I win again!

You have to take little victories wherever you can find them in life.

: )

Tonight, it was this contest I play every year about this time. At my work, as part of our Christmas bonus, we are given a $100 gift certificate for one of the local groceries. Which is a pretty cool gift, I think, although I rarely spend that much in one trip to the market. And even though I do not like the idea of not being able to find anything to eat around here (!!!), I am not so good about buy bunches of food.

I am more a one-meal-at-a-time kinda girl.

I was not even sure I was going to get to go on my annual shopping spree because I had not-so-conveniently (mis)placed my gift certificate in A Safe Place. Which, naturally, I could not remember (go figure!), but somehow, I recalled that the certificate expired Jan. 31, 2005.

Today.

Luckily, though, I did find it this evening, so: GAME ON!

OK, it is not really a game so much as a test of my mathematics skills. Mainly, addition: I make a basic list and then, without the use of any mechanism whatsoever (i.e. a calculator), see how close I can come to hitting $100 right on the dot when the cashier rings up my groceries.

Some years, the task has been very difficult because I will get distracted at least 3 or 4 times by people I know that I see at the store, who seem compelled to engage me in conversation. Plus, I am always trying to add it up, add it up, whilst also attempting to buy items that I need/want when my stomach is growling because it is suppertime.

The game is to try to get as close to $100 as I can possibly get, without going over ... because I really do not want to spend more than that amount. And you cannot go under because there is no change given from the gift certificate.

One year, I got within 3 cents of my goal. Usually, I will get close enough that I can grab something like a cold soda from the case next to the checkout lane to make it nearly even out.

This year, my total was $95.97. Which would seem like a loss, until you remember: Ice cream is only an aisle away.

I grabbed some Breyer’s chocolate ice cream. Which I clearly do not need, but ... hey, I couldn’t let any of the gift certificate go to waste!

: )

Grand total: $101.01. A numerical palindrome, even; gotta LOVE that!

: )

Speaking of calculators: Here on my desk, I have a SHARP Scientific Calculator EL-509. It has 35 keys and performs all kinds of functions (I would count them all up, but then I get confused by that 2ndF button!), including finding sines, cosines and tangents. Which I used to know how to do, and what those words meant, even, when I was in high school ... and for a little while beyond.

I remember purchasing this calculator at the Coast to Coast store in The Ville: I believe it was during my senior year of h.s., but it could have been my junior year. I spied the calculator in the display case and decided I had to have it, despite its somewhat hefty $14.95 price tag.

Mostly, now, I use it to balance my checkbook. (Which means I am usually using the minus key.)

: (

But if I wanted to, I could use it to do all those tricky trigonometric functions from long ago.

The thing of it is, I have had this calculator for at least 20 years:

AND I HAVE NEVER HAD TO REPLACE THE BATTERY!

(And no, it is NOT one of those solar-powered calculators!)

I find this amazing. I really do.

: )

Today was as gloomy as gloomy could be, weather-wise. Plus I felt like crap, all sinus-y and tired from the way-too-fast weekend. And it’s cold here, too, so I bid a fond farewell to January.

And because I need to see something colorful: