Alone Again

Berck is in Delaware for the next two nights. It’s cold in the apartment without him. I turned on the heat for the first time. It’s supposed to get in the 20’s tonight. It was that cold when I took Berck to the airport on the way to work this morning.

We worked till 5. I pulled product from the time the pullers arrived an hour after we did to quitting time. I’ve been pulling for the last two weeks straight. I don’t mind. In-checkers aren’t evaluated on their times weekly like the pullers are. So instead of choosing runs that I know I can do quickly, I pick runs that are fun.

What would make one department more fun than another? For me it’s all about finding the most efficient use of space in the tubs as possible…thus neat little rectangles. My favorites are books. But those departments tend to be pretty popular…books are fast. So I end up pulling Bibles all day.

No one likes pulling Bibles. The standard time requirement for them is ridiculously high. They tend to be bulky and heavy, so you can’t hold a bunch and then put them in the tub. And if your pull large at all, your cart will be full in no time, and you’ve got to go switch it out with a new cart full of empty tubs (this eats a lot of time). But since I don’t have to worry about fighting the clock, I get to play with the nice neat rectangles.

In other news, I saw three meteors last night, all of them big and bright and traveling slowly across half the sky. I didn’t stay awake for the peak of the shower.

Librarying

Berck is checking the weather page for the 17th time today. Supposedly, he’ll be flying his long cross country flight tomorrow, finally. The weather looks clear…just windy.

We got library cards today! They gave us them with only a utility bill to prove we weren’t out to steal books. Then we browsed the Norman Public Library and found that there were few books we’d want to steal. I’m in the middle of two books right now, so I didn’t check out anything, but Berck got a Michael Chabon novel. They didn’t have any audio books that looked interesting. Ah, the joys of a small town library. I wonder if I could get an OKC card and if there’s a branch near my work.

When we got back we took a little picnic lunch over to the private lake in the subdivision across the street from us. I don’t think we’re allowed, but who is going to stop us. It’s a beautiful day, crystal clear and just the right temperature. Hopefully, the weather will be as good tomorrow for Berck’s flight.

Solstice Wishlist

In case anyone is wondering what we’d like for the “Winter Holidays,” here’s a little list of things we could use.

Our wedding registries should have some stuff left over.

We also each have Amazon wishlists.

For both ofus:

The Stone Edition of the Tanach

A Saladmaster Food Processor–there are several available on E-Bay

A bread knife

A pastry cutter (with blades, not wires…here’s a good example)

Cooling racks

A bottom pouring fat separator–you know, one like this (Berck has been using a plastic bottle with a hole punched in the bottom.)

We could also use a generic 12 inch pan lid (like that will fit over our cast iron frying pan or a wok).

For Joanna:

Some BDU pants, size Large-Regular or inseam 29 1/2 to 32 in., waist 35 to 39. I think I can wear the next size down as well. I prefer solid black or blue, but any color or design would be fine.

Men’s jeans size 34×30 (For some reason men’s jeans of that size just fit, while women’s jeans I have to try on.)

Also, if I had a bike, I could go bicycling with Berck.

For Berck:

Yet more books

Berck also wants BDU pants, X-Large-Regular, inseam 29-32 1/2, waist 39 to 43, but they HAVE to be ripstop (you can tell because the fabricmakes little squares). He doesn’t particularly want camo colored. Solid colors are fine.

Some flannel shirts, XX-Large Tall (Berck likes L.L. Bean’s chamoise cloth shirts best but also realizes that they’re quite expensive.)


We’ll repost this if we think of other things.