shoelaces

The other day I was vacuuming, and the shoelace on my boot got sucked into the vacuum cleaner. The wrapping on the lace was shredded. I wasn't wearing the boot at the time. It was sitting on the floor of the closet I was vacuuming.

I bought some new laces. At first, I wasn't sure if I should replace both laces, but I ultimately did because I felt the differences between the new laces and the original laces were noticeable enough to justify doing so.

twitter

We made a Twitter.

gatorade

I've been concerned I'm not properly hydrated, so I stopped by Walgreens and bought a Gatorade. That way I can hydrate, but also get some extra vitamins in my system. Vitamin Water seems trashy to me.

coupons

Today, my coupons almost weren't factored into my Kroger purchase. The cashier had placed my stack of them next to the register while she was scanning, and I think I must have thrown her routine off when I asked her for one the of the stickers that the bagger was wearing.

Luckily, as I was walking away, she remembered she hadn't scanned the coupons. I was able to go to the service desk and get their worth in cash.

meat

I went to the store to get some lunchmeat. There was a special going on, so I got a discount if I bought two packages from a certain brand. I meant to get two packages of turkey, but when I got home I realized that I had accidentally bought one turkey and one roast beef.

At first, I was disappointed and upset with myself, but upon making a roast beef sandwich I remembered how much I like it. Plus, I checked my receipt and I still got the discount.

One thing I enjoy doing is putting turkey and roast beef on a sandwich. I'll have a primary meat, like turkey, then add a little bit of the secondary meat, roast beef. It makes for a more interesting sandwich.

soap

I buy liquid soap in the large refill jugs because it saves money. Last time, I got Dial's "Fresh Pear" foaming hand wash, which I initially liked the smell of. Unfortunately, I've already grown tired of it. I need to be more careful buying soap next time and not just rely on liking a strong, sweet aroma at the time of purchase.

If it had been just one dispenser-full, it would have been the perfect amount. I would have still enjoyed the fragrance when it ran out (this is what happened with a cocoa butter dispenser I bought once), but this is too much of a strong smell for too long.

wallet

I've had my current wallet for six years. It's a tri-fold, which I unquestioningly use because it's the kind my dad uses. I think I might need to replace it, but I never to think about it when I'm in the store, which is funny, since I have to pull it out to make a purchase.

flatware

Last night, I got new flatware. It came with an attractive and useful storage tray that I was looking forward to having. However, when I tried to put the tray in one of my kitchen drawers I found that it wouldn't fit.

I decided to put the storage tray on a cabinet shelf, which felt unorthodox, but should still work well. To make room for the storage tray in the cabinet, I shifted some of the things on that shelf over, and I put the remainder in the drawer where I kept my old flatware.

format

Tonight, I'm going to spend some time formatting my computer's hard drive while listening to the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

watch

My watch sometimes loses the correct time and occasionally goes completely blank. Usually, pushing one of its four buttons will restore the display, but I'll have to reset the time. I think this might have something to do with the battery, but the watch itself might just be faulty.

The display went blank a few days ago, and I kept putting off resetting the time. Yesterday, I realized I missed having a watch, so I reset the time, date, and day of the week. I didn't bother setting the seconds.

antibiotics

I started to get sick this week because a number of my triggers were present in my environment. One trigger usually doesn't get me sick, but mix two or more and I'm bound for a pretty serious sinus infection.

I could feel myself getting irritable because of my discomfort, so I went to the walk-in clinic. The doctor prescribed me a Z Pak. I filled at Walgreens with the generic brand. I'm already starting to feel better.

guest post: blog

From Nate:

I often find myself up late at night surfing the Internet. My doctor says I have insomnia. I went to the Population Filler blog. I read the first two entries. I chuckled once. I then realized I had forgotten to send an email I promised my professor I would send. I redirected from the blog to my email.

Because my internet browser was set to "private mode," my computer did not store the blog's cookie. I'll probably never go back because my insomnia disallows me from remembering specific things.

pop filler news

Census bureau begins hiring

Professor proselytizes to people about population controls

Family adopts parakeet

Humans increase number of fish in pond

Senior citizens make their voice heard

shoes

Just bought a new pair of shoes on Saturday. These will replace my old shoes--Adidas Sambas--which I've had for about four years.

Jessica took me to Shoe Gypsy, where I saw them. They were having a one-day sale where all shoes were buy one, get one half-price, so Jessica bought a pair of shoes also. The woman at the cash register gave us each 25 percent off, which made these shoes very affordable. Hopefully I'll get many years of wear out of them.

toothpaste

I keep a cup next to the bathroom sink for my toothbrush. I've always kept the toothpaste next to the cup and the sink. When Patrick and Melissa were here this weekend, one of them kept putting my toothpaste in the cup with my toothbrush.

After getting some toothpaste out the first couple of times this happened, I just put it back down next to the sink like I usually do. I then decided I would try keeping the toothpaste in the cup with the toothbrush for a while. If, after a while, I decide I don't like keeping it there I can always go back to putting the toothpaste next to the sink and not in the cup.

cereal

For dinner, I was debating on whether to have chicken or cereal. I decided to go with cereal, and I finished a near-empty box of Raisin Bran Crunch. I was talking to Darren on the phone while I was preparing the cereal, and he suggested I put some brown sugar on top. I did. I also mixed a little fat free Half & Half in with the milk and sliced up a banana.

cat

They're painting the floors in Jessica's apartment, so for the next few days, her cat Toby is staying at my place. I closed all Wade's doors so he wouldn't shed in there.

crock-pot

Since I'm not going to work today because of the icy conditions outside, I decided it was a perfect time to try out the broccoli-cheese soup recipe from my crock-pot cookbook. I'm really looking forward to 6-8 hours from now. I wonder what Darren and Jessica will be cooking today...

mirror

I was doing some dishes at the kitchen sink during my lunch break, and I had the television going in the living room. I was thinking about how nice it would be to see the TV from my kitchen when I remembered that I have a dresser mirror that's not being used.

I took the mirror and leaned it up against the middle of the couch. I went to a common standing position in the kitchen to see if I could see the television, and I couldn't. I then moved the mirror over a couple of feet, and checked again. I could see the reflection of the TV screen perfectly. I'll be using this technique to watch TV while I'm in the kitchen much more often now.

comforter

I decided to wash the comforter from my bed today. I don't like to squander space in a load of laundry, but I knew there wasn't much extra room if I wanted the comforter to be washed and dried thoroughly (Only last week I overloaded a batch of laundry, and one of my towels had to partially air-dry. Upon drying, it felt somewhat coarse and had lost a lot of the fluffiness that I've grown accustomed to with this particular towel).

I decided to wash only one other item in this load, and that was a sweater. I went with the sweater because it shares the same washing and drying instructions as the comforter. I made sure the lint trap was clear before I started the dryer. I hope that both the comforter and sweater come out dry.

curtains

I helped Jessica hang up curtains in her apartment this week. I think they have a nice look and I made sure to use a level on them so they would hang even. Jessica got the curtains from Ikea.

budget

Looks like I saved a good amount of money on my budget this month! Exciting! It's Friday, so I can go home and do a little steam-mopping before Jessica comes over to cook. Last night we made garlic chicken and orzo, and I don't know what we'll be eating tonight, but I bet it will be delicious!

movies

I had two movies that I'd been meaning to trade out at Blockbuster this week, but I wasn't sure when I would want or be able to go. So, I just decided to leave them in the car until that time came.

I put them underneath the Atlas I keep in the backseat so that they'd be hidden from burglars and the almost direct sunlight that comes in through the car's windows. I don't think that a burglar would break into my car for the DVD's, but I try not to give the impression that I might keep valuable things in the car. My plan worked, and today I traded the DVD's, which had been successfully protected from the elements, for other DVD's.

pop-tarts

Tonight, I wanted to eat something sweet, but I was almost sure I was out of desserts and sweet snacks. I then remembered that I have a box of frosted strawberry pop-tarts, which I usually think of as breakfast food but decided could serve as a snack considering the circumstances, so I grabbed a package and ate them.

They satisfied my craving for something sweet. They were also a good choice because I hadn't had any pop-tarts yet today, which is rare. Usually, I have 2 pop-tarts when I get to work, but today someone brought donuts so I ate those instead. If I had eaten pop-tarts at work this morning I probably wouldn't have enjoyed them as much tonight, and I might have sought out something else sweet to eat which would have required a trip to a convenience or grocery store.

mop

My new steam mop came today. I'm very excited because I just ordered it at the beginning of the week and it's here already. I'm also excited because now I can enjoy the clean feeling of a mopped floor without having to struggle with a bucket full of dirty water.

I ordered it with my credit card points, which I've never really used before. There were some other things I could have redeemed them for--like an audio dock for my iPod--but I decided I would get more use out of a steam mop. I read the Consumer Guide on this brand and they were very complimentary.

UPDATE: Just tried out the steam mop, and I'm very impressed. It's great to have such a quality item, but it's even better that I didn't have to pay for it.

similar

When I saw Darren's new shower caddy I realized it was almost exactly the same style as the one I have only mine is chrome-looking. I also bought mine at a Target. I let Darren know that it's probably a good one to have. I've had mine for over 2 years and it hasn't slipped once. I don't even use the suction cups. I hope the caddy and his shower head agree with each other. There are a lot of different kinds of shower heads, and the success I've had with mine could just have to do with the head and caddy being compatible.

laundry

My roommate Wade left his laundry on top of the dyer, un-dried. He also left wet clothes in the washing machine. Since it had been several days, I rewashed them and dried them. I also cleared the lint trap.

shower

Got the new shower caddy. Think it makes a pretty big difference on the overall look of the bathroom.

The suction cups don't grip when the hook is hanging directly down from the shower head. I sealed the suction cups so that the hook stands a little above the shower head. I doubt it'll be a big deal, so long as the suction cups hold.

platinum

I enjoy listening to Platinum 96.7 FM in the car. It's a relatively new station, and they play a lot of soft hits from the '60s I haven't heard in a long time. I heard "Cherish" by The Association tonight on the way back from Super Target.

towel

On my way out of the bathroom I noticed my bath towel hanging on the doorknob. I decided to move it to the towel rack tonight so that I don't have to worry about it before my shower in the morning when I'll still be tired and possibly a little pressed for time.

soup

I had some soup for dinner. It was a can of Progresso Chicken Corn Chowder. I still use a little extra caution when I open soup cans now, especially Progresso, since a few weeks ago I cut my hand on a Progresso soup-can lid. I felt pretty relieved when I opened it without cutting myself.

A lot of times I'll just pour the soup right into the bowl and then heat it up in the microwave, but tonight I decided to pour it in a pot first and heat in on the stove. I'll probably do this more often now, assuming I have a clean pot at that time. I ate the soup with some applesauce while sitting on the couch. As I've been doing more often lately, I sat on the middle cushion to try and even out the wear between that cushion and the other two.

poster

Just realized one of my posters is crooked. I'll have to take it down and give it a few bumps on the desk to even it back out.

home

Just got home from work. I took 10 photos at an American Cancer Society meeting in Granbury. I just took off my shoes. My feet smell like they have been in shoes all day.

In a minute, I will wash my hands and go to Super Target to buy groceries and a new shower caddy, because my old shower caddy slips down the shower head. It does not have suction cups. I want to buy a shower caddy with suction cups.