Up early again for veggies. We had just missed a train as we parked and just as we reached the track another came along, so we stood and watched as a line of coal hoppers went by. I think it's sad that there are no "real" trains around here anymore (ones that carry passengers instead of gang-scribbled transports). It was just after nine and already hot and steamy. We collected some fresh sweet corn, some bread, and some all-natural wholegrain pumpkin muffins for dessert, then returned home to use the rest of the Trader Joe's chicken salad for breakfast sandwiches.

We were on a mission to Fry's today—I needed some more tape cases to finish my "rehousing" project of my self-recorded DVDs. I needed more thinline 2-DVD cases as well as another box of 3s. This was more of a project than we expected because it was Saturday rather than the usual Sunday when we go out to the wilds of Alpharetta; traffic was additionally heavy because it's tax-free weekend in preparation for the approaching first day of school (we didn't know it, but they had also had a parade in salute of military veterans earlier in the day). We expected Fry's to be crowded, but although there were a lot of cars, we didn't actually see a lot of people. Apparently they were all next door in WalMart. I bought the DVD 2- and 3-disc cases and also a set of cases that hold six DVDs. This will be good for series like The War and perhaps some of my Christmas things.

Unfortunately, I was seduced at the last moment. I have always wanted a pen scanner so I could go into the library and get information from the books in the reference area that you can't withdraw. I would have preferred a wireless one, but all the wireless units I have seen have received terrible reviews. The Iris I bought seems to have a better reputation, and it will work with the laptop. Plus it was tax free, as was my entire purchase.

We stopped for a short time at Borders with our coupons and Borders Bucks; James got the first release of Tiny Toons Adventures and I bought Laurien Berenson's newest in paperback as well as a bargain book about spelling, and then we made our biweekly stop at Trader Joe's for chicken salad. We had a sample of their Asian salad kit: you got mixed greens, slivered almonds, some crunchy noodles, mandarin oranges, and orange sesame dressing. It was quite delicious, so I grabbed a bag of the kit as well as some precooked precut teriyaki chicken breast. After we visited the hobby shop, we came home and had the salad with chicken for supper, with a pumpkin muffin for dessert, while watching the first four episodes of Tiny Toons, interrupted briefly by a storm that caused a couple of brownouts, but no actual power loss. Other neighborhoods weren't so lucky. There are trees down and many people sleeping without air conditioning tonight, the poor sods. (The television reporter actually said "a lot of people sleeping in the dark tonight." Um...huh?)

When those were finished, I put on the pilot episode of The Last Detective. This is really a rather melancholy series. Peter Davison plays "Dangerous" Davies (we never learn his first name), who is still a detective while all those his own age have been promoted to management positions. Davies prefers to stay a detective (I don't blame him one bit; who wants to be management—it sounds like one of the stops on the rings of Hell), although it has done nothing to make him happy: he irritates his co-workers, his wife has asked for a divorce (presumably due to his lack of ambition as she sees it), and he lives in a miserable "bed sit." The only time he seems to be happy is when he is walking the family dog (when you hear Davies talking about the animal on the phone early in the series, you assume it's the couple's child until you see the dog) or with his friend Mod, who holds various jobs and provides Davies with a drinking companion.

The mystery portion of the story, however, was quite good. I'm not sure if I actually like the series yet, but Davison is quite good as beaten-down Davies (quite a change from his first major role as devil-may-care Tristan Farnon!).

Labels: computers, DVDs, food, shopping, television

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