Corn, Corn, Corn, Corn

I do not love popcorn. I do not love the annual popcorn sale. It takes a lot of time even with good volunteer support. This last week we had popcorn returns. This has not been done previously in this area and was apparently confusing to some. What part of "Return any popcorn not needed for the Take Order sale on Tuesday or Wednesday." is so difficult? Most did figure it out. My favorite part is that return warehouse equals watch the pros work. Of the units that returned popcorn most helped with restacking their order, two helped with other units orders (I sent them thank yous), but several just sat and watched. How nice. I didn't say anything since it would have been counterproductive.

On the upside, it would seem that the district is up in sales by over 5%. That combined with being only a handful of volunteers and youth away from Quality District is making things a little sunnier. There is also only three weeks and counting until the week off for Thanksgiving. HDTV is also finally going to be available in Sheboygan on Tuesday. I am going to upgrade but drop my movie channels to keep the price from going up. I can't wait to watch football in HD next Sunday.

Brian's football team made the semifinals after a game in the wet and cold last week. I was there and had more fun despite the weather chatting with the other spectators and cheering the team on from the sideline. I missed their game yesterday due to BALOO training that I advised and taught in, but they won so I will be making a point of going to see them play in the championship game next Saturday.

Last Saturday was also my 243 mile browsing odyssey. I started at REI in Milwaukee where I failed to find good trail shoes to replace my well-worn Nikes. Then I visited the new Cabelas just northwest of Milwaukee. It was a zoo and a lot like the one in Dundee, but still worth visiting. From there I headed to Appleton and did a quick tour of the mall and ended up sitting at Barnes and Noble reading magazines biding time until Brian's football game. Despite the number of stores visited, I spent a minimal amount of money. I'm going to wait on the shoes until I go home at Thanksgiving where I will have a better choice of stores to visit.

Earlier that week we had the most fun staff meeting that I've attended. Actually the meeting itself was indifferent except that it was in Sheboygan so I only had a 5-minute drive to get there. After the meeting we first played kickball, then laser tag. In both games we played north staff versus the south staff with the finance guys divided between the teams. Proudly, the south "Screaming Beagles" won the kickball game including two runs by yours truly. In laser tag, the honors were split one game each. We didn't have time for a third to settle the score. It was a blast. What was less of a blast was how sore I was for the next two days. Obviously sprinting and dodging take muscles that I don't use much and they felt the strain of the games. I compounded it by not stretching. I didn't feel too bad since Brian was the only one I heard that wasn't sore after the games. The goal is now to organize a paintball game next summer. That will be fun.

Otherwise it's a typical October with a lot of work and not much down time. November will be busy as well. Hopefully it will slow down after that.