darn those socks

I got tired of a hole in a sock, big enough for my big toe to poke through. so I decided to get out needle and thread and closed the hole while watching the 10pm news. I understand this is called 'darning' a sock. I have done this before, and for the same reason. I wanted to save some money, since it is way cheaper to mend than buy replacements. this is especially true for those that are rare, such as the st. paul saints baseball pair, or the ones I have on now, bought at the airport in Iceland in 2012. nothing wrong with being frugal, and I have been cutting back on shopping outings to mostly just food now. when I searched the term online, I found mention of 'darn good socks'.
  at work there were problems with the sealing machine or 'stuffer'. so the trainer was called in and I would like to think I learned something. the first error was cleared, I was shown how the middle parts need to have the sensor to match up. then the other error that happened later on was apparently due to bad envelopes, only partially sealing. so a service call was made, although they will not arrive until the next morning. it didn't take all that long to get caught up, even though it was a high volume day. since the check printer was still working fine, I saw that all the checks were printed when the files dropped onto the dashboard. there was a request to pull out a check, going to a state government agency, it was for over a million. I sent it inter-office since there was another check going to the same place, the other check arrived in the return mail. the trainer was in for about two hours and then went home, and shortly after that it was lunchtime for me.
   in the evening I went on a walk after eating and picked up 2 cents. the 'big bang theory' rerun was when sheldon went to the 'zone zone' and leonard had a dream about eating people. I fell asleep after work and missed the first one.

neil young bands

at the open-mic tonight there was a musician that was right before me in the lineup and asked what song to do as his last one of the set, a cover or an original. I said I was fine with neil young, or even something from one of his bands. but he hadn't heard of bands he was in, such as crosby stills nash and young. or even the one before it, Buffalo Springfield. he's just a kid, but one would have figured he would have heard of these bands. another performer asked him if he had heard of paul mccartney, and he was the one that spoke of Buffalo Springfield. I have some of their songs on CD, from movie soundtracks. from buff, it is 'for what it's worth' on the movie 'Forrest Gump'. for CSNY, I have 'taken at all' on 'up in the air'. there are other songs that CSNY is likely better known for, especially the one about the kent state riot of 1970, 'four dead in Ohio'. I am familiar with how this band would change names based on whether or not neil young decided to be in the band, so at times it was 'CSN'. as a soloist, I know neil doing songs such as 'rocking in the free world', which was in a michael moore movie, and 'heart of gold'. for my set, he ones that got the most reaction were stories about seeing a deer as well as the music in the movie 'Arkansas'.
   this was my first day at work on my own. I think I did fairly well, but needed help on some things that I wasn't too familiar with. one of those was the deposit on refund checks at the bank branch. the printout arrived and the same figures was on it compared to Friday when we found all of the checks. so I didn't need help with that, but when my boss emailed I asked if we needed to do a check on the final totals to see if they were accurate. and who I am to send the deposit tickets to for approval. this led to my trainer being summoned into the office, which helped with asking what to do with some of the incoming mail. there was another item, a magazine, to be left at the desk of a manager. near the end of the day, I had to ask if we could send an overnight envelope to Canada, and we can. but it was the first time doing so, and I wasn't sure how to have the provinces pop up. it was a field I had taken for granted when all previous envelopes were domestic. I stayed a few minutes past my normal leave time, but I got all of the highest priority tasks done. the remaining items can be done the next morning when I am waiting for big check files to drop. after eating in the evening I went on a walk and found 2 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon spoke of compromises, followed by one about two visitors from fermi lab in Chicago.

harold kumar,white castle,movie

I watched another DVD movie this morning, 'harold and kumar', the one where they go to white castle. it was found at a video store near my workplace. I had to see it after the trainer kept telling me about it. this was a stoner comedy, and harold was more like me, caring a lot about work. they do make it to white castle in the end, after getting sidetracked numerous times. there was plenty of crude humor in it. I did recognize neil patrick harris in it, as well as ryan reynolds, and gary riley. naturally, they could have went to eat somewhere else, but the story would have been less funny. it was no doubt a farce, plenty of ridiculous and unlikely things that happen. normally I would say 'idiot' a lot when watching a movie like this, but I did not. it was all right. I will likely see the other two in the series, about going to Gitmo, as well as their christmas movie. with the music, notable to me was hearing 'hold on' by wilson phillips. I do like road movies, but this is probably not what would be considered a typical road movie since they are stoners. watched some of the special features, and this included two theatrical trailers. it was there that it is mentioned how this movie's director also directed another stoner movie, 'dude, where's my car?'
   it was a fairly leisurely day for me, but nothing wrong with that. I did a long walk in the late afternoon and picked up 34 cents. I got caught up on a few things, such as calling to confirm receipt of a benefit card. I filled two bags from the paper shredder as well. it has been raining off and on today, thankful I made it home from the walk before the rain began.

arkansas movie, john malkovich

I watched a DVD movie, a Redbox rental, this morning, 'Arkansas'. I recognized John Malkovich and Vince Vaughn in it. The director, Clark Duke, also had a role in it. It was about drug runners. Notable was Vaughn wearing a St. Louis Cardinals hat, as he liked listening to them on the radio. I will admit that it was a little disappointing to see Malkovich in a fairly small role. also notable was when they got to Hot Springs, the welcome sign says it is the hometown of President Clinton. I am aware of how it is based on a book, this may explain how it was told in various chapters. naturally, there is a body count, since it is about drug running. there were some twists and turns throughout, so it may well be apt to call it a thriller. it was odd that one shooting was depicted without hearing a weapon being fired, likely for dramatic effect. the movie was all right but not that great. this is why I am thankful I only do some movies as rentals instead of at theaters as there is less money involved. one thing I know I really liked was the music in it, by the flaming lips. Because I recognized the songs as covers of country music standards. There was 'stopped loving her', 'country boy can survive', 'all the gold', and 'looking for love'. and it was weird to have one of them played on an 8-track, but still funny when the concept of an 8-track was explained to somebody who probably hadn't seen one before. the band appears in the movie to play one of those songs, when the main character is on a date. so this can happen where the music is better than the overall movie itself.
    when I went out to return the movie, I also went to Fed-ex to get the other two plates of reprinted baseball cards. eventually I put all four in the same plastic with cardboard protecting it, in order to save space. this was where I found out that this item was discounted by two dollars apiece, so this was a nice discovery. a sticker on the plastic was covering up the original price. Cy Young and Chief Bender were on the two I bought today, the third and fourth plates. plenty of minor league players as well, though sadly they largely ignored 'fly-over country' as the only ones from the Midwest on these reprinted cigarette cards were the St. Louis Browns. I also went to pick up e-bay orders from the post office, where I saw the loopy employee who likes to tell jokes. I was able to pick up five of the six orders, and asked about what would happen with the other one since next Saturday is the 4th of July. I was told that mailings are kept for 30 days, so having to skip a week is not a big deal. especially if the item fits inside the mailbox. so I did not place any more orders for now. I picked up 66 cents while walking. then of course there was the evening visit to the Aldi grocery store.
   after eating in the evening I did some more e-rewards surveys. I have cut back on doing them since it can be overwhelming to do them as well as the ones directly from an airline. so now I have enough to 'cash out' a reward on a different airline so I can have the time clock start over on activity. some airlines say 'miles do not expire' but others say some activity is needed at least once every 18 months to avoid mileage expiration. it would be nice to see the exhibit at the Minnesota history center about the music venue known as First Avenue, but on the website it just said 'closed for now'. I understand they are closed until the end of the month, at least, but that is coming soon. so I had expected some more information, but it was not available.

snickers ice cream bar

tonight I went to hy-vee in eagan after the evening meal. I bought 10 items, and one of them was a snickers ice cream bar. it was all right but not as great as I had hoped on the taste. I wanted some ice cream I could consume right away, without a spoon. the wrapper had stars and stripes on it, so a patriotic theme. this makes sense as the 4th of July is coming soon. I also noticed a difference on the sales taxes again when doing the self-checkout. there was tax on the reese's peanut butter, but not the kit-kat. much like with the potato/tortilla chips, same section, same company. so it doesn't make sense. I really like reese's peanut butter so I am fine with paying the small amount of sales tax. It was discounted to a dollar, so the tax was just 8 cents. when I got home I did a walk, and picked up 27 cents. not much postal mail, just an advertising card that I threw out. I am fine with how the mail volume has dropped. there is much less junk mail due to ending most of my magazines and memberships. I think Thoreau spoke of 'simplify', guess that is what I am trying to do.
   at work it was a busy day, but I got caught up by the end of the day, the normal leave time. I decided to do just half of the waiting UPS labels and then go to lunch as it was 1:30 by then. this is probably the final day of having the trainer there, so now we will see how it goes when I am there by myself. it has been nice to have somebody to advise me, but I am ready to go it alone now. I was shown how to do the bank branch deposit, finding the checks scanned to another department on a list that was supplied. it was rather simple to find them by the amount, in most cases. it helps to be organized on where to find the checks as well, as the trainer created another stacker or bin for the documents that have been scanned. this is easier to handle than just putting them in a manila file.
  the 'big bang theory' reruns were when then friends clean out an office, followed by raj and anu being 'on again-off again'. after raj spoke with his dad.

    

mattress in dumpster

I noticed there still was a twin sized mattress on the grass near the road, when I drove home from work today. not sure how long it had been there, but I finally decided to do something about it. so I got out my gloves and moved it into the nearest dumpster, which was fairly close. it meant moving it end over end to get it there. when I did a walk in the evening I picked up 16 cents.
   at work it was busy as usual. I stayed a few extra minutes after stamping out, having noticed there were some checks left in the stacker. so it meant running the machine again to do the last batch, which was 63 checks. I got sidetracked when the trainer said we hadn't pulled out a check that was for taxes to a county in california. it would have been better to put the invoice in the stacker to remind me, since there was two files dropped during the day for that business line. I lucked out on finding it, the 6th check I looked at when checking the box of completed ones. and it meant wheeling the cart back in from where it is left at the end of the day, and cutting off zip ties for one of them to get the last batch in there. not a big deal, I hadn't left yet. I started thinking about it right after getting back from the bathroom. did it save my job? maybe. I know it is a business line that must go out same-day. and it didn't take all that long to do.
   the 'big bang theory' reruns were when leonard had surgery, followed by a paintball game with all of the friends and stuart was skittish about moving in with denise.

tried to get it too

I was out on a walk in the evening and I eventually noticed a deer that was near a bank. I tried getting closer but the animal must have been scared off by something and ran back into the woods. there was a lady in a sedan that was closer to the animal, stopped at a sign. and she said 'I tried to get it too', referring to how I tried to get a picture but ran out of time. there were no antlers that I could see so it must have been a doe. I picked up 84 cents on this walk. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when there was a prom, followed by a 'crossover' episode from the show's prequel, 'young sheldon'.
   it was busy at work but we got things done. it led to me taking a late lunch, as I wanted to eat up the backlog of UPS labels to create. by the end of the day I had made 24. I liked how the trainer was willing to 'run interference' when there was an email from another department, calling into question where I had two foreign checks sent. it wasn't clear enough that they wanted them sent back to the business line. and I knew well enough to stop one business line after 15 minutes since it was taking too long to send all of the emails. the trainer found the check that was holding it all up.

rolls royce collector plate

I did a quick walk during my lunchtime at work and saw a rolls royce parked outside a car repair shop. it had a collector plate on it. I got a picture of the car as you don't see a rolls that often. it was sunny and a little breezy at midday. in pop culture, I recall a rolls royce being mentioned in a book I read when I was young. it was called 'from the mixed up files of mrs. basil e frankweiler'. and the runaway kids got a ride home in a rolls royce after meeting her, a week after they went missing. even though the volume of checks to print was higher than monday, about 6,000 today, we got it all done. there was even a team building dial in meeting in the afternoon, it lasted about 15 minutes. except I felt lost during the call, likely because I am new. my boss called before then, I fielded the call but it sounded like he wanted to talk to the trainer more. so I relayed the message to the trainer that the boss wanted a call when he was available. I said I feel fine about doing the work, as I now have exposure to nearly all of the normal duties. I started doing the UPS labels this week, and this really only leaves doing the weekly deposit at the brank branch inside the same building.
  in the evening I went on a walk and picked up 48 cents. the 'big bang theory' rerun I watched tonight was when billy bob thornton was a guest star. I tried to watch the second one but decided to lay down and fell asleep. the news was on when I woke up. still doing a little cleanup here and there. this week I was looking at the iowa hawkeye stickers taped onto a door going to the kitchen. I got them all at alumni events for free. there was six, some were in the boxes I just had opened up recently from a former office job. but some were essentially duplicates, so I cut three of them and filed two more away with other stickers. so now just one is on display.

benefit cards

as usual, there was not much in the mail today, just two items. one of them was a benefit card. it was the third to arrive since I started the new job, probably the final one as well. it is for vision coverage, and it looks like I need to call them to confirm receipt. there is also a coupon inside about lasik surgery. the dental card arrived thursday, and the medical card arrived friday. I registered the medical card while on lunch today, it meant establishing a username and password on the website.
   at work I was in the driver's seat and we did get caught up most of the way after being in the office for just a half-day on Friday. it meant getting exposure to creating labels for UPS overnight letters. a total of 21 was sent out at the end of the day. it didn't take long to do each one, but it is still tedious to do that many. the trainer seemed to be a little cranky, not sure why. some mention about being tired in the morning, of course I knew about having two days off late last week.
    I went on a walk in the evening and found 32 cents. I did a virtual open-mic and the story that got the most reaction was the one about calling my dad over the weekend.

caught in the rain

I wanted to do a long walk in the late afternoon, but it was not to be. I saw how the skies were threatening, so I had my rain jacket ready. and sure enough, about 30 minutes later it started raining hard. so I out it on and got under the awning, and waited it out for about 15 minutes. despite this, I still found some coins along the way, 62 cents. the walk was shortened, but due to doing laundry just before midday, I got some steps in there as well. when I got back I had lunch and then decided to lay down for a while. in the morning I was researching possible e-bay orders, especially baseball postcards. I also did an e-rewards survey, haven't done many lately since they are becoming lower priority when I am being fed surveys directly from an airline and the e-rewards survey money I am deciding to send the miles to that same airline even though I have options.
   in the evening I watched '60 minutes', as I knew there would be an interview with the minneapolis police chief, of course related to the death of george floyd. much of the information in it about previous shootings was familiar to me as of course it was local news. later on I called my dad since it was dad's day but after a while I was getting annoyed as he was trying to tell me how to live my life. so I asked that the subject be changed. it was very necessary.

asgard vintage baseball cards

this was a day for errand running, and it meant returning the DVD, dropping off recycling, a haircut, and going to the grocery store. but also notable was going to a fed-ex office as I recalled some items there from a March visit that interested me. I just recall them being baseball-related. I get there and find out they are reprints of vintage baseball cards. it is from the 1909 cigarette card set, which the rare Honus Wagner card is from. I bought 2 of the 4 plates , they were 5 dollars each. I said it worked better on my budget to get 2 at a time. there are 8 cards on each plate, and one these first 2 I recognized the name of just one player, Ty Cobb. As I recall when looking at them in the store, there is a Cy Young card on the other 2 plates. some of them are minor league players, as I see city names such as Buffalo, Newark, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. I know the later 2 were in the Pacific Coast League then. these cards are nice to have, as the color is good on them. In the end I know I like these more than a calendar, as a calendar is something I would look at for just one year. I waited just over 3 months to get these first 2, so my guess is the other 2 will still be there in a week. there is mention of Carl Sandburg donating a card collection to the library of congress.
    the haircut was in the late morning, a temperature check was done before I could go back. first time in a long while at a cost cutters, I had been going to a sport clips but the closest one to me is closed. and I have no idea when it might re-open. I went to get the baseball cards after the hair appointment, then it was on to the post office. I was able to pick up just 2 e-bay orders. in the third envelope there was just the receipt but not the item I had ordered. I sent a message to the seller about it and the order was canceled and I was refunded. thankfully this doesn't happen too often. during the walk to the post office I picked up 56 cents.

joker movie, joaquin phoenix

tonight I watched a DVD movie, 'Joker', starring Joaquin Phoenix, a Redbox rental. some of the movies in this 'franchise' were mentioned at work this week, this is it what gave me the idea to go see one of them. and I said I had to see it when I got to the kiosk and it said this version of the character is a failed stand-up comic, as I do comedy. I started out sympathetic to this character, due to some of the things he had to deal with, but then he started killing people. besides Phoenix, I also recognized Robert DeNiro, who played a late-night talk show host. the ending of the movie left me stunned, hard to describe how I felt any other way than that. there were some characters in it that I expected to see in it, since this is considered to be part of the 'Batman' franchise, so we do see Thomas Wayne and his son, Bruce. but I did not recognize the actors who played them.
   it was a half-day at work, closing at midday at the bank due to the juneteenth. we got it all done in time, except for the lowest priority things. payroll was dropped off less than 30 minutes before we needed to go, so it will wait until monday. there was one file that was taking too long, it was the one where emails were being sent. once the huddle happened, we were given permission to skip over it and get the other files printed, which were actual checks. more than half of it was done by then. and the file picked up where it left off when we went back to it. I feel good about how well I am doing with what will be my normal duties, as I have had exposure to all except UPS label creation and the weekly deposit at the bank branch, I would expect that these will be covered next week. the trainer spoke of renting a 15-passenger van to drive to oklahoma for a funeral this weekend, where her husband is from. so she will have monday off.
   after work I drove to the walgreen in my neighborhood, hadn't been there in a while. one reason was that I was avoiding it when there was no news on the job front. but this time I had more to say, and I really wanted to see the photo employee I knew. He was my cashier, I got four food and drink items. for a while I have been trying to get just the essentials. after having lunch and laying down, I went to Hy-Vee in Eagan and picked up a few things. then I did a long walk and picked up 12 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when leonard was put in charge of grant money, followed by howard building a play-house for his kid but bernadette spends a lot of time in it.

furniture import business

I was walking around at lunchtime and was getting pictures of historical markers. another photo was of a poster on an entrance to a business. I had somebody ask me if I needed help, and said I liked seeing the historical markers. I asked what kind of business it was, and was told that it imported furniture. I don't have much of a need for it right now, already have plenty. he said he was getting ready to re-open after being closed for 3 months due to the virus, but wouldn't be opening until saturday. it was yet another reminder of what it is like while doing photography.
   at work we got caught up by the end of the day. it meant using the smaller printer for a while, but the repairman arrived while I was still at lunch. there were two forms that I couldn't match up the claim number to anything, so those who sent to the trainer. I was in the driver's seat on printing out checks, so it meant more on getting the work done than before. because I was logging into the system under my own name.
  I did a virtual open-mic in the evening, the only performer besides the moderator. I wanted to go out for a walk after that, but it was still raining. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when howard threw out a first pitch at an angels baseball game, followed by when howard dressed up as sheldon for halloween. 

food shelf closed

I tried to re-direct the remaining food items I had been seeing, knowing there is a food bank, or food shelf, near me. I rang the doorbell and a man outside playing with a cat said they were closed. guess they are not open much, in the morning hours 3 days a week. just hadn't needed their services yet. most of the food will still get eaten though, the nice thing about it being canned.
  at work there was a request to find five checks, after we started running them through the machine. they were found, thankfully due to guessing on sequence not too many needed to be opened. then later on the printer stopped working, at first due to a jam then it must have been the sensors not functioning properly. so most of the files were printed, except for the largest remaining one, since there still was a small printer available. all three of us were in the check shop late in the day, but still couldn't get it going so a service call was inevitable. during a walk I found 15 cents. according to information given in our huddle in the morning, we are closing early on friday, and doing just a half day. so it means figuring out how to enter it on the time card since I am new.
   the 'big bang theory' reruns were when leonard and penny saw howard and bernadette arguing about money, followed by when amy had her research work changed by sheldon.

geisha coconut milk

I was surprised to see plenty of canned food items near my home, and I claimed most of them. one of them was geisha coconut milk. I decided to drink it straight, half of it anyway. it tasted fine, just had to stir it first. the other half was put in the refrigerator for the next day. it says on the label it is a product of Thailand and there was a recipe for pumpkin soup on the back. the 2 cans I didn't claim were kidney beans and vegetarian refried beans. there was 5 cans of applesauce, 1 can of cranberry sauce, 2 tomato soup, 1 chicken noodle soup, 3 cans of chicken, and 1 can of tuna besides the can of milk. I can put some of it into my lunch. and I can skip a week of bananas and try the applesauce instead. I hate seeing food go to waste, and figured I can use it, so why not claim it?
   at work I had my first 'one on one' with my boss, it was by phone. I said I was on my own phone when asked. and how I am doing fine on the work but it is being done on my trainer's computer. I made it over to a nearby video store at lunchtime, but didn't have much time to look around. I did get a flyer though, will have to figure out when I can go again but it likely means going there after work. in the evening I went on a walk and picked up 52 cents. I stopped at a laundromat on the way and got a small bag of TGI Fridays potato skins, for a dollar, and will eat them this weekend. the 2 'big bang theory' reruns were when Howard takes Sheldon's class, followed by Sheldon's friend from back home in Texas paying a visit.

two people, one walk

this evening I went on a walk and found 26 cents. I met two decidedly different people during this walk. with one of them it was aided by taking a different route and ending up at a park that I had seen for the first time. the other was in my neighborhood, he was working on his truck and spoke of serving in the military. I told this story, among others, during the virtual open-mic I did tonight. near the end of the show some of us were showing art and I showed a painting I bought of lady gaga before one of her concerts in st. paul.
    at work it was a fairly low volume day, just two boxes were set out at the end of the day. there was somebody I saw at lunchtime with a box. they were from the bank branch and we picked up the box later on, it was sealing fluid. the trainer played more music today, one song was a cover of 'I'm not the only one' by Sam Smith.

finding a letter opener

I decided to get started on cleanup again, and this time it meant looking at some of the five boxes from the office, that is the job I was laid off from more than 2 years ago. it was nice to find some items I can use, such as a letter opener. I had been using scissors, serves the purpose but not as well. I am finding some supplies that I kind of forgot I had. I got the idea to send some of them to my niece, who might need them for school. there are plenty of post-it notes, notebooks and note pads, as well as pens and pencils, can't forget paper clips and push pins. I was at that office for a while, so no surprise how there would be some accumulation. some things I displayed on walls in my cubicle, but this would be hard to do at my new job. so some postcards I put into a photo album, and the unused ones I can mail when needed. I found plenty of charlie brown items, and they were put next to rest of my stash of similar items. there was napkins as well, so I really don't need any of these for a while. I emptied just one box, so it leaves four more to look at. I would have liked getting farther, but only got started in the afternoon and at least I got something done. I looked at the two boxes that had been opened previously for whatever reason. all had been sealed with tape when I left the office. so this leaves three that have been sealed for a while. I have a good idea of what I might find in them, but I expect some surprises as well. I said 'I don't believe it' when I found a few things today that I figured were lost for good. I was big on saying 'move it to the office' for many items, one reason why I had so many boxes when I had to leave that job.
    I also decided to look at what was in the three book cases I have, but it led to one of them partially collapsing. so I decided to just throw out the part that collapsed, much like with another book case. guess you get what you pay for when it is 'some assembly required'. the book case in question is now just laying on the floor, it had been stood up.
   In the morning I wanted to see some of the charlie brown specials from the emmy-nominated DVD collection that I had just picked up over the weekend. so I watched two of them, they were 'what have we learned?', and 'why, charlie brown, why?' the former was a sequel of sorts to one of the movies, 'bon voyage'. I don't think I had seen it before. the latter I had seen on TV before, but I think only once. it was about a classmate of charlie and linus having leukemia. so this narrows the list of specials to find to six, out of the more than 40 listed on Wikipedia. the remaining ones appear to be the hardest to find, or at least they are the most expensive when trying to order them online. in the late afternoon I went on a long walk and found 2 cents.

the way back movie

I watched a DVD movie this morning, rented from Redbox. it was called 'the way back'. it was about an alcoholic that was offered a job as basketball coach at his alma mater. besides the lead actor, Ben Affleck, I also recognized John Alyward, who played the leader of the catholic school where ben was coaching. the closing credits also listed Dan Lauria, and T.K. Carter, but both must have had small roles. I am not sure what roles they had. I said 'we know how this one is going to end' when ben's character is trying to rehearse turning down the offer to coach basketball. because there is no movie if he does not take the coaching job. while watching it I said to myself, 'this is worthy of award nominations'. it is a compelling story, finding redemption through coaching. the ending was bittersweet, but was likely appropriate for a story about alcoholism. some scenes show him drinking a can of beer while in the shower. or dumping liquor into a thermos that he takes to his work in construction.
  after the movie was done, I knew it was time to get going to the post office as it was midday. there were three orders to pick up, all related to Charlie Brown. there was 2 orders for trading cards, and the third was a DVD, the Emmy-nominated specials. after coming home and having a light lunch, I laid down and fell asleep for a while. then it was time to get going again. first it meant returning the movie to the gas station kiosk, then to a Target Express to pick up supplies. also 2 pairs of socks, they were on sale and needed some as replacements in the lineup. in the evening of course it was to the grocery store for my weekly order, then after this I got started on surveys for airline miles. I also took a walk, a shorter one than the earlier one to the post office, and found 27 cents. since E-bay orders were picked up, I also placed more orders, including a state quarter. I will likely eventually see them in circulation, but it is no big deal to me to order one online for the collector map as I am not paying that much above face value to get it a little early.

snack food taxes

I went to Hy-Vee tonight and noticed it again on the receipt after going to self-checkout. some of the sales taxes on food and drink still don't quite make sense. I had two small bags of chips, there was tax on one but not the other. not on the Doritos, but on the Ruffles. even though they were found in the same section, and made by the same company, Frito-Lay. like many people, I try to avoid paying taxes whenever I can. so this seems to be added motivation to try to get 2 Doritos instead. even though the tax on a 50-cent purchase isn't much, in Minnesota it is just 4 cents. there is still the tax on the sparkling water as well, but the purchase price is also under a dollar. I like having flavor in drinks just as much as food, so I can't just drink tap water all of the time. especially when the sparkling water is still low on calories. I am already aware of the tax on candy bars and similar items such as Reese's peanut butter, but again, I like it a lot and I am willing to pay it because it isn't all that much.
   there was a crisis at work, found out after printing a ton of checks for one business line that they sent us the wrong date. so it meant finding all of them and tossing them in the recycle bin. we still got all of the right ones printed and out the door by the end of the day though. during one break I went over to Walgreen and there was dish soap, but not a lot, so I got one bottle. along with a 'last chance' item, hazel but M and Ms, it was half-off, under a dollar. after opening it to eat it in the evening, I saw how it was already expired. not sure how big a deal that was, as I didn't get sick from eating it. at lunchtime I went to get another vanilla cone at the Dairy Queen. in the evening I went on a walk and found 3 cents. the 'Big Bang Theory' reruns were when Sheldon decides to take a sabbatical, riding the rails, followed by Stuart going on a date with Denise.

cool the food down

when I was young my old man said the salt was 'to cool the food down'. well I saw another thing today that was serving this purpose, a box fan. the trainer took a late lunch because of machine problems and having to call for repairs. he ran a burrito in the microwave oven and said it was too hot, so he used the fan. I decided to take my lunch earlier, due to meetings. except the one on my online calendar didn't last long, and I was left wondering why I was a part of it when it didn't seem to pertain to me. colleagues of mine were thinking the same thing. I said it to the trainer, after I had confirmed that the phone was on mute. there was another one scheduled after it but we decided not to be part of it due to the machine problems. it meant hand stuffing some envelopes. some checks were not sent out, after getting permission from the boss, but most still were. it helped that there were two people handling the checks.
   in the evening I went on a walk, and early on I saw some scattered baseball cards near a dumpster. I could tell they were from a while back, as one of them was a montreal expos player. I did not claim any of them, but I did pick up 26 cents. the 2 'big bang theory' reruns were when leonard and penny get engaged, followed by Sheldon and amy on their honeymoon.

ups training

I had UPS training at work, in the afternoon. it lasted close to an hour, and I have nearly 2 pages of notes from it. but it will likely all make more sense once I am actually doing this work as well. some of it was not relevant, as I am seeing only thin letters and not boxes being sent out. I also completed the final remaining online class, in the morning.
  the trainer changed back to the first one, the second was absent. upon arrival there was nobody else there so I got started on labeling boxes and moving envelope boxes to shelving as they had been on the floor. things are better organized than they were, and I like knowing what everything is. then about 30 minutes into the day I checked email and saw mention of the trainer would be changing. the machine kept jamming, but in the check section and not the envelope section. this was even after spraying the can to get out the dust. one box of envelopes was 'put out to pasture', the trainer said they were poorly made and were jamming the machine.
   I did a walk in the evening and picked up 8 cents. the 2 'big bang theory' reruns were when professor proton died, followed by the wedding of sheldon and amy.

helping with delivery

in the afternoon the trainer said he had some food that didn't agree with him and was going to the bathroom. during that time somebody rang the doorbell and said a delivery was coming. so I had no choice but to be ready. it meant getting out a cart, and meeting the delivery at the door. the boxes of check stock were on a wooden pallet, 20 in all. when I got back the trainer was there and said there was an agreement that the delivery man handle the boxes. so I let him do that. during one break I walked down to the mcdonald's, and found out it still was drive-up only. the check printing was a lower volume than the previous day, evident with the number of mail tubs used. it was down to four for the day, compared to six for the previous day. I got registered for medical and dental benefits as well. rather simple to figure out which plan,  as one had premiums that were half as much as the other. I also changed the 401-k contribution from 2 percent to 5 percent.
  in the evening I watched 2 reruns of  'the conners', then did a walk around the neighborhood. I picked up 29 cents. early on there was a bee that got close to one of my eyes. the 'big bang theory' rerun I saw was when leonard went to texas to meet Sheldon's brother leading up to the wedding. much like the previous day, I laid down and fell asleep after work.

next to the hat rack

i did another virtual open-mic tonight and moved my computer into a room with more light, same as last week. so it meant being next to my hat rack again. there were some comments about that and i can use them in my comedy and storytelling material. the ones about photography and target commercials went well.
  at work there was a high volume of checks to get out the door, and it meant the trainer telling me i had to re-pack the mail tubs to get it all into just six of them. that is the limit of what can fit on the cart. i like knowing i can over-fill them a little, as long as i can get the zip ties on to close them. it went fairly smoothly on keeping the machine going. there was a problem with envelope placement in the morning, but thankfully it was not consecutive jams. i was able to find all of them to clear and got it going again in short order. during one of my breaks i walked over to find a transit center, but i saw a sign on the door saying it was still closed to the public due to the virus. i like the commute i have chosen, it is under 20 miles and the traffic flows well enough. at the end of the day i stopped to get photos of a burned-out gas station. late last week i saw them putting up a fence around it, so i figured it was time to get pictures before demolition. i did a walk in the evening after eating and picked up 8 cents. the 'big bang theory' rerun i watched after dozing off was about amy picking out a wedding dress.

everybody's all-american movie

i watched a DVD movies this morning, 'everybody's all-american', bought it from amazon and it arrived last month. i recognized dennis quaid, john goodman, and jessica lange in it. also frank deford, the novel writer, as he had a small role in it. i am familiar with deford as a sports journalist. it was kind of long, just over 2 hours, but i didn't mind. this was the fictional account of the life of a football player, and it was familiar in terms of what we understand they must deal with on a regular basis. trying to think of the most compelling part of the story, as it covers a wide time frame, from the 1950s through 1981. guess that would be how the story was more about what happened off the field than on it. it works well as a football movie.
   i did some more cleanup, sort of. i ran the paper shredder for the first time in a little while, filled 4 buckets. i also went on a walk in the late afternoon and found 15 cents. during the walk i got a text from my sister asking if i had seen pictures on facebook from my niece's graduation, and i had. i said i was willing to help out with school supplies as she is planning on studying photography, when asked if there was a 'wish list'. i know i can find memory cards at walgreen.

together, sia

I saw a target commercial recently and heard a catchy song in it, had to search it online. found out it was 'together' by sia. she is brilliant, and not her first target commercial as she also did one for Christmas of course. the video has plenty of bright colors in it, appears to be all of the colors of the rainbow. it shows various people dancing in it, in one scene all of the dancers are kids. the commercial it is in is called 'we can take it higher', honoring target team members graduating from high school. the song is also in a movie, called 'music'. I found the cast list on IMDB, and it includes kate Hudson as well as hector Elizondo. this explains why I see hector in the music video. the movie is slated for release in September, and sia is listed as a writer, as well as director. sia was known for doing really soulful, but also kind of sad, music. so it is nice to see her doing happier, more uplifting music such as this song, 'together'. one of the cards I have ordered from e-bay was of sia, from the 'garbage pail kids' collection, called 'can't see sia' as she is known for hiding her face.
   I wrote down a to-do' list on a post-it and got most of it done today. some things were not available due to the virus. it looks like jc penney stores are not open yet due to the virus. I have gift cards to use, and they just announced the locations that will be having liquidation sales. another was the bank, where the branch in neighborhood is open to the public by appointment only. so the coins have to pile up a little longer if I am unable to use the change counter. it would be nice to get a haircut as well, but when I got a look at one place no further updates. I think the governor is allowing hair salons to open in less than a week. this still leaves plenty of things I did get done, such as placing another amazon order. I used up all of the gift card money I had for a charlie brown DVD, the emmy nominated collection. I was confused at first how the order wouldn't go through, then guessed I was short due to the taxes. so I got out my debit card to pay for the remaining 46 cents. I also ordered my license plate renewal online for my car, and did an oil change in the afternoon. I walked to the post office and there were 3 orders to pick up, so it left just one of them outstanding. and of course there was also the visit to the grocery store, looks like they are back to normal operating hours so they are open a little later in the evening. I went there after watching the news, it was just starting to rain. after I ate in the evening I called my college roommate, the science major, who now lives in des moines. I liked how we covered various subjects, much of it was sports.

coneacopia of happiness

at midday I went to the dairy queen near the workplace to get ice cream. I brought 3 dollars worth of quarters, left over from doing laundry, and found out there was not a lot available for this amount. so I got a cone, and the wrapper said 'coneacopia of happiness'. I kind of forgot how ice cream cones tend to be cheaper at mcdonald's, but didn't feel like walking there when it was farther. also made it to walgreen on an earlier break, got the paper and laundry soap. they were out of dish soap, and there was not a lot of laundry soap to choose from. not a big deal, I still have enough dish soap for now and just wanted to buy ahead a little.
   at work I completed another online class at the end of the day, so there is one left. I was able to pick up where I left off from the previous day, was about halfway through it. had to make up 15 minutes as I was late, was trying a different route that was shorter and made 2 wrong turns. but now I am aware of what I need to pay attention for. I am now also signed up for a UPS class, it will be for one hour next week. still made some mistakes with the mail machine, which bothered me a little. I was put in the driver's seat more on downloading checks though, looking at the system more will help me feel more comfortable with doing the work. I spoke of how 2 friends from a former job are at the same bank, and the trainer helped me find them online. one of them is an assistant VP, often in meetings. no response to an instant message yet. my 'work spouse' was out of office for the day, so a text message was sent at lunchtime and saw the response when I got home after turning on my phone.
  I called my college roommate in the evening to say I had landed at the bank, first call in a little over a month. he didn't say much about his own life, basically just 'what are you going to do?' about getting divorced. he asked if another roommate had contacted me. I said I saw the facebook message and had responded to it. I did a walk in the evening after this call and picked up 4 cents. there is still a question of when I can use the change counter again. there is a bank branch in the same building as my job, but did not see a change counter there. looks like they had just opened up the lobby to the public. had to go into the branch at work to drop of some checks to be deposited, was told this is done once a week. the 2 'big bang theory' reruns were Raj dating Emily after Lucy contacted him, followed by Denise started at the comic book shop. 

final day of curfew?

I saw no mention of extending the curfew beyond tonight. I was out walking in the evening and this time I saw no national guard personnel just before 10pm, unlike the previous night. I found 2 cents on the walk. the 2 reruns of 'big bang theory' were about Sheldon visiting his mom in texas, with howard as company. it was followed by Sheldon visiting a reclusive scientist, with all of his 3 friends.
  at work I finished with 3 more online courses, so now just 2 are left. I actually 'abandoned' one because I was getting too busy. a repairman arrived to handle one of the check printers, I did my best to pay attention about what to do with it. I want to avoid as many machine breakdowns as possible. I felt bad about the mail machine stopping a few times, but the trainer said it was envelope placement, needing to have all of them at an angle. so I think the most important thing is trying to learn from any mistakes I am making.
   I sent a few messages through facebook. one was from a coworker from my time in suburban Chicago. I let her know about finding where I wrote down that she had her baby, the kid is now a teenager. another was to a college roommate that still lives in iowa city, who I guessed was expressing concern about the recent riots in the twin cities. there was also one I sent to brawler to tell him the working from home for a month on test scoring went well. last one was right before I started it. brawler seemed delighted to hear I am fine and landed the gig at the bank. I said I was still trying to find the shortest commute possible, at this point it appears to be the lone remaining concern.

spider-man pog

there was a jam in a copier and it meant moving it away from the wall. I noticed something was there. when I got out the broom to move it out, I noticed it was a spider-man pog. the trainer said a colleague had brought in her kid to the office and it was likely from this event. it also meant me being called in to help shine a light from a cellphone in, but too hard to reach. so service has been called. it was near the end of the day, most of the check printing had already happened by then. I was working on the online classes as we were waiting for work to come in. there are 13 classes and I have completed 8 of them. while in the break room at lunchtime I was told I was the last hire before a hiring freeze. so I feel lucky, for a change.
    I did a walk in the evening and it ended just before curfew. I noticed national guard personnel getting ready in a nearby strip mall. during the walk I picked up 6 cents. I tried watching 'big bang theory' reruns but both were in spanish, so I switched over to the news.

    

lockers and shower stall

I was heading out from work and noticed in the bathroom how there was lockers and a shower stall. I mentioned it to a colleague but he didn't know why it was there. I was sent with some UPS envelopes to be put in the pick-up bin. actually the trainers changed. a pregnant lady had been training me but she touched her stomach more than once, she was in pain. she left in the early afternoon, and said she is due in october. the second trainer likes gaming, and was doing pokemon go. the I-9 form was done this morning, I checked my email and the receipt code was there so I presented it to my boss. then it was a copy of the passport and that was it. still probably need to register for health insurance, but one email said if I didn't I would be enrolled in a 'default' plan, whatever that will be. I said it was hard to just watch so I did get involved a little. I did things to do such as clear a jam from the machine, and when the envelopes were done I moved them from the belt to the mail bin. I am told it is harder to train me early in the week, at least in terms of me participating, when it is a higher volume. sounds like some duties are 'inherited' from other departments because some are working from home. not sure when they will be returning to the office. I did a walk during lunchtime, around the block to get a better idea of what is out there.
   when I was going home I drove past a walgreen listed as damaged by the riots, one I have been in. there was some plywood up in place of the windows, and graffiti as well, but it appeared to be open for business. I didn't need anything so I didn't go inside. I was tired so after I ate I laid down and fell asleep for a while. I got out and took a short walk around the area, and found 18 cents, all pennies. the bus stop said the curfew was extended, starting at 10pm. the news seems to be returning to some sense of normalcy, as there was weather reporting. but in some ways it was necessary due to the thunderstorms in the area. 'big bang theory' reruns were sheldon not wanting a table, and the one where bill gates was a guest star.

spun computer around

for the virtual open-mic tonight, I spun my computer around so I was in a room with more light. last week the MC said it looked like 'blair witch project'. the one about laundry went well.
   first day at work in the check shop. found out the breakroom had no spoons or cups, so I will being some to use. not a big deal.
   I had done a facebook posting over the weekend saying I was fine, in reference to the riots in the Twin Cities. I have added to it some, today it was about seeing some of the damage out there. when driving home from work I saw the burned-out holiday gas station at 46 and hiawatha in south minneapolis. I have been inside of it before. it was sobering to see the list of damaged businesses in both of the Twin Cities. I have been in some of them besides the gas station, especially some of the listed walgreen locations. there were more in St. Paul than expected, hadn't heard much in the news about that. most of the coverage has been about minneapolis.