Packages and Labels

Picking up where I left off on Tuesday Nov. 18, I enjoyed the movie Interstellar very much. (Warning: there is a spoiler or two here.) First of all, I didn't go to the movie with the intent of analyzing its scientific accuracy like some eggheads who are criticizing its oversimplification of relativity, wormholes, and the space-time continuum, and so forth. I went to be entertained on a cold and rainy day when there was little else to do. None of the dozen or so movies playing at the movieplex were really lighting my fire; this was more or less the dog with the least fleas. And frankly with Matthew McConaughey as the lead, I was expecting to be more dazzled by the special effects than by the acting. But I have to say he has come a long way since Sahara and Failure to Launch. He was quite good and believable as the loving widowed father of two kids. I thought the effects were great, especially the "reverse book case" which served as the parallel universe when MM's character, Cooper, was trying to communicate with "Murphy," the daughter. And I loved that Cooper and Murphy were reunited at the end of the film, Murphy now having aged to an elderly woman (played by Ellen Burstyn, no less) due to the time compression of Cooper's space travels. Anyway, the movie was $10, and hunger got the better of me while at the movie, so I bought an order of pretzel bites with that oh-so-wholesome processed cheese dip, along with the smallest Coca Cola they had, and that was $11.25. So altogether my afternoon at the movies cost me $21.25. Am I the only one who thinks this a bit ridiculous? But I guess when the movie cost $165 million to make, you can't expect $2 movie tickets any more.

Backtracking a bit, I had a question about whether or not I purchased that dresser/nightstand combo when I returned to the thrift store on Monday. This is good. This tells me some folks are actually reading this! The answer to the question is that they were gone. Too bad, because they would have made a cute set in the bedroom, but that's the way it goes and I'm back to square one. I contacted a guy on Craigslist about a dresser, but it was too big for the room. I'm hoping I'll find something at the flea market tomorrow, and the thrift stores are always getting new merchandise in.

Wednesday (yesterday) I spent a good portion of the day doing eBay listings, preparing watches for my own website, and getting out packages. The trip to Office Depot is turning into a pain; I spent a half hour there yesterday to print four labels. I certainly can't complain about the price -- 32 cents this trip -- but it's the time. And when Office Depot starts to get busy after Thanksgiving, it's going to take even more time at their print/copy desk. The one bright spot is that I got to have lunch at Firehouse Subs, which is in the same strip mall as Office Depot. I love their "New York Steamer" sub which uses hot corned beef and pastrami:



The "medium" size version of this sandwich has 469 calories, and -- wait for it -- 1,884 milligrams of sodium. How that is even possible to pack a day's suggested dosage of salt into one sandwich is beyond me, but they do it, and damn me for loving it. So anyway, back to business, I am more or less convinced that if I'm going to do "the watch thing" while here, I must have a printer. I'm looking at a Samsung wireless laser printer that uses dry toner cartridges. The big question will be whether it will run on the operating system is this Surface tablet computer. Ah, the technology cat-and-mouse game continues.

I finished the day with a workout at Planet Fitness and a nice long hot shower and shave. Arrived back at the apartment squeaky clean. Dinner was a shrimp cocktail, potato salad, and fresh pineapple. Abby and I watched an episode of Family Guy on Netflix, Cheers on Hulu, and then to bed.

Today looks to be a beautiful sunny day with a high of 70 or so. Don't know what I'll do yet. Options abound.

Bruce