blimp, 23, appliciances, patty, target, 3/4

The blimp was flying over the apartment not too long ago. Which is not really much of a big deal when one has lived in Akron over a decade. They are still cool, don't get me wrong, but nothing that would warrant staring at them for hours on end anymore.

Still, it made enough of an impression that I dreamed about a blimp that night. In the dream, it was double-bag blimp (side by side) and had these gigantic get engines at the back. Looked a bit like the blockade runner from Star Wars - except it flew just above the tops of the tress. And the pilots decided to do a loop-de-loop over my grandparents house - where we were watching them.

Back to reality - such as it is - I bought some appliances yesterday. Well, I bought the microwave and my room-mate bought the cordless phones. I had some coupons from the Best Buy reward zone and saved us both some money. Worked out pretty well - and the new microwave is very shiny.

Watched the movie "The number 23" last night. Jim Carrey, to my surprise, did a good job. He was dramatic, scary, and intense - as well as a slightly bored, but caring family man. The numerology reminded me a little of the math that has been done with the Koran and with the hidden information in the mathematical formula to calculate Pi in the movie contact. The ending was a little weak, maybe, but the movie over all was good.

When I walked out to get the mail yesterday, I noticed some newspaper near the end of the driveway. It wasn't moving around in the breeze, and when I investigated I realized it was wrapping up something. More careful examination indicated that it was neatly wrapped around a cow patty. So, I gloved up and bagged the mess for trash night. It was:

1. almost certainly random
2. poorly done - since it was well wrapped, there was no mess, unless they expected it to be run over
3. possibly meant for the neighbors, but still more likely stupid kids being random.
4. annoying.

We'll see if there's a repeat.

Finally, went to target recently to do a little wedding shopping for my cousin. I went to the kiosk to print out the list, but the machine wasn't working. As I waited, I heard the customer service person try to help a lady with her refund. Apparently, the lady had paid for something with a check and then returned it before the check cleared. She got a gift card, then used that to make a purchase which she also returned. She wanted cash for that return and swore she would never shop there again if she didn't get it. I finally found a machine that worked and printed out the list and made my selection. While I was standing in the line, the lady from watches and jewelry came over and asked if I wanted to check out at her station. So, no waiting, friendly service, speedy checkout. I thanked her for keeping an eye on the lines and exited.

Finally, I think I've stabilized on 3/4 of a mile on my swim. Seems like a good number and one that I can accomplish without too much trouble in the time I have for my lunch. Based on my total laps swum since I started in December, my dad reports that I'm only a few miles away from an English Channel swim - but he jokes that it won't count since I didn't register with them first.

That's about it for now... time to play some video games... later...