Game Day at the Tummy Temple

Awake since 4AM in anticipation of ‘Game Day’ at the Tummy Temple. Other than the anxiety panic of Thanksgiving, ‘Game Day’ is the best. The news is all aflutter about two football teams. The anticipation is palatable so what better way to observe human behavior than at the Tummy Temple.

After some OJ, a couple cups of coffee and an oatmeal cookie the sun finally came up but I waited for the noon hour before venturing into the panic for the last bag of chips or emptying the beer aisle.

The traffic was sparse but everyone was probably still at church. The weather was chilly but not bad for a February day.

Once I got to the parking lot the results of my predictions appeared. Every spot was filled and the adventurers were circling like buzzards scouting for a vacant spot.

It was only noon but frenzy was beginning.

Being of sound mind and willful survival, I waited until there was a gap in the action to wheel around between the giant metal behemoths and arrive safely at my parking spot at the STOP sign. As I locked up my pony the foot traffic was a bushel of activity. If these folks had just gotten out of church, why were they wearing sweats and tights?

Once inside the traffic wasn’t as bad as it was outside. There was still some look of confusion on the congregation but I had time to avoid them and knew what and where I was looking for.

Saw an oriental couple and immediately thought the same as seeing a Muslim after 9/11. They could be Korean or Japanese but the immediacy of the news reports of quarantining China could be the new trade embargo.

Got my peanuts, blueberries and some batteries that had to be scanned several times to log into all the fancy fast electronics. My debit card had to be swiped three times before I was acknowledged as a frequent flyer and got my receipt. Hillary just looked on in amazement but I don’t expect too much but a chuckle.

For an extra celebratory gift I purchased a six-pack of Corona (tribute of the oriental couple) as a treat for the end of the evening. I looked for the little bottles but they were all gone. I kidded with the ‘wine guy’ about all the shelves being empty tomorrow morning and he agreed.

Back home safe and sound, I placed the ‘game day’ buffet out for the yard critters. They were pretty passive but at the end of the day all the grub will be gone.

Changed into my relax clothing and carried the recycling and a pile of folders outside. The plan for today was go through files and delete what I didn’t need and repurpose what I needed.

Then there was this television project that sat in front of me.

I’d brought the ‘last television’ downstairs and placed all the components on my drawing table. There is a 15” flat screen television, two antennas, six remotes, a VHS/DVD players and lots of cables. For years the frustration of finding the right plug to go in the right hole made many late night reading manuals a passage to adulthood. IKEA was the only other company to compete with the complexity of self-assembly.

Yesterday I’d connected what I thought would work and finally got power and an image on the screen. New batteries got two of the remotes working but still hadn’t connected with a station.

An adjustment and variation and a re-scan and voila! There was a television image on the screen. Taking the remote and flipping through the channels there were programs I’d never seen.

Then there was the ‘Super Bowl’ on channel 35 in crystal clear image and sound.

Well I had to sit through eight commercials before the talking heads appeared. Should I keep it on and watch the game?

I turned to the pile of file folders and a stack of papers held within metal drawers that have years of dust. There were papers about my pension that has been transferred to another company and keeps coming and some other ancient work relics.

Here is an interesting factoid. Before I was relieved of my identity pass, I went into the personnel files and copied everything that was in my folder. Having been a manager, I knew where the keys were kept.

I reference this because years before I left I received a notice that my ‘personnel files’ have been misplaced and need to be refurbished.  

I thought ‘personnel files’ were the scared cow and protected by record that defined a person as an employee. Still I could understand for this company kept vacation records in a written ledger book until the end of the twentieth century. Advancement or salary increase reports were kept on a ‘green card’ if ever recorded.

The plan is to pull out the shredder and decrease the size of this paper mountain. Also I need to buy some new ink to see if I can get the tax forms to print.

These are nice projects on a 70-degree day.

What about the game?

What game? I catch up with the reviews in the morning.