Sunday Dec. 4
I have two items on my “agenda” today, and that is find a good Sunday paper and read it. I think this is a tradition I need to re-establish, at least while down here. I stopped doing this back home because the Wisconsin State Journal back has come to suck, what with the reduction in size and their near-total reliance on wire copy, having laid off just about every "real" reporter on their staff. But there are several good alternatives back home, and certainly some good papers here.
I have two items on my “agenda” today, and that is find a good Sunday paper and read it. I think this is a tradition I need to re-establish, at least while down here. I stopped doing this back home because the Wisconsin State Journal back has come to suck, what with the reduction in size and their near-total reliance on wire copy, having laid off just about every "real" reporter on their staff. But there are several good alternatives back home, and certainly some good papers here.
And the other thing is to do a nice workout and swim. I start the day out with a strawberry/banana smoothie which I prepare in my new blender, and it turns out great.
I set out to find a Miami Herald, and no luck. A New York Times (NYT) is available at a nearby Starbucks, but it is $6. When did the Sunday NYT go up to $6? And there aren’t even any coupons! Not so long ago, couldn’t you buy a new paperback book for that? Yet another sign of aging.
So I settle on an Orlando Sentinel for $1.79, with $523 worth of coupons inside. I sit outside the Starbucks in shorts and a T shirt and read the Travel/Leisure section while sipping a Pike Market blend. I chat with a “local” who is from Chicago, and we discuss the weather. I also encounter a gal wearing a Green Bay Packers T shirt, so I say hello to her as well (originally from Green Bay, moved here permantly, but still loyal to the Packers). I do a quick cell phone call to Dawn for a round of “Guess where I’m calling from?” and to brag about the weather here.
The book section of the T/L section is woefully inadequate, at just one page, so I may have to pop for the NYT next Sunday.
I take the paper back to the condo, prepare a proper breakfast of two over easy eggs, sausage, and one piece of toast, and finish the paper, finding $5.25 worth of usable coupons, so the paper more than paid for itself. I pack the gym bag and head over to 24 Hour Fitness. It’s dark when I get out. I’ve been trying to find a DVD of the movie “Get Smart” since before Thanksgiving, so I make one last attempt at the nearby Target store, and no luck. I ask a clerk, and find it’s been discontinued from most retail stores. So I settle on a copy of “Last Chance Harvey,” which I thought I missed in the movie theaters, for $5.
I’m hungry for a “Manhattan Steamer” (warm pastrami and melted cheese on a hard roll) from Firehouse Subs (which are not in Wisconsin yet), so I pick one up a few blocks from me. Back at the condo, I eat the sub while watching the movie. A few minutes into the movie, I realize that I HAVE seen the movie (yet another sign of getting older), but enjoy seeing it again. And the sub is yummy.
Expenses today: paper and coffee $4
Movie at Target: $5
Sandwich at Firehouse: $5
Total: $14
Bruce
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