A Day to Blob

Thursday Jan. 19

It was a day to more or less blob today. I wrote the blog, did some reading, and also overhauled my profile on match.com. I figured it was time, with the beginning of a new year and all. I went through a few drafts, and finally came up with a rendition that satisfied me. Let’s hope it works. I am reading the Steve Jobs biography, by Walter Isaacson (Xmas gift from Dawn) but also “Pandora’s Clock,” by John Nance, which I picked up a Goodwill Store on the way back from Sanibel Island on Monday. This is for more light reading.  It was written back in 1995, so some of the story setting is dated, but the basic plot is still very much relevant --- the idea that a plague could be set loose aboard a jumbo jet, then easily spread to the four corners of the country (or the world) where it could cause a pandemic. How would the U.S., or other country, react? Nance’s premise is that it would cause worldwide panic, and nobody would really be equipped to handle such an emergency. That part is probably just as true now as it was 17 years ago before the book was written.

So there is a “Redbox” video rental vending machine in front of the Walmart Neighborhood Market, and tonight I finally decide to try it, and rent “Cowboys and Aliens,” with Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig. I missed this one in the theaters, and my friend Mario and I had wanted to see this, but could never coordinate a time. So I slide my MasterCard through the machine, and out pops a video.

Next, I am hungry for pizza, and there is a Cici’s “All You Can Eat” pizza buffet in the same shopping plaza as the Neighborhood Market, so I order one buffet with a water for $7.95 and have a salad and have them make me a custom pizza with the works. I slide the toppings from half the pizza onto the other half to get a decent amount of toppings per slice, and eat half the pizza that way and leave the crust from the other half. I finish with a caramel sundae at McDonald’s off their “dollar menu” and then go home and plug in the DVD.

The movie’s premise is ridiculous, but nevertheless is entertaining and certainly worth the $1.27 (with tax) that I paid for the movie. Plus, I think it’s simply cool that Redbox has come up with this concept, and of course they want you to go online and register, because apparently you can reserve movies at these vending machines, and more, but for now I decide to remain anonymous.

I hit the sack about 11 p.m. following the movie.

Expenses: Movie, $1; dinner, $8; sundae $1. Total $10

Bruce