What it takes to get paid around here

 I had the place all cleaned and when Ken's time to show up had passed, I started with the phone calls. He turned out to be in San Francisco, helping a friend of his with his industrial robot(s). Ken could come by but it would be "after midnight". I said that's OK. 

He showed up at 2:30 in the morning. I got my pay check and we talked a bit, I gave him the print-out of the scary email saying we owe the landlord 4 grand, which he tried his best to lose along with his jacket, then he was off. 

I drank the Tetra-Pak of wine I had and got into some of the Ciroc, hence the headache. 

I woke up at 2 in the afternoon. Ken's schedule being imposed on me. I'll be happy when I never have to deal with anything "tech" again. 

I got out of here at about 3:30 with a load of books, and 8 small things I'd packed last night to pass the time waiting for Ken. And my headache. 

I dropped off trash at my sneaky trash can on Taylor, and left what was left of the Ciroc next to the can. Let someone else drink that stuff and get a headache. 

Then I went to the post office and dropped off the packages. Next was the bank where again my accounting and theirs agreed to the penny. Next I went to the used book store and turned in the books. I got $20 trade credit. 

THEN .... I went to Whole Foods and got a slice of pizza and a near-beer. Beer and pizza is good for headaches, and that made most of it go away. 

Then I rode over to Shasta street and put the books the book store didn't want, half into one little free library and half into the other. Actually the other one seems to be a little art gallery of little-kid drawings and things their mom thinks are cool, but I moved the stuff over and re-arranged it in a (I hope) tasteful way, and put the books on the other side. I'll see what the reaction is the next time I visit. 

Then I went over to Crossroads Trading to, as always, look for Doc Martens. I found a bright yellow ball cap "All Good" brand with a reflective triangle on the front saying "All Good" and bright yellow. Frankly, good enough to be my spare when I'm washing my main high-vis cap so I decided to get that even though it was $18. 

Then I looked around in the shoes and found some actual Doc Marten low quarters. They're the kind that are being sold now, made in China. But they're almost new, felt comfortable, and I figured worth a try. So I got those. The hat and shoes left me with $7 after handing them the $100 bill I'd gotten at Whole Foods. 

I then went over to the chef store to look around, and they were closing in 10 minutes so I only looked at about half of the store. I know where I'm going to buy my zipper bags from now, though. I'm on the lookout for stuff to make candies like those round See's candies that come in the little paper cups. So I'd need the little paper cups, a muffin pan with holes that small, and a saucepan with a pour spout. I've got an idea to make pistachio candies and I'm considering just going to See's and buying their "baking chips" for the chocolate. The chef store didn't have those things, though, and I'll have to look for candy making supplies. 

I won't have time this week anyway, but for instance tomorrow night is "sha-barbacue" at the temple, Shabbat and a barbecue afterward. I'd like to bring something and that crowd likes sweets, and if I had the materials on hand it would be pretty easy to make some candies. The rabbi liking pistachios and my knowing that you get a real pistachio flavor by getting the ones in the shells, I think I can make some really good ones. Next time... 

I went over to Goodwill with my $8 on hand and looked around. I found a clamp-on light that I can really use and it was $7. It was fun looking around through the odds and ends as there were a couple other guys who were looking around too and we commented on things. There was a Luxman stereo receiver that I said a guy ought to jump on because they could make some real money flipping it on Ebay. I told the guy to check on his phone and after I'd gone upstairs to look at the high end stuff he came up and said they go for about $250 on Ebay. There you are,  I said.  Frankly if I had a car I'd have bought it for the $20 or so they'd have wanted, but I can't due to the effective non-compete I'm under so Ken would make money not me. I was happy with my lamp. 

I rode back to Whole Foods and had another slice of pizza and another near-beer. That got rid of the last of the headache. I had the idea I had tons of things I had to get but when I went back in it was just a bottle of wine, cream for coffee, pickled herring, and one of those little lemon juice things. 

I went by the Amazon place for bubble mailers and here something funny happened. Apparently they were emptying their trash cans so I dove right in there, asking the worker if I can have the bubble mailers and going into the big black trash bag for what I thought was one. But it wasn't a worker, it was some customer and she had ... some kind of ... oversized purse?? .. that's basically a huge black trash bag on wheels. It was full of all kinds of crap too. I've seen a lot of things but I've never seen one of those. She was not happy. "Anyone could see it's someone's bag" she said, with a weird little dry laugh. And wheeled the thing out the door.

I got some bubble mailers anyway, and found a few books on the way back. Just another day in the life...

Am I enjoying spending my money though! I looked at the calendar at the temple web site to see what's coming up in the next month or two, and it turns out Rosh HaShana is early in October. It literally means "head of the year" and is the start of the Jewish year. There are some various services that are important ones and they're the ones that are notorious for being expensive to go to. There's a 2-volume book I have to buy and of course the temple had a link to Amazon. Feh! I went to the CCAR Press site and bought it there. It's the hardcover version which is more than the softcover on Amazon but less than the hardcover on Amazon. The main thing is I didn't buy it on Amazon.