8/18

Got up fairly bright and early for a weekend with plans for a full Saturday. Got most things accomplished.

Part of the morning was slated for a variety of shopping trips. I took a ride over to Wally world and got all the necessary cleaning supplies for the apartment. I really don’t like the way the super-Wally has all the cleaning crap on the grocery side of the store and random cleaning accessories (like, say I wanted a bucket to go with my mop) in a totally different part. But the supplies were all reasonably priced, so…

I also bought some socks.

I got my mop and bucket at Fleet Farm, where I figured I could get masonry drill bits as well (I was wrong about that), but I ended up having to conclude the trip at Menards. I stopped in to the old Menards, too (it’s a ‘Big Lots’ now) for no particular reason, just because I hadn’t ever been before. I didn’t find anything interesting.

I climbed my new ladder and took my new drill bit and put holes in the wall so I could hang stuff up. I hung all my clocks and printed out new tags for them (so people who come visiting will know which clock is which).

I did some wash while I was at the house, and then I loaded up the wet clothes to take them to JJ’s for the drying. I figure that the lower cost and shorter time commitment needed to do the drying commercially are worth the slight inconvenience of leaving the house. And let me tell you – there are some people in that laundromat, man; there are some people…

So I’m getting done with the laundry, right? And I’ve got everything loaded up and in the car again, and let me tell you: I was quite efficient with the drying that day, and my whole list was getting knocked out, one item at a time, and I was feeling really productive, and then there was the roadblock on Main Street at Lincoln. And then there was the same roadblock on Jefferson. And people in their cars are just scurrying around the side streets trying to figure out why the hell the Main drag is closed.

And then we heard the drums.

Another goddamn parade, which, as Devin observed later, seem to have a sort of creepy, hermaphroditic capability for reproduction in Osh Vegas. It’s almost as if more than 12 Boy Scouts stand in the same area for over 10 minutes, flag poles and instruments grow out of their pores and they just start marching. I have no idea what the hell this past weekend’s parade was about, but it took me 25 minutes to drive home from the laundromat, a trip that should usually take 5.

Oh – and that trip was pretty much the Last Ride of Willy. I’ve been driving the ol’ Festiva on a wing and prayer all summer long, as it’s in need of some repairs that exceed the value of the vehicle. It was about two or three weeks ago now that I decided I couldn’t leave Oshkosh with it anymore (the occasional grinding noise in the right front wheel had become much more frequent), and then Saturday night I realized I should probably avoid driving it altogether (the more frequent grinding noise in the right front wheel has become constant). For the time being, I’m walking a lot more, and I’ll have to catch a ride with people traveling my way if I want to go somewhere.

That or I’ll have to rent.

In either case, I’m in the market for a new car, and after a close examination of my finances, I think I can afford a bigger payment than I initially thought: Do you know any place that I can get in a new car for *THREE DOLLARS* a month?

Jen and Joe picked me up at about 6:15 on Monday night on their way to Green Bay for the Packers game. Joe got the tickets from somebody he works with. It was fun; the inside of the stadium is nothing like I remember from the last time I went (which will be five years ago this October). Yes, the Pack got their ass handed to ’em, but at least the lines at the urinal were short.

If I get back to Green Bay for a game at some point in the next year or so, I should really take a camera with me. I should really get a digital camera. Do you know any place that could finance something for me for *ONE DOLLAR* a month?