white castle in vending machine

 it was election day, and my voting precinct is inside a high-rise apartment building. i noticed, much like on a previous visit, how there are vending machines in the voting area. nothing unusual there, except it is more than just candy bars and potato chips. one of them sold milk as well as sandwiches. this included not just deli express sandwiches but also the famous white castle burgers. i didn't buy any but i still checked the price, three dollars. another thing that caught my eye was a big cookie, it was one seventy-five. since it is an odd numbered year there wasn't much on the ballot, city council, school board, and a tax referendum. i liked how it didn't take long to vote. i made it there in the final hour the polls were open, as i waited until i got off work, ate, and watched 'big bang theory' reruns. it was when leonard tried to learn football to impress penny, then after watching half of the game he decided to fly kites with his friends. it was followed by the one where raj calls his dad as bernadette isn't excited about being a mom. i laughed as one could tell the dad was taking a swipe at raj. late in the evening i went on a walk and found 78 cents. after i got back from voting, i went to the aldi and got some cheese. i tried to get some at the gas station close to where i had parked but that section was empty. it was around the corner from the precinct, harder to find the polling place due to the construction. at work i got placed in a conference call with the boss and the i.t. man about printing test checks, i later emailed them copies of the six checks. i was doing overnight labels and didn't let on how i was about to go to lunch. thankful the call didn't last long as i still could go to lunch in a timely fashion. looks like i am getting my wish, how after five months i will go back to sending the supply orders to somebody i know that will place them right away. this is effective next month. i said all along how i didn't care who does it, all i care is that it gets done. 

it was on the belt

 there was a late request to intercept a check, i didn't want to do it that bad but then i did admit it was likely on the conveyor belt as i had just run it through the machine. i found it but of course i could only go by the payee name when it is in the envelope until i decide to open it. likely a good idea why i run this file a little later when doing the afternoon files. there were more emails about checks not arriving by UPS, i said they either picked up too soon on friday or did not pick up at all as i had them in the box by the end of the day. with one of them i said somebody needed to approve the file, so oshkosh had two files of checks lumped together. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when we meet bernadette, as howard asked to be fixed up by leonard. it was also when sheldon faces wil wheaton in a tournament at the comic book store. it was followed by the one where the friends have a meeting with the air force at their lab and sheldon hates having to say nothing for a while.

little free libaries

 from time to time, i see little free libraries. when i take a long walk around the neighborhood, i see one near a co-op grocery store. this serves as the turn-around point in my walk to head back home. sometimes i claim something and sometimes i don't. on this walk i claimed two books. there was 'me' by brenda ueland, and the other was 'french perspectives'. i looked up brenda ueland and found out she was famous for two books, this one and 'if you want to write'. i liked how the walk filled in the time well in the afternoon, as i was gone for well over an hour. during my walks i found 1 dollar 47 cents. i went to the liquor store and bought a can of heineken so now there are five beers waiting. in the morning i did my annual viewing of one of my charlie brown specials on DVD, 'great pumpkin', the halloween special. 'it's magic' was on the disc as well. it still gets some laughs out of me. in the evening i went to perform at an open-mic, cool to see cul-de-sac there. i did more bank stories, going to hy-vee, redbox, and target. somebody recognized me from a long-ago venue after the show. i enjoyed talking with him more than the bartender outside the venue, who reminded me of how some who claim to be comedy experts are really just fans.

barbie movie

 this morning i watched a DVD movie, a redbox rental, 'barbie'. i recall how i at first passed on it, thinking it is just a movie about a doll. but a friend from meetup groups spoke well of it, so i said i would wait for it to arrive at redbox. liked it more than i thought i would, aided by plenty of social commentary. although it was the supporting characters more than the 'lead barbie' that made the movie for me. this would include the weird barbie, and the mom that works at mattel. she saves barbie from the executives. when this car chase began it reminded me of  'terminator 2' where arnold said 'come with me if you want to live'. and it was brilliant to have ken join barbie in the real world, which he likes more than barbie world. i noticed things in the background such as the 'rocky' movie posters. even the mattel CEO was funny, played by will ferrell, who is good a playing goofballs. the song selections in it helped as well. loved how 'closer to fine' by the indigo girls was included, a nice reminder of hearing it when i was driving the u-haul during my move to minnesota. i later saw that band at the minnesota zoo in apple valley. also hard to beat nicki minaj doing the barbie song. and then there was 'girls just want to have fun'. i had read many years ago how that song was actually written by a man, robert hazard. but it took on a different meaning when cyndi lauper sang it. 

when the movie was done it was time to get started on errand running. i picked up one order at the post office, and paid for 6 months on my box. then it was on to eagan where i parked in a central location and went to four nearby places in a shopping complex. first was taco bell for lunch, the ads during the world series spurred me going there for locos tacos. while there i heard concrete blonde's 'joey'. not the first time i had heard it, but worth staying until it was done. it's a song that sticks with you, with lines such as 'all is forgiven' and 'i'm not angry anymore'. next was the fed-ex office, printed two event reminders. then to kohl's as i needed some shoes. i went there instead of walmart after finding out it was next to wally world. while there i also got a barbie ornament for my little tree. finally was the walgreen where i got a little halloween candy, along with a special magazine about life hacks. then it was home. in the evening i had some pizza, then went to aldi for groceries. i saw those crustless pbj sandwiches again but still passed on them since they are not to be microwaved. so i eventually had the urge to go to a target and get english muffins, jif to go, and french jelly. i am big on single serving items, but i had the craving so it meant make them myself. later on i went on a walk and found 60 cents.

she went over there

 i went to shop for groceries at hy-vee in eagan tonight. at one point i saw a little girl run right by me in the produce section. i heard her name being called. then what was likely the mom and sister were trying to figure out where she was. so i was able to see and pointed her out and the mom said thank you. then i went on my way to the next section. at work there was a service call on the envelope stuffer, nothing was getting through. tech arrived just as a last minute meeting about test checks to canada had started. had to explain why i didn't join it right away to my boss, although much of it was other people arguing it out. it led to me sending another overnight package to canada at the end of the day. most of the checks went out despite the machine being down for a while, aided by a lower volume. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon and raj work together after raj said he was in fear of getting deported. it was a rare one when music is played, it was 'eye of the tiger' in their scenes together at the university. it was followed by the one where penny's family shows up for leonard and penny renewing their vows.

it's a coffee shop

 at work i was noticing a new building across the road. it was an oil company but was demolished, was hard to tell what was going up on the same site. a sign went up this week and it will be a coffee shop. i figured it would be either that or a food outlet. there were a few check copy requests late in the day, and still a long email thread about test checks going to canada. hard to follow what part pertains to me. i sent a test check to the thread, two versions. one on the canada stock and on the regular stock. i got some discounted halloween candy at walgreen at lunchtime. it was three pieces of reese's peanut butter. i drank the can of plank road icehouse with the evening meal so now four beers are waiting. late in the evening i went on a walk and found 34 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when howard and raj tried to pick up goth chicks. i liked the one named sarah, as she kept saying 'not that anyone cares' because she was dour. it was followed by the one where we meet leonard's dad, played by judd hirsch. then he bickers with leonard's mom. it was leading up to leonard and penny deciding to renew their vows.

ken griffey commercials

 game five of the world series was tonight, rangers beat the d-backs 5-0 to take the series 4-1. it was a  scoreless tie at the end of the 6h inning. there was plenty of commercials starring ken griffey jr. some were for insurance, some were for hotels. there was two that were shown fairly often. one was where he is seen from a window and asks for cotton candy, then it ends with blowing a bubble after asking for bubble gum. the other has an umpire as a neighbor, where at one point the umpire kicks leaves that ken is raking. with the series done, guess i will go back to my routine of watching the news on Fox-9 plus in the early evening. at work there was the quarterly town hall meeting, i like how these are dial ins as i can still get some work done. one email requested check copies, when doing an 'alpha search' i was unable to find them and said i needed check numbers. later on i found out those checks weren't issued yet. the 'big bang theory' reruns started off with another halloween episode i hadn't seen that often before, or at all. howard was told to stop talking about being in space, then we see edwin 'buzz' aldrin guest star, giving out candy to kids, doing the same thing, still wanting to talk about it. penny visits leonard's lab and the couple has sex, more than once. it was followed by the one where leonard's mom visits and penny keeps trying to make a connection with her. then the mom spoke of being disappointed that she got no wedding invite.