An ATM card comes home, and a mundane day in the life…

The first thing this morning, my caller ID read: “Incoming Call” instead of displaying a number, and after debating on whether or not to pick it up, I did.

“Mr. Martin?”

“Yes, it is,” I replied.

“This is Gladys at the Coastal Federal Credit Union and…”

“You have my ATM card?” I interrupted.

“Yes, we do.”


I worked from home today, and attended a lunchtime meeting at the Center for Excellence in Curricular Engagement, in which we discussed the next 7 months in terms of events planning.


I picked up my ATM card, grabbed an egg salad sandwich from Justin’s Grill at Quail Corners, and then worked the rest of the afternoon from the Percolater coffee shop.


I had my third, and final, meal from Friday night’s Shanghai Express Sesame Chicken dinner leftovers. I added soy sauce to it, which I didn’t think would mix well with it, but after a little taste, was quite pleased with it.


I did two loads of laundry, and fell asleep reading Owen Meany while the second load dried. The dryer buzzer woke me up in less than 15 minutes, I folded some clothes, and then drove over to Crossroads Plaza.

I went to Kohl’s specifically to look for a couple of black t-shirts. I don’t understand how some of my “100% cotton” t-shirts feel one way, and some of them feel another way. Is 100% cotton 100% cotton, or what? They didn’t have any with the feel I’m looking for.

I stopped by Target where I bought:

  • 3 California Kitchen Pizzas (Yes, they have food there, and these pizzas are $6.59 in my grocery store—here, they are $4.99 a piece.)
  • 7 Lean Cuisines
  • some Oscar Mayer deli-sliced ham
  • a tongue scraper, (2-pack, if you must know!)
  • a 10-pack of those little boxes of cereal (Why can’t my cereal and my milk ever run out at the same time? It’s a vicious cycle.)
  • 2 boxes of sesame seed water crackers
  • a bottle of Listerine Cool Mint (I bought some Crest mouthwash, probably close to a year ago now, after learning that alcohol in mouthwash isn’t good for you. I’ll tell you what isn’t good for you—non-alcoholic mouthwash that ruins the taste of everything you eat or drink for the next 4 hours after you use it, so much so that you stop using it. After a year, I have a half bottle of it left, which is going in the trash tomorrow.)
  • some Tilex Fresh Shower cleaner (I wanted just a refill bottle, but the only refills they had were for some “automated” shower cleaner that hangs upside down over your shower nozzle and looks not unlike an I.V. drip bottle.)
  • a gallon of bleach (This is listed on my receipt as simply, “Target Brand.” It took me a minute to remember what it was.)
  • a four-pack of Starbucks Frappuccino (the coffee-flavored one) 

I responded to some STC e-mail, and sent a link to my blog entry about our conference presentation to my co-presenters. I also had a short instant message conversation with my friend Steve Moore, with whom I haven’t spoken in quite the while.


I got to bed at a decent hour, but didn’t read a decent amount of Owen Meany as I was falling asleep reading—when I wasn’t smiling or laughing, that is.

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