inflation greeting card

 when i went to walgreen near the end of my lunch i found the inflation greeting card i was looking for. no surprise it was in the shoebox greetings section. it says 'got you some balloons, couldn't afford the helium kind'. must have been sold out and then re-stocked recently. while there i was waiting in line to pay for the bottle of juice and an ice cream candy bar while a lady was holding up the line, wanting a receipt for a canceled transaction. she left in a huff after being hostile to the manager and saying she had worked for this chain store at one point. it is a reminder of why i don't miss call center work. both of the big supply deliveries arrived in the morning, first the check stock and then the envelopes. the courier was about to unload the envelope boxes in the branch area when i was there briefly but i pointed out where they belonged, knowing they were for me. some of the items found during cleanup were sent to the breakroom, some were plush toys from the payroll area and others were from benefits, based on a bowl being labeled as such. a swiftie asked for help on getting legal documents sent out, arriving when i was bringing in the check stock shipment. i was ready to overnight it but then noticed it was a PO BOX address, unable to overnight to a box. sounds like she went across the road to get it sent at the post office. there were three cork boards left out from the cleanup, i claimed one of them and i would like to think i can find some use for it. of course, this is the kind of thing often used as a bulletin board in public places. in the evening i went to perform, this show is fronted by the photographer. university accountant was the show closer. i did some stories about an old song i heard on the radio and a recent TV commercial for a car. i did not know the emcee, but when asked what to say about myself i said i had been interviewed about performing before. during my walks i found 2 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when christopher lloyd was a guest star, as a tenant found by sheldon. it was followed by the one where raj claimed to be metrosexual after asking his parents for help to find a date for howard and bernadette's wedding. 

reimbursement call

 at work there was a call from my boss on handling the reimbursement on the metro-pass as my move has been delayed. i finally found out what T and E meant, travel and expenses. there were various steps to get it entered, on a site or app that i hadn't seen before. i adopted another christmas ornament that was found in the payroll area. not too many people in the office this week due to the holiday. saw the branch manager in the breakroom at lunchtime and she spoke of how it is 'business as usual', hasn't heard yet if the branch will remain. in the evening i went to a cub foods and picked up a vegetable tray for a picnic this week. and i went to the nearby walgreen and got some tea, string cheese, and TP. i saw a lady having to tell a toddler to stop running, eventually she just scooped up the contrary kid. while there i heard the song 'eternal flame' by the bangles, i am ambivalent about it. a gentle song, sounds good. except it reminds me of a page in a high school yearbook when a student took his own life. but i was already quite aware of how many memories can be tied up in music. later on i went on a walk and found 11 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon kept hurting himself after bert won an award. liked how penny called him 'dolores'. it was followed by the one where amy makes a scene after sheldon backed out on spending time with her at a family funeral, as he preferred spending time with the dudes playing a video game. 

ben franklin stores

 i just ordered a postcard over the weekend that shows a ben franklin storefront, it was definitely a long enough chain of ideas that led me there. trying to find an inflation greeting card and couldn't. trying to find an inflation postcard that mentioned dime stores and couldn't. a reminder of how my hometown had a woolworth, it closed decades ago. it was what the town had instead of a ben franklin. the woolworth actually lasted longer than the k-mart did after walmart arrived, i recall a sign inside k-mart saying 'we will not be undersold' except they were. when i go to new ulm for oktoberfest i do see the former ben franklin storefront, in the middle of town. they changed around some letters so now it says 'zen' instead of 'ben'. i think one thing driving me here is knowing the store was named after a founding father. the articles i have found say it is due to his speech saying 'a penny saved is a penny earned'. besides postcards, i am seeing plenty of other things on e-bay with the store's name on it. shopping baskets, rulers, wooden nickels, stickers. so it is possible that i decide to order another item besides the aforementioned postcard. i even found some videos on youtube about the store. one was from iowa public tv, saying the last one in the state is in sheldon in northwest iowa. one of the two articles i found online mentioned there was just 125 stores nationwide left with this name, as of 2015. this was in the st. paul paper. so shopping at one may be hard to do, especially when it is hard to tell as to if there are any left in the twin city metro area. both articles, the other being from the minneapolis paper in 2022, did say that they were the target and walmart of their time, stating why there aren't many left as it was hard to compete with those two big-box stores. at work i reported back to the 'move team' two things. one was the need for a doorbell for the check shop at the new location, something i take for granted. except it tells me when i have a visitor. the other is asking for the estimated delay on me moving with the rest of the team, prompted by my metro-pass arriving. except there was no answer for this, just mention of the reimbursement process. late in the evening i went on a walk and found 35 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon tried to seduce amy by dressing like a 'rat pack peewee herman'. it was followed by the one where sheldon gets a haircut from penny after visiting his barber in the hospital.