silica packet, toner cartridge

 i have replaced toner cartridges before at work, on the check printer machines. today was the first time i did so on the copier. it is a smaller one. at first i was wondering why it didn't fit, then i noticed that there still was a silica packet taped to it. once this was removed it fit perfectly. it said 'do not eat', much like the ones found in other kinds of packages such as shoe boxes. speaking of the check printer, a technician arrived to look at it, and i was informed that it means another technician will be in contact about it. no paper jams were found. the UPS package that was sent by my employer was picked up at the end of my workday at a retail location. although it is hard to say how helpful it will be. there is a water bottle inside, as well as some hand sanitizer, and a door opener. but i have been opening doors without it for a while and haven't been sick. i think i will still try the item out of curiosity to see how well it works, at some point. in the evening i went on a walk and found 74 cents. so i have added some more to the set-aside amount for beer on super bowl sunday, and still a month until the game to reach my goal. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when seeing the 'star wars' movie was compared to sheldon and amy being intimate. of course i like this one because bob newhart is a guest star. it was followed by the one where amy gets a tiara from sheldon. i laughed a lot when watching this one. amy's voice also appears, albeit briefly, at the end of the prime time episode of 'young sheldon'. and i liked it because sheldon spoke from the heart when he does a speech as valedictorian of his high school. 

check your paystub

 i saw an email at work that said to check your paystub on the company's intranet. everything looked to be in order, as i recall it was due to the new year. social security wasn't called 'FICA' but a different acronym. my 401-k and other benefit deductions such as health insurance, and the taxes, were there. when i got home i saw an email saying a UPS package would be arriving soon, i told myself i hadn't ordered anything. i did some research with what information i had and i think this is in relation to another email at work, as the item description is a 'c19 safety kit'. the website i went to, based on the company name sending it, is in suburban kansas city. and i did see the bank's name in an image while searching the site. i would expect it to get dumped at a retail location as i don't want it delivered to my home when i am not home. so it likely means picking it up after work. sounds like the technician will be back to look at the check printer that kept jamming, in the morning. 

there was a change in prime time programming this evening, as there was special reports about the capitol building in washington, dc, being overrun with protesters. so 'the conners' wasn't on ABC when i switched over to that network after my customary watching of local news on fox-plus. i still watched 'big bang theory' reruns when i got home. they were about the friends doing a 'make-up prom'. and there was all of the drama of a real prom. it was followed by the one where stuart goes on a date with amy, and sheldon is forced to draw up a new relationship agreement. i know this one was on fairly recently. i also went on a walk in the evening and picked up 4 cents. looks like the credit union branches will be open to the public this week so i can turn in what i have at the coin counter soon. 

hockey team opt-out

 i had been looking for more information about the start of the professional hockey season, since i was interested in hearing about the minor-league chicago wolves. i found an article that said the american hockey league season will begin on february 5. not all teams in the league will be playing this year, but 28 of the 31 will be. the three that opted out are in charlotte, NC,  milwaukee, WI, and springfield, MA. it looks like the parent club for one of them, the st. louis blues, has already lined up plans on where to send their players- to Utica, NY, instead of springfield. there are some venue changes as well, likely due to the 'fan ban' in place at their games. the wolves will not be playing at the big arena in rosemont, but at their practice facility in hoffman estates. and four teams were given 'provisional' relocations for the season. i think i drove past the wolves facility in my most recent visit to the metro area in 2019. it was likely on my way to finding a karaoke bar to sing at for the night. there will be five divisions for the league, as there is a newly created canadian division with four teams in it. i looked at a previous article i put in a binder and it said the season was slated to begin in early december, of course this didn't happen. this article was mostly about the wolves signing on with a new parent club, the carolina hurricanes. when it appears that there will be a 'fan ban' for a while at games, the visit to chicago will have to wait and may not happen this season. all the more reason to consider placing an order sooner rather than later for two wolves ornaments for the tree. actually key chains, but i have already re-purposed plenty of key chains this way. in the evening i went on a walk and picked up 73 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon kissed amy after meeting a weirdo on a train that likes trains as much as sheldon did. it was followed by the one where penny drives sheldon on a date with amy. it is also the one where howard goes to the hospital because of a robot arm. at work the UPS volume went up a little, but i tried harder to get the labels done earlier even though it is hard to do when having to 'babysit' the envelope stuffer at times. and it can get loud which makes it harder to concentrate on other tasks. this was why i left it off when doing a dial-in meeting just before midday. 

spreadsheet instruction

 i was sent a skype that said some checks were sent inter-office, and it was on my day off last week. it was from a business line in st. louis. the procedure changed in october, where now they are sent regular mail to the listed recipient and not returned to the business line. i said i would forward it on to my cohort who was filling in for me that day. i also said i was unsure of how to update the spreadsheet instruction as it is listed there. i liked being able to talk about more than just work in my response, saying i recognized the return address. it reminded me of light rail stops when i was doing annual visits for baseball games, as one of the stops is on the same street. i was invited to visit this office once the pandemic ends. as expected, i am told it is a 'ghost town' much like the one i am in as most are working from home. but there are days when people must make it into the office and get caught up on things that can't be done at home. there was nine checks for one colleague to pick up by the end of the day, as two files printed with 6 more to pick up in the first and 2 in the second. then later on this colleague was on the other side of the fence looking at the records kept there as i was finishing my workday. in the evening i went on a walk and picked up 11 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when the friends went on a scavenger hunt organized by raj. it was a fun one as it ended with one of the teams, howard and amy, singing 'cherry cherry' by neil diamond at a karaoke bar. enjoying the music of neil diamond was one thing they found out they had in common, at the outset it appeared they had nothing in common. it was followed by the one where sheldon is blackmailed with a dirty sock into meeting amy. it had a funny line when it ended as howard said 'good god what we we done?' since they seemed to be made for each other. 

radio station search

 i wanted to listen to a football game on the radio this afternoon and it was hard to know where to find it. this was the bears-packers game. for a while i was listening on a station out of river falls, wi, but the reception wasn't all that good and eventually it faded out. i tried again in the second half and found the game on another AM radio station, WBBM out of chicago. bears lost 35-16 but still made the playoffs. i tuned into the game after getting back from a walk around the neighborhood, where i found 39 cents. in the morning i watched a DVD movie, my copy of 'walk the line', the bio-pic about johnny cash and his wife, june. i saw this one at the theater. after it was done i had lunch and started watching the first football game of the day, vikings-lions, but left at the end of the third quarter to start the long walk. in the evening i watched 'the simpsons', it was about comic book guy and his family, who were all collectors. i liked how they got baseball into it as an autographed sandy koufax ball was a part of the storyline. before then i watched a series premiere of a mayim bialik sitcom, about running a cat cafe, but it doesn't do much for me as she comes across as a klutz. i liked her better as amy on 'big bang theory'. sounds like its regular time slot will be on another night on fox, thursday. i like 'young sheldon' so there is no question what i will be watching if the two are on at the same time. 

official sarcasm dictionary

 this morning i did some errand running, starting with sending a letter at the post office. no orders were there to pick up. then it was on to the barnes and noble in eagan, where i got my charlie brown calendar for half-off. it was the last one. but i decided to get more than just the calendar. i also found a book that was of interest to me, the sticker on the front said 'book annex'. it was 'the official dictionary of sarcasm'. i have already read through some of it, as a comic i figure there likely is some joke material in it. and it may help with understanding people on some level as well. on the back it says 'tolerate ignorance? really? so not necessary'. there are illustrations throughout it. at the top of each page it says 'words you should know'. the author, james napoli, is the executive VP of the national sarcasm society. i recall a worksheet we had to do in sixth grade that was about understanding sarcasm but i think even by that age most knew about it. 

i got started on errand running early as i wanted to be back in time for the start of the outback bowl on ABC. of course i had attended this bowl 12 years ago, when iowa beat south carolina. in this edition, mississippi beat indiana 26-20. my last stop before i made it home was the holiday gas station to get a nathan's pretzel dog, and it was eaten at halftime along with string cheese. after the game i laid down and fell asleep for a while. i watched the 6pm news and then went to aldi for my weekly grocery order. when i got back i had dinner, some pizza, and then searched for something to watch on TV. i found a college hockey game on 'fox 9-plus', or as i call it 'channel 9-2'. it was st. cloud state vs. minnesota-duluth. but it was boring when i started to watch it as it was during the second intermission. st. cloud was leading 3-2 when i first tuned in, but duluth got a goal in the third to tie it, and this sent it into overtime. duluth won 4-3 with a goal that was two minutes into overtime. after this i switched to the 'movies!' channel, and some spencer tracy-kate hepburn movies were on. i went on a walk after watching the late news and found 62 cents. as usual, there is not much planned for sunday. 

grinch movie (2018)

 i watched a DVD movie this morning, a redbox rental, 'the grinch'. it was the 2018 version, when it was recommended by mason city in a facebook posting i figured i should act quick to see it while it is still 'in season' as it would be easier to find. i recognized rashida jones voicing donna, cindy lou's mom. i liked it more than the one from 2000 starring jim carrey, as one could tell the script was padded to get it up to movie length from the first adaptation- the TV special from 1966. cindy lou was always bothering the grinch in that version, she is more likable in this one. a few new characters were introduced, such as the reindeer known as fred, which looked more like an ox because it was so big. in the music part of the closing credits i noticed how run-dmc was credited multiple times, as was stray cats frontman brian setzer. the coffee-making contraption was fun, and a few times i said 'hyperbole' such as when the grinch and his dog max sit at opposite ends of a big dinner table. 

in the evening i went on a walk and found 60 cents. due to the quarters i found recently i already have a decent amount of beer money for the next big event, the super bowl. but i want to keep going on saving up for it. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when raj went to a photo shoot for people magazine. it was followed by the one where sheldon has two guest stars on 'fun with flags'- wil wheaton and levar burton- and amy annoys both by being a demanding director. since it was new year's day i wanted to watch a college football bowl game, although the only one not on espn was the citrus bowl, on abc. northwestern beat auburn 35-19. before then i went out to do some errand running. first was returning the movie, then stopping at two grocery stores- hy-vee and cub. i bought more items at hy-vee, just two at cub- some rolls, and egg nog. plenty of nog left, as i recall 45 quart bottles and 23 half gallon jugs. but when it is expiring in a week i figured getting just one more was enough. for whatever reason, it reminds me of what i saw on my walk. i was going past a bus stop and i sometimes toss trash into a bin. in this case, upon further inspection, i noticed it was some payday candy bars inside a little green metal bucket. hated to see it going to waste, but when it is winter i figured it had been outside in the cold for too long and wouldn't be edible. i know there is more to do on saturday, already made a list of things i want to get done.