued a while back. many were not renewed when I started having lean times after being laid off more than two years ago. I will be careful about what is tossed and it means checking each one to see what is in it. at this point, I pulled them out based on the envelope itself. a good rule of thumb, but I know how sometimes I want to save space and two unrelated items can be put together so I can junk another envelope.

montgomery ward discount card

I continue to make some nice finds while doing cleanup around my home. today it was an employee discount card from the now-defunct Montgomery ward department store. I worked for the signature group, a subsidiary, where they handled the life insurance and auto club. actually it was part of a 'time capsule' I had created, after the news of their bankruptcy in December 2000. there was two cards in there, guess at some point they decided to re-issue it. and since our business was sold to general electric, after a while I think we were no longer entitled to the discount. another notable thing found was football cards, from the 10th anniversary of the Chicago bears winning the super bowl. I bought those during the liquidation sales held in early 2001. I have 6 of the 8 cards, all except walter payton and mike Ditka. I knew I had the coins, but forgot about the cards. so I moved the cards into the album I have for non-baseball cards, next to some other bears cards. most of those were bought at a cheese shop in Wisconsin in the summer of 2015, when I was headed back from my cousin's wedding. I found another magazine from the 'yes club', operated by wards, so I have two. both are now with the other wards items. not sure if I can acquire the other two bears cards, will have to check if they are available on e-bay. there's not much left that I haven't looked at. as expected, it is a good idea to look at everything to be aware of what I have.
   I did some more paper shredding today, four bags were filled. actually I should say buckets as sometimes I am using some smaller bags to scoop up what is there. I want to use as many of those bags as possible, as it is a good way to lower the volume to a more acceptable level. some bags have been put aside, but most are in play now. meaning, under consideration to be used for cleanup. I did a long walk in the late afternoon, and found 22 cents. 'the simpsons' was about homer getting the munchies. it was what I expected to be the first of two episodes, but the 7pm episode was apparently pre-empted by local programming, some type of concert. so I shut it off and went back to cleanup. I am fully aware of how I get more done when not watching TV. so it mainly has been the news, and favorite shows, that I am watching during this cleanup. 

i also like the pies

I was at the aldi grocery store in the early evening and another shopper told somebody to let me pass through, and I said 'i also like the pies'. this is what they were picking up, and I do like their 'lunch-box pies'. I get two a week, an apple and a cherry. there were limited options in the milk aisle. I get a half gallon a week, but there weren't any, unless I wanted organic or almond. so I got a full gallon. guess I will not be buying milk next week. I chose a jug with an expiration date that is a little ways out, it said just over two weeks from now. it wasn't much fun to go there in the rain, but I wanted to get there before closing time. around midday I did a long walk, and picked up 4 cents. I stopped at the post office and paid by box rent, for six months, it was due at the end of the month.
   otherwise I stayed inside today. there was more that I wanted to get done with cleanup, and I filled four more bags with paper shredding. I said I could make cuts in two sections in particular, and did- charlie brown, and maytag. I would like to think that I have cut in half the volume of articles on both subjects. I like getting a good look at each article when I am deciding what to keep. one helpful thing when working on this project is cutting back on TV watching. I turned it on for the news and that was it. and of course this also meant checking email less often.

paper, plastic, cloth bags, oh my!

recently I said I was running low on bags to use for the paper shredding. but that is not true. I had to check and I have plenty of paper, plastic, and even cloth bags to use. I like the ones from grocery stores because I can easily put it over the bucket and don't have to force it in the bag. so this will serve double duty, as I have too many bags. they are just plain not getting used. what is typical is that they get used long enough to get something home and that is it. so I should keep shredding to my heart's content. late in the evening I ran the shredder and filled two more bags.
   with work I got my direct deposit information updated and submitted my time card as we reached the end of the first week of test scoring. I wouldn't have predicted doing a third season. scoring flowed well, most of the day was devoted to that, not much to training. the prompts are food trucks, and the legal driving age. I am finding advantages to working from home, for one thing no commute. but it is hard to remember to send a message to my boss when I return from breaks. once the work day was done I did a long walk around the neighborhood and found 5 cents. I also stopped at a gas station to get the paper, and a few other items. in the evening, after I ate, I went to Hy-Vee to pick up a few items. during cleanup I found my loyalty card and brought it with me to the store. I have good momentum going with the cleanup, that should continue through the weekend and beyond. I have done plenty already but there is more to do, more things in my home that I haven't touched yet.

pens returned to car

the cleanup is being extended to the car as well. last night I noticed plenty of repair receipts in the glovebox, going back over a year. so I took them out and brought them inside. I also took out all of the pens as I wanted to test them. all four seem fine, so I returned two of them to the car in the afternoon. no need to have that many pens there, two is enough. and I ran the dust buster in the car while there. I got the lion's share of the residue out. no surprise how most of it was on the driver's side, as I rarely have passengers with me. in the back seat it picked up a peanut. it is a reminder of sometimes I eat in the car. after the dust buster went back inside, I went on a long walk and found 12 cents. I noticed that a vacant fast food outlet, closed two years ago, has been tagged with graffiti again. when this first happened, it was cleaned off.
   test scoring moved right along. we finished one prompt and moved on to another one. I wasn't pleased with how I did in the training set, it was a hard one. but the moderator said we had already qualified so not a big deal. I still need to enter the new bank account information. I was trading emails with HR about it since I didn't recall my password. I like knowing I don't have to present a voided check, as that is what I did when I started two years ago. as long as I get it done by the end of the week, it should be fine. I am still doing cleanup around the home, and at times it is during the lectures about test scoring. In the evening I ran the shredder and filled two more bags. there is more that I can do, as I am aware of how there are plenty of magazines in the closet. I no longer have any subscriptions as I didn't read them enough. of course I still need to do some research about where to get them recycled. sometimes I am mailed this information by the local government.

post-its and staples

in the course of the ongoing cleanup I am still finding plenty of useful things. this includes post-it notes and staples. I know that some of the post-its are from attending a 3M golf tournament many years ago. and now that I am back to test scoring these will get used more than they were. three of them are: a rounded star, a butterfly, and a lady saying she would rather be shopping. as for staples, I figured I was running out since I had been using so many. then I discovered another box, so I still have plenty to use. sometimes there are big gaps between my usage of them. there still might bemore great discoveries to be made. in the evening I ran the shredder and filled two more bags. I am still finding bags to use because I understood that most things were meant to be used. I did move one to the bag of food wrappers from foreign countries, it was from a Canadian drugstore.
   we did get into actual test scoring today, just before midday. I was able to get into our time card system, once I was reminded of what the password was there. it is the typical 'hard to remember' on things I haven't used in a while. or in my case, had hoped I wouldn't be in this role again but the other things I was doing didn't pan out. I did a long walk once the work day was done, and found 3 cents. and I picked up an e-bay order at the post office. odd that I had to go to the window, but it wouldn't fit inside the mailbox even though it was a postcard. then I saw the package and noticed there was cardboard protecting it, so this made more sense.

chip clips and lighters

this was day 2 of test scoring, but still mostly the moderator lecturing. so when working from home I decided to keep up the cleanup. and I found more chip clips, I have four. except I don't use them much. I am used to getting single-serve bags. some were given to me, like at a former job. one was not, as it was from the laura Ingalls wilder museum in walnut grove. so I probably bought that one. I found out I had two lighters as well. I checked both and there is fluid left in both. another item that I don't use much. still finding napkins as well, I know I wrote about this earlier. I think that most of them I am finding I had planned on keeping them as souvenirs of places I traveled to. but they were meant to be used! in the evening I ran the shredder, and two more bags were filled. a few things were added to the shred box today, sometimes just taking off a page here and there such as a Wikipedia article where there was little or nothing on the last page. and I am doing better at grouping things, such as finding more event tickets and getting them into a Ziploc sandwich bag. I have two of those for this purpose. and a third was created for the movie tickets, except those can be harder to read. when I found lines from the movie 'Good will hunting' printed twice, I lucked out and found both movie tickets when seeing it at the theater. and now both pages, and tickets, are in a sheet protector in a binder. two different scenes of lines from the movie- at the construction site, and with skylar when he says he doesn't love her. I keep getting ideas and I want to act on them and have the time to do so. I am also proud of finally re-purposing an item I had just un-earthed recently. it was a small can of pringles chips, a souvenir from visiting great Britain in 2012. it now holds binder clips. I have more of these in play now, due to going through boxes. there was also two articles about the band smashing pumpkins from 1996. I taped up the torn parts of one article and both are now in a sheet protector as well. one was from an award show, another was a review of a concert about a month later. not the one I attended, saw them in moline and it was a review of the ames show.
   there still wasn't much in terms of real work done today, but we did get to the training papers. I was pleased that I scored 9 out of 10 correctly. once the work day was done I did a long walk and found 6 cents. late in the evening I was able to redeem some survey points for airline miles. it was the first time in over 2 months. there was some system problem that didn't allow it on my own computer, so I went to a public one and it worked there. pleased that I tried again, as one never knows when the problem might be fixed. although I have no plans for flying anytime soon. I like seeing baseball games in the summer, but the season is on hold.

zulip chat

and now I am using another online tool I had never heard of until this 'virtual' phenomenon. it is the 'zulip' chat site. this is due to test scoring, which started earlier today. the first day was taking care of 'scripts' and we will get more into 'content training' on Tuesday. I had to call for tech support, then found out it was likely due to missing a letter in the link as to why I wasn't getting in. the moderator kept pointing out every so often how I logged on with video on, but once I was asked to turn it off, and I did right away, I had hoped to have heard the last of it. this was an honest mistake, who wants to keep hearing about it? we also played around with screen sharing, and one note I wrote down was truly how I felt. it means more to me when I am the one doing the task, instead of watching someone else. I signed a security agreement form at lunchtime, we were told the deadline was the end of the day. first time trying working remotely. early on one thing I did was close the blinds. I figured this would help with avoiding distractions.
   this was no doubt a day of transition as I was still doing a little cleanup, ideas I was still getting. in the evening I did run the paper shredder again, after a day off. I filled two more bags. I am still finding a few plastic grocery store bags to use. it helps that I am willing to move a portable CD player to a smaller plastic donut bag. I haven't used this electronics item much lately, so it really doesn't matter what bag I keep it in. I did do a long walk in the late afternoon, shortly after the workday was done, and found 3 cents. along the way I passed by a car repair shop and briefly spoke with the mechanic, who still recognizes me. it was near the end of his workday as well. in the evening I did a virtual open-mic, and as usual it was no problem finding material. some of what is in my set is things from all of these walks I have been on lately. and it was nice to see the flautist perform. we had 10 performers I think. I like how they are giving us a chance to perform, although doing so remotely isn't quite the same. but you do the best you can.

saints stadium art

I deployed more of the sheet protectors today, all about st. paul saints items. one of them was about art at the stadium, this was at their former venue, midway stadium. nice seeing a full-color page showing their art, including of their snoopy statue.
    I made it even farther on the cleanup project around my home. I found an envelope for each item. I still need to take another look at boxes labeled 'writing' as well as 'work' but I have seen all that is in the three that said 'online articles'. so this feels good. many more articles were put in the shred box today, although nothing was shredded. I spent more time reading articles than before, as I was making another pass through some envelopes. such as the one marked 'baseball', needing to make some more assessments about what to keep. and in the end, I didn't keep that many about baseball in d.c. mostly just the article about the expos moving there, and the one about the senators winning the world series in 1924. at first this was a separate envelope from the other baseball articles- be it major or minor league, or college. I would like to think the volume was cut in half in this section. I also looked at the ones marked 'iowa'. started with five, now there is four. baseball, hawkeyes, history, and the university. I combined the two that were 'university'. it was some tough decisions, but in the long run it is worth it when I hadn't looked at most of it in a while. but it was all just thrown into a box, so now it is sorted way better than it was.
   I did a long  walk around the neighborhood in the late afternoon, and picked up 36 cents. it was my only time outside all day as I wanted to do as much cleanup as possible. I took breaks to eat, and not even when I was watching 'the simpsons' did I really stop working on the project. I had to do dishes of course, but by then I was largely finished for the day anyway.

still need a cart

I went to the grocery store in the early evening, less than 30 minutes before closing time. the man in front of me said he needed just one item, and the attendant said he still needed a cart. I said I know I will need one because it is my weekly visit. there was one other time I went out today, it was on a walk to Walgreen to pick up sheet protectors and some tape. I was working on the 'online articles' for most of the day, and I feel it was a productive day. after the late local news I ran the shredder and two more bags were filled. I am at the point where I am fine with looking through an envelope again to get a better look of what is there. and this has led me to get even more in the 'shred bin'. next one would have to be baseball, as it is a thick one. during the walk I picked up 10 cents. I have already deployed 6 of the 10 sheet protectors I bought. no surprise there as I am finding things that belong in the binders. even though I have less to classify, it is harder to know how. also a case of if I keep any of those items. a few of them I read to get an understanding of what it is about and asked myself why I printed it. I also discovered that I had copied some pages from a world book encyclopedia that belongs to my family. guess that is what was around before Wikipedia, and I do have plenty of those articles printed. a few items were printed twice, not sure why. unless I wanted to delete the email and wasn't sure if I had printed it. all I need to do when it is looks familiar- the proverbial 'deja vu' then get them together and compare them to see if they are identical. some of them go back quite a way, before I even moved to Minnesota. some items I want to re-use, such as scratch paper, as I can write down comedy sets on it. I want pages that are blank on both sides though, so not too many fall into this category. but that is fine as I still want to get rid of as much as possible.

paint your wagon movie

i watched a DVD movie on loan from the library this morning, 'paint your wagon'. I recognized lee marvin, clint eastwood, and ray Walston in it. I understand why it was a joke on 'the simpsons' at one point, since it was a musical western. it was a long movie, but kept my interest. except for when they actually had an 'intermission', likely due to the movie being based on a play. I hadn't heard of a 'bear and bull' fight, but there was one in this movie. the lee marvin character was always drinking. the backdrop was the gold rush in California. had to remind myself how a 'parson' is a preacher, and a parson does show up.
  this was an active day, so active that I didn't check email until early evening. but I was fine with that. I wanted to watch the movie before any more time had passed, as I have had it for 6 weeks, checked it out just days before things closed up due to the virus. so my first stop was the post office to mail a letter and pick up 2 e-bay orders. then it was on to the library to return 2 movies, as the manual book drop is available. then to cub foods, as well as Walgreen, for my weekly food order, as this has become an 'errand running day'. I wasn't home for long as I went to a UPS store to do finger printing for a new job. it didn't take long, and I said 'now I can eat'. and some of what had just been bought became lunch. after this I went through more 'online articles'. first was the song lyrics, as I told myself I could merge two envelopes. I had to group them by 'alpha order' to figure out what I really had. it meant some went into the 'shred box' as a few songs were printed twice. I did a walk in the late afternoon, and picked up 14 cents. in the evening it was emails, finally. and completing some surveys, three of the five. then I watched 'blue bloods', then the late local news. after that it was back to the sorting. but this time it was the travel reservations. again, much like the song lyrics, I wanted to merge two envelopes. it meant separating things, as I know what I am like when I travel. but I had the enveloped labeled as 'airline, hotel, rental car' so this took a while. but I also noticed I could take out a few pages that didn't have any relevant information on them, such as the when, where, and how much. I bought some sheet protectors earlier today, and they have all been deployed. much of what was added to the binders was event tickets and sporting event rosters. and I did some shredding in the evening, two bags filled up. I am pleased with how much progress I have made, but there is more to do. half a box still needs to be looked at.