Finally some peace. Work is driving me mad and I've been having some absolutely bizarre dreams, including one in which Jonathan Frakes was my boss and he was pissed at me. (I can't imagine where that came from; the last time I even thought about Jonathan Frakes was when I saw him last September at DragonCon.) I got up to use the bathroom at 7:30, and then fell fast back to sleep until 9:15. I get my best sleep between six and eight, so this is no surprise.

Had breakfast and decided to go out to Publix, as they had instant oatmeal on twofer and the lower-sugar maple and brown sugar runs out almost immediately; it must be the most popular flavor. (What's usually left over? the fruit and cream. I'm not surprised. I wouldn't eat it, either.) Hit the Publix closest to our house, and, sure enough, only two boxes left. I got James some Arnold thins, too, and two "emergency suppers," and a baguette.

I then tried to withdraw money from the bank machine after checking out, only to discover my debit card had expired and the bank hadn't sent me a new one. I got the chatty guy teller at the bank kiosk, the one who keeps trying to push a credit card on me. Does your credit card give me book points? No? Go away. Anyway, he ordered a new card for me and gave me some cash.

So I headed for another Publix, stopping at Big Lots/Family Dollar on Atlanta Road on the way. I'm looking for a cheap small alarm clock (one that looks like a clock and runs on a battery, not a digital one that plugs in) to put on the shelf in the kitchen, since the clock on the stove quit working years ago. Not a clock to be seen either place.

Scarfed up six boxes of oatmeal at the Atlanta Road Publix and another six at the one near I-285. I also found the turkey flavor Rachael Ray dog food and bought Willow a bag. She's been turning up her nose at the six-ingredient lamb-and-rice stuff and is apparently sick of both the beef and the chicken flavors. [Gave her some of the turkey at suppertime; she gobbled it right up.]

Finally I stopped at Barnes & Noble looking for the new "Home Tour" edition of "Country Sampler," which someone on my Christmas group told me was out. I shouldn't have expected B&N to have it anyway; their deliveries seem to occur with the swiftness of a bored sloth. I was right; it wasn't there. I did get "Geek" magazine with the Star Trek cover, and bought a little rechargeable iHome speaker for work. My aging ears are having trouble hearing music or podcasts over the constant hum of the fan under my desk and the noise around it, and I could get the gadget for 10 percent off at Barnes & Noble.

I'd planned to be out for about an hour. I got home just before three. Schuyler even glared at me.

On the whole round trip I had the phone clamped in the Bracketron and I was listening to a collection of musical "bumpers" over the course of the 1960s through 1975 on the NBC radio show Monitor. If you are a "person of a certain age," you may remember the weekend Monitor broadcasts. The closest thing that exists today to Monitor may be NPR's Morning Edition, where you'll find book reviews, commentary, news, special features, and op-ed pieces rubbing shoulders. Monitor was all that and more, with music, comedy routines, news and weather, and the talents over the years of some fine radio people including Dave Garroway, Bob and Ray, the unquenchable Henry Morgan, and John Bartholemew Tucker.Up until 1960, there were five minute episodes of Fibber McGee and Molly on Monitor. Guest hosts included Frank Sinatra Jr.

Anyway, this is a chronological collection of bits leading into station breaks, sports reports, or celebrating holidays, and I was laughing by the time it was halfway through, because, even if you didn't hear the "1970" uttered in a couple of the bumpers, you could definitely tell when you got to the 70s music! The set ended with the Monitor theme and the famous "beacon," which aired when the show cut back and forth to the local stations, a combination of telephone tones and Morse code for the letter "M" for "monitor."

monitorbeacon.net is devoted to the show and has several hours of Monitor broadcasts to listen to over the years (click on "Sounds of Monitor").

[Later we went out to eat at O'Charley's to celebrate "Mama C's" (Juanita's mom's) eighty-second birthday, then stopped at Wally World to restock on wild bird seed. Still couldn't find a small clock I liked. Walmart had one, but it was plug-ugly.

BTW, you can watch Disney's lovely Oscar-winner "Paperman" on line here at Hulu: "Paperman"]

Labels: food, friends, nostalgia, radio, shopping, work

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:36:00 PM

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