Running Bear's June 2022 Coffee Shop


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Cineplex, (in Can) has now implemented a $1.50 fee per ticket if ordered on line or thru an app.
I will use self checkout if I only have 1 or 2 small items.
just had an inch of rain in an hr.
Do any of you have gutter guards installed.? Opinions , pros, cons.?

Cinemark has the online booking fee per movie ticket about the same $1.50 (but in USD). Being in the Cinemark movie club allows me to book online tickets without the fee. They've done it this way for years, for better or for worse.

I prefer self checkouts. No matter how much stuff I have. Most people at checkouts have no clue on how to pack stuff, so I like to pack my own bags, and for anti-social people you don't have to interact with anyone :rolleyes: 🤣 😇.
 
Good evening.

Louis, I also am watching the Stanley Cup finals. Sound is off during intermission as I wait for overtime to begin. I want the Av’s

Mikeinhubcupity, glad the job hunt is generating call backs

Subs, we have a good sub shop in Verona. Milos is a local group I think of 10 stores in Dane County. I agree with what has been said though. ITS THE BREAD. We had a Cousins Sub in Marshfield that I loved but since the owner also owned a few Subways he had to chose and went with Subway. Cousins Subs (a midwest chain) was started just off of campus at Marquette University in Milwaukee while I was there 70 to 74 and it was a dump but they were cheap and IMO great. 1st sandwich I ever had that used olive oil instead of Mayo on some sub sandwiches.

I have had 1 Jersey Mikes sub and I don’t recall it as anything special. I think it was a longer sub. Never have had a Firehouse Subs but there are a couple within a few miles. Gyros, Pizza Shops and Ethic food is huge in my county. The fast food places like McDonals, BK, Taco Bell, Wendy’s don’t seem to do as well and no Culvers is not considered fast food. Neither is Portillo’s that is Midwest based but mainly around Chicago area but expanding is famous for its hotdogs and Italian Beef. We now have 2 in Madison. Geez, now I am hungry

Portillos
View attachment 147691

Milos

be safe
 
Gas prices just went up again to $5.19 a couple days ago. Most stations have crept down to $5.18 or $5.17 by now though will jump up again soon.

It went up to $5.09 a week ago. A few weeks ago it was $4.79. It goes up to $x.x9 and slowly drops a penny or two or so over a few days and then jumps up to a higher $y.y9 price, usually adding in 10 or 20 cents.

Frustrating. My son puts plain old regular in his Honda fit (my dad's former car). However, I put mid grade ethanol-free in our VW Jetta and the Audi A3. Both the VW and Audi have a variation of the VW Group 1.4 TSi turbo 4 cylinder engine. (In addition the Audi has a EV motor built into the 6 speed automatic manual transmission as it is a PHEV). The VW specs regular gas and the Audi premium, but at our high altitude the mid grade works fine and the ethanol-free gives better gas mileage (gasoline has more energy than alcohol by volume) and is better for your engine as alcohol is corrosive (even if modern engines are built to endure it). The mid grade ethanol free has about the same cost to it as premium, approximately 30 cents above regular. Some of that is compensated for with higher gas mileage.

If I can't get ethanol free I'll use regular in the VW and mid or premium in the Audi (plenty of stations around here have it but not all locations we travel to have it easily available), depending on if we are still high altitude or have gone down to Vegas or Arizona or somewhere lower.

Where we are at the regular is 85, mid is 87 (though ethanol free is rated 88), and premium is 91.

Down in St George or Vegas the regular jusmp up to the normal 87 and mid to 89 and premium still 91 (though some stations have 92 or a range of 91+ grades to take your money).
 
For any sort of "sandwich", including burgers, the bread plays a major role.

One of the reasons the Costco hot dogs work and are great is that "hoagie" bun they use.

One of the major reason US McDonalds burgers suck donkey spheres is that their buns suck.

I've had great sandwiches at Subway, despite their frugal application of meat to the bun, when the bread was fresh. But usually subway kind of sucks as their bread is often dry.

I've only been to Firehouse Subs once. They opened a new one like 5-8 years ago a few miles away and I received a card to come to their pre-opening for free food. They were training staff on how to make the sandwiches and run the store so we were told to go in, order as normal, and they'd make it for us but we would only simulate the checkout and there was no charge. (there was only a subset of the normal sandwhich selection actually available but enough that it was still interesting). Frankly, my sandwich was not great and it was because the bread was kind of dry and lifeless and dull. Have not ever been back.

In-N-Out has good buns (though recently due to truing to eat low carb my burgers are "protein style" which is lettuce wrapped instead of bun). They use fresh made sponge dough and it is pretty good for a burger.

We have a local sandwich shop down in Orem (and a satellite to it in Provo) called Sensuous Sandwich. In addition to generous application of meat, their buns are usually fresh and good and they make one of the best sub/hoagie/hot sub I've ever had.

It all comes down to the buns/bread as a baseline. If two places both have good buns/bread then other factors come into play, but they can have the best, most juiciest meat, and greatesy vegetable and dressing/condiment selection but if you start with a crappy bread/bun then the sandwich will be at best ok.
 
Morning all,

Getting ready to head to the office shortly. Currently 72° and clear after late-night storms. Got awakened by a call from the utilities department panicked because they lost communication with a couple of lift stations.. Let's not check to see if the power went out at the lift locations. After 45 minutes of cross checks on the network, they finally sent some out to one location and the power company had just finished resetting a line fuse. The other came back online a few minutes later. Let's get IT out of bed to check on something because we don't want to go out in the rain at night. Still tired.
 
I thought self-check outs were for just a few items so ya don't have to wait in line behind the shopping cart loads. Never considered there was a scientology of packing grocery bags except for heavy things double bag and fragile things on top.
I see the full shopping carts sitting at the self-checkout machines occasionally. The person picks one item out, looks at it, scans it then puts it in a bag. They hobble around to the other side of the cart and pick out another item, look at it, scan it then look at it again and finally place it in a bag. They hobble back around to the other side of the cart to pick out another item and repeat the process. In the background ya see a couple of the store employees watching and snickering to each other. A line of people waiting with a couple items each are constrained to the remaining self-checkout machine or in line behind the shopping cart loads.
 
Good morning. It's 72 and partly cloudy.
I had to take the day off from w*rk today to stay home and sign for a package. This is something I haven't had to do since my wife's death, other than signing for her remains. I'm going to have to figure out how to do this going forward, as I don't want to take the day off just for this. In the past, my wife would sign for whatever it was. Of my three neighbors, one is 91, lives across the road and below an embankment, and has had a hip replacement, the other is a non-English speaking elderly couple, and the third is a pair of thirty-something guys that work the same hours I do.
 
Terry: Have the stuff sent to your work. I do it with important stuff all the time.

BTW, I have a job imterview on Friday afternoon. Not sure how I feel about it for sure.
I make purchases like this one through PayPal, and the stores will only ship to the PayPal verified address on file. I may have to rethink that part of it, too, as I use them to shield my CC info.
Good luck with the interview.
 
Good Morning All. Clear and 74°, heat advisory for today with expected high around 103°. Unfortunately with the removal of the large ash tree last fall, my pool is no longer partially shaded and the late afternoon water temperature is now hovering between 89° and 91°. It's close to 85° in the early morning.

Picked just over 25 lbs. of tomatoes yesterday. Looks like Marinara processing will begin Monday. I also need to pickle some Jalapenos.

Mowed some yesterday and I will mow some more today after the weekly grocery trek. I have my follow-up doctor appointment after the recent stent surgery this morning while I am in town. It's a bit of a compromise as I was supposed to see him 7-10 days after the procedure, but his office wouldn't schedule me until July 5! Five weeks later! Yesterday they called and had a cancellation today so I took the opening. I am not experiencing any issues, but I am not happy with the additional medications. One of them cost me $320 for the first 30 days. I am also experiencing BP of 110/64 at certain times which I don't consider good. Too much medication I think.

We are getting ready for the upcoming two day trip out of town to San Antonio for our latest grandson's christening Saturday afternoon. Leaving tomorrow morning around 0900 and returning home on Sunday. While there, we will be visiting with my wife's surviving older brother for lunch Saturday. Not sure whether or not we'll be visiting any tourist attractions while there as that's my wife's duty. I just drive safely and quickly. One of the roads that I use is known as TX-130, a 91 mile toll road with speed limits up to 85 mph, that bypasses the congested IH35 through Austin. The recently opened Tesla factory is alongside that road about halfway along the route, a bit SE of Austin itself. Texas Highway Patrol usually gives between 11 and 13 mph leeway to drivers on all highways, so it is a quick ride. I have only used that road a dozen times and I have never seen a patrolman yet. It is also electronically tolled so no slowing down for toll booths. Most of the portion on IH35 is 75 mph. It is a 335 mile trip that generally takes right at 4 hours not including bathroom breaks or meals. Since we'll be stopping for both, we'll roll into our hotel about 1500. I can usually make it on one tank of gas.

Thanks for the likes and comments regarding yesterday's post; Steve J, Smudge, Gary, Tom O, Hughie, Karl, James, Moermusic, Dave B, Mikey, Patrick, Curt, Chad, Guy, Jaz, Rick, Joe, Louis, Tom, OB Ken.

Not a lot happened out in the train shed yesterday. Working on that billboard kit or should I say scratchbuilding that billboard. As I posted yesterday, all pieces have to be cut from a sheet of styrene.
The face was OK.
IMG_1159.JPG

The back was a PITA.
IMG_1160.JPG

But I got it done and painted and then cut and attached the two legs.
IMG_1162.JPG

Not my best effort.

Guy - Those new clean freight cars were probably a neat sight for your eyes. They certainly looked good in the photos. I occasionally get to see that with new or rebuilt engines coming from the Wabtec plant (formerly GE) that is in Ft Worth alongside BNSF tracks.
Joe - You're correct that the octane of the gas never came into play when my wife bought the Acura. One of my daughter's had one that she liked and that's what she went looking for.
Ken (D&J) - I also thought self-checkouts were just for a few items when originally installed. The Kroger that I use has 12 of them clearly marked "15 items or less", but it is obvious that many people can't read or count. They also have two other self-checkouts with conveyors for folks with a lot of stuff. Always lines at all of them. At the time of day that I go, there is usually two staffed checkout lanes open and there is rarely a line. I have observed the same actions that you described.

Gotta go and prepare for the grocery trek. Everybody have a great day.
 

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Good Morning!
Outside looks and smells like it's gonna rain, which is ok with me. The temperature isn't overly warm at 48F. That's ok with me too.

Some time was spent at the modelling bench yesterday. I hope to get a couple of trucks off the bench, so I can get on with completing the Walthers oil dealership.
To that end, I've nearly completed the Coles crane truck completely:
ColesCrane_06-22-2022 (1).JPG

ColesCrane_06-22-2022 (2).JPG

The hook won't be rigged until I know if the truck is going onto the layout, and what job it will be doing.
The kit itself is a fifty year old 00 scale Airfix kit. The tooling's are likely older than that. My kit is dated 1972.
I'm quite happy with the kit, considering it's age. The only obstacle is that the model looks too big; kinda noticeably out of scale compared to the Sylvan trucks. I'm not sure if it will be fit for the layout, or not. For now, I'll just store it away in a safe place.

I also thought I might show you an industry I photographed on one of my walks.
This is a county gravel pit. The district has contracted Associated Aggregates to come in with their portable gravel crushing equipment, and soften up the natural river bottom gravel into usable road crush. All of the equipment in the photo's are mounted on trailers, so it's all mobile and is only temporarily working here. The employee's are living in a nearby camp.
Here's a few of many photos that I took:
PortableGravel_06-21-2022 (1).JPG

PortableGravel_06-21-2022 (2).JPG

PortableGravel_06-21-2022 (3).JPG

I took all these photos because it helps me understand what a gravel operation looks like. It's been in my thoughts to put a rail served gravel operation on my layout. That'll give me a purpose to run open hoppers.

My layout won't be exactly prototypical of what my area looks like, but, I feel strongly that there has to be a reason to run the various types of railcars on the layout.

Well, that's my post for another day. Suppose I'll go with the dog before it starts to pour out there.
Thanks for all the likes on my posts. I noticed that I've surpassed the 10,000 reactions point, and I can't remember getting to many sad faces. So I must be doing ok with the photos.

Have a great day, everyone!
 
Good morning gang!

Flo, does coffee came in a 2 liter bottle??

The day started out early and dark, as the storms killed our power around 4:30. It did come back around 6 a.m. so I did have time for a quick shower and dash to work by 6:45. Thank goodness I work 8 miles from home!

Patrick, all the best for the interview!

Ken, I'm with ya! Self check outs need a limit, 20 items or less! I've seen folk with carts piled high clogging up the registers.

Filled the Colorado up last night, $4.89 a gallon, $76.00 to fill it from 1/4 tank. Just lovely! 🙄😢🙁

BBL
 
Good Morning All. Clear and 74°, heat advisory for today with expected high around 103°. Unfortunately with the removal of the large ash tree last fall, my pool is no longer partially shaded and the late afternoon water temperature is now hovering between 89° and 91°. It's close to 85° in the early morning.

Picked just over 25 lbs. of tomatoes yesterday. Looks like Marinara processing will begin Monday. I also need to pickle some Jalapenos.

Mowed some yesterday and I will mow some more today after the weekly grocery trek. I have my follow-up doctor appointment after the recent stent surgery this morning while I am in town. It's a bit of a compromise as I was supposed to see him 7-10 days after the procedure, but his office wouldn't schedule me until July 5! Five weeks later! Yesterday they called and had a cancellation today so I took the opening. I am not experiencing any issues, but I am not happy with the additional medications. One of them cost me $320 for the first 30 days. I am also experiencing BP of 110/64 at certain times which I don't consider good. Too much medication I think.
Willie: 110/64 is a tad low in my opinion although you probably should not worry about it too much. Be careful when standing up and make sure you have something to grab if you start feeling dizzy or foggy. Neighbor did stent's and was having the same issue. Doc told him that his heart was getting used to the open passage. I did a 3pass in '18, heart rate / BP was all over the place for about 3 weeks. I could feel the heart muscle ...um... adjusting as the beats were quite interesting. Felt like a motor with one or both motor mounts broken and would buck around inside my chest. Scared the sh.t outa Maria.
 
Good cool morning at 63f degrees in So. Central Wisconsin. High today should be 87 and again dry.

Chadbag, definitely agree on the bread. I prefer that the bread be made in store but even though Subways do that their bread always seems dry to me

local gas, has dropped for regular to $4.64 but Terry is paying $5.29 for the premium stuff. I will not comment any further today about gas…

Patrick, being on call used to suck for me and being salaried I got no extra money for it. As to the interview, are you looking or being head hunted? Either way interviewing is good practice for the day you really want that new job. With all the aircraft industry in the Wichita area aren’t IT guys in high demand?

Ken, the self check lines in our grocery stores are being pushed as they have reduced staffed registeers. I’d have no issues with self checking but a small 2% discount would be helpful and a quicker more accurate way to use the coupons was found. Too many times we will swipe a coupon and it won’t take then you need to call the person over seeing it and they use the number key to get it to work. Our HyVee store staffs 2 of the 8 cashier lines and have over 20 self check outs. Then they have 2 staff over seeing those 20. There are no maximum signs on any of the cashier staffed or self checkout lines

Terry, I can’t remember the last time we had to sign for a package. Can’t they hold it for you and you go to the distribution center? With so much high tech and cameras available I don’t understand having to sign for anything

Willie, we ended up a couple trips back to see the son buying the Texas electronic tollway pass. The one we have for mainly Illinois tolls is good for a few other Midwest states including some of Kansas but none of Texas. It has per Terry the bookkeeper saved us a bunch of dollars. The upgraded I35w is a nice trip but the Waco area was still under construction on our spring trip we made in March. Tx130 is amazing but getting much more crowded each time we go visit. 100mph is very obtainable on that road if the left lane stays clear. The speeds in Texas are understandable on the big highways but some speeds at 55 in Austin neighborhood streets are too high, IMO. Have a safe trip

Terry is currently talking as I type this that she wants a road trip today just to get away. It returns to the 90’s the next few days so being only 87 for the high today is the day. I have mentioned to Terry before I got Covid about stopping at the Elegant Farmer in Muckwanago, Wi. and getting a apple pie in a bag. Not great for this diabetic but tastes so great and 90 miles one way gas useage. That definitely will get us out and she wants her car. We will have to stop elsewhere to eat so lunch and dinner will become one meal today.

Haircut at 9 just popped up on my calendar.

Be safe
 
Good Morning!
Outside looks and smells like it's gonna rain, which is ok with me. The temperature isn't overly warm at 48F. That's ok with me too.

Some time was spent at the modelling bench yesterday. I hope to get a couple of trucks off the bench, so I can get on with completing the Walthers oil dealership.
To that end, I've nearly completed the Coles crane truck completely:
View attachment 147699
View attachment 147700
The hook won't be rigged until I know if the truck is going onto the layout, and what job it will be doing.
The kit itself is a fifty year old 00 scale Airfix kit. The tooling's are likely older than that. My kit is dated 1972.
I'm quite happy with the kit, considering it's age. The only obstacle is that the model looks too big; kinda noticeably out of scale compared to the Sylvan trucks. I'm not sure if it will be fit for the layout, or not. For now, I'll just store it away in a safe place.

I also thought I might show you an industry I photographed on one of my walks.
This is a county gravel pit. The district has contracted Associated Aggregates to come in with their portable gravel crushing equipment, and soften up the natural river bottom gravel into usable road crush. All of the equipment in the photo's are mounted on trailers, so it's all mobile and is only temporarily working here. The employee's are living in a nearby camp.
Here's a few of many photos that I took:
View attachment 147710
View attachment 147711
View attachment 147712
I took all these photos because it helps me understand what a gravel operation looks like. It's been in my thoughts to put a rail served gravel operation on my layout. That'll give me a purpose to run open hoppers.

My layout won't be exactly prototypical of what my area looks like, but, I feel strongly that there has to be a reason to run the various types of railcars on the layout.

Well, that's my post for another day. Suppose I'll go with the dog before it starts to pour out there.
Thanks for all the likes on my posts. I noticed that I've surpassed the 10,000 reactions point, and I can't remember getting to many sad faces. So I must be doing ok with the photos.

Have a great day, everyone!

Guy, great picture and super job on the truck.

The gravel operation is very interesting and more super pictures. It looks like a good modeling opportunity
 
I make purchases like this one through PayPal, and the stores will only ship to the PayPal verified address on file. I may have to rethink that part of it, too, as I use them to shield my CC info.
Good luck with the interview.
Can't your local delivery office hold it for you to collect.

Or make/buy a lockable metal container bolted to your floor or wall for items to be deposited till you get home,something like this perhaps?
1655991021987.png
 
Good morning. It's 72 and partly cloudy.
I had to take the day off from w*rk today to stay home and sign for a package. This is something I haven't had to do since my wife's death, other than signing for her remains. I'm going to have to figure out how to do this going forward, as I don't want to take the day off just for this. In the past, my wife would sign for whatever it was. Of my three neighbors, one is 91, lives across the road and below an embankment, and has had a hip replacement, the other is a non-English speaking elderly couple, and the third is a pair of thirty-something guys that work the same hours I do.
I usually ask a neighbor if I can redirect a sig required package if I won't be home. No sense in using a whole day of leave for that.
I've seen those lock boxes. They don't require the mail delivery person to have a key. Just close the lid and it's locked.
 
Ginger ale, Ginger tea, Tums
I agree ginger has in general a calming effect, although if I admit this, gets embarrassed….ale and beer makes me belch any pop does…so I don’t drink it in ‘public’ it’s not even a little genteel, it’s a full on beast with gurgle noise, even my husband after extra gives me a dirty look, especially if I was thirsty and took a single gulp of his, and the more I drink the bigger the noise it’s like one of those volcano things your kids do in school, sort of like the cartoon with lip waggles and massive air disruption.
It’s ok you can laugh :D

Hell I am tempted to go drink one record it….no nope shan’t….lool
 
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